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Covid-19 crisis in India: A delayed and flawed response
India could have avoided many deaths, economic losses if the Centre had prepared itself when China reported the first COVID-19 cases.
Written By Sharad Yadav |
Updated: May 7, 2020 9:18:56 pm
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Coronavirus crisis, India lockdown, Migrant workers, Punjab news, Indian express news
When the government got out of its slumber and imposed a country-wide lockout, it did not bother about migrant workers and daily wagers. (Representational/Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
With India already grappling with an economic slowdown and job losses, COVID-19 has struck at the most inopportune time. And the inept handling by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government has only worsened the situation. As always, the down-trodden sections of the society have had to bear the brunt of it. Doctors, nurses, health workers, and police personnel too have had to suffer a lot since the country was not prepared for this tragedy.
Though one may take heart from the fact that the total number of casualties and infected person in India are less compared to rest of the world, the damages and miseries caused by the pandemic could have been much less had the government swung into action in time. The warning signals were there in February itself. A note of caution from Rahul Gandhi of the Congress on February 12 to this effect was dismissed by the government as an attempt to create unnecessary panic.
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When the government got out of its slumber and imposed a country-wide lockout, it did not bother about migrant workers and daily wagers. The Centre declared the lockdown and imposed other harsh measures without consulting the state governments. The latter had little elbow room to prepare for the lockdown. The chaos and confusion was predictable. Poor migrant labourers had nowhere to go, nothing to eat and none to look to for any help. The lockdown reminds one of this government’s monumental failures such as demonetisation and flawed GST implementation.
While the first corona case in India was reported as early as on January 30, India was busy preparing for the February 24 Namaste Trump show in Ahmedabad. Though the first corona death happened on March 9, the BJP was busy in toppling the government in Madhya Pradesh. It sent its party MLAs to Bengaluru the same day. As the sequence unfolded, the state assembly was adjourned on March 17 due to the pandemic. But it did not deter the ruling party at the Centre from pulling down the Congress-led government in Bhopal on March 20. The “janata curfew” was also declared on March 22. The very next day, BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in as chief minister.
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But Madhya Pradesh is now paying a heavy price for this act. It has already seen more cases and deaths, especially in Indore. MP now has the dubious distinction of being fourth state behind Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi in terms of the death toll and overall cases. Meanwhile, once the deed was done, Parliament was adjourned and lockdown enforced and all movement stopped.
It did not end here. Some BJP leaders and certain sections of the media tried to give a communal colour to a sudden spike in corona cases following the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi. Certain questions were raised in this regard about the permission given, whether the government was not unaware of the jamaat since it happened close to a police station and so on.
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What followed later recalled the situation in India immediately after Partition, with people running helter-skelter with no clear directions from either the central or state governments. Some people managed to travel home, peddling their way to their far-off villages or walking tens and hundreds of kilometres, braving the police lathis and the inclement weather. Some 20-30 people, including children and women, are reported to have died during the journey. While initially, most of the state governments refused to arrange transport for migrants, many of them subsequently agreed to bring back students, and migrants at a later stage. Shocking as it may sound that some states, including Bihar, did not show even this much courtesy.