We
are now sure that unlike USA and European countries where Corona reached from
China, in India Corona reached from Italy. (not from China). Thanks to Indian
Government who acted on early warning signals and started through screening of
all foreigners at international airports. After the message that Corona is a
Chinese virus originated from Wuhan, there were laxity in the screening of
foreigners other than China especially from Europe and America. It may be
awkward but it is somewhat true that Indians have traditionally kept a
differential standards for white people. It was obvious that very little
screening for students and celebrities coming from these countries were done.
At international Airports checking of international passengers who had to take
domestic flights for onward journey was either not done or was perfunctory. At
domestic Airports there were no screening initially. This resulted from 0
active cases on the 1st March, to more than 600 cases till 25th March 2020.
This
is also because no proper screening of Indians returning from US and European
countries other than China was done. Many of them resumed the business as usual
after return. (Kanika Kapoor, a Bollywood singer did performance in a five
Hotel in Lucknow which was attended by ex CM, Ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior
bureaucrats of the State. She visited many places and contacted many people
including her own family members. After foreign visit, one Senior Doctor of
Medical college in Lucknow attended OPD and did so many heart operations, One
Engineer in Lucknow University attended duty freely. One couple after returning
from Honey moon from Europe travelled from Banglore to Agra and was shielded by
his father even after being declared corona positive) These are few examples of
U.P. Many such examples are in Kerala and Maharashtra. This could have been
managed well as the government put Janata Curfew on 22nd March 20 followed by a
complete lock down for 21 days.
Here
one thing is very important that so far only a few big cities were affected /
impacted and these cities or part of cities could have marked as Red Zone and
could have been isolated from the rest of the country. In the meantime capacity
building for testing, hospitalization should have been done. These red zones
could have been converted into green zones gradually over a period of few
months.
But
since damage had already, Prime Minister addressed the nation and experimented
Janata Curfew which was a full dress rehearsal for complete lock down for a
longer period. This Janata Curfew was much talked about subject in the world
for few days. After success of Janata Curfew, our PM declared complete lock
down until 14 April 2020 which is really very brave and appropriate decision.
Obviously in a democratic country like India where different states are ruled
by different parties implementation of such a decision is not easy. The
complete lock down has started and people are being asked to remain inside the
home. By and large people are following the discipline. There appears slowdown
in reported cases.
The
fact , however, remains that in big cities a sizable number of people remain
without home mainly on railway stations, bus stands, footpaths, roadside, under
the trees etc. The big question is that where they should live ? and what they
should eat?[1] There are no
answers, as a result these people, most of them are daily wagers, have started
returning to their homes in far of villages from these big cities.[2] There is no
transport available and therefore they have started in their own in groups on
foot,[3] on bicycles to
far off and remote villages ranging from 200 kms to 1000 kms.[4] This is really
the most critical and pathetic situation. We can see these laborers on most of
the TV channels moving from Delhi to far off places in Bihar and eastern U.P.
There
are two concern on this migration
·
One
is humanitarian and
·
Other
is fear of possible spread of Covid 19
Both
the above points are co-related. If the first humanitarian part would have been
taken care of, these migrants labors would have been engaged at the respective
work places as per the spirit of lock down which would have given the best
results of 21 days complete lock down. But unfortunately this has not been taken
care of.
The
second point is the most dangerous. When these people will reach their homes in
small towns and far of villages, they will live their life as usual thinking
that the Corona virus is some rich man's disease and the villagers are somehow
strong. God forbid, many of them may be Corona positive . In absence of
adequate knowledge, awareness, sanitation and protection, they will transmit
the virus to their families and villages unknowingly. Life for them will remain
as usual at least for some time until there is havoc in these rural areas where
health infra structure is comparatively very weak and inadequate. The rural
India is not getting medical facilities even for critical illness. There is no
authentic data available as to how many people in rural areas dies without
proper medical treatment,? without any media attention ? as media in India is
only Urban Media. Government is also unaware of these facts and figure in
absence of any hue and cry from the rural areas.
If
this happens, the purpose of this complete lock may go waste as the Corona will
attack now from rural areas to cities and metros which situation may be totally
out of control. The intensity of this situation is beyond imagination.
The will have domino effect. After
villages, Cities will suffer, many may disappear at all we do not know. [5] This is very
similar to what happened in 1918 when influenza started in Bombay with
returning soldiers and then went to villages. The influenza killed between 1.7
Crores and 1. 8 crores Indians, more than all the casualties in World War I
. [6] India bore a
considerable burden of death - it lost 6% of its people. More women -
relatively undernourished, cooped up in unhygienic and ill-ventilated
dwellings, and nursing the sick - died than men. The pandemic is believed to
have infected a third of the world's population and claimed between 50 and 100
million lives. Crores of people died in Indian villages in the biggest ever
known disaster happened in India.
Footnotes
[1] CM Kejriwal requests migrant labours to return Delhi,
assures food supply | Latest News & Updates at DNAIndia.com
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