The Covid-19 tsunami
The Centre cannot pass the buck to the States or blame the people! After the first wave we had the PM and BJP boasting about how India successfully handled Covid-19 compared to the world! Vaccines were sent to various nations and praise came from the UNO and others! These are facts. The travails of the people have never come first.
Right from the enormous sufferings due to demonetisation, declaring lockdown with 4 hrs notice and the pathetic migrant exodus etc, people were angry but the PM took no responsibility for the shock and awe governance which has numbed the people! PR and dramatics took priority over policy. Instead of learning lessons from the first wave, converting all the troll centres with centralised Covid war room and coordinating with the States at least when the second wave hit, the PM continued relishing many road shows along with his star campaigners at huge rallies where Covid norms were thrown to the winds.
Religious festivals like the Khumb Mela where thousands congregate were permitted. All hospitals are overfull, people with Covid waiting in ambulances and cars with patients begging for attendance, there is shortage of oxygen, ventilators, doctors and nurses, crematoriums are full and bodies being burnt in parking areas, etc.
The household budgets are precarious, inflation and prices skyrocketting, jobs being lost/not available, the nations finances are in the red. Who is responsible for this state of affairs is obvious. Thankfully the courts have stepped in and God help families to survive and get out of this crisis. It is good to be optimistic and think positive, but not live in a fool’s paradise.
John Eric Gomes, Porvorim
All of us are vulnerable to the virus
Many of us, many of our leaders, went on merrily dividing us — and are still doing it — on the basis of caste, creed, gender and so much else of no consequence. Our pettiness was, and still is, on full display. It is a sad reflection on our collective claim to be a civilised species that we needed a vicious virus to remind us that we all are one, all across the globe — strong only when of one mind; utterly vulnerable to suffering and death, otherwise.
Over the last one year the COVID-19 Pandemic has been unleashing a very unprecedented crisis across the world. No corner, no nation, no people, no section has been spared. Sadly and painfully, many of our fellow humans were not lucky to survive the first wave. Did we learn anything from that?
Now we are battling the fierce fury of the second wave. And nobody knows if and when the third one will descend and how many more will have to die. And who amongst us may be swept away? We need the wisdom and will to live (although we may always be ready to embrace death as God’s will).
For now, let us be responsible in our day to day living, with full faith in God and in science. Let us observe all the norms and, realistically, accept that life may never be the same again with the face masks, social distancing and the sanitiser. They may be the accessories for our safety for a long haul. Possibly a very long one.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Chaotic health problems in country
The surge of pandemic COVID-19 has virtually incapacitated all medical infrastructure in the states. Those in helm of governance are to be blamed for present chaotic health problems in country. It’s necessary to take some harsh steps in larger public interest. The limitation of the government in creating infrastructure forthwith to meet the challenge of Covid-19 is understandable.
In a democracy there are legitimate expectations from the government to adopt measures to meet public health issues like all other issues of public interest. The government knew the magnitude of Covid-19 second wave, but it never planned things in advance. If people die of pandemic in a large number due to paucity of sufficient medical aid it would be the governments to blame which failed to counter the pandemic even after one year of experience and learning. The government can have enough to spend on elections and very little to spend on public health. It’s very unfortunate that government and election commission proceeded to have elections, rallies, protests and especially mega kumbh Mela exposing themselves to the threat of pandemic that looms large these days.
If public health system is not able to meet the challenges and people die for want of proper medication, then it shows that of improper development. Public health should be the top most priority and call of the moment and any complacency of any degree today would cause havoc to people. The pandemic is spreading due to the negligence of administration and governance of States.
KG Vilop, Chodan
Suspension of biometric attendance system
As a preventive measure in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus it is learnt that the Goa government has exempted its employees from marking biometric attendance in Aadhar based biometric attendance systems in the offices. This is a step in the right direction as even if one employee who is Covid-19 positive uses the biometric system to register his/her attendance, there is a high probability of the virus being transmitted to others who use the system later on.
Private companies, which utilise the biometric attendance system, would do well to also suspend the practice till such time that some normality descends in the State as far as the pandemic is concerned. This is necessary in order to protect all the employees of a particular private company from infection since even one positive case could have wide ramifications.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Govt’s disaster mismanagement
That the Covid crisis has been grossly mismanaged by the ruling dispensation is a fact lost on no one. Ad hocism, knee jerk reactions, flawed unscientific decisions, criminal neglect, denial, lax approach of law enforcement agencies and poor strategic planning have all contributed to this humungous mess which is India today. The current state of affairs is a sad reflection of the failure of a top down approach, non medical bureaucrats and power hungry politicians in preparing for the disaster which is Covid 2.0; this headless chicken approach is manifested in the exploding case loads and infectivity rates touching @36% in major parts of the country.
Most States in order to kick-start their moribund economies have been averse to imposing blanket lockdowns or undertake stricter measures, whatever little money that comes in goes into the treatment of the galloping number of Corona patients; net it’s a zero sum game.
All over Medicare facilities are putting up ‘Houseful’ boards with no beds available, no oxygen and no medicines; we are fast approaching a situation where there shall be no doctors or HCWs on call as they themselves are falling prey to the rampaging virus. Of what use is holding ‘high level meetings’, constituting an ’empowered task force’ and issuing ‘stricter’ SOPs when so much water has already flowed under the bridge, it’s like locking the stable doors after the horse has bolted.
Next time don’t ask for Ram Raja and Ram mender lest you be left Ram Bharosey or worse still ‘Ram naam satya hai’, ask for schools and hospitals instead.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
