Covid-19: Work from home tensions run high in world’s biggest quarantine

A communications executive working from his home in Mumbai. Many Indians have historically had little work-from-home experience. All that’s playing a role in bringing productivity to an all-time low as one of the world’s fastest-growing large economies hurtles towards a contraction. — AFP

At the height of India’s coronavirus lockdown last month, an attorney seeking bail for a client in the western state of Rajasthan came up with a novel way to beat the scorching summer heat. He simply appeared before the judge in his undershirt during a hearing conducted from home by video conference.

Incensed by the absence of any formal courtoom garb, the judge adjourned the case, reprimanding counsel for wearing a "baniyan” – the thin white, sleeveless vest meant to be worn as an undergarment.