One year of Lockdown: ‘Annapurna’ proved life-saver for many
Each day 2.8 lakh meals were served for lunch and dinner in GHMC limits through 340 canteens under the State government’s flagship programme
Hyderabad: The Telangana government’s decision to extend its flagship programme of free meals, the Annapurna Scheme, to all the needy people during the lockdown was one of the most crucial moves of the government for those hit by the lockdown and the pandemic.
Reiterating that no one should go hungry, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had directed the GHMC to offer free meals at Annapurna canteens as against the earlier practice of charging Rs 5 per meal. Noticing the hardships of stranded persons during the lockdown, the meals were also served for dinner under the scheme. Vendors and the under-privileged who lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown depended on the free meals.
This initiative was a one-of-its-kind intervention by the State government and resulted in poor and migrant workers not having to go hungry during the pandemic. Impressed by it, other States like Delhi too replicated the same.
The GHMC in association with the Hare Krishna Movement Charitable Trust operates the Annapurna canteens and during the lockdown, more than one crore free meals were served from these canteens. Each day, 1.50 lakh meals were served, with 90,000 for lunch and 60,000 for dinner. This was against the pre-lockdown figure of 40,000 meals a day through 140 canteens, with the figure later going up to 2.8 lakh meals a day for lunch and dinner in GHMC limits through 340 canteens.
The meals also came as a boon for stranded and daily wage earners and also for students who were stuck in the city due to the lockdown. Food packs were also served through mobile Annapurna canteens for people with special needs and senior citizens.
Lockdown Diaries: No lights! No camera! No action!
Hyderabad: As the coronavirus started to spread its tentacles, triggering a lockdown around this time last year, all activities of the entertainment industry came to an abrupt halt. All shootings – from budget movies to those boasting big stars – were cancelled.
The multi-crore ever-bustling film industry that churns out unending content week after week to keep audiences engrossed and entertained faced some uncertain times. For cine staff and daily wagers, lockdown was the part of a year that was passed in fearful confines of four walls. Screenings of films were stalled in theatres, new releases were postponed without further dates and plans. The lockdown pushed Telugu filmmakers and producers into an unforeseen economic crisis.
Although the year 2020 had started with good tidings as both big star movies ‘Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’ and ‘Sarileru Neekevvaru’ that were released in January offered new hope, the dream run, however, was short lived.
“The industry went through tough times facing all odds. Now after one year, it’s good to see we’re back on track. Movies are doing well and audiences are showing their love for cinema as they are coming in droves to theatres,” said actor Allu Sirish.
Post lockdown, it was Sai Dharam Tej’s ‘Solo Brathuku So Better’ that encouraged film goers to head to the theatre for the big screen experience.
Although a few big players backed out from taking a step this early, movies like ‘Krack’, ‘Red’, ‘Alludu Adhurs’ and ‘Uppena’ went on to gain confidence pulling crowds slowly.
While other film industries have been struggling to find their feet, the Telugu movie business started on a positive note with movies like ‘Uppena’ and ‘Jathi Ratnalu’.
Lockdown diaries: Many don the hat of Good Samaritan
Hyderabad: The unprecedented lockdown disrupted everything and lakhs of people were left looking for crucial basics like groceries to ICU beds and more. It initiated a massive crisis that required god-like efforts from people and the government.
But, on the plus side, the lockdown also showed the immense potential of people to rise up to the occasion and serve humanity. As complex as necessities were, so were the solutions and efforts presented by common, everyday people who knew something had to be done in a time when the fear and the paranoia of the pandemic was at its peak. Groceries, blood, plasma, medication, food, PPE kits, digital platforms offering free medical services, transportation and many more were provided by the people, for the people.
Some organisations like Youngistaan Foundation, pooled up all of their resources together and served 1,45,430 meals to daily wage workers in addition to providing groceries to over 15,000 families.
People across the State came out to help those in need.
Individuals like Mahesh Talari mobilised crucial medical commodities like blood, as blood donations had stopped during the lockdown. He utilised the support of Cyberabad and Rachakonda police and raised over 10,000 units of blood, providing 5,000 units to Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Society and 5,000 to Osmania and Gandhi hospitals.
Other individuals and NGOs adopted orphanages during the lockdown, as Anuradha Rao, a child rights activist shares, “we adopted an orphanage and donated groceries for a few months for the children there.”
And many others went the tech way to solve existing issues, like Pallav Bajjuri, managing director of Viven Infomedia says, “The demand for plasma increased drastically. We built a web based platform to connect donors and recipients and enabled over 15,000 plasma donations.”
The silver lining is, humanity has emerged stronger and together.
One year of Lockdown: Resilient IT sector on path to recovery
Hyderabad: With work from home (WFH), digital transformations and new projects in hand, the Information Technology (IT) sector went through a lot of transition in the last one year of the pandemic and the eventual lockdown. However, experts opine that while a few small and mid-size companies may have seen some impact in terms of layoffs and decreasing projects, on an average the IT sector has shown resilience and is on the path to recovery.
“The pandemic and the eventual lockdown were something which we had never thought about. This meant that the companies went through different phases like realising the impact, remediation of the issue, recovery phase and then the growth phase. Currently, the sector is in the third and fourth phase. Technology changes for WFH and to put cyber security practices in place was one of the biggest learning from the lockdown. Cloud migration happened faster and the learnings for the sector in terms of operations was positive,” said Bharani Kumar Aroll, president, Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (Hysea).
One of the major changes the sector saw was the quick adoption to WFH, with almost 95 per cent employees in Hyderabad IT sector shifting to WFH in a matter of few days.
“While there were some glitches initially in terms of hardware and broadband availability, the IT sector was resilient enough to solve it quickly and resume work faster,” said Bipin Chandra Dutt Pendyala, COO, Invenio Business Solutions.
Lockdown Diaries: A bachelor’s life during pandemic
Hyderabad: When lockdown was announced as a decisive step in the fight against the novel coronavirus and as TV channels began flashing it, with WhatsApp messages suddenly pouring in, I knew I was up for something unusual!
The daunting task for any bachelor living alone in such circumstances was finding ways to fill his tummy as s/he is away from family. The same was my case. Every eatery in the city was closed. The buzzword, Pizzas and Pastas, seemed myths of a forgotten past and life was a real struggle.
Youngsters staying away from home faced the brunt of the pandemic after the lockdown was imposed.
How did a bachelor manage such distressing times? I grabbed every biscuit and chips packet that I could find from nearby stores that opened only for a few hours. I also hoarded a lot of packets of instant noodles that turned out to be my saviour. Just munch on biscuits and stir up some noodles, these were my daily diet.
On days when possible, I used to get some vegetables and try my hand at cooking. It was not an easy task as at times the curries ended up with little salt or more oil. However, all those amazing chefs on ‘YouTube’ came to my rescue. The experimentation in the kitchen started with attempts being made to try out every cuisine possible with vegetables and chicken following instructions of the chefs on mobile phone.
I also had long drawn discussions with my mother, friends and acquaintance over the phone for striking the right proportions while cooking my favorite dish.
On the whole, Covid-19 taught me the hardest lessons and made me cherish all those happy moments in my life which I otherwise failed to acknowledge. Caught in life’s cobwebs, here I am, a better man prepared to fight the new mutants of the deadly virus!
Mask Up!
Also read:
Lockdown diaries: Kids started using digital devices more than ever before
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