We are in the midst of a pandemic and unseen times. The challenge is huge. People of the world are collectively addressing a common threat. These times call for extra-ordinary courage, intelligent approach, will-power, sacrifice, hard work and above all a greater sense of responsibility and empathy. A collective and united fight is the demand of the hour.
In India we have greater challenges to deal with. A diverse country riddled with poverty and in the midst of an economic slump and huge population to feed this pandemic has exposed us to our weaknesses. Though we have a reasonable health care system it is nowhere near the world standards. Our medical infra-structure will be put to a test if we are not able to arrest the spread of the Covid-19 at the end of the lockdown.
The lockdown has been advocated by many and assuming that it was the need of the hour, the whole country has come forward and supported the 21 -day lockdown. The lockdown itself has now put forward many challenges. The lockdown has opened many more frontiers of battle and challenges. By now the general conclusion is that the lockdown was necessary but its implementation has left a long term negative impact. The energy of the government is now utilized in addressing the difficulties as a result of the unplanned lockdown.
Reports are still pouring in showing the vulnerability of thousands and thousands of workers and daily wage earners. The collective exodus of migrants is the first casualty. The very purpose of the lockdown was lost when the place symbolic of the migrant exodus -the vasant vihar bus station in Delhi saw thousands of workers gathered to go back to their native places. The panic of lockdown and the practical harsh realities of life without their daily income and without any assurances were symbolic of the thoughtless and unplanned implementation of the lockdown. The long walk and many unreported deaths and suicides due to starvation, physical exhaustion and loss of income security were greater than the reported deaths through contraction of Covid 19. The images of workers being sprayed with disinfectants will haunt the administration for all the time to come and will be recorded in history.
The battle for essential items and their shortages in different parts of the nation was another new frontier of battle. This has naturally led to hoarding, black marketing and hiked prices of the essentials. In Goa it appears that those close to the ruling dispensation were given preference over others while issuing passes and permits for voluntary services and delivery of essentials. Here again we saw people making huge lines to collect essentials. Provision stores were shut and many workers were laid off their jobs. Transport sector, fishing labourers, travellers, farming labourers, construction and industrial workers were all directly affected. The first week or more was total chaos. Civil society groups played a vital role in delivering the food to the needy. Many stranded construction labourers and others were taken care of by responsible individuals and groups. Stories of people who stayed hungry for want of money and ration are pouring in.
The economic impact of the lockdown will have far reaching consequences. The already weak and fragile economic scenario has now been dealt with crushing blow. We might take years to recover. Closure of factories meant a break on the supply chains, with all production at a standstill the coming days will expose us to greater challenges. The damages to the economy are irreversible. Mounting unpaid EMI’s of the middle class, loss of income of factory owners, absence of work for the daily wage earner and with no labourers to work on farms and fields the unimaginable challenges lie before us. Funds allocation for tackling covid-19 and launch of a new PM cares fund to fight Covid-19 amidst unequal distribution of funds to states to fight Covid-19 has raised many questions about the need for PM Cares. At a time when many states have asked the central government to release their pending dues, the release of 11092 crores from State Disaster Risk Management Fund is some good news. States have been demanding allocation based on status of cases of Covid-19. Kerala has received only 157 crore with 314 cases and Gujarat with only 122 cases has received 662 crores from Disaster Response Mitigation Funds.
Though WHO declared it as a pandemic only as late as on 11th March 2020 we in India have so far been less affected by the pandemic. Even as late as March 13th the ministry of Health announced that corona virus is not a health hazard. But the question that comes to one’s mind is, could India have been medically better prepared itself when it had nearly two months if not more of advance warning of Covid 19 striking rate across China and Europe. As Corona positive cases are slowly rising in India and because of our social structure and connectivity any sudden increase will make it difficult to contain. With such probabilities should not our medical requirements like safety kits for our first line of defence, the doctors and nurses have been procured in advance? We are in the eleventh day of lock down and there are too many reports from the ground to be ignored that our doctors are facing shortage of safety suits. Masks and sanitizers are still unavailable. The Global Health Security Index 2019 ranked India at 57th position among 100 countries on a scale to gauge the preparedness for outbreak of infectious diseases. Shortage of hospital beds, health care equipments, quarantine facilities, Covid test kits and diagnostic preparedness, in the case we follow the China trajectory of infection rates , are starting at us..
Though the corona virus originated in Wuhan it did not take long for it to spread across the world. Though nobody blamed China for it, all understood it as a challenge before the people of the world. It spread across countries and India too. India declared a junta curfew from 7 am to 9 pm on 22nd March and immediately thereafter for a 21-day lockdown to restrict its spread. The people of India cooperated whole heartedly but the administration treated it as a law and order problem instead of as a humanitarian crisis. Videos went viral of police mercilessly beating those who had ventured out to procure basic necessities of life. Many who had travelled to different parts of the country were stranded and put in a difficult situation. Citizens had only less then 4 hours to prepare for a 21 day lockdown. Human rights abuses at a time when ordinary daily wage earners who do not have fridges or even money to stock up provisions , venture out to procure rations for their family is unacceptable.
The Modi-regime has put to test the secular ethos of the country. The past six years has seen the gradual erosion of the institutions of democracy. The Covid -19 was breather for Modi government which was under tremendous pressure by a united opposition by the people of India for the 2019 amendments to the Citizenship Act 1955 along with NRC and NPR. The lethal combination of CAA -NRC-NPR helped the ruling party to expand, consolidate and pander to its support base. The lies, misleading statements and continuous hate campaign by the government during the CAA NRC NPR protests was again repeated as soon as a scapegoat was identified to pin the blame for the multiple failures in the fight against the Covid-19. The scapegoat was perfectly suited to their larger agenda of divisive politics. The detection of positive cases of Covid-19 among Tablighi Jamaat delegates who were stranded after attending a conference held at its Central office located at Nizamuddin in Delhi was a perfect ruse to change the attention of the nation from mismanagement to Islamophobia. Without any wastage of time it let loose a huge troll army to shift the focus from lockdown crisis to islamophobic agenda. Electronic, print and social media platforms were flooded with reports accusing and blaming Tablighi Jamaat.
Ever since the Tablighi Jamaat was made the scapegoat the more relevant questions that were being raised regarding the government preparation against the war on Covid-19 have gone neglected. Questions such as: Did India delay declaring Covid -19 has a health hazard, was India too preoccupied with Namaste Trump to take notice of the preparation for the developing Pandemic, and why are doctors not provided with adequate numbers of safety kits?
Could more effective steps have been taken? Was the lockdown the only option? Is a lockdown sufficient to fight Covid -19? The W.H.O Director General on 24 th March 2020 stated that only lockdown is not sufficient. The answer to these questions will be different depending on how the things turn out at the end of the lock down. While the immediate decision for lockdown needs to be appreciated but the unfortunate misjudgment that India is a formal and urban country, implementing European model of lockdown lead to untold difficulties on the poor and migrant category. We hope that in the coming days we are free of the corona virus and for that our government and citizens will have to adopt an intelligent approach instead of only symbolism.
