Skip to main content

The return of pandemic: Controlling spread of disease is harsher for downtrodden


By Bidisha Chattopadhyay*, Sudeshna Roy**
Little did Pandora know while opening the box that she would be the harbinger of diseases and misery. The recorded history of mankind has been dotted with deadly diseases such as plague, cholera, smallpox, leprosy, polio and various pandemic influenza, one of the worst being the ongoing Covid-19 in the recent times. These diseases owing to their contagious nature spread fast leaving no section of the society untouched. These have wreaked havoc killing and disabling people, turning systems upside down. But then all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others; these diseases have affected the marginalised sections of the society relatively more gravely. Historically, the poor, diseased and certain discriminated sections of society have suffered, but more so during the epidemics. The façade of a modern, humane society has been challenged in the present ongoing pandemic as well. The circumstances of the past have been mirrored to a large extent in the current pandemic, albeit with a modern twist.
There have been instances in the history when extreme measures have been taken to control the spread of diseases that has been harsher for the downtrodden. One such case was during the Black Death (Plague) (1347-1352). During this time, some European city-states stopped outsiders from entering their city, particularly merchants, people from minority community such as Jews and lepers. The transit routes were also cordoned off by armed guards (Tognotti, 2013). In the great plague of 1665, the worst since Black Death, London’s poor areas got severely affected owing to unsanitary conditions in these areas. When a family member was affected by plague, the whole house would be sealed off thus condemning the entire household to the disease and in most cases death. The doors of such houses were painted with a red cross with the words “Lord have mercy on us”. 
The rich and those who could afford it fled the city leaving the poor behind to suffer. This was similar to the present Covid-19 situation when in Delhi, houses with quarantining members were marked with stickers and were avoided and stigmatised in the initial days of the pandemic. In this case though, it was the poor who left the city as it became increasingly unaffordable and difficult for them to live in the city with job losses. The disturbing images of stranded migrant labourers at bus and railway terminals sans sanitation and basic essentials during the lockdown period is a stark reminder of the plight of these severely vulnerable population groups who though, critical in providing services for cities are conveniently overlooked in policy and planning.
Another dark era that comes to mind is the spread of Cholera in the 1800s. Cholera, a disease completely new to Europe, reached the continent in 1830, people who had come in touch with sick were quarantined. Measures were adopted to isolate the sick and possible carriers of the contagion were identified. In Naples (1836), prostitutes and beggars were considered to be carriers and not allowed free movement. At that time, cholera was blamed on “Miasma”-noxious air emitted from rotting organic matter (Tognotti, 2013). Cholera epidemic of 1863 was racialized in the West and came to be associated with religious places. The West believed it to spread through the Haj pilgrims going to Mecca from India. The Kumbh mela at Haridwar in 1867 was also indicted for spreading the disease in northern India (Kumbhar, 2020), similar to instances of racializing Covid-19. 
Cases of racial discrimination have streamed in from different continents where residents of Chinese origin have reported discrimination and abuse (Xu. Et al, 2021). In India, the Markaz event, where Muslim believers from all over the world congregated in the initial days of Covid-19 outbreak, was highlighted as a super-spreader event and the community was squarely blamed for the spread of the disease in India. The fervour of blaming a community for spread of Covid-19 in 2020 was matched only with the Indians being blamed for spread of cholera in the 1800s. The Kumbh Mela at Haridwar was again back in the news in 2021 for arguably, being a super-spreader event, but this time the anti-community din was lower compared to the Markaz event in 2020, a testimony to the socio-political climate of the country.
The year 2021 has seen the resurgence of Covid with a vengeance with its multiple strains turning cities into mass graves. The first wave of Covid-19 in India took away livelihood and pushed crores of Indians deeper into poverty. The second wave has been catastrophic, destroying families of the deceased and increasing debt burden of the recovered. It has swept through the cities taking with it the young and the able-bodied this time. The great Indian Middle class has been left gasping for oxygen and beds and we don’t even know the impact on the poor yet. The light at the end of the tunnel- Vaccination against Covid-19 has hit a massive roadblock with insufficient number of vaccines and add to it the way it is being administered; digital literacy and knowledge of English being an important criterion leaving out the teeming millions. It is time to sit back and retrospect on our systems, attitude and behaviour. Who suffers? Who is made the scapegoat? Who benefits? How is that not much has changed in the last hundred years? But, not all is gloomy, there are many positive takeaways as well. Despite all the suffering, strangers have come out to help each other, people have arranged food and clothes for the needy and we may have become more compassionate, not taking things for granted. It seems that it is that one thing that did not escape Pandora’s box that has kept all of us, irrespective of class, creed, caste, race and gender alive- HOPE.
—
*School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India; **Independent Researcher, India

References:

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan   M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan*  An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...
2 comments
»

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative   Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).
Post a Comment
»

Labour unrest in Manesar trigger tensions: Recently enacted labour codes blamed

By A Representative   A civil rights coalition has expressed concern over recent developments in the industrial hub of Manesar in Haryana, where a series of labour actions and police responses have drawn attention. A statement, released by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), said it stood in solidarity with workers in IMT Manesar and other parts of the country, while also alleging instances of police excess during ongoing unrest.
Post a Comment
»