oppn parties There Are Other Ways To Rectify Mistakes

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  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
There Are Other Ways To Rectify Mistakes

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-05-13 14:53:38

The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, D V Sadananda Gowda today asked whether people governing the country should hang themselves if vaccines are not produced in desired quantities. "The court has with good intention said everyone in the country should get vaccinated. I want to ask you, if the court says tomorrow that you have to give this much (of vaccine), if it has not been produced yet, should we hang ourselves?" Mr Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru.

This is a question put forward by a frustrated man. The minister should know that neither the court nor the people are asking anyone in the government to hang themselves. But the government must admit its failures instead of being in denial. If the vaccines are not being produced, how is it that several rich countries are sitting on huge stocks for which they are being criticized? How is it that despite India being called the "pharmacy of the world" and taking pride in producing every third vaccine dose made in the world not able to produce enough vaccines while others are doing it easily?

This is a government failure of huge magnitude. It was huge mistake to rely only upon domestic producers without anticipating the huge demand and placing orders to foreign manufacturers too. It was mistake to allocate Rs 35000 crore for vaccination and then not making it free for every citizen. It was a mistake not to enforce compulsory licensing and putting all factories that make vaccines to work. It was a mistake not to negotiate one price for the whole country with the producers, for acquiring billions of doses at a single and hugely attractive price is easier than states negotiating for small doses? What was the use of allocating such a huge amount for vaccination then?

The government has today said that 200 crore doses of vaccines will be available by the end of this year. That is good news. But if it was proactive and had managed things better, these doses could have come three months earlier through orders with foreign manufacturers and timely ramping up of domestic production. Hence, those in government should acknowledge this and accept their mistakes instead of throwing stupid questions at the media.