A year after: A nation altered by the viral second wave
India has the highest seven-day Covid-19 case trajectory seen in any country and the grim distinction of most single-day infections in any country ever since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. With a dearth of key drugs, beds and the return of restrictions across major cities, the nation is coping with its own contradictions.
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
For the 40-year-old housewife Shrijamol from Kaniyambetta, Wayanad, it is an everyday struggle managing the household and a school-going son on her mother’s meagre widowers’ pension. Separated from her husband for over three years now, she is hoping to benefit from the promise that political parties in Kerala made recently as an election plank: A monthly pension to housewives aged between 40-60. The need to recognise the burden of housework on women has been an issue for long, limited to women’s and progressive movements. The burden became even more striking during the lockdown, when families became homebound.
