Gayatri Khutale has been surveying community coronavirus outbreaks without a break for 132 days – speaking to more than 13,200 households and counting. An error in her work could throw off efforts to trace people who have been in contact with infected individuals and put an entire community at risk.
After more than four months, Ms Khutale, 40, continues her work, phoning around sources for updates in a role that requires detective-like vigilance.
“I’ve got to be extra careful,” she says, as stigma, economic necessity and misinformation are making people hide or not report symptoms.
She is one of the government's 970,000 Accredited Social Health Activists (Asha) – the women front-line community health workers and the backbone of rural India’s health care system – working to contain the community transmission of Covid-19 across about 600,000 villages.
Asha workers are implementing a key part of the health ministry's plan to contain the coronavirus, tracking down confirmed and suspected coronavirus patients as well as those that they have been in contact with. Workers keep careful records and raise awareness by word of mouth and pamphlet.
Ms Khutale began surveying villages on March 22, covering at least 100 households a day. But she says people often conceal symptoms for fear of being ostracised by the community or losing their livelihood.
To get around it, Asha workers often seek information from neighbours instead.
One man in her village in the Kolhapur district of western India’s Maharashtra state, travelled 15 miles for a swab test, instead of heading to the nearest centre less than a mile away.
"None of us knew he got a swab test and was asked to quarantine. Secretly, he found a room on the outskirts and after 10 days, his father contacted me asking if he could return," she told The National.
“How do we contact trace when people hide the details?” she asks. “People only contact us when things become extremely severe.”
Asha employees are required to maintain meticulous records – if surveys are not updated daily, their salary could be cut from around 3000 to 5000 rupees (Dh146-Dh244).
Even when people do admit to having symptoms, “no one wants to get a swab test done,” Ms Khutale says, “Because contracting Covid is considered a taboo.”
The stigma around the virus, fears of the economic impact of quarantine and rampant disinformation make life difficult for Asha workers, who sometimes face verbal and physical abuse as they make their rounds.
Misinformation that eating chicken causes coronavirus has cost the Indian economy millions of dollars a day, according to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Another piece of widely held misinformation is that gaumutra, or cow urine, is a cure for coronavirus. This culminated in a gaumutra party in India’s capital of New Delhi by a far-right group.
Netradipa Patil, an activist and an Asha worker, said another woman was recently dragged by her hair and manhandled by a politician from the community who took exception to her survey questions.
“What was her fault? She was doing her duty,” says Ms Patil, who added that little action is taken to protect the Asha workers.
In the Shirol block of Kolhapur, where she carries out surveys, a local politician’s relative hid their travel history, putting the entire community at risk.
When Ms Patil enquired further, she was shouted at and insulted. “We are used to abuse and foul language,” she says.
As of July 30, India recorded more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a 10-week lockdown on March 24, halting the movement of 1.3 billion people and shutting down economic activity across the country.
In that time, 122 million people lost their jobs and millions were pushed into poverty, putting further pressure on the country’s health workers.
Alongside the extra Covid-19 workload, Asha employees continue their regular duties, which include advising on pregnancy and family planning, providing contraceptives, medicines and vaccinations and keeping track of newborns.
“All the trust and goodwill we earned with our service in now converted into this humiliation,” Ms Patil says.
Many carry out the additional work at considerable risk to themselves. According to Ms Patil, several Asha workers conducted Covid-19 surveys for at least for three months without any personal protective equipment.
“We were given 20 cloth masks in May. As the patients increased, we demanded at least four N95 masks – we got only 1-2.”
Relying on such minimal gear can be dangerous. Nine Asha workers recently tested positive in the Kolhapur district.
Manisha Chavan, 41, another Asha worker from rural Kolhapur, who has carried out surveys for four months with only a cloth mask for protection says they were only given PPE one when the first case was recorded in the area. Within a day, her village recorded five more cases, risking the entire community.
Physical distancing can be extremely difficult in some of India’s more crowded villages.
Many of these communities rely on agriculture that has since collapsed as farmers are unable to sell their harvest during lockdown. Falling demand for milk and dairy products has affected the livelihood of millions. Milk consumption in India fell by 25-30 per cent between April and May.
For some, a 14-day quarantine could lead to starvation, forcing people to hide symptoms so they can work and survive.
Now, the Asha staff talk of little but the virus.
“For us, now the good night message has changed to the news of people quarantined and good morning message is how many of them tested positive,” Ms Khutale says.
How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
• Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You can do this by earning more, or being frugal. Better still, do both.
• Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.
• Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.
• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.
• Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.
• Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.
• Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.
• Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Results
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Aatebat Al Khalediah, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Dubai Avenue, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: My Catch, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Secret Ambition, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Golden Goal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
