Daily Times

Increasing number of corona cases in India has apparently reflected the failed administration of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led Union government. The lack of proper judgment and accepted wisdom on the part of the central government with regard to Coronavirus, the extended lockdown also bore no fruits, when in contrary European countries vindicated success of imposing lockdown to fight this deadly virus.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, India is now the fourth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the U.S., Brazil, and Russia. The increasing number of corona cases with each passing day exposed the unplanned and unscientific approach of the central government towards the pandemic. Even when most of the affected countries are showing reverse trends, India is witnessing a steep rise in cases. On 18th of June, India recorded 13055 cases in a single Day, taking the total number to 381,091 and the number of deaths reached 12,068. This could be and should be only credited to unqualified and failed policies of the government. But, the politicians to cover their failures have started whataboutery, sometimes accusing opposition of playing politics and sometimes accusing poor workers of not abiding by the given guidelines.

Though it is true that poor and marginalized workers hardly follow any guidelines, you cannot expect those living in shanties and slums to maintain social distancing or follow other guidelines when they have to stand in a queue to fetch water from the only tap in their locality.

In a country in which the large majority live in crowded tenements without proper water or sanitation facilities, a policy of enforcing radical physical distancing and hygiene cannot be expected. This policy though is viable only to the privileged people with secured livelihoods, larger houses and all other facilities.

To fight the deadly virus, the government did not think beyond ‘TaaliBajao, Thali Bajao and Diya Jalao’, there were no mooted policies on how to provide basic facilities to those living below the poverty line. Even after a harsh lockdown of more than 60 days, the curve of COVID infections refuses to flatten, what to expect in unlocking.

Country’s health infrastructure retains massive gaps, as two out of three districts lack testing facilities, and Corona-patients even in the national capital-Delhi- are dying because they cannot get beds. This, after the working poor were packed into unhygienic crowded quarantine centers, forced to stand in lines for hours for every meal, struggling against exhaustion and heat as they trudged hundreds of kilometers to return home, or being deprived of food and water on wayward trains. The contraction of the economy and the destruction of millions of jobs and supply chains signal a worrying surge of mass hunger and unemployment.

However, if one looks at the execution of some ‘unplanned’ and ‘unprepared’ policies of the Centre, it appears politically motivated. Hidden motives for gaining politically runs parallel from day one starting from the date of first ever lockdown imposed on the nation on 25th March 2020, even during the fight against Coronavirus till date. When parliamentarians called for winding-up the Parliament Session in February 2020 to maintain distancing, the government simply ignored it. Because the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in his attempt to prolong the life of his coughing government said that in view of the coronavirus assembly session needs to be postponed as demand for proving his majority on the floor of the house caught momentum.

Had the Indian government consulted widely with public-health experts, epidemiologists, economists, social scientists, and studied the global experience carefully, it would have ruled out the lockdown as bad public health because you cannot save millions of working people from infection by thrusting them into mass hunger

He had in his mind that he will bring some of the defected Congress MLAs back by inducing offers of ministerial berths. If parliament had been shut against Corona protection, the Madhya Pradesh Congress government would have got relief and lease of life affecting prospects of BJP forming the government in Madhya Pradesh. Conclusion, the parliament continued till the fall of Madhya Pradesh Congress government and BJP taking of the power by forming its government with support of defectors from Congress. The Parliament was kept alive till the formation of BJP Madhya Pradesh government and suspended once BJP took over the reins of power in Madhya Pradesh. A delay of at least two weeks in imposing lockdown appeared to have made the spread of Corona affected disease to wider areas.

In addition, the BJP rallies in Bihar and West Bengal were organized flouting the Coronavirus official code for the nation, where the norm of distancing was given a go. Many of the participants were seen without masks. The sudden enforcement of lockdown all over the country from 25th March 2020 came with many more consequent problems, badly affecting the lives of people. Begin with the decision whether to impose a nationwide lockdown, that too without notice or preparation. Had the government consulted widely with public-health experts, epidemiologists, economists, social scientists, and studied the global experience carefully, it would have ruled out the lockdown as bad public health because you cannot save millions of working people from infection by thrusting them into mass hunger.

It appears that it was implemented without giving much thought to the future of 140 million skilled and unskilled migrant workers spread over every nook and corner of the country. These migrants were made jobless, homeless and did not have financial sources to sustain in towns and cities. Unable to pay rent, they started to walk back to their villages. The sero-surveillance study, conducted in 83 districts covering 28,595 households and 26,400 individuals by the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) along with other agencies in May, also reveals that 0.73% of the population surveyed showed evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

The assertion by the Indian Council of Medical Research has left senior public health experts and virologists baffled because they said it appeared to disregard multiple lines of evidence generated by the ICMR’s own researchers. Some experts even doubt the official death toll figures. The ICMR, providing glimpses of the results of the first-ever nationwide survey that looked for the infection in asymptomatic people, said the coronavirus had infected 0.73 percent of sampled populations in 60 districts and 11 cities. It is a random sampling-based survey.

Observers do not hesitate to claim that it is apparent the policies of the Union government to battle the pandemic have failed. It is believed that the people of India will gravely suffer the consequences of these failures for at least a generation.

The writer is a senior journalist and Indo-Pak peace activits