Write an essay on "Unprecedented times require unprecedented measures." in 1000 words.
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On Friday morning, shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted his countrymen to light candles and lamps as a gesture of a united fight against Covid-19, polarised reactions poured out on social media. Why is the PM focusing on a seemingly pointless ritual while he needs to be telling the nation the details of how we are fighting the pandemic, asked the sceptics. It’s extremely important to keep the morale of a nation high during trying times and this will inspire people and give them hope, countered others.
Such debates — about the merits of the decisions India has made in tackling Covid-19 — are now legion. Everything, from India’s early handling of foreign travellers and airport protocols to testing strategies, ill-equipped healthcare workers, poor handling of migrant workers and meagre support for the industry, is being debated threadbare in locked-down drawing rooms and overheated social media. It’s understandable when the nation is at war with a deadly invisible enemy — a virus. Panic-stricken citizens, confined to their home bunkers, are closely monitoring grim news flowing in from home and abroad. Infections and death counts are rising. Doctors are attacked. Healthcare staff demand masks and protective gears even as hotels and trains are converted into quarantine zones and hospitals.
The war against Covid-19 has also opened a battlefront elsewhere. The unprecedented 21-day lockdown has unsettled lives, halted the economy and pushed India Inc deeper into crisis even as pain on the employment front looks inevitable. These difficulties are only dwarfed by the hardships and devastation faced by millions of migrant workers and daily-wage labourers, with little economic buffer or welfare safety net. Some have questioned the lockdown. “I see no logic in this sweeping lockdown in a country in which 94% are below 65 (years of age)...,” Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj said in a media interview. Adds another labour expert who asked not to be quoted: “We have a fundamental problem of misframing the issue. We are putting health risk before economic risk. For informal workers who survive day to day, health and income are equally proximate issues. You can’t prioritise one over the other.”
The war against Covid-19 has also opened a battlefront elsewhere. The unprecedented 21-day lockdown has unsettled lives, halted the economy and pushed India Inc deeper into crisis even as pain on the employment front looks inevitable. These difficulties are only dwarfed by the hardships and devastation faced by millions of migrant workers and daily-wage labourers, with little economic buffer or welfare safety net. Some have questioned the lockdown. “I see no logic in this sweeping lockdown in a country in which 94% are below 65 (years of age)...,” Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj said in a media interview. Adds another labour expert who asked not to be quoted: “We have a fundamental problem of misframing the issue. We are putting health risk before economic risk. For informal workers who survive day to day, health and income are equally proximate issues. You can’t prioritise one over the other.”
Not everyone agrees, expectedly. “The lockdown was timely. Any delay could have resulted in a spike in cases. Without doubt, the lockdown has been costly in terms of increasing hunger and rural distress but the benefits are significant in terms of a smaller projected epidemic peak,” says Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy. Agrees Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University, who has an interest in infectious diseases modelling: “You can fault the government in their preparation. But the decision to lockdown was very brave and the right one.” Varying outcomes from iron-handed China, dismissive US, dithering Italy and procrastinating Spain have all shown the importance of a lockdown in dealing with Covid-19. Bear in mind that India entered the Covid-19 battlefield with its hands tied – a fragile and under-funded public healthcare system and a sluggish economy. “India deployed the most potent weapon it had at its disposal. A 21-day lockdown,” says Oommen C Kurian, head of health initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.
The extraordinary, high-stakes situation makes navigation tricky for decision makers.
“The virus is a known unknown. The situation is evolving rapidly. We are taking very tough decisions. Some assumptions will hold, some may not. We will have the ability to change things as we go. In a country of 1.3 billion people, to do things we have done requires tremendous courage,” says K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific adviser to the government
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