India coronavirus digest: Why we need a greater decentralisation of power

From risks posed by discarded medical waste, to why a strong scientific workforce is our best insurance against adversity, read these and more in today's world coronavirus digest.

Here is a roundup of articles from news publications on how India is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic — from the risk posed by discarded medical waste to sanitation workers, to federal limitations, and why a strong scientific workforce is our best insurance against adversity.

Citizens Under Lockdown

Sanitation workers at risk from discarded medical waste related to Covid-19: Sanitation workers and rag pickers are at risk from handling unmarked medical waste emerging from homes where Covid-19 patients are quarantined, medical experts and waste management specialists have warned. Discarded masks, gloves and tissues could be potential sources for the spread of this highly contagious virus, they have said.

Lockdown making you restless? Chances are you have cabin fever: Being cooped up in our homes for as long as we have is bound to stir up negative emotions. If you too are experiencing it, you might have cabin fever. Here are some steps that you can take to fight off this distress and irritability.

Long Reads

Neglected frontline workers need coronavirus safety gear: In Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, nurses, sanitation workers, and community health workers say they do not have adequate protection from virus exposure. Despite the high level of precaution that they have been asked to exercise, workers have not received any personal protective equipment from hospitals. Such equipment – masks, gloves, face shields, gowns and goggles – is needed to prevent exposure to the coronavirus.

Opinion

Needed, greater decentralisation of power: A crisis of the kind that Covid-19 has wrought will show us that India needs a greater decentralisation of power, and that administration through a single central executive unit is unsuited to its diverse and heterogeneous polity. We cannot continue to regard the intricate niceties of our federal structure as a nettlesome trifle.