COVID-19

For the past few months, India has been at the centre of a devastating breakdown of public health institutions and is currently experiencing a severe public health crisis due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As the second wave of COVID-19 hits Indian cities, rural India is also experiencing a rise in numbers, which could become a catastrophe of unimaginable scale if ignored. In response, DEF has launched an ICT-enabled and community-specific relief programme.

In September 2020, our research on the State of Internet Freedom in Africa established that the ultimate effect of the measures instituted in fighting COVID-19 was that they had deepened the democracy deficit in several African countries.

Delivery workers in India are generally paid per delivery. Food delivery platforms term the delivery worker “independent contractors’’ or “delivery partners’’. Delivery workers are not considered traditional “employees”. The report follows Anand Kumar, a delivery worker for Swiggy and Zomato. 

Daiane Araujo dos Santos discusses the link between popular education and community networks, and argues that class, race and gender should be part of the analysis in the implementation of autonomous infrastructure and technical training dedicated to digitally excluded communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spike in gender-based violence in India. Helplines and digital tools have been used to reach out to survivors, given the absence of physical services. But women who can't use phones, email or social media are most likely to be entirely excluded from these systems.

Brindaalakshmi. K shares her experience of working with community networks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in India and the importance of independent community networks as a support mechanism for gender and sexual minorities.

This new report jointly published by the Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet and the Institute for Digital Rights summarises digital rights violations during the response to COVID-19 in South Korea.