Rebuilding India 20

India unites in times of crisis  

Almost the entire world is in the grip of coronavirus disease (    COVID - 19) since March 2020.  The Centre for Systems Science and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, USA notes that there were more than 2.72 million confirmed cases of the disease reported in 185 countries and territories as of April 24, 2020 with more than 1,91,000 deaths. It is the biggest calamity in the twenty first century that has affected the different sections of the society all over the world. 

COVID -19 is an infectious disease caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome. It was first identified in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province of China in Dec.2019. Since then it has spread to different parts of the world, resulting in the ongoing 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. 

The countries in the West are the most affected with the USA and EU losing several thousands of their citizens. The US has so far lost more than 50,000 lives and has more than 8.90,00 confirmed cases. The loss of lives in Europe is much more with Italy, Spain and France losing more than 20,000 persons each. 

Compared to many other countries, India is in a better position in terms of the confirmed cases and the loss of lives. Though we have the second highest population, so far the confirmed cases are around 18000 and loss of lives around 720. Sweden has a population of slightly more than 10 million, but it has already lost more than 2000 lives. The population of Netherlands is around 17.5 million only, but its deaths have crossed 4000. 

Experts opine that one of the major reasons for the lower rates in India are our traditional ways of life such as the cleaning habits, intake of preventive and medicinal items as part of food and drinks and the healthy practices that form part of our lives. Moreover, the central Government has been highly pro-active to contain the disease from the beginning, with the good support from most state Governments.

Even when many countries such as the US were hesitating to take steps, the Indian Government took the bold decision of a complete lock down for three weeks beginning the midnight of March 24-25 and later extending the period by almost another three weeks. Two days before announcing the lock down, the Prime Minister asked the citizens to observe a voluntary public curfew by remaining indoors for 14 hours from 7 am. It was to practice social distancing, thereby to arrest the spread of the virus. 

 A billion plus Indians responded positively to the initiative on March 22.  Besides, the PM also asked the people to thank all those who have been at the forefront selflessly working for others in the fight against the virus, such as doctors, nurses, sanitary staff, emergency services personnel, police, army and others. For this purpose, the PM asked the citizens to stand on their doorways, balconies, in windows at 5 pm on the day and keep clapping hands and ringing the bells for five minutes to salute and encourage them.

As the clock struck 5 in the evening, citizens of the entire nation – rich and poor, city dweller and villager - came out on their roofs, balconies and doorways as one to clap and ring the bells to express their gratitude. Some blew conch shells, some banged the utensils, while a few even used the fire crackers during the time. Many Indians living in foreign countries also took part in the event. The nation stood united as one and thanked the ‘saviours of the nation.’

After two weeks, again the PM gave a call to the citizens for unity to fight the “darkness of coronavirus epidemic”, by switching off their lights at homes and light candles, lamps or mobile flash lights standing at the doors or balconies for nine minutes on April, 9 from 9 pm. He said: “No one is alone during the lockdown, the collective superpower of 130 crore Indians is with every citizen.” 

Once again the entire nation responded to the call with enthusiasm, by coming out with lights and standing for 9 minutes outside their doors or on the balconies showing that the country is united in the fight.  From the President of India till the last man, every one including the industry captains, cricketers, actors, opposition leaders, professionals, farmers, factory workers, housewives and students took part in the event. 

The next day the media reported that India stood united as one to show solidarity, as it did earlier. This is not new to India. Whenever there is need, whenever the nation faced any major difficulties, Indians come together and stand united. It is the tradition of this great nation to support the leader during the times of crisis. Of course, the leadership matters a lot.

During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, India faced a severe food crisis. The then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri appealed to the people to skip a meal every week to overcome the food shortage so that the poor could be fed. The country responded to his call by observing Monday fast throughout the war.  

In the recent years, Indians have responded to a similar appeal. During 2015, PM Modi appealed to those who could afford the market rates for their LPG connections to voluntarily surrender their subsidies to the Government. Called as ‘Give it Up’ campaign, it was intended for increasing the budget for subsidizing a higher number of LPG connections for the poorer sections of the society. Ten million people gave up their subsidy in a period of just thirteen months and the numbers continued to increase over the months. 

India is the land of diversity, much more diverse than any other part of the world.  But there is a strong underlying unity. More than hundred years ago, Dr Ambedkar noted: “  …. .. I venture to say that there is no country that can rival the Indian Peninsula with respect to the unity of its culture. It has not only a geographic unity, but it has over and above all a deeper and a much more fundamental unity – the indubitable cultural unity that covers the land from end to end.”

It is this unity that is binding our nation since ages. And India has been maintaining this unity over many millennia. That is the reason why India remains unique. Rabindranath Tagore wrote; “If God had so wished, he would have made all Indians speak with one language ... the unity of India has been and shall always be a unity in diversity.”

During these difficult times of coronavirus, India is standing firm. Dedicated teams of “corona warriors” are on the field, neglecting their comforts and families. Besides, lakhs of Indians are continuously   engaged in distributing food and essential items to the poorer sections and the migrants. Sangh Parivar, religious, spiritual and service organisations, voluntary groups, neighbor-hood associations, industry/ professional bodies and families are willingly doing these activities as their duty.

We have in fact turned the adversity into an opportunity. Our health care delivery systems are getting strengthened. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan mentioned: “We had only one Lab at the National Institute of Virology at Pune, to perform tests for COVID-19 initially. During the last 03 months we have scaled up the number of government labs to 230 aided by another 87 private labs with more than 16,000 collection centers.”  This is just one aspect of the work.

 India has been scaling up the COVID-19 related activities in all the required directions successfully. Some of them are pioneering. For example, the Government of India has developed a mobile application called Aarogya Setu to connect the essential health care services with the people of India to combat the disease. Within a short span of time, it has already been downloaded by around 7.2 crore people.  

Hence the leaders of different countries and the international bodies are appreciating our efforts to combat the deadly virus. World Health Organisation said: “India can do it.” Besides we are helping many countries – from the US to Maldives - in all possible ways, such as supplying medicines and sending our medical teams. Also we are offering free services as gifts to our neighbours and few other countries.

Moreover, India took the lead for closer cooperation among the nations to take on the fight. As a result, the respect for India has been going up. Coronavirus is hopefully laying foundations for a new world order, in which India is expected to have a major role. Like the way we have united to fight the virus, let us resolve to remain united and work to make use of the emerging opportunities for a powerful India in the years to come.      

Reference

COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 24,     April 2020

( Yuva Bharati, Vivekananda Kendra, Chennai, May 2020)