The Second Wave: No Time To Lose
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-19 05:54:19
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
It is good that realization is now dawning upon all that the well-being of citizens is of utmost importance in these troubled times. Almost everyone, from the Centre to the states, from the school boards to religious trusts, mahants and clerics and from businessmen to the common man, had underestimated the power and fury of the second wave. More so, no one anticipated how soon it will transform into a huge one. India is doing in the third week of April what it should have done in the third (or maximum fourth) week of March. We are already one month behind in our responses and more time cannot be lost.
But things are now moving in the rights direction. After Prime Minister Modi's appeal to observe the Kumbh symbolically, the mela has been wound up for all practical purposes with the withdrawal of several large akhadas. Elsewhere, the district administration in Ayodhya called off permission for the Ram Navami mela in the town and sealed the borders to prevent people from entering. Then, Muslim clerics in Deoband have categorically said that hiding coronavirus is a 'sin' and those infected should remain in isolation and seek treatment. Darul Uloom Deoband's vice-chancellor Maulan Abul Qasim Nomani urged Muslims to strictly follow the Covid guidelines issued by the government. Several large iftar gatherings, in this holy Ramzan month, all over the country have already been cancelled due to the surge in coronavirus cases.
School boards, led by CBSE have either postponed or cancelled the Class X and Class XII examinations rather than risk the health of lakhs of examinees. While most boards have cancelled the Class X boards and have said that the students will be evaluated on internal assessments, they have postponed the school-leaving Class XII boards as they are necessary for admission to higher education institutes. A review will be done on June 1 after which if the examinations cannot be held due to the Covid situation, all stakeholders will decide how to evaluate the students and how to set the standards for admission to graduate courses. This is the best they could have done in these troubled times.
With election rallies in West Bengal turning out to be super spreaders, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took the first initiative when he declared that he will not address any more physical rallies in the state. Next up, Mamata Banerjee also said that she would not hold any big rallies in Kolkata. Although there has been no response from the BJP in this regard, one hopes it will follow the lead and refrain from holding big physical rallies for the last three phases. As it is, election fatigue has set in due to the eight phases in nearly five weeks and parties are sensibly avoiding big rallies in view of the surge in cases. So the BJP should also avoid holding physical rallies.
