Till now I have posted about incidents of assault on doctors all over India. 

But today my department is the victim of assault. On death of a patient Anika, patient party physically assaulted two senior residents at Sikkim Manipal Medical College. They slapped the doctors.  We live in fear despite living in the most peaceful state of India, Sikkim.

Even during the Covid period, this is how Covid warriors are being treated.

Will doctors in India ever get justice? Can we ever treat patients without fear of assault?

I hate being a doctor. And thats the truth of every doctor in this country.

This Diwali was not a bright one for me. A week before Diwali, at least a dozen people around me tested positive. Post Diwali, the situation has worsened. Especially in Delhi, the situation has become so bad that the ruling party has been forced to take some strict measures.

However, the virus is still out there, and from the looks of it, it’s here to stay. It’s been 9 months and we are still at a stage where we struggle to find beds in hospitals in case someone tests positive. There’s still no centralised data on availability of beds for patients. If we truly aim to become digital India, now is the best time to do so.

Sign my petition and join me in asking the Central Govt to have a centralised database for crucial information for patients – availability of beds, nearest COVID hospital.

If not now, then when?

Yes, you heard it right! Finally, on November 1st, 2020; the decision in SC came to not charge Interest on Interest from loan burrowers for the moratorium period. This is a historical judgment and will help in not making huge holes in many loan borrowers’ pockets.

I wanted to share with you our journey and so as my final note I write to you all how inspiring and hard the campaign has been!

When I started the Petition on Change.org with #HaltEMIInterest I had loan burrowers who appreciated the efforts. I also had people who were skeptical & played devil’s advocate they said, ‘what I was asking is never going to happen’

I knew I was asking for a lot, but still, I couldn’t be silent. I took the route which was familiar to me and also given the Pandemic; possible. I started this online Petition and within a week almost 15000 people joined me in my ask. Today we are good 37000+ people.

After a week or so, there were PIL being filed in court. I reached out to advocate Amit Sahani was too to let him know that we too are fighting for the same cause. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed.

Shortly, Gajendra Sharma and his team of advocates came into the picture. They took the fight in court which continued for 8 long months. I was in touch with them via Email. Extending stories and highlights from the online campaign. I believe that our online campaign also helped them to showcase that the case is not affecting one person but many!

Meanwhile, moratorium time had gotten extended from 3 months to 6. This was a short victory too!

There was a lot of to and fro in court and articles that were so intimidating pointing out that our ask is going to be in vain. But every one of you and the PIL team in court did not give up on our request for support from RBI, Finance Ministry, and our PM.

And finally, on November 1st, 2020; the decision came. And it was a relief because now at least the Compound Interest will not be levied for the moratorium period. This is a historical judgement and will help in not making huge holes in our pockets as loan burrowers.

Yes, I agree what we had asked was out of the way but it was a valid ask and it paved a way for the government and RBI to rethink how they had levied relief to their customers.

I am grateful to all of you, to those who played devil’s advocate and to the brilliant team of advocates on Gajendra Sharma’s case vs UOI.
Last but not least to @change.orgindia @change.org_hindi for being the platform of Online Activism!

#victory #emimoratorium #ChangeMaker

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well in these tough times. 

Today, I write to you to update on the final direction that the petition has taken. From being charged Interest on Interest during the relief period to waiving the additional cost for this period. 

We certainly had taken a road less travelled as Banks are tough to move when it comes to the interest rate but with your support, this happened.

Have a look at the news article that gives information on the PIL that was filed in Supreme Court.

I would like to thank you all for extending your support on this petition.

We had achieved an extension of moratorium period from 3 months to 6 months and now a victory of not paying extra for the moratorium period!.

Thank you once again!

Meenakshi Gandotra

The worst form of assault is slavery. And the doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital (in New Delhi, the Capital city of India) are subjected to Slavery. Made to work without pay. 

If the salary was just missed due to clerical error, it could have been justified. But here it’s the ego of administrators and ‘babus’. They want to prove they are superior and that they can make you work like slaves without pay. 

Is this not gross administrative Negligence and Human rights Violation? When a doctor can be held for medical negligence, why can’t administrators be held for administrative negligence?

No wonder that the doctors don’t want their children to be doctors. No parent will want their children to be slaves. 

#UnpaidCovidWarriors

Session court has pronounced Death sentence for prime accused Sanjay Rajowar and life imprisonment for 24 others in Dr Deben Dutta lynching case where doctor was brutally assaulted and murdered  after death of a patient alleging delayed treatment.

Let us hope that upper courts dont reverse the decision of lower court.