Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just For You

Not the Age of Reason

As heartbreaking reports of suffering, loss and paucity of life-saving resources coupled with gut-wrenching visuals of bodies floating in the Ganga and endless, en masse cremations emerge, former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram writes in The Indian Express:

"“In the battle against COVID-19, the State, especially the Central government, has withered away.” "

Stating that a vast majority of the people in the country have reached a point where they have concluded “that they have to rely only on themselves, and their families and friends, to protect their lives”, Chidambaram points out that this is not the Age of Reason. He then goes on to state certain “indisputable facts” and leave it to each individual to decide “who is mainly responsible for this terrible state of affairs”.

Chidambaram’s facts include that the probable demand for vaccine doses was never computed, 5.8 crore doses of vaccines had been exported, much of the health infrastructure additions made in 2020 were dismantled after October 2020 and that there is no IEC (information, education and communication) approach to public health

Poll Reforms Can Help Fix Myopia and Crookery

Explaining - and lamenting - how democracy itself breeds myopia, prioritising “short-term issues over longer-term ones”, SA Aiyer, in his column for The Times of India, writes:

"“Voters know how important long-term issues are, notably public education, health, police, and courts. Yet voters and politicians also know that transforming such areas will take time and constantly be sabotaged by vested interests. These issues are acknowledged as important but not as urgent as short-term ones. And so, in political contests, myopia beats long-sightedness hollow.”"

He then casts an introspective glance at India’s political history and recommends Constitutional changes in a bid to fix the vices plaguing the Indian democracy.

These changes include making it mandatory for an elected leader to hold office for full five years regardless of defections, by-elections, or anything else and holding state elections half-way through a national election’s five-year term in stead of simultaneous polls.

An Agonising End in the River

“The disturbing visual imagery of dead bodies in a river making a surprise entrance is straight out of a Stephen King novel. Or, belongs in the weird illogicality of nightmares,” writes Leher Kala, in her column for The Indian Express.

Pointing out that last year the virus had a distant quality and we had “Zoom parties”, the columnist observes: “These days the uneasy shadow of death envelops each one of us like an invisible halo. Now, Zoom cremations are commonplace.”

Lamenting a lack of benchmark for weighing trauma, Kala writes:

"“There is the surreal reality of calmly sitting in front of my TV and watching the terrified reactions of people spooked by the drifting dead, human beings who were summarily discarded, like flotsam and jetsam. They met the beastly fates that befall the doomed heroes of horror movies: cruelly ignored while alive and ruthlessly caricatured in death.” "New India Needs a New Slogan: ‘Hospital Wahin Banayenge’

Journalist Sagrika Ghose, in her piece for The Times of India, points out that many “what ifs” haunt us while we mourn our precious departed ones amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"“What if we had as many countless quality hospitals and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as we have statues and religious shrines? There are innumerable Ambedkar statues across Uttar Pradesh (UP_. A majestic Shivaji statue is planned in Maharashtra. The Ram Janmabhoomi Trust plans to complete the first floor of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir by 2022 coinciding with Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The completion of the mandir itself is planned for 2024, the year of India’s general elections.”"

Further, she observes that UP, site of a grand mandir, has one of the worst healthcare systems in India, with, a 23% shortfall of doctors in PHCs in rural areas and has among the lowest doctor-patient rations in the country.

“Ayodhya itself, like so many other places, is struggling with severe oxygen shortages,” writes Ghose.

Pointing out that Delhi will soon get a grand Central Vista but people cannot find hospital beds., Sagrika Ghose urges relevant stakeholders to “bid farewell to the politics of mandir, masjid, jaati, dharm, and pledge ourselves anew to a hospital for every religious shrine.”

BJP Owes Both Assam Win and Bengal Defeat to Voter Schism

Swapan Dasgupta, in his column for The Times of India, flags “some of the issues arising from the verdicts in West Bengal and Assam where incomes governments were re-elected with conclusive majorities” as these issues, he reckons, are likely to have a significant bearing on the region’s future.

Claiming that the striking feature of voter behaviour in the two states was “deepening sectarian fault lines”, Dasgupta writes:

"“In both states, the electorate was sharply polarised along Hindu-Muslim lines. The schism may not be so apparent at the macro level…These statistics may prompt a facile conclusion that both sides in Assam and Mamata in Bengal transcended religious identity and that bread-and-butter concerns prevailed. However, a disaggregated reading of the results — as gleaned from the authoritative CSDS-Lokniti surveys — tells a different story.” "

He then goes on to elaborate on how “Mamata’s over-dependence on the minority community for her big victory is obvious” and “how the support for the BJP was quite marked among Bengali-speaking Hindus, mainly in the Barak Valley (in Assam).”

Denial is Bad Policy

“Our worst nightmares are coming true,” points out Tavleen Singh, in her column for The Indian Express. Then she goes on to observe that while bodies start piling up along the banks of “our most sacred river”, those in-charge unleash a relentless string of denials.

“Denial is the shield that the BJP’s mightiest leaders have been using ever since the pandemic reached catastrophic levels. Yogi Adityanath is among those who have used it most. He continues to try and persuade the people of his state that there is no shortage of oxygen, hospital beds or medicines,” writes Taveleen Singh.

Singh also states that denial becomes pointless when dead bodies start to wash up on the banks of the Ganga and people continue to die in hospitals across the country from a shortage of oxygen.

“This is a message that seems to have not reached the Prime Minister,” laments Singh.

India’s Technocratic Approach to Vaccination is Excluding the Digitally-Deprived

Observing that that technology is “serving us” during this COVID-19 crisis and “it is natural for it to be viewed as a measure for vaccination”, Apar Gupta and Anushka Jain, in their piece for The Indian Express, write:

"“Here, the principal response has been through the CoWin portal that has been launched by the Government of India to digitise the vaccination drive. It is, however, resulting in vaccine exclusion and a lack of privacy.” "

The writers - an executive director and a policy counsel - then go on to list out the pressing concerns pertaining to this digitisation of the vaccine drive.

“In the absence of the internet and without knowledge of how the portal functions, the majority of India’s rural population is being discriminated against and a form of technical rationing is being implemented by CoWin based on broadband connectivity and digital literacy,” they observe.

Further, Gupta and Jain point out that the “technocratic approach in using digital systems has prioritised data collection and efficiency over vaccine equity” and that the present deployment of CoWin is undermining the right to health, in place of augmenting it.

Address the Need of Domestic Workers

Lalita Panicker, in her article for Hindustan Times, writes about how domestic workers are struggling with stress over the uncertainty of their work prospects and dwindling resources to manage their homes, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pointing out that most of them are women and vulnerable to domestic violence and, in extreme cases, traffic, Panicker urges the government to not abandon them to their plight.

Offering suggestions on how the government can help them (registration, free ration for a fixed period, among other measures), she writes:

"“Full and part-time domestic workers have been instrumental in improving economic productivity, especially of other women, as their inputs have freed employers to go out to work. It would be short-sighted to overlook their needs at a time when women’s participation in the workforce is declining.” "For India’s Sake, PM Modi Must Find His Voice

Karan Thapar, in his piece for Hindustan Times, sheds light to two truths about good governments. One, that they communication and they do so with the intention for carrying the people with them. And two, great leaders can find the words that express the resolve or aspirations of their people.

“I’m afraid, on both counts, our government and our prime minister (PM) have disappointed us,” writes Karan Thapar.

He also points out that this is why many, right now, feel abandoned and helpless.

Bemoaning the thoughtlessness and lack of details and linguistic inclusivity in the government’s press conferences, Karan Thapar says, however, “what truly perplexes me is our PM’s silence”.

"“Without doubt, he’s the best communicator we have. He’s capable of heights of oratory and has a gift for capturing the mood of the country. Today, when we are shaken, depressed and some are even losing hope, we need him to give us strength and courage, vision and determination. But he has nothing to say. Indeed, he’s not just silent, he’s almost invisible.” "More From The Quint

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