Who is responsible for this havoc?
Image: The Guardian
India is going through one of the most challenging times. The whole country is experiencing unprecedented chaos. The second wave of COVID 19 has butchered the already shattered health Infrastructure of the country. The entire nation is running short of oxygen, hospital beds, and ICUs. Death, pain, grief, anger, and defeat have taken over the country. Be the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media, all you would find is people pleading for help.
As of writing this article, more than four hundred thousand new cases are recorded in India, and more than four thousand die daily. Have a look at the following numbers:
New Cases — Daily
Death Count — Daily
How did we arrive here? Are we not the ones who pretended victory over Covid last August and September? Did we celebrate the victory a little too early, or were we too complacent? Were we too careless and reckless?
I believe we all should share the burden of this disaster. It would be unreasonable to hold only the government accountable for this mess. While the governments (Central and State) absolutely played an enormous role in spreading the Covid. People, too, were not too far behind in this competition.
People
In my opinion, people had an enormous responsibility to keep themselves safe. At the fag end of the year 2020, most people had thrown caution out of the window. Hardly anyone was wearing makes in public places. Travel was open, and tourist destinations were jam-packed. It did not appear that there was any fear of Covid anywhere in the country.
Fake news was another critical aspect of Covid spread in India, in my opinion. WhatsApp and other social media platforms were flooded with fake and unauthenticated information, i.e., Indians have super-strong immunity, the virus is not too effective in India. The Indian variant of the Covid virus is not effective enough. The heat in India will not allow the virus to thrive etc. It was surprising that people believed it and felt good about it too. For some reason, most people thought they could not get infected with this virus, and even if they do, it would be just like seasonal cold or flu. So nothing to worry about or fear. This mindset is proving extremely expensive to all of us now.
Government
Indian Government efforts to manage Covid were inadequate at best. At the end of November 2020, new daily covid cases were consistently coming down. Our government got too busy blowing their own trumpet. Every media outlet, print, digital, or TV, was praising the government, specifically the prime minister of India.
While the government should have focused on getting the infrastructure ready for the next wave, they were busy preparing for state elections. The Government of India had enough information that the second wave of Covid was imminent in the country. Yet, it focused on elections and not on building the necessary infrastructure to face the challenge.
Business Standard Newspaper wrote in April 2021.
“Indian Institute of Management — Ahmedabad professor Chinmay Tumbe on Sunday said India failed to prepare for the second COVID-19 wave due to the complacency of the government and society, and failure to keep track of the different strains of the virus.”
Times of India wrote
India knew a second wave was coming yet…
“Dr Randeep Guleria, member of India’s national task force on Covid-19 and director of Delhi’s AIIMS had said that some parts of the country were witnessing a ‘second wave’ of infection. Niti Aayog Member V K Paul, who also heads the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), had pointed out that “90% of the people are still susceptible to coronavirus infections”. Pointing to the resurgence in cases in Europe with the onset of winter he had said that “We cannot rule out (a second coronavirus wave this winter in India)””
State Government allowed Kumbh Gathering, with full knowledge of the devastating effects of such gathering. There was a massive spike in new cases after the Kumbh Mela. (Source: NDTV). While states like Maharastra, Kerala, and New Delhi were already struggling, the government should have taken the utmost precautions. Instead, they allowed Kumbh Mela.
Modi govt invited bids for 150 oxygen plants in October. By the end of April, just 33 are up. Most of the Indian States were struggling to accommodate new patients. No new facilities were commissioned to manage the latest surge.
Election Commission turned blind to those massive election rallies. Elections in West Bengal and the other four states caused an enormous spike in covid cases in respective states. Those rallies should have been banned in the first place, but little was done to stop such rallies for the entire duration of the election.
Sadly, central and state governments’ entire effort is to manage the press rather than to manage the situation.
While people should have taken the responsibility to ensure their safety by taking as much precaution, governments should have ensured that the nation was ready with the required health infrastructure. Governments were too busy claiming their success in defeating the Covid, which gave an inaccurate narrative to the citizen that the threat is not as severe as it was.
It is our collective failure that we are in this catastrophic situation. We brought it on ourselves, and we are the ones who can take us out of it. I urge every Indian to please do not be unconcerned and follow all the required safety protocols outlined by the government and other health organisations, even if you are vaccinated.
These are desperate times, and we need to rise and help each other. Please stop spreading unauthenticated news and information about COVID.
Stay home and stay safe. If you must step out, wear a mask.
