Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

June 16, 2021
sumi_gupta

It gives me immense joy and pride to introduce Tatsat Chronicle to our readers. After months of planning in these difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our dedicated editorial team, contributors and designer have produced a path-breaking magazine that focuses exclusively on the social sector in India. It’s an established fact that the social sector impacts the lives of millions of people in India. It’s one of the biggest generators of direct and indirect employment and plays a critical role in the last mile delivery of goods and services. A vast component of the State’s social obligation towards the people is delivered by a cross-section of social organisations—both governmental and non-governmental. In addition, after CSR became a mandatory compliance under the Companies Act, 2013, the corporate sector has steadily expanded its activities in this domain.

The main objective of the magazine you are reading at the moment is to inform, engage, debate, highlight and stimulate readers with ideas, case studies and well-researched insights, covering the entire gamut of social sector activities in India. Overall, Tatsat Chronicle will offer a deep-dive into the rapidly evolving social sector space which is vastly underreported in the mainstream media. It’s this gap that Tatsat Chronicle intends to bridge. The print magazine will have a monthly frequency, while its enhanced digital avatar (tatsatchronicle.com) will be updated with news, analysis, opinion, insight, and blogs on a daily basis.

In the inaugural issue, we have critically examined the functioning of India’s vast clinical trials industry. Given the way vaccines, certain drugs and treatment protocols have been fast-tracked by the regulatory authorities in order to tackle the serious health crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, several moral and ethical questions arise that impact the lives and safety of millions of patients. For long, experts have been demanding greater transparency and accountability from Indian drug regulators.

We have tried to understand which social sectors have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Our conclusion, after sifting through a mountain of data, is that India’s vast informal labour sector, education, food security and healthcare were worst affected by Covid-19. Besides, CSR spends have also taken a serious hit due to a massive slowdown in the economy. So, what is the way forward to emerge from the rubble left behind by this pandemic? Maybe through community building, as our expert column suggests.

I hope you will enjoy reading the first issue of Tatsat Chronicle. Send us your feedback, because for us engaging with our readers is a cornerstone of our editorial philosophy.