Capturing currents

B y Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Like every other pandemic in modern history, aviation has been the catalyst for the spread of diseases globally. COVID 19 or the Novel Corona Virus 2019 supposedly had its origins in the wet markets or - live but illegal wildlife markets in the Chinese city of Wuhan in China.   The Novel Corona virus is a mutant with traces in similar strains of SARS, MERS, H1N1, H1N5, H1N9, Hantavirus, and before that Dengue, Chikungunya, Bird Flu, Swine Flu. But none other than the Coronavirus has gripped Humanity, terrorising to wipe out the human race itself.   Nation after nation ordered unprecedented Lockdowns in an attempt to prevent spread of the virus amid speculation that it was a biological weapon of mass destruction. None can confidently dismiss it as ‘Chinese Whispers’ confidently yet.    Even before the COVID 19 triggered Lockdown was announced, recession was knocking at the doors with GDP figures tumbling quarter af

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to cleanse the governance of corruption have not yielded even 000000000.1% results in favour of corruption free governance after six years of his rule. There is a lot of systemic correction that’s necessary before reforms yield results. As such COVID 19 triggered lockdown is Time for bold decisions and investments, reiterates Modi indeed an opportunity to correct the corrupt course of public discourse in a county plagued by what economists call “the Hindu Rate of growth”. Well in the field of education opening the doors of the internet would certainly increase exposure and augment learning one would assume. But like everything else one does not know unknown territory until one sets foot. Indian education system emphasises rote learning and dumping a huge amount of education material on the hapless student community without ever exercising students’ creative potential or inherent talent. Inter

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation When COVID 19 triggered a Lockdown, Work From Home (WFH) in the field of education assumed the avatar of distance or e learning. Distance learning is nothing new in India atleast. There have been televised classrooms on the state broadcaster, as well as on You Tube among other experiments but a total absence from classrooms for both teachers and students courtesy a Pandemic was something new. The Lockdown was announced even when final exams were being held. Exams were postponed, some indefinitely so and in the state of Telangana in south India, the 10th standard board exams (where students get school leaving certificates) the final exams scheduled, and some already underway for March – April 2020 were cancelled giving them promotion pro bono en masse!   That the absence of examinations emphasizes children’s aptitude and moulding of talent is lost on the education system followed in India anyway. But teaching in front of the web c

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Among the unexpected ecological consequences of the breakout of the COVID 19 pandemic have been Re-wilding: We now have a visual record of the return of wild animals into urban landscapes. They had been banished beyond bursting urban areas by the human footprint courtesy 9% GDP growth on the one hand and rabid unplanned urbanisation because of rural unemployment on the other. Re-wildling is indeed a rewarding analysis during COVID Lockdown. Rewilding Not just peacocks snakes and leopards were seen in urban spaces in India, but crocodiles loitered on a beach in distant Mexico.  Wildlife in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in South India, roamed across the National Highway that cleaves it in half - without fear of oncoming vehicles, the  Wildlife Conservation Society  http://wcsindia.org/home/  documented that vehicular accidents involving endangered wildlife had actually decreased during the Lockdown, but also, regrettably that incidents