The Economist - USA (2020-09-05)

The EconomistSeptember 5th 2020 Asia 31

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T

he statisticslanded like fists in a one-

two punch. First came the news that In-

dia had counted 78,000 new cases of co-

vid-19 on August 30th alone—more than

any other country has tallied in a single day

since the pandemic began. The next day

came the bill for the two-month lockdown

that the government imposed in late March

at only four hours’ notice. The National

Statistical Office said that India’s output

between April and June was 23.9% lower

than in the same period the year before.

India had never recorded a quarter of

negative growth since it began issuing

such data publicly in 1996. No other big

economy has shrunk so much during the

pandemic. In the same period America’s

gdpfell by 9.1%. India’s economy had been

stumbling before covid-19. But what had

seemed a dismally low rate of growth in

2019 is now the stuff of fond memory.

In hindsight, India’s government may

have locked down too soon. The country

had detected barely 600 cases of covid-19

by March. The ban on commercial activity

and movement outside of the home was

nearly total for two months. Test-and-trace

programmes worked in some areas, nota-

bly the southern state of Kerala, but nation-

wide they have fallen far short of the stan-

dards set by some East Asian countries.

Hospitals rushed to get ventilators and free

up beds in intensive care, but they were

starting from a woefully low level. India

had 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people;

South Korea had more than 16 times as

many. Lacking health care, people resorted

to makeshift remedies. Around 140m peo-

ple were thrown out of work. Millions

trudged on foot to ancestral villages.

The pain was so great that hardly any-

one can stomach the thought of reimpos-

ing strict controls, even though infections

are rising more swiftly than ever. Public

transport is resuming this month. Public

gatherings are to be subject to looser rules.

Eventually schools will reopen. An edict

declares that state and municipal govern-

ments may no longer impose stricter rules

than the central government. Kerala, once

a model for the rest of the country, has been

unable to stop travellers from other Indian

states bringing the virus with them. It is

now counting over 1,000 new cases a day.

The number of Indians dying of the vi-

rus appears to be lower than might be ex-

pected, given the number of infections.

The country’s 3.8m detected cases have led

DELHI

The economy shrinks by a quarter as

the virus gathers pace

Covid-19 in India

Double whammy

“N

ot allheroeswearcapes,”de-

clares the trailer for a new Paki-

stani television series. Some wear bur-

kas. The stars of “Churails”—which

means “Witches” in Urdu—are a gang of

female avengers who wield fists and

hockey sticks in anger. They dispense

rough justice to abusive and philander-

ing men.

Sara is a lawyer who gives up her

career for her husband before discov-

ering that the rotter has sent explicit

messages to scores of women. Jugnu

plans weddings for rich couples, and

happens to be an alcoholic. Batool served

20 years in prison for murdering her

husband, who was a paedophile. Zubaida

has long suffered under a domineering

and violent father.

Thrown together by chance, the quar-

tet run a secret agency that aims to help

wronged women exact revenge. They use

a clothes shop in Karachi as a front for

their activities. The heroines drink,

swear and take drugs. There are lesbian

characters and a trans one.

Female characters in Pakistan’s televi-

sion dramas are often depicted as help-

less damsels. Their conflicts are usually

with children, mothers-in-law or rivals

in romance. Lately tv producers have

sought to introduce more challenging

themes, such as rape and child abuse, but

advertisers and channel bosses are not

keen.“Themostrefreshing thing about

‘Churails’ was that it was completely

uncensored,” says Aamna Haider Isani, a

journalist who covers entertainment for

The News, a Pakistani daily. One enthusi-

astic reviewer called it a “feminist mas-

terpiece”. Another hailed “a monumental

moment for representation”.

Asim Abbasi, the show’s creator and

director, who lives in Britain, explains

that he “wanted to tell a story that was

authentic to women I know and to the

society I know”. He is able to do so be-

cause “Churails” is airing over a web-

streaming service, instead of a television

channel. It was created for the Urdu-

language unit of Zee5, an Indian video-

on-demand service. Going digital “allows

us to take risks”, says Mr Abbasi.

Pakistan has no domestic streaming

services, but Zee5, Netflix and Amazon

are all gaining users. Lockdowns im-

posed to fend off covid-19 have helped to

boost subscriptions. Ms Isani says her

children no longer watch conventional

television channels. “They say, ‘Why are

you watching the same woman cry day

after day?’” That tv-streaming young-

sters are now watching completely dif-

ferent things to channel-hopping elders

may explain why “Churails” has not

provoked more of a backlash. Many

conservative Pakistanis have yet to

discover it.

Noshrinkingviolets

Feminism in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD

A drama about female vigilantes breaks taboos

Shining a spotlight on a different sort of woman