The monk, The 'dweep' and the grand diversion!

हे जी रे.. (4)

हे..

रामचंद्र कह गए सिया से (2)

ऐसा कलयुग आएगा

हंस चुगेगा दाना तुन का (2)

कौआ मोती खाएगा

हंस चुगेगा दाना तुन का

कौआ मोती खाएगा

हे जी रे..

फिल्म : गोपी (1970)

संगीत दिया है: कल्याणजी-आनंदजी

गीत के बोल: राजेंद्र कृष्ण

गायक: महेंद्र कपूर

Apple music link to the song: https://music.apple.com/in/album/ramchandra-kah-gaye/1352497375?i=1352498126

Would Dilip Kumar while filming the song have thought that 51 years later, a relatively unknown, slightly overweight, average looking 36 years old from the cage of his residence in Gurgaon, would borrow from his song to attempt succinctly summarizing the India of 2021? Perhaps, not. And yet, here we are!

Who would have thought that a nation whose founding fathers back in 1947 cobbled 552 princely states, (the balance got included in the Indian republic subsequently) and the provinces under British control together, a landmass which housed not just the most impoverished 31,86,60,000 people (1941 census) but also 1/8th of humanity; masses barely educated, with a literacy rate of just about 12%; would have shown the farsightedness of including ‘scientific temperament’ in its founding document, and yet they did. The first PM of this country and also the one to have got elected the most number of times till date (3 straight terms) made sure that India got premier institutes of science like IITs, AIIMs alongside laying the foundation for reasoned enquiry, data-based decision making and statistical analysis, by instituting various census and surveys as an effective arm of the government. India has achieved quite a bit in the last 74 years, it is a thriving country with an active and alive democracy (though under serious existential threat for the last 7 years) but she could not do enough to rid herself of her ‘unscientific approach’, deep-rooted backwardness and moronic entanglement and fascination with anything resembling ‘spirituality or ancient Indian tradition’. 

Needless to say, we are paying a heavy price for it in these pandemic times. Society is naively and naturally falling prey to misguided and downright unlettered suggestions, being made by those in power. Reproducing a few for you here to familiarize you with the degree of the absurdity of these statements from the ruling party of the day.

• BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur believes that drinking Cow urine will cure Covid-19. The lady in the past has also claimed that she cured herself of cancer with Cow Urine!

• BJP HRD Minister Pokhriyal denounces the theory of evolution, he says that ‘no one has seen a money turn into a man’!

• BJP Culture Minister for MP, Usha Thakur proposed ‘yagna chikitsa’ for preventing the 3rd wave!

• BJP MoS of health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Chaube had suggested that standing in the sun for 10-15 minutes every day will kill the Covid virus!

• Lifelong RSS prachhakar, BJP karyakarta and current PM Modi put forward the instances of Karna from Mahabharta and Lord Ganesha’s trunk to suggest that cosmetic surgery and reproductive genetics were in use in India thousands of years ago! 

• BJP Union minister of railways Piyush Goyal is confused about who discovered gravity, he also believes that mathematics did not play a part in the discovery of the said physics principle. 

The theatre of the absurd does not end there. The satellites of supporters orbiting the ‘political narrative’ of the BJP almost involuntarily, have also paid their dues in furthering the cause of utter nonsense’.

As ludicrous and crackpot as it may sound, in India lead by Fakir Narender Modi (मेरा क्या हैं मैं तो फ़क़ीर हूँ जी झोला उठा के चला जाऊँगा, words of the honourable PM) of 2021, qualified and respected doctors are being forced to defend ‘the science of allopathy and modern medicine’ by arguing with a saffron-clad self-styled Ayurveda and Yoga guru with questionable past, who did not even complete his primary education; in TV studios, at a time when the world is reeling under Pandemic and India has emerged as a hotspot of the world, recording the most number of cases and deaths. What is even more grotesque is the fact that he seems to be winning the battle thus far. Poor doctors, who studied their lungs out, wrote an all India entrance exam, qualified in it, studied medicine for a minimum of 6 years and a max of 15, stand ‘assailable’ in the world of narrative. 

You may wonder why I pronounce Baba the winner in the fight, at least thus far? Here is why.

• Baba openly and publicly lampoons the whole science of modern medicine in the most scurrilous tone imaginable, and yet continues to roam free. He floats his pronouncements on Youtube and other social media platforms, where he enjoys a thick follower base. 

• The quack has bought about 20% (approx) of all advertisement slots on all popular commando comic news channels (a term originally coined by Shekhar Gupta of the print to describe BJP propaganda news channels). Advertisements for his products are flashed even on debates that they organise to banish some of his fallacious claims. Such is the might of the Yogi.

• The Saffron clad Yoga Guru’s wealth and social reach gives him the political muscle needed to make the health minister, who by the way is an allopathy doctor himself and current union minister for road transport & highways and the minister of micro, small and medium enterprises in the Government of India; stand in acquiescence on his either side when he publicity unveils ‘Crononil’ a collection of herbs, untested by any scientific means, as preventive and curative medicine for aliments induced by “Covid-19”, a deadly virus that has killed people in excess of 35.2 lacs, globally. 

• Nothing stops him from selling the ‘cure’ to Indian consumers.

At this point, you might be thinking how do these ‘men of tradition, spirituality and Yoga’ make it so big? To understand it we will need to take a little dip in the history of the nexus between politicians and “Babas and Gurus’. 

• PM Indira Gandhi, daughter of the man, who professed scientific temper; in her days of power had Dhirendra Brahmachari as her Yoga Guru. He used to be just as powerful then, as our Ramdev is now.

• Spiritual guru Chandraswami provided mentorship to PM PV Narasimha Rao. Stories of his influence are part of folklore in the southern part of the country.

• PM Modi is known to be close to Ramdev and many like him, some of his favourite people are also currently serving jail terms for heinous sexual crimes.

I have listed three PMs here but if you dig a little you’d find that over 90% of elected CMs too have some or the other affiliations with one or more ‘men of faith’. 

The unholy alliance between power, politics and these ‘Godmen’ is not hard to understand, these men have a huge following, running in several lacs. They wield enormous influence over their followers who willingly let these godmen tell them who they should vote for. Politicians naturally have an affinity for these people. 

It may be ill-omened that the Government led by PM Modi allows flimflammers like Ramdev to defame the authentic and scientific line of treatment and even speak disloyally of the effectiveness of vaccines when seen from the vantage point of governance and public health and safety but we will need to concede that its political dividends are enormous. And perhaps that is why, he is allowed to rage and rave, as he wishes. The monk who can buy a Ferrari and much else said and I quote, “What can the doctors do, they could not save themselves,1000 of them died despite taking double doses of the vaccine”. Would such a comment not add to already grave vaccine hesitancy in the hinterland of India, you be the judge of that. The government chooses to not intervene with the penal action, no prizes for guessing why.

Politics is a field in which genius moves are often cacodemonic in character. I would like to call your attention to the brilliance of the timing of Ramdev’s attack which is no less crafty,  in the unit of malevolence with which politics measures itself. You might wonder why am I saying such a thing? Let me uncover the bigger act in play here for you.

The peak at least in official numbers for the 2nd Covid-19 wave seems to have passed now in India, with daily caseload reduced to nearly ½ of what it used to be at the peak a few weeks ago. The public attention had started shifting from delinquencies in the cure (Oxygen, beds, ventilator, meds and medical staff) to deficiencies in prevention (vaccine). The number one conversation currently running on the minds of people is vaccines or lack of it. People have understood, by and large, that there is no alternative to getting inoculated when it comes to meeting the challenge that the virus and its many variants in circulation pose. PM Modi’s preoccupation with elections, disdain for the advice of the scientific community, contempt for knowledge and ill-informed bravado came in the way of his administration procuring the number of doses needed to protect the Indian people. As a result, India is experiencing a vaccine drought, of sorts. The mammoth gap between supply and demand, as can be seen in the attached numbers which are a testimony to dwindling rate of vaccination in India.

The administration leaves a lot to be desired for and it does not want the public to understand, acknowledge and discuss its many failures. If there is one thing that PM Modi is concerned about then it is his own image. Recently, BJP’s president joined PM Modi and RSS members to brainstorm ways of recovering from the dent in the image of his leadership, the performance of his government and particularly the mess in UP. The meeting ended with BJP National president, Nadda making a public appeal to the party workers and elected representatives to become ‘more visible’. They understand that the truth is out there and people are taking note of it.

The government desperately wants the nation to look the other way, so it in its masterstroke has expertly manufactured a number of controversies to completely hog the headlines of the newspapers, discussions in prime time and by extension the attention of the people.

 

• They have effectively fashioned a dispute at the peaceful arcepalogo of Lakshadweep. Twitter trends are abuzz and the national media has been forced to turn its gaze to the disturbance that Modi’s trusted BJP party member and currently the administrative head of the island, Praful Khoda Patel has created by suggesting to bring in new laws. Including the one to allow alcohol in the island, mind you, it is coming from an ex-minister of the state Gujarat, which has been in prohibition since time immemorial. Some of his other radical ideas are: 

• Land Development

• Beef and Cow slaughter ban by implication, the draft, however, hides direct mention. It must be noted that the BJP is fine with beef-eating in Kerala and the NE.

• Goondas act; ability to arrest anyone for a year!!

• Ferocious and published feud with Social media giants (Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp), OTT platforms and digital news organisations. The televised theatre of sending Delhi Police over to Twitter’s headquarters in India and several letters being written to Whatsapp have all been timed to coincide with the crisis so that the shortcoming of the Government on the handling of the 2nd wave gets drowned in the noise of these issues.

• Whilst at the Whatsapp topic, you must know that neither parties are fighting for the interest of the users. Whatsapp wants to send metadata freely to Facebook to strengthen its advertisement business and also employ mountains of data for future product creation. The government wants Facebook to break ‘end to end encryption in the cover of identifying the original originator of a ‘fake message’. Many believe that Modi Govt will use the access to clamp down on free speech. Triangulate and bring down posts criticizing the Government, as it has done several times in the recent past, particularly with farm bill protests and the Covid related posts exposing failing of the GOI.

The BJP knows that when these measures are announced there is going to be a widespread protest, noise and chaos. It not only understands and estimates but also anticipates groundswell in opposition to these measures, coming from all directions - and that is exactly what it wants. So that the nation does not find time and attention to focus on the sparsity of vaccines, hiding of deaths and massive undercounting of infections, prominently. With the mess hidden those responsible for it will also get an opportunity to distance themselves from it.

Like it or not, it is indeed a political masterstroke. 

Fight with the Social Media companies, Socio-political disturbances in Lakshadweep and Baba Ramdev’s deplorable, injudicious and irresponsible remarks together provide the best cover that PM Modi and his associates can ask for and create at this point in time. They have succeeded thus far in shaping the national narrative. Whether they continue to march ahead unchallenged and undefeated in the future or not, will depend on how much attention we the people give to what issue? People will need to decide to not get distracted from the number one issue of the day, which is ‘vaccination of a billion people’- nothing that they throw our way will break our resolve. 

We got to use the currency of our attention, judiciously. 

Let's unite in demanding accountability for mismanagement of the pandemic and above all for the quickest possible vaccination for all, not just those who can afford to buy their way out of the pandemic.

Till then take care, goodbye!

India floating lifeless!

Freedom fighter, original thinker, prolific writer, a true statesman and also, fortunately, the first PM of Independent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in his seminal work, “Discovery of India” gives an account of his travel to the far and wide corners of the land in the pre-independence era, in most of these excursions he would hold interactive sessions with the local peasants. He would often pose the question, ‘Who is this Bharat Mata’ to his audience? Different people would respond to the question differently and then he would in summary educate the group by saying, every Indian is a unit of Bharat Mata, therefore, every Indian is a representation of Bharat Mata, and in that manner, every Indian is indeed Bharat Mata (I am paraphrasing it from memory, read the book some 20 years ago). This book was published, 4 years before India got her independence; the scholar penned down this book, while serving a jail term, in Ahmed Nagar Prison. At the time, the Crown’s representative in India had outlawed Indian National Congress and incarcerated all its core members and leaders. Fast forward to 2021, India is independent, but the grand old party finds itself in the cage of its own incompetence and political bankruptcy. It is the principal opposition party in the Indian national parliament though with fewer than 60 seats. The very organisation that once had the privilege of calling stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, likes of Nehru among others, their members, in modern India is a Nehru-Gandhi family-run enterprise and does not count for much in the political opinion space. Indian people have stopped taking it for an earnest political force, chiefly owing to the loose-foot, unserious and sporadic politics of its de facto president, Rahul Gandhi.

Do not worry, this article is not another addition to the vicious and continued slugfest that a vast majority of Indian media has been subjecting the collective political opposition to the ruling BJP to without breaking a sweat for the last 7 years. It is a mere recognition of the resulting shrinking opinion and political space of India's political opposition. So I thought that it is important that we recognise how much of a decline Congress has seen in the course of the last century, as without which understanding the rise of the BJP is impossible. You may also be wondering why have I invoked the definition of Bharat Mata, as delivered by the first PM, in an essay titled to convey concern around the ongoing pandemic. It is because I find no other suitable frame of reference to recognise the lifeless, unidentified, unaccounted and disgraced Indians floating in the holy river, in hundreds between my home state Bihar and UP, and I needed to find a collective identity for them. Collectively both of these states hold the key with MP and Rajasthan to the Lokshaba. UP alone has given India most of its PMs, even the incumbent is serving on a Varanasi ticket and yet the states are in such disarray that they do not have the economic means to conduct the last rites of their loved ones and are therefore force by poverty and social stigma surrounding Covid to give the death of there friends and family such an ugly end. Does it not say a thing or two about the politics that is prevalent in the Hindi heartland? The number of those who have perished outside the official count is unknown at the moment, it is being assumed to be anywhere between 2 and 8 times the reported number, by leading experts in the field of epidemiology. 

Ever since I saw the images and the videos of floating corpses on the holy Ganga, between Bihar and UP, I have not been able to come to terms with it. My mind wonders, what must have been the mental state of those who transported the dead to the banks of the river for such undignified disposal. Surely, they must have felt sick, unhappy and helpless. How easy or difficult it must have been for them at that moment to feel proud of being an Indian. In that grim and dark moment, would the bearer of the bodies pay heed to the mighty propaganda floated by the rulers of the day? Would he have cried that night? What words he might have chosen to convey to his masters that the dead have been gotten rid of? Would he have been sent again with more bodies for another trip to hell or would he have chosen to retire for the day at the end of one round of disposal? Was he paid for the job? Did his hand tremble on accepting the remuneration? Did he sleep the night that followed the abandonment? Could he narrate the story of the day to his family members? I do not know, and perhaps I would never know.

For a moment let’s step back from those involved in dumping Bharat Mata (Indians are Bharat Mata, according to Nehru Ji) on the river to ponder over those who died. Did they have any inkling of what would become of their mortal remains? Did they consent to it? Do they see themselves floating from above (that is if there is such a place where the souls go to, and if they have the vision to see the bodies)? What must be running on the minds of their family and friends? Would they ever forget this ordeal? How must the society around the deceased have reconciled with the horrors? Do the onlookers fear ending to a similar fate?

I am afraid, I do not know, response to any of these.

But what I do know is that a little bit of India also dies with every untimely and avoidable death of an Indian. I can say with certainty that the dead bodies also float the majesty of the Indian state. Who can argue that not counting the death is not honouring the dead? Those responsible for managing the crisis seem satisfied with their performance and have been repeatedly heard saying ‘everything is under control’; what can one say? The visuals of people running around in search of life-saving drugs, battling for admission in hospitals and even the melancholy view of people dying on the pavement of the hospitals - are still, coming from all around the country, and yet the state is missing in action. Goa reported a loss of lives in dozens for lack of oxygen!

When urban centres are being treated in this manner, should I even try emphasising what must be happening in the rural and tribal undeveloped parts of this vast country of ours? It is too much to expect from the media to cover the plight of the villages which have been facing the neglect and the apathy of the urban centres for as long as they've become independent. And yet, thanks to social media, desperate tales have managed to trickle down which are so sad that it can turn even the driest pair of eyes misty and moist. Underlined with penniless migrants facing bleak prospects of the future, who have returned to their homes to avoid the nightmare that they were forced to live when India decided to bolt itself down on a notice of 4 hours, last year; the troubles of rural India are serious and painful.

What have we become as a nation? When did the Government stop caring about its people? Where lies the fault? Why is the government appearing so hands-off in the 2nd wave? You and I know that there is not going to be an admission of guilt, both administrators and the politicians of the day just do not have what it takes to own up; the courage. Indian media is hand in gloves with the central government, not all, but a vast majority of it. The country has fewer journalists doing a sincere job today than it has scientific voices informing the nation about the steps that ought to be taken. Our elected PM behaves like an autocrat and a dictator allergic to free and unscripted press conferences. In the last 7 years in office, he has attended zero press conferences. All that India ever gets to know comes from a handful of bureaucrats, who do what they are trained to do the best; talk a lot and yet say nothing. 

Denial and divergence are the weapons of choice of the current tenants of Delhi.

Completely devoid of any remorse for the shameful handling of the Covid challenge the Government of the day is instead engaging in remarkable chest-thumping. No person of science like in the US briefs the nation with some authority, instead, we have information and broadcasting ministers holding high-level meetings to design a strategy to quash the flake that the Modi administration has been getting both in the domestic and international media and more so in independent social media. The foreign minister calls a meeting for all the ambassadors to tell them to put away if not prevent negative reporting on Modi’s mismanagement of the 2nd wave of Covid. State Governments under the ruling party BJP have gone all out to slap FIRs against those citizens who are trying to call out for help. They have kept hospital owners on the leash as well; CM of UP, Yogi is particularly nasty in this regard. The present-day setup looks anything but democratic.

Modi has not apologised even once for massive political rallies that he and his party members took out in all states that went to polls in the last 2 months, particularly in WB. He has not accepted that allowing Khumbh, was a disaster that has provided a pathway for the pathogen to travel to the far rural parts of the country.

Instead, all the focus is on somehow controlling the narrative, managing headlines and shielding the PM from criticism. From sycophantic tweets to paid advertisements; nothing is being spared in praising the PM, even at the time when dead bodies are mounting in crematoriums and the graveyards. To understand the callous and careless approach of the Government, we will need to understand some of these facts.

• Earlier this year, BJP in its party convention, passed a resolution in which they declared victory on the virus. The text of the letter gives thanks to the PM and gives him credit, at more than 5 places. 

• The PM gave himself full marks for doing an awesome job at handling the pandemic. He declared victory; do listen to his Davos address.

• Vaccine export started with a lot of pomp and show. The foreign affairs ministers tweeted pictures from every dispatch dutifully and were RTed by every other cabinet minister. The common thing in all of this is that everyone thanked Mr Modi and praised his ‘leadership’. 

• Later, when the pressure mounted BJP party spokesperson Mr Patra, admitted that as much as 84% of the vaccines that were dispatched were done as a result of a contract that the manufacturers had signed with the countries and organisations from where they had imported the raw materials; pure commercial exchange.

• The rest was sent for inoculation of Indian forces working in the UN peacekeeping mission. 

• Meaning, nothing more than 1 Cr. was sent across as help to other nations.

• But this fact was kept hidden from people. The propaganda machine was working overtime to announce how formidable and invincible Modi had assumed leadership of the world and he was determined to heal the hurting humanity by sending these vaccines over.

• The declaration of India being the vaccine factory of the world was also repeated several times.

• WhatsApp carried this fake news to every corner of India, even those corners where ambulances and oxygen cylinders did not reach, to save the dying.

• Even the pictures of global help reaching Indian shores were publicised, presented as some sort of victory for Modi’s diplomacy. In reality, those were humanitarian donations made by concerned nations. Most people do not know that it is the first time in the last 17 years that India has stooped so low as it is having to clutch on to the straws of donations from other nations to survive. If anything it is a decline of the image that India has carefully crafted for itself.

• When the world was busy placing order for the vaccine for their people, our leadership, was busy mounting an electoral conquest of West Bengal.

Masks, social distancing and hand hygiene are important but strenuous methods and are extremely difficult to sustain over long periods of time for a population as large as that of India. It is common knowledge that through vaccines and only vaccines can we hope to tame the pandemic and yet when the entire world was busy ordering doses for their population last year, Modi made no such attempt. He practically held our hands and walked us to this precarious mess. Today, when India is recording ½ of world cases and most of its daily deaths and the medical infrastructure of the country has completely collapsed, the Modi administration has made the unfortunate situation even worse by forcing in bizarre vaccine policy, which is : 

• Differential vaccine pricing for the states and the centre. States will have to pay more, double the price the centre has paid for the "same" vaccine. 

• Center will take 50% of the vaccines, 25% will go to the private sector and only 25% will ever reach the states. Note here that the centre has accepted to vaccinate just about 30% of the population, that is 45 years and above and yet wants custody of half of the vaccines produced.

• It has levied 5% GST on vaccine imports.

• Given the acute shortage of vaccines the states are being forced to float global tenders, which will effectively mean that one Indian state will compete against all other Indian states in the global market: no matter which states win, Indian people are sure to lose in this contest of stupidity.

If the supply side of the vaccine was not problematic enough; they have further complicated the matters with the process of registration.

Mandatory online registration on the Co-win application is making vaccine access more inequitable in an already unequal society. 750 million Indians own a smartphone with an active cellular internet connection (roughly, 60% urban and 40% rural). But the extent to which they use the phone for “digital operation” beyond messaging, is just about 44% of the 750 million people. India’s population is no secret. It is baffling to note that Modi, the policymaker of the day is criminally ignoring this brazen gap and is refusing to accept registration becoming a roadblock to successful vaccination just as vigorously as they deny the critical shortages that are killing people in thousands every day; many folds more unknown and unregistered than known and accounted for.

‘Triplicate’ is likely to be a part of your vocabulary, if you’ve worked for the government or had the misfortune of dealing with its machinery on serious matters. Lazy bureaucracy subservient to not just thoughtless, unimaginative but also considerably and decidedly illiterate political class, is flaunting their newfound love for mobile apps, keeping the memory of 'triplicate' alive. It is being done to soothe the senses of the unicorn rider who came up with the “Digital India” campaign to boost his image. The administrators know that only 6% of rural and 25% of urban households have a functional computer at home, according to National Sample Survey data from 2017 - and yet, he insists on mandatory ‘Co-win’ registration. The glorious past of the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app is still fresh in the memory, it began with a data leak, a suit in the court and a subsequent affidavit by the Govt acknowledging that they do not know, ‘who designed the architecture.

 

This policy will create ground for extortion of the poor; it will mushroom a fleet of agents who would squeeze the most vulnerable in lieu of “registering” them. Much like the bygone days, which saw "agents" outside Passport and RTOs, available to be hired for all manners of work-from filling forms to faking driving assessment.

None of this should surprise us though because the country at the moment is being led by the same stable genius who thought, pulling 86% of all currency bills off circulation suddenly, will end the problem of black money, solve the menace of counterfeit currency and break the back of terror funding forever. What actually happened? 99.999% of the cash made its way back into the banking system, thereby an official cleaning of all the money (black and white) happened. Both terror and counterfeit continue, there has been no reduction either in their intensity or frequency. In fact, the most ghastly terror attacks on Indian forces, 3 of them have actually happened after this historic move. Our current PM is such a reckless maverick that he thought that locking 1.3 billion people inside on a notice of 4 hours will eradicate Covid in 21 days; instead what we are experiencing here in India is the worst impact of the 2nd wave. We are topping the world not just on the caseload but also on unfortunate deaths, that is just on the grossly undercounted number, as has come to light in recent reports. The little we say about the plight of the migrant workers, job losses and resulting hunger and poverty the better.

In my lifetime I have never witnessed the stark duality of multifaceted India in such prominence as found in grim images of abandoned dead bodies floating in the holy river perhaps with the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife despite the indignity that these souls have had to suffer in death at the hands of inept “system” on one hand and the unabated construction of the new parliament and brand new home for the PM in the mid of raging pandemic, on the other. If the 2nd turn of the virus on us is being called a “wave”. We should brace ourselves for the tsunami of death by starvation, coming towards us; as countless millions drop to the bottom of the social and economic structure and scale. Mass drop out from school will deny India a generation of ‘educated and skilled’ citizens.

When rulers of the day are lost in just the ‘seen’ effects of the pandemic, it is anyone’s guess how much they must be up to the task of the ‘unseen’ challenges that this threat poses.

India needs the spine it showed in 1960ties when it converted acute food shortages into the reason for the “green revolution”; then the country adopted science. The current leadership has thus far embraced arrogant denial and shameless silence.

Take care and stay safe; we are truly on our own!

India, an evaporating state!

India today magazine on its cover called India a “Failed state”. Shekhar Gupta in his national interest, a weekly opinion piece called India a “flailing state”. I would like to humbly disagree with both these characterisations, would instead like to say that in my view the Indian state is an 'evaporating' one. You may say that all three adjectives are not very distinct from one another and you will not be wrong but you have to accept that despite similar-sounding titles; both India today and Mr Gupta, present a very different description of the state of affairs. While India today, with its cover story is trying to compensate for what it does not calculatedly do from the television studio it owns. India's largest television network and also the most credible for the political class, when it comes to spreading propaganda. Mr Gupta has recently become soft on the failures of Modi, so much so that in his latest 'Off The Cuff' with Dr Jha, he said and I quote “someone forgot to order the vaccine” as if he was referring to a child who forgot to turn the lights off before leaving the room, not sure what stopped him from saying 'ignorant and arrogant Modi regime did not take steps necessary in the passage of a full year, not ordering the vaccine is one of many missteps taken'. I do know not what stops him from calling the 2nd wave, a Modi creation outrightly? I must however admit that we the citizens have no right to expect anything from either Mr Gupta or any other news outlet in the country because the “truth” is so stark and unfortunately for us so dark too, that no matter who tries or how organised one gets in the attempt, it just can’t be pushed under the carpet. 

It is impossible to hide (not report) deaths occurring in thousands, on an everyday basis! Though "undercounting" in the official records can be easily pulled off and as it has been proven by reporting of a few responsible news outlets that the media scene is left with, like the Lallantop, Caravan and the Scroll. Officials are undercounting covid mortality with great alacrity and efficiency. Various mathematical models have also beyond any reasonable doubt have proven that India is under-reporting death by a factor ranging from 2 to 6. To know the real death count, multiply the reported number by 6, that is how grave the situation is.

You might ask why am I bothering to write about it then, am I trying to uncover unknown truth? Nope, that is not the reason. In fact to be fair, with some hesitation, all media houses have broadcasted grim images from India's many crematoriums and graveyards. We could also argue that they did not have much of an option, with social media rife with helpless images, sore stories and vivid videos, there is no way they could not have reported? The tale of tragedy is available for anyone willing to look around. Like Mr Gupta, they too never name the one at fault, some say 'system' and others try and put the blame on the past and the opposition - such is the stronghold of the current regime on the narrative. 

And that is why it becomes important for citizens to chronicle the time; as these write-ups will serve as the first draft of history. So in a way, I am addressing the researchers of the future, who would like to dig back to know, what was happening in India in 2021; perhaps a century from now.

Well, coming back to my description of the Indian state, why do I call it evaporating and not failed or flailing. Because it is not as if the Indian state has ceased to exist. It is present in areas of its choosing. Weeks ago, the Indian state was conducting elections, facilitating mega rallies in 5 Indian states. No less than the PM participated in rallies exultant to witness a sea of people, on a day when India reported 2 lac cases, in the books of the government. All of the states that went to polls are now reeling under the 2nd wave pretty badly. The Indian state has not failed in lodging FIRs against desperate citizens who made the mistake of giving out SOS call on social media. The Indian state did not flail in organising the Kumbh Mela, attended by millions, right when the Covid curve stood perpendicular. The mighty Indian state is present and determined to collect GST on vaccines and oxygen concentrators. The Indian state is also intent on broadcasting every inch of movement in any direction, look at Twitter how cabinet ministers post drone shots of 5 oxygen containers being transported by the railways. How could the construction of central vista be categorised as 'essential services' if the thoughtful Indian state was not behind it? Therefore, it is wrong to conclude that the Indian state has either failed or has flailed. A truer statement is; that it chooses where it wants to be and evaporates from inconvenient spaces to evade accountability and public scrutiny. PM Modi is the only head of a democratic state who hasn't done any press conference on the Covid tragedy, that must tell you how healthy is the state of democracy in our glorious nation is.

The truth is that the pandemic has exposed both the shortcomings of an underinvested public health infrastructure and the incapacity of the current rulers. Nowhere in the world, such a shortage of oxygen has been experienced or reported. The government as it comes out now, was sitting on information that asserted eminent 2nd wave. It chose to let elections take precedence over everything else. It just did not act in the interest of public health and safety.

Every crisis brings both the best and the worst in people, this pandemic is no different. Exploiting the pandemic for commercial gain or cheap publicity is not cool, though! Corporate India must know that people see through their "donation schemes". These circumstances demand sincerity more now than ever. We must never forget what goes around comes around, natural justice is both inescapable and infallible. 

We must all trade very carefully!

Humans are dying of Covid and humanity of filthy greed and stinky shamelessness. Ambulance agencies, petty oxygen refilling centres and some hospitals are fleecing the hell out of people struggling to breathe. Makes one sick to the stomach.  A careful study of the socio-economic background of black marketers of oxygen concentrator and other essential drugs who have been arrested in the last few days in the Delhi NCR region reveals that these corrupt individuals come from particularly wealthy and well-connected backgrounds, easily from the top 1% of the country (wealth wise). 

What does it say about our social makeup and collective responsibility? How morally degenerate and emotionally insensitive can, we get as a society?

Caught between the apathy of the elected representatives and greed of these rich and influential inconsiderate monsters; the common man is dying unable to breathe on pavements of hospitals and on sidewalks of uncaring heartless cities the poor ill has been naively calling their home.

History will absolve none of us for the atrocities that are being rampantly committed against humanity. 

In these grim times, I gather hope from the selfless action of civil society groups and the interventions that our wise courts are making, particularly, Honourable 'Delhi High court, Allahabad High Court, Madras High court and the High court of my city Patna'.  We must root for the apex court to recognise universalised and government-funded vaccination for all under the right to life and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the constitution of the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India.

But till that comes by, it is we the people, who would have to assume the responsibility that the elected government has criminally abdicated, in whatever way we can; to save the nation and her people.

National vaccination policy seems informed by Social Darwinism; the fittest in this context means most resourceful. They will get access to the jab first and those who do not have the muscle (of wealth and influence) latter (which is basically in distant and unknown future). PM Modi, in yet another attempt to manage the headline and create a favourable narrative, announced that India will start vaccinating all above the age of 18 from 1st of May 2021, knowing fully well that both the vaccine manufacturers put together do not nearly have enough vaccine in stock to even cover another 10% people with one dose let alone 2 doses and entire population above 18, which is roughly 90 cr. The little we say about deferential pricing for the state and the centre the better - it is foolish economics and shrewd politics. 

Racial, ethnic and religious minorities and those economically disadvantaged are feeling the weight of the pandemic more than others. Higher rate of infection and lower recovery in this group point towards biased and collective apathy of one class of citizenry towards the ‘other’. This inequality is a global phenomenon and not just a blot on the Indian spread; though in our subcontinent, the social, political and economic aftereffects are more pronounced than anywhere else on the planet. 

Bharat is the ‘herd’ in the ‘herd immunity that India so desperately desires today.

Bharat has been bailing out India since time immemorial, with the only notable exception of the Indian freedom movement. Bharat fights India’s wars. Bharat grows food for India. Bharat erects the mansion India calls home. Bharat lays the roads and the runways on which India rages its motor of choice. Bharat participates in drug trials for India to have safe vaccines. Bharat curls empty stomach in moonlight so that India could party in the empty streets. Bharat toils on assembly lines on hot and humid shop floors for India to test the speed limits of its sports cars. Bharat labours in mines for India to have electricity powered life and lifestyle. 

Bharat votes for India to rule.

It is this Bharat that keeps the myth of India alive.

Will Bharat get its due, most certainly yes .. but sadly none of us will live that long to see it, not happening in our lifetimes, so stark and pronounced is the inequality.

Sending a prayer for India that is Bharat.

So for our own good, we must help the underprivileged, today!

India’s ok to do, middle classes and the above, which is roughly top 40% of the country have a choice to either amplify the shortsightedness of the policy with myopic selfishness or to behave in accordance with Gandhian Idea of inclusivity to help those who can’t afford to get a vaccine in an expensive 5-star hospital. Know this, that if the top 40% do not show magnanimity, the virus will continue to infect the poor and in the process mutate and then will come back stronger to hunt those living in the ivory towers later, too. 

The anaemic pace of vaccination, coupled with inelastic supply and high hesitancy not just among regular people but also medical practitioners (only 60% took the vaccine when it was available for all of them in the first phase); is going to ensure that virus keeps raging for next 2 years (most conservative estimate).

Given that social vaccine, which is ‘mask, social distancing and hand hygiene’ and state-mandated lockdowns and curfews; blunt as they may be are the only tools that the majority of our country will have access to fight the pandemic. 

The sooner we make peace with it the better it will be for us, all.

Don’t let your guard down, not now and not even in the near future.

A palace surrounded by graveyards from all sides, no matter how beautiful & grand, is seen as haunted. If for nothing else then to save the sanctity of our castles save the humble huts from burning in despair and disaster.

If India incorporation (all firms big & small) decided to cut its marketing spending (advertisement) by half for the rest of this year and diverted the funds to vaccination and rehabilitation of those infected from the bottom 30% of our impoverished country. It will become possible for India to imagine a future without Covid wrecking havoc, as early as the mid of 2023.

It may not be a legal requirement, one may argue that welfare is not the core objective of the private entities that operate to earn profit and that they are being unfairly expected to do what the Govt that collects lion’s share of their profits as taxes (both direct & indirect ) have been elected to do. They won’t be wrong, after all, they have worked hard to accumulate, raise the lifeblood of their org, the capital.

As much as they are right in ‘not spending’ it is also correct that the Govt of the day is both incapable and inconsiderate; so someone will have to come forward.

Come forward to help the desperate and destitute of this country today; after all, it is them whom you wish to sell to.

Money is not an issue, collective will is!

The amount of money that India spends each year on weddings and festivals is obnoxious, more than 100 billion dollars (conservative estimate). Imagine, if all of India decided to give up festivities and the expensive circus around weddings for a year - how easily can she wade through the crisis of Covid? 

At times like these India misses the charisma of figures like Bapu, Pundit Nehru, even Lal Bahadur Shashtri; who could rally the country behind such a mission.

Well, they may not be around; but their ideals live - we need to take inspiration from them, and give up what must be given up to offer people who would otherwise die if not from the disease then from hunger that would follow; the gift of life. 

Think long and hard and then act, we can’t be sitting on the fence.

The national duty of every Indian today is to do everything within their means to not fall sick; thereby saving an already collapsed medical infrastructure from further desecration. Her graveyards and crematoriums and other resting places (tower of silence) alike are tired and exhausted - they deserve to rest.

Shun social, political, religious and economic responsibilities in the interest of national well-being, support the nation: Do not venture out, save the country!

No effort is too small; no contribution, insignificant!

Keep in view the legend from the epic the Ramayana, ‘the little squirrel and the Rama Setu’, whenever you feel small and inadequate when faced with strong urge to help. For matters of kindness are not measured so much in volume but in purity of intent and by the degree of selflessness. Your contribution of sponsoring vaccination of one unrelated and underprivileged individual is in no way any lesser then someone choosing to dump a billion dollars in an already wealthy charity, in the book of the Karma.

I appeal to your humanitarian senses and not just patriotic propriety ; come forward to help, in whichever way you can.

Humanity demands action, we can’t leave those in need today to suffer in silence initially and then settle in eternal quiet eventually. We have to think creatively, cut costs wherever possible to find the ‘funds’ needed for good intentions to manifest in tangible acts of help. 

Here are a few things that we can attempt. 

1) Healthy individuals: Volunteer for non-medical efforts at hospitals: wheeling patients, filling forms, waiting in queues, distributing food and water, etc.

2) We can lobby with RWAs to cut the maintenance expenditure of the societies that we reside in, divert the saved funds to the needy, instead.

3) We can have common spaces in our gated communities and apartments converted into isolation centres for those who live in houses woefully small to maintain any social distancing; thereby limiting the chain. 

4) Cut personal expenditure to the bare minimum: Donate amount equal to electricity tariff of the ACs that we use, drop all non-essential purchases even the budgeted ones. Donate in kinds. 

Indiscriminate aid should become the principal character of public policy response and also that of independent social outreach programs funded by concerned citizens and NGOs.

In helping, that is if we have the resources to help, we should not see any group of needy as ‘the other’. Wherever possible, we must direct relief in the direction of those who need it the most and not towards those with who we know or identify the most with.

Helping people is serving GOD.

Take care and stay safe.