The disparity among the masses makes the downtrodden people more vulnerable
Till the untoward dissemination of Coronavirus in India, the economic prosperity and healthcare developments were often considered complementary to each other. During the COVID pandemic, empirical corroborations show the gap between the two has not narrowed down, resulting in lopsided development. Every year, the Union and State Governments while appropriating their annual finances accord utmost priority toward superficial sectors or ancilliary enterprises ie insurance sector and proffer marginal policy attention to our medical and health care sectors. It is appalling that since Independence, the percentage-based monetary allocation in healthcare development had never exceeded two per cent of the overall financial allocations. Consequently, it results in a displeasing growth of certain sectors accompanied by social disparity caused by the whopping expenses incurred by the majority of our population in meeting the basic medicinal requirements at private hospitals. This disparity makes the downtrodden masses vulnerable in the spheres of human resource development, in seeking adequate health care benefits from the State. Ergo, the plunder bund-like insurance companies exploit them at their own whims and fancies, which in turn eclipses the economic development and ultimately takes lives of thousands of people in our country due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure.This pandemic has inadvertently helped our economy in highlighting the existing infrastructure lacunaein the medical and healthcare industry. Due to the glaring deficiency of an adequate infrastructure and sufficient human resource in the public hospitals, the most sought-after health care schemes such as Ayushman Bharat have also failed to meet the legitimate medicinal demands of the masses during the times of the pandemic. A report published in a leading daily newspaper highlights that barely 10 per cent of the Ayushman Bharat cardholders could take the benefit of this centrally sponsored scheme.
We have witnessed that ICUs, ventilators, availability of RT-PCR facilities, oxygen cylinders, cardiac monitors for operation theatres, electrocardiogram machines, adequacy of beds available, vaccines, ancillary medicines and steroids, vertical transport facilities, staff and most importantly sufficient number of doctors were also inadequate in most of the healthcare institutions. Scarcity of testing facilities and vaccines erodes the utility of rural and government hospitals and bulldozes the poor patients to hasten to distant places for availing urgent treatment. It can be said that the genesis of this problem accentuated in the year 1991 when our country adopted the LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) policy. Since then the government allowed the private sector to take a lead in the health care industry and thereby the state in a gradual manner withdrew from its responsibilities for providing adequate health care means to the masses. This stunted public sector spending on medical services, resulting in excessive reliance upon the private sector in seeking health care benefits. The government needs to realize the fact that the private sector operates in a profit-centric manner and they will not take necessary initiatives to reach the masses at the grass root level. Presently in the rural areas, there are only 0.6 doctors per 1,000 population. A pure mercenary approach in the medicinal industry and inception of users’ charges in healthcare sectors have placed the people at a disadvantage. Equilibrium in appropriating budgetary allocation between other sectors of our economy and the healthcare sector is a very crucial policy decision, which our country urgently needs to address for saving the lives of thousands of people who are dying due to the pandemic. Earmarking adequate precedence to the health care sector has also become non-negotiable in the present scenario.
(The writer is the Managing Partner, Ishanee Sharma Law Offices, and works towards achieving gender justice and freedom of speech. The views expressed are personal.)
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It is an inevitable, irreversible fact. Also, it hides within itself the potential of biological research and its unique opportunities for humanity
While ushering in the era of the biological revolution one cannot fail to notice that one of the biggest ironies in biology is that microbes, which are the oldest self-replicating organisms on earth and which were among the last to be discovered, have largely been ignored. This is evident from the present crisis of the Coronavirus, which has devastated half of the world and has brought it almost to the brink of disaster, partly because of the late discovery of microbes and techniques of genome sequencing.
The lack of attention to micro-organisms is largely due to our observational bias. We tend to ignore what we cannot see. This predisposition allowed us to make great progress in astronomy observing visible objects billions of miles away from us, long before we could appreciate the role of bacteria and viruses on this planet. Life on earth is much more than there are plants. Our inherent knowledge gaps about viruses & microorganisms have brought us to the present-day crisis.
Hence, biological revolution is inevitable. The following facts expose us to the ongoing revolutionary and unprecedented biological research and its unique opportunities.
Microbes have evolved into a complex nanomachine even capable of splitting water via energy from the sun, billions of years ahead, than terrestrial plants. There is only one existing prokaryotic type of bacteria capable of producing oxygen without the sun — the cyano bacteria. We have yet to discover its mechanism.
If one happens to look to the list of noble laureates in the last decade one cannot fail to notice that most of the noble prizes even for physics and chemistry have gone for their study on solving the biological riddle. Several aspects of the mystery of biology are still to be unravelled. Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee of New York University observed that though cancer research started earlier than space travel, cancer is still an unconquerable ‘emperor of maladies’. It is no surprise that MIT, an institution known for engineering and technology has changed its focus to molecular biology and some of its faculty members have even won noble prizes for their research on cell biology.
Dr Bruce H Lipton of Wisconsin University and subsequently at Stanford University, USA, in his ground-breaking work, has discovered how cell mechanisms receive and process information in the cell through the critical cell membrane. The cell membrane through its receptor and integral protein that serves as an antenna sends signals from the outside environment. The implication of this research will radically change our understanding of life. It shows that genes and DNA are controlled by signals from outside through the cell membrane. This research in cell biology and quantum physics is being hailed as a breakthrough showing that behaviour can be changed as we train our thinking. Thoughts and minds’ energy directly influence how the physical brain controls the body’s physiology. Mental ‘energy’ can activate or inhibit the cells’ function to produce proteins.
Biologists in collaboration with biochemists, biophysicists are working hard to cutting-edge research on most of the areas of the burning issues to meet the demands of the growing population that consumes more and more transportable forms of stored energy. Scientists are turning to alternative sources of renewable energy like solar, hydro, wind and tide. But our energy needs are still not being met because of their intermittent supply and time difference between their production and demand. The alternative renewable energies are getting cheaper, better all the time. However, we are yet to find a way to store these energies ineffective, cheap, reliable ways, without much creation of waste.
If biologists can devise a battery that allows overcoming intermittency problems inherent in solar, wind, and other renewable sources, we could use clean and abundant sources to meet all our energy needs.
The battery converts chemical energy to electrical energy by moving electrons from one metal to another. Electrons are tiny negatively charged particles. The copper-zinc plates form positive and negative poles. It conducts the electric current. It can go as long as all the electrons get transferred. Thus, a battery is an energy transportation device. When the battery is discharged, we use electricity to charge.
Dr Angela Belcher, materials scientist at MIT, is evolving viruses into variants that could organize non-biological materials such as gallium arsenide and silicon for semiconductors. Her experiment gave her confidence to build new tools to build batteries. She found that metals and metal oxides worked particularly well. Viruses do not have cell walls or any structural elements. It is a protein capsule with DNA / RNA. She found that viruses-building elements could be used to make electrodes that can open a door to clean and efficient, new way for making batteries. Her next step is a virus-based state of art battery, but could this battery take the form of a dashboard, seat cover, door panel? Nobody knows.
Until recently, it was undisputed that cell membrane itself is a medium for exchange of water from cells and outside. Dr Peter Agre, molecular biologist at John Hopkin’s Institute, in 1980 while purifying Rh protein from red blood cell membranes to identify it made a discovery that the membrane has Rh protein that works as a gate and alters a particular substance vehicle with a pass to allow entry into the cell. These proteins are known as aquaporins.
Starting with a large volume of the red blood cells, he separated the cell membrane from the rest of its content. Next, he carefully isolated Rh protein from other present proteins. We all need fresh water to survive but it is only five per cent of the total water volume of the earth. Most of it is in ice sheets and the soil.
Hence, water purification is critical for human survival. This discovery will use cell proteins of the cell membrane to purify water. We now know the whole family of aquaporin found in virtually all organisms on earth. A particular amino acid occupies a particular pattern of location and pattern.
Contrary to the theory by a famous economist, Thomas Robert Malthus, the world would be engulfed by war, famine and pestilence, but the convergence of biology and engineering is giving us great hope that we can avoid the gloomy future. How to bring together researchers from the fields of science for a collaborative effort in bioengineering by encouraging national investment in fundamental research that motivates scientists to work in interdisciplinary areas.
For all this to happen we must have convergence-minded policies and international collaboration in the field of biology, where scientists and technologists can work on a platform to defer the sixth mass extinction of Holocene or Anthropocene.
The writer is an advisor to Amity School of Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Uttar Pradesh. The views expressed are personal.
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There’s a host of implications emanating from the withdrawal of American troops from that country, and India needs to watch out
The latest available estimates of the number of people, mostly schoolgirls, killed in three blasts in front of a co-educational school in Kabul on May 8, vary from at least 60 (BBC) to over 85 (CNN). The figure may rise further by the time this column is published. The diabolical intent to kill as many as possible is clear from the fact that a car bomb was first detonated and two improvised explosive devices followed as the girls rushed out of the school in panic.
Two questions arise. Who is behind this ghastly crime? What are its implications? As to the first, no one has claimed responsibility. The Afghan Government has blamed the Taliban, which has denied involvement and condemned the strike. This leaves one with the Islamic State, which has staged terror attack in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan and which retains its ability to strike despite losing a great deal of territory over the months.
The Taliban are the more likely culprits. There is no reason why one should believe them, particularly when the May 8 blasts have to be seen in the background of the surge in their attacks and terror strikes following President Joe Biden’s announcement that all American troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11. They know they will not win an election and they do not believe in democracy. They want to control Afghanistan by force and establish the Sharia rule.
Will they be able to do it? What will happen if they do? The answer to the first would depend on the fighting qualities of the Afghan National Security and Defence Forces (ANDSF), the support they continue to receive from the US and its NATO allies. As to the first, despite serious problems of desertion and unwillingness to enlist, the Afghan National Army (ANA), the land warfare arm of the ANDSF, has emerged a battle-hardened force capable of confronting the Taliban and other terrorist organisations it faces. Its commando and special forces units have been particularly successful.
Against this, the harsh fact is that the Taliban have expanded their control over huge tracts of Afghanistan’s countryside and some cities, besides inflicting a number of heavy defeats on the Afghan troops. At least some of the reverses the latter suffered the beginning of 2020 are attributable to the Trump administration’s atrocious policies. These included asking the Government forces early in 2020 to go on the defensive in the interest of its peace negotiations with the Taliban, and arm-twisting it into agreeing to the Taliban demand of releasing 5,000 of their fighters in Afghan jails as a pre-condition for talks. Many of the released fighters have gone back to combat despite the Taliban’s promise that they would not do so.
The Taliban, however, began gaining ground even before the Trump Administration’s policies and pressures hampered the ANDSF’s operations. Also, while the capabilities of the Afghan troops have improved, a big question mark hangs against the future availability of effective air support, which has played an important role in many of the ANA’s successful operations. According to one estimate, 80 to 90 per cent of the air support to it is now provided by the fledgling Afghan Air Force (AAF).
The AAF, however, has been supported by the massive air power of the US. Also, international contractors, now doing the bulk of the maintenance work on its planes and helicopters, will depart with the American troops. This will seriously affect its operational capabilities. This underlines the importance of continued American aid. On July 7, 2012, Hillary Clinton, then US Secretary of State, announced in Kabul that President Obama had designated Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally of the US. The questions are: How much and of what kind?
Apart from military hardware, there is a need for funds. Countering a blend of insurgency and terrorism is a very expressive business. The US has provided over $86 billion as security assistance to Afghanistan between financial years 2002 and 2019. Since 2014, it has been providing between five and six billion dollars per year to fund the ANDSF. How much and what form of assistance will Washington provide Afghanistan after the withdrawal of its troops?
Clearly, the military outcome in Afghanistan hangs in the balance. So does the fate of Afghanistan. All indications are that the Taliban have every intention to re-impose the medieval, authoritarian theocratic system that had reduced Afghanistan to a cleric-administered prison. As Ahmed Rashid wrote in Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, edicts of the Taliban’s Department of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice “had changed the lifestyles of Kabul’s once easy-going population and forced Afghan women to disappear from public view”.
India needs to watch out. As the diversion to Kandahar of the Indian Airlines hijacked Flight IC-814 in December 1999 showed, the Taliban were actively promoting terrorism against it by Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Do we have a coherent policy to meet the challenge?
(The author is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal.)
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Herd immunity is one thing; India needs to do a lot more to protect its people from the pandemic
The COVID-19 vaccination drive in India appears to be wafting in the air with a mind of its own. Never an easy task, what with a billion people to be vaccinated in time to avoid a third surge of the virus, the exercise is taking time even to take off. Whether it is owing to gigantic nature of the task at hand or the scattered nature of the vaccination management plan, one is not sure. The bare facts of the case, if the pandemic is to be brought under control at the very least by the end of this year, are before us. Scientists believe a minimum of 70 per cent of the population needs to be vaccinated for the herd immunity to set in. In India, that means the immunity can be achieved if nearly 94 crore people receive both doses of the vaccine. At two doses each, that calls for 188-odd crore doses. That is a tall order. Even if one were to scale down the vaccination to one dose under the assumption that it is better to give at least half protection to all than complete protection to only a few, even then, just under a 100 crore doses are needed. Where to get the doses from? How long will it take to acquire them? How long will it take to complete the vaccination process? If, at the end, it is only one dose that is given, an identical task stares at the country for giving the second dose.
Bear in mind that all this is for vaccinating only 70 per cent of the population. That means just about a third of the population will be left high and dry unless they largely constitute children who are yet to come under the purview of vaccination. The Serum Institute of India has said it will be in a position to produce 10 crore doses a month after July. One can assume that Bharat Biotech can produce anywhere between five and six crore doses a month after July. Zydus Cadila and Dr Reddy’s Labs will be able to pitch in with three-odd crore doses a month. That can stretch the total figure of available doses per month close to 20 crore by August 2021 or thereabouts. That leaves five months till December to complete the task of giving around 100 crore doses. There are reports that are not so confident; they contend that the task may actually take over two or even three years. In any case, assuming the exercise ends by December, a population of 94-odd crore will receive one effective dose or half of them will get two doses each, as the case may be. The result is there for all to see: It is simply impossible to achieve herd immunity before the end of 2021 unless 188 crore doses are available at once and an unprecedented, organised, synchronised, national campaign is undertaken to complete the process in five months. The question to the Centre goes abegging: Where is the plan?
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It’s time for all of us to come together and fight the pandemic selflessly
It was towards the end of 2019 that the unknown disaster struck the globe in the form of Covid-19 and since then researchers and scientists have been burning midnight oil to find out how and where it started and how it spread. An answer eludes us even today. The pandemic created havoc around the world, the damages to industry and economies are still being assessed, the world has taken a hit and many countries are still trying to recover from the shock. Now, the second wave has hit the world community with a vengeance and the havoc it has created is worse than the first wave. It is upto the scientific community to quickly analyse how long the present wave will last. During the first wave, thanks to technology, it did not take long for mankind to shift to alternate means of survival and sustain business operations. The education system promptly went into the online mode that has now become the primary mode of teaching. It didn't take long to start virtual laboratory sessions and even the examinations were held online so as to recoup lost offline sessions and save an academic year. Work from home became the name of the office game, allowing people to run offices and businesses through virtual workshops, seminars and conferences without having to travel at all. Shopping has more or less become an online phenomenon to avoid visits to crowded markets, food too is ordered online like never before and sensing the demand for delivered food, entrepreneurs have expanded the cuisines and culinary fare available for the consumers.
There has been a decline in some businesses in the organised and unorganised sectors, but then many new entrepreneurs have also sprung up ushering in new a wave of innovative ideas. Products such as PPEs, masks and ventilators and many more are being made and subjected to innovations, while those never manufactured in the country are being exported in under a year. The innovations and new systems, however, eluded the country's medical care apparatus with the health workers struggling to cope up with the pandemic and trying to put their best foot forward to ensure it contained as quickly as possible and ensuring that people respect safety norms and wear masks, maintain social distancing and wash their hands regularly.
The public healthcare system is bursting at the seams and politicising has only made it worse. This is something to be guarded guard against lest it demoralise the nation. Humanitarian aid is coming from various quarters, including from religious communities, offering volunteer services to provide free food at ‘langars’, free oxygen supplies and even beds in urgently erected centres. There are also disturbing scenes of over-burdened front line health workers overwhelmed by the scale of the surge. Equally disturbing are reports of black marketing of essential drugs and oxygen, fake admissions, fake medicine and medical equipment. All this adds up to a bizarre situation where the conscience of those indulging in these practices seems to have died. The need of the hour is for everyone to come together keeping politics at bay and fight the pandemic selflessly. Life, not money, is valuable as it will never come back. There is also the need to have a positive mind, it is no small achievement that despite a massive increase in positive cases, the recoveries are also in big numbers.
(The author is Group Pro Vice-Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh. The views expressed are personal.)
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As India reels under the impact of the second wave of COVID-19, the sense of anger and helplessness among the nation’s citizens is only growing
On January 16, 2021, India had rolled out its vaccine campaign. The country rejoiced, more so, because these were Indian made vaccines, a tribute to all our researchers and a strong endorsement of India’s capabilities in the field of medicines. As the phase-wise vaccine programme began, there was a lack of transparency as to how the policy will work — how would the States be allotted the vaccines, would they be free, what is the stock that Indian government has procured and how the supply chain will be handled. However, the cases were falling, there was normalcy returning and there was immense hope that we will overcome the scourge of pandemic with vaccination rollout.
As the phase-wise vaccination started, India first saw vaccine hesitancy and there was wastage being reported from some States. At the same time India began the noble Vaccine Maitri initiative, everyone welcomed it, secure in the belief that the government was in control and had adequate supplies of the vaccine. The Budget Session saw an increasing feeling of having conquered the deadly virus with all ministers in the cabinet praising the Prime Minister for having planned like a vishwaguru, increasingly the chorus of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam also started being frequently thrown at the opposition members who questioned the quantity available with India versus those exported, my parliamentary question included. Globally all nations began to place advance orders to vaccine manufacturing companies and built a stockpile for their citizens as early as May, 2020. India only began to purchase from the first week of January, 2021. In the Union Budget the Finance minister with a lot of fanfare announced an allocation of 35000 crore rupees exclusively for Covid vaccine and said would not hesitate to allocate more if the need arises.
The horror that was unfolding parallelly in Maharashtra sounded an alert to the central government that they were seeing an onset of second wave and had been working to reduce the impact but would need the support from the Central government. These alerts would not come in the way of BJP leaders applauding the PM for his leadership in ending COVID, the Health Minister from saying that it was the endgame for COVID in India. All this while the National Task Force was not even consulted nor a meeting convened. The Election Commission, not to be outdone, went ahead and declared an election festival in five States with a perfunctory warning of maintaining covid protocols. Oblivious of the fact that the virus was uncontrollable, leaders were busy addressing election rallies. The numbers kept rising, shortage of medical equipment and medicine continued to be flagged but the ministers weren't bothered then but are now busy sharing professional videos to show the work they are doing. Remember, with the Indian Epidemic Act the Centre has an overriding control over the States despite health being a state subject.
The tsunami of second wave hit us hard and we are still reeling because of the impact. The country has been a witness to a total collapse at the Centre, all Ministers having reduced themselves to trolls and any suggestion or feedback being met with an unfortunate, political and whataboutery reply. The ivory tower that they have been confined to refuses to see the death and destruction- they refuse to acknowledge the scale of the problem or the deaths the second wave has left in its wake. We still do not know the number of dead, our crematoriums are full, new places are being identified to carry out cremations. There are queues to cremate our dead, there are queues for oxygen supply, there are queues for vaccination, there are queues for beds. The most tragic scenes are being reported from our villages that do not even have basic medical support — forget the ventilators that are needed to save lives —and the bodies of the dead are being disposed of in the rivers. The government unfortunately is not firefighting with a coherent response to the pandemic but is rather concentrating its energy on "setting a positive narrative" because the foreign media has started to ask tough questions.
There is growing anger and helplessness amongst the people. The larger problem is of lower testing, under reporting of cases and a slow vaccine drive. The state Chief Ministers began to raise an alarm of vaccine shortage and only when their voices started rising was it revealed that India had ended up sending out more vaccines overseas, to countries that were seeing lower impact of the pandemic than India, and the Health Department hadn't stockpiled vaccines. It was only on April 28 that the government released funds to Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for more orders. As per the Minister of State for Finance, the government has totally paid out Rs 4745 crores (Rs 2520 on April 28) for a total of 34.6 crore doses (16 crore on April 28) till date. India has covered 9.9 per cent of its population that has received the first dose and only about 2.6 per cent of those totally vaccinated. For Indian government to call it fastest and largest is yet another blunder.
When the Government, after pressure from all quarters, opened up vaccine for all as well as gave Emergency Use Authorisation to all foreign vaccines, the assumption was the government would use the funds allocated in the budget to procure these vaccines and ramp up the vaccine drive. This again was not to be as the government left the procurement of vaccines for those in the 18-44 age group to the states and private hospitals at a price decided by the manufacturers. This led to three different price points for procurement for the Centre, State and private players. Today Indians are paying the highest price for these vaccines simply because of the ill-planned and unthought out policy of a central government. The question that needs to be asked is what happened to the allotted budget towards procurement and vaccination, why are the States, already reeling under financial constraints, forced to buy these vaccines at prohibitive costs?
Approximately one billion Indians would be eligible for vaccines, roughly two billion doses, yet the order till date has been for merely 36.4 crore. We still do not know the work done by the government to procure vaccines from abroad. It has been over a month since these EUA were given but yet no clarity when they would be available. The State governments are now floating global tenders to be able to build a vaccine stock for their population. Many States are running out of vaccines and have been forced to either ration the stock or shut down vaccination centres. Just when the drive needed to pick up it has been forced to slow down.
Various hospitals across the country were forced to move the High Courts to ensure their oxygen supply wasn’t disrupted. Some hospitals also saw deaths due to shortage of supply of oxygen forcing the Supreme Court to step in and form an oxygen taskforce. Last week the Supreme Court said compelling States to negotiate with manufacturers, on grounds of promoting competition and making it attractive for new manufacturers, would adversely affect those in the 18-44 age group. The Government has called its vaccination policy ‘just and equitable’; now it is for the people to realize the truth on ground. The government of India still controls the distribution despite saying it has a hands-off approach in State government procurements. It submitted in the SC that though the States are procuring the vaccines from the manufacturers, the Central government has, in consultation with the vaccine manufacturers, determined the pro-rata population of each State in the age group of 18-44 and each State will procure only that quantity so that there is no disparity in availability of vaccines between the States inter-se either based upon difference in their bargaining power.
The technological barrier has created a digital divide and the price barrier has created a class divide. The only way forward despite the government terming Supreme Court hearing on this matter an overzealousness on part of judiciary to get involved— would be for the courts to form a vaccination task force and get the government to adhere to the same. It is unfortunate that a government which was boasting of its Vaccine Maitri diplomacy and aatmanirbharta is now defending the same policy to justify the foreign aid coming in from various countries including Bhutan and Bangladesh, because of its own incompetence to prepare the country for a second wave. Unfortunately, transparency in distribution and allocation is still a distant dream, so is cutting out the red tape for quicker outreach.
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Having failed to prove majority in Parliament, the Oli-led Government has shoved the country into the throes of uncertainty
Despite a protracted political battle, the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (UML) failed to prove majority in the Lower House of Parliament on May 10. Prime Minister KP Oli held a series of meetings with the Opposition, including the Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajbadi Party, for support after the erstwhile faction of the CPN(UML) led by former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ withdrew support to the Government. In March this year, the Supreme Court had ordered against the dissolution of the House of Representatives by Oli amid his rift with party chairman Prachanda. This House was elected in January 2018 after Maoist Party chief Prachanda had agreed to merge his party with the Oli-led UML. However, the Government’s downfall was inevitable as neither of the leaders had an ideological clarity nor a will to end the race for the premiership.
As Nepal is witnessing a significant health crisis amid the second peak of COVID-19, the political upheaval comes as an extra burden for the Nepalese people. An egoist, authoritarian and assertive Prime Minister, Oli has finally plunged Nepal into a political and humanitarian crisis. The healthcare system in Nepal was already in a shambles after the 2015 earthquake. While the political parties could have worked on improving health, education and employment in the post-earthquake phase, they all chose to deal with personal equations to be in power. In the last 10 years alone, Nepal has seen more than five Prime Ministers, with none completing their tenure.
Panic Plea: In a humanitarian plea to the international community, Oli, in an article in The Guardian, wrote: “The rise in the number of infections poses a serious challenge to our brave doctors, nurses, other care providers, citizen volunteers and the entire health service system.” He added: “(Amid the) constraints of resources and infrastructure, the pandemic is turning out to be an overwhelming burden. I have, therefore, appealed to the international community to help us with vaccines, diagnostic tools, oxygen kits, critical care medicines and equipment, to support our efforts to save lives.” However, one needs to question the Prime Minister and his Cabinet whether they ever planned to bring in people-oriented policies for the nation’s welfare. At its best, Nepal lacks all fundamental policy frameworks concerning its disaster management, humanitarian crisis or foreign policy. As a result of Oli’s follies, his plea received a mixed response from the international community as in his two years-plus administration, Oli has isolated Nepal from the international community by failing to engage with them to serve the Chinese.
For instance, Nepal’s geographical constraints notwithstanding, Oli chose to badmouth India’s goodwill for political gains and compromised Nepal’s integrity by signing the Treaty of Mutual Legal Assistance with China and allowing its embassy to micromanage local affairs. Besides, corruption charges in the procurement of medical supplies to fight COVID-19 led to the Army’s intervention last year.
The Wrong Advice: Advised by a handful of sycophants, Oli has isolated Nepal from a friendly United States. The latter has stood to the goodwill and democratic aspirations of the Nepalese people. At the same time, the US is irked with Oli after he showed no interest in joining the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC), aiming to provide affordable and green transportation, electricity, regional security, peace and development to partners, only because China calls it a military platform. The US has often requested Nepal to consider the MCC as a priority. Still, all successive Communist Governments, especially Oli, have made it a US versus China deal.
Oli continues to be the acting Prime Minister until other parties are invited to prove their majority to form a new government. Considering Oli’s quest for absolute control over the Government and political affairs, he will attempt to derail the formation of a new Government. In the past, too, Oli has misused the office in bringing new laws and dissolving the House.
Conclusion: Oli’s ultra-nationalistic outlook and power hunger are at the heart of the people’s agony in Nepal. He chose to engage in a verbal spat with India when he could have asked India for humanitarian help last year. On the contrary, India still provided Nepal with vaccines and timely supplies of medical equipment. At present, to its best efforts, India will have the challenge to send prompt help to Nepal considering the crises at home. However, it is a wake-up call for the political leadership in Nepal to balance its foreign policy and bring in policies for the welfare of the people. While Oli holds the biggest responsibility for plunging Nepal into the current crisis, the Maoists, Nepali Congress and the Janata Samajbadi Party equally hold the responsibility for derailing Nepal’s developmental process in the past. For a fact, bringing down a democratically elected Government has become popular culture in Nepalese politics.
(The author is an ICSSR Doctoral Fellow at the JNU and Visiting Fellow at the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Kathmandu. The views expressed are personal.)
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The Government would do well to centralise the vaccination project and make it free for all citizens
The confusion over the multiple price brands for COVID-19 vaccines in India and their scarcity continues to hamper operations to manage the pandemic. The Prime Minister’s Office, which is seized of the issue of rapid vaccinations, stated that the Prime Minister, at a review meeting on May 7, spoke about the need to sensitise States so that the speed of vaccination does not falter. The Health Minister has also asked the States to speed up the vaccination process. There are three issues with the requests from the Centre to the States. One, there is not enough supply of vaccines. Two, the multiple price bands are making the issue complicated, with private hospitals charging a range of high prices while the vaccination is free in the Government-run hospitals. Three, the procurement of vaccines by the Central and State Governments is confusing as the Centre’s policy has ended up making the States and private hospitals compete for the same supply. Twelve Opposition parties have now written to the Centre on how to end the reign of confusion: One, the Union Government should centrally procure all vaccines. Two, there should be a free and universal mass vaccination campaign across the country. Three, invoke compulsory licensing to increase domestic vaccine production. The signatories to the letter also wondered why only Rs 5,000 crore of the budgetary allocation of the Rs 35,000 crore was spent on vaccines to date. Untangling the price and procurement beast is easier said than done.
There is no logical reason put forth by the Union Government for the complex pricing and procuring arrangements. The Centre procured all vaccines and distributed them to its centres, State Governments and private hospitals till April 30. Since May 1, the Centre procured 50 per cent of the vaccines while the State Governments, private hospitals and the open market keep vying for buying the remaining 50 per cent from manufacturers. From its share, the Centre is supposed to allocate vaccines to the States, depending on the demand. As to the pricing, the original price of Rs 150 per dose was valid only for the first consignment. The Centre then capped the price at Rs 250 but it became infructuous after the Centre inexplicably introduced price liberalisation measures. That means private hospitals can charge a person the cost of the dose plus administrative charges and, additionally, any other charges that may become applicable. It is this last criterion that has jacked up the price from anywhere between Rs 800 and Rs 1,300 per dose. An 18-year-old may not get a dose because the State he is a resident of may be giving priority to the older citizens. A resident of Delhi or Haryana may not be able to get a dose in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh because the latter allows doses only for in-State residents. Why shouldn’t the Centre centralise the entire vaccination project as that would resolve all avoidable complications and put an end to the class divide on account of different price slabs by making the vaccines free to all?
( Courtesy - Pioneer )
Lessons have come riding the second wave but accompanied by too much melancholy
It was in January last year that we all were introduced to the term social distancing. Back then the virus had seemed, to me at least, a threat unique to China. But soon the Americans were doing the same in a matter of weeks, and then a few other countries and it was already here at our doorstep. I never realised that the phrase would soon be joining so many others — community spread, an abundance of caution, flattening the curve. The growing realisation that like the days under lockdown last year, this time too I have no choice, has given me a panicky loneliness. The way this second wave is lapping at us makes me wonder if we came faced with this pandemic recently — a couple of weeks back? We’re in a health emergency in spite of the lurking threat for over a year. Hadn’t we had enough time for planning and preparation? If only we knew our priorities! Soon started the onslaught of social media posts about all the adorable quarantine activities that seemingly everyone was undertaking with their families — making cakes, cookies, re-enacting famous paintings for photography and, at times, virtual get-togethers and alumni meets. I took perverse pleasure in newspaper articles about China’s spiking mental diseases, rising divorce rates, increasingly desperate dispatches from parents who had failed at home school. It was around this time last year my sons’ school had moved to online learning, and shops and restaurants began to shutter. My kids, like all others I believe, suddenly found themselves sealed within the walls of their homes — no school, no sports, no outings. Both my sons, in their early teens, initially responded by immersing in the world of video games, and very soon started lamenting the impossibility of hanging out with friends. Last year, around this time of the year, when a dialysis patient walked in and came positive on the RT-PCR test for COVID in the hospital I work in, the hospital was marked a containment area. So along with a couple of others, I had to be quarantined for having examined his body fluids under microscope. I had no option but to lock myself in one of the rooms at home. I sat on the bed with my laptop; but did no constructive writing and, instead, ended up signing up for a free 15-day trial of NatureGlow and started watching YouTube stuff like how to wear your hair to bed, and developed a costly impulsive online shopping habit.
My husband had been taking a life-must-go-on approach to the virus, and was doing good getting engrossed in his work. His texts (we had to communicate through phone as I was locked up in a room for quarantine) were about why the media wasn’t reporting on the bleakest epidemiological models, why a freight train’s worth of tanks were heading up the Himalayas to Indo-China border when the country is battling to hold its rickety healthcare system? I would sip my coffee and text back in validation.
One evening after my quarantine days, a friend from school, Nayna in NYC, who had been complaining of a sore throat, was admitted to a hospital because she couldn’t breathe. When I heard this, a sudden cold passed through my body. It was the first time I had been able to actually conceive of the disease that had been obsessing me for weeks now; and the first time, too, that I realised that we would — every single one of us — be intimately touched by it one way or the other. Now in 2021 spring, the virus began its exponential climb in India, worse in Delhi. We went into lockdown again.
The TV screen in front of me was filled with burning pyres in a certain crematorium in Delhi. Bodies burning in rows. Ambulances brought bodies and a sole man appeared in a PPE in the crematorium with a task of burning bodies placed on dozens of wooden pyres. Every day or so I end up communicating with friends across the globe, listening to their tales of quarantine. It will be interesting to see, Nayna and I agreed when we last spoke, all the ways in which this contagion will bring us together or rip us apart.
(The author is a doctor working in Moolchand Medicity, New Delhi, as a pathologist consultant and general manager. The views expressed are personal.)
Limiting the aggressive polarisation on the ground and being able to consolidate the subaltern Hindu vote was the turning point
The Trinamool Congress’s historic win in the West Bengal Assembly elections has surprised everybody irrespective of their politics. The results show that there was a huge wave right under our nose and that the media, for reasons best known to itself, didn't bother to cover it. But, for reasons as we shall discuss here, the BJP failed miserably-not just in terms of the final numbers that popped up on our screens on the 2nd of May, but also in terms of its strategy and the way it ran its entire campaign. It never seemed as if the BJP was fighting a battle like a national party in keeping with its stature. Arrogance, hatred, chauvinism and classic patriarchy characterised its campaign strategy.
In retrospect, the elections were fought broadly on two major themes — identity and symbols. The identity of larger-than-life politicians, religious identity and the regional identity of West Bengal and its culture were major political tools used in course of the campaign. While the BJP was projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself as the face of ‘Asol Poribartan’ (Real Change) that would usher in an era of ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal), chief minister Mamata Banerjee was banking on her identity as the daughter of Bengal using slogans such as ‘Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chaye’ (Bengal wants its own daughter) and ‘Mamata Didi arek bar’ (Elder Sister Mamata one more time).
On the one hand, the BJP aggressively promoted hard-core nationalism and its vision of ‘Ram Rajya’ and ‘Akhand Bharat’ as its major political goals, TMC, on the other, was successful in portraying the Bengali identity effectively. It was unambiguously clear to the average voter on the ground that while the BJP was trying to push forpolarization on the lines of religion, it was the Trinamool Congress that had effectively used the Bengali identity and the culture of Bengal to unite everyone. This probably clinched the major win for her party.
Limiting the aggressive polarisation on the ground and being able to consolidate the subaltern Hindu vote share was the turning point in this election. Another clash where the TMC was able to secure a win over the BJP was on the most important question - Didi vs. Who? We have seen this being effectively used by BJP itself during the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections when the party repeatedly asked the question - If not Modi, then who? Regional parties have picked it up and have ever since used it effectively. It happened in Delhi when Arvind Kejriwal was the face of Aam Aadmi Party and now in West Bengal with Mamata Banerjee as the chief ministerial face of TMC. The void on the other side of the political space, in all of these respective elections, left the voter with no other choice but to vote for the party with a strong local/regional leader. The lack of a strong local leader with a political identity of his/her own, made the BJP a second choice in the mind of the Bengali voter. Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in frequent tours to different parts of the state, ironically, kept on addressing their rallies in Hindi before a Bengali audience. This did not resonate well with the linguistic identity of Bengal and the language movement that Bengal has fought of its own.
Ever since the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP had started using resources at its disposal at a furious pace to infuse ‘Hindutva’ agenda by using its IT cell, party cadres on the ground and the RSS,making elections in Bengal highly polarised and communal. The dream of a Hindu Rashtra and Aryavrata was propagated via door-to-door campaigning by party leaders in every village. These agendas were later reaffirmed by national leaders like Modi and Shah in their rallies attended mostly by Hindus.
Out-sized flags containing symbols of Om, Lord Hanuman and Lord Ram were put up in every other street so that voters’ minds could be allured till the last moment when they went out to vote. This paid dividends to the BJP to some extent in 2019. However, this time around, Mamata Banerjee responded by using her share of symbols, heavily emphasising on local tradition, ethnicity and culture. She travelled across the state reciting Chandi Path in Jan Sabhas and projected herself as Mahisasur Mardini (Durga), who is born to finish the evil from the society, despite being partially handicapped and weak as she was after her leg injury. In every Jan Sabha Mamata was seen playing football with the audience - a sport religiously followed in Bengal. She efficiently used public figures like Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others like them to showcase how her government has spent both human resources and money to show to the world how proud they are of their people, their achievements and their identity.
Prime Minister and Home minister’s consistent presence in huge rallies at a time when Covid-19 was rearing its deadly head a second time in India crumbling the already weak health infrastructure gave rise to a wave of criticism. The priority of the central government was left wide open for everyone to see. It was as if everyone could see clearly for the first time how during a national crisis each and every institution of the central government was working for BJP in West Bengal to further the party’s electoral aspirations. The ruthlessness with which this was transpiring while citizens lost their loved ones to the virus created a strong anti-Modi narrative on the ground. The voters perhaps concluded that the Central Government was negligent in exposing millions of people to risk in West Bengal during the elections that were inordinately extended to eight phases.The impact of this anger can be seen even in the results wherein in the last the phase the Trinamool Congress won 90 out of 114 seats. That was at a strike rate of 79 per cent.
West Bengal is a lesson for the BJP to stop being arrogant, overconfident and dismissive and, instead, focus on issues that matter to the people. It is also a ray of hope for several other political parties that are aiming to fight the BJP. It is also good news for the average Indian citizen who believes in the idea of India that its founding fathers had envisaged. It indeed is true that what ‘Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’.
(Tiwary is from the National Law University, Visakhapatnam. Mishra is from the National Law University, Odisha. The views expressed are personal.)
( Courtesy - Pinoeer )
The India-EU summit has aimed to address contiguity issues among the member nations
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, the recent virtual summit between India and the European Union (EU) has provided a huge platform for negotiations in trade, economic partnership and issues related to investment protection, bringing about contiguity among member countries. There are also subtle efforts to establish joint collaborations in Asia, Pacific and African regions. This certainly exhibits high level insight and understanding of both sides. It also points to the vision leaders need to acclimatise to a changed world order necessitated by the current Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, EU President Ursula Von Der Leyen and President of European Council Charles Michel displayed foresight for creating channels of negotiations for trade and global security and a fresh pathway towards inclusive democratisation of world politics. The summit spells out a prototype for the world community handling bilateral and multi-lateral ties through cooperation rather than confrontation. The pandemic has reinforced the need for the member countries to trust one another and bury their differences. The key issue is to bring as many countries to the negotiating table as possible for, in the context of tackling the pandemic, relaxing vaccines related Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) to help save maximum lives. The increasing support and agreement with regard to limiting climate change issues and opening up gateways for renewable energy and development in technological knowhow along with channelising the sources of power generation and creating a mechanism to withstand any sudden threat posed by China’s BRI (Belt and Road Initiatives) augur well for peace and prosperity of all member countries. The 2019 Japan EU deal was an effort in this direction. India and the EU have shared a positive relationship, with their trade share having crossed a decent landmark during last five years, much more than expected. During the last few years, there have been closer ties with Germany, Italy and The Netherlands, them being the biggest importers from India while Germany, France and Belgium being the largest exporters of goods.
The recent efforts at the summit would further boost and cement their ties and create a genuine environment for stabilizing economic growth (along with ensuring free flow of goods and services) strategic security, prosperity, stability and combating sudden challenges arising due to climate change. Further, help to India from EU’s Civil Protection System during the second surge of Covid-19will open avenues for closer integration.
Foreign relations operate with the help of efficient diplomatic system and diplomacy is all about right gestures and cooperation and coordination at the time of crisis. The Prime Ministers of Belgium and Spain and the French President appreciating India’s efforts to combat the pandemic can only lead to further cooperation. There is, however, no lack of unanimity with regard to nuclear energy, sustainable development and environmental issues. Further negotiations may lead to creation of a strategic mechanism to provide a shield against terrorism, international crime, drug dealing, smuggling and cyber threat unleashed by the non-state actors. This may also accelerate maritime friendly ties and bolster up security around Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific areas which have lately become areas of concern.
These are changing times and many changes have occurred in international relations recently. The India-EU summit outcome endorses the fact that sharing a common strategic vision and a combined approach to ensure mutual economic prosperity through a multi-layered and multi-lateral strategy is going to dominate the world order in the coming days. What is required is to develop a fresh perspective for a more matured reliance on international cooperation between nations to enunciate a new strategy of retaliation, threatening a severe response to any attempt of destabilising the order.There are areas where strong relations can generate development funds for integrated education, medicine, science, technology and biotechnology among various nations across the globe.
(The author is a Professor and an expert on strategic affairs. The views expressed are personal)
( Courtesy - Pioneer )
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