Assam: Pandemic in Barak Valley

Keeping in sync with the rest of India, Assam too has not been spared by the deadly second wave of Covid-19 that seems to have taken our hyperactive Central government unawares.  

At this juncture it will be futile to hold the Centre responsible for this messy state as it declared victory over Covid-19 a bit earlier.  

However, it will also be futile to now ask the Centre as to why it ignored the ‘red-alert’ of Covid-19 taskforce. It will also be futile to raise the question as to why the Maha Kumbh Mela at Haridwar was allowed in this dangerous time.  

Going by the statement of Professor Vidyasagar-one of the empanelled scientists in Covid-19 task force set up by the Centre said that it warned the government of second wave—despite ringing this alarm bell the top echelons of Central government made themselves extremely busy in campaigning for the Assembly polls.  

On May 30, Narendra Modi government will complete two years in office of its second term. Undoubtedly compared to his first term the second innings has thrown many challenges to him.  

First the Galwan clash with the Chinese forces and now the ongoing Covid crisis. The aim of this piece is not to dissect. The aim of this article is not to ‘single out’ any one individual or political party for this health crisis.  

A common man has many questions. Sadly, these questions always remain unanswered. Rather it would be apt to say that these questions fail to find concerned ears because politicking takes the centre-stage.  

In the past 70 years India has seen many prime ministers. The bitter truth is – not a single government in Delhi Durbar thought of improving the health care system of India.  

The only issue that dominated the political climate in our country was ‘secularism’ and today a new offshoot has emerged—it’s called ‘sectarianism.’ 

To counter the aggressive Hindutva brand of politics of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Congress has now decided to emulate the footsteps of his arch rival. A new concept has been coined by the beleaguered grand old party. This theory is called ‘soft Hindutva’.  

Now, let’s come to the moot point. Let’s talk about the ongoing vaccination drive for Covid-19. Let’s talk straight.  

The fact is government has failed to roll out the vaccination drive across the country. It will be wrong to pin the blame squarely on the shoulders of Prime Minister Modi because our country follows a federal structure.  

The respective chief ministers across political affiliations should also be held accountable for this ‘manageable crisis.’ 

The political executives remained in deep slumber for full one year. They called off their war against this Wuhan virus much earlier.  

Today India is in an extremely bad shape. It seems that the second wave of Covid-19 has only address in its diary—India.  

From shortage of oxygen to shortage of hospital beds—the second most populous country of South Asia is dominating headlines of major international dailies for all the wrong reasons.  

Now, let’s turn our focus to the management of state governments in managing this crisis. The irony is each and every chief minister is following a sort of passing the buck culture.  

Dear readers, you are all aware of Covid-19. You have all read about the floating dead bodies of people who lost their battle to this virus. They have been denied a dignified farewell for their last journey.  

Many cases of gross anomalies have also come up in Barak Valley. Aditi Roy. She is a resident of Link Road colony at Silchar. Even after taking both the doses of her Covid vaccine government records showed that she is ‘yet to be vaccinated.’ Is it not a chaos? Is it not an example of sheer callousness? Is it not an example of poor management?  

Moreover, it also needs to be borne in mind that initially people were afraid of taking the vaccines. Today people are interested but there is shortage of vaccines.  

Countries like America and Great Britain placed orders for vaccines in December 2020 and India started the procedure on January 12, 2021.  

At the same time many cases of death of fully vaccinated people are also doing the rounds. Such depressing news will surely place the vaccine makers on the witness box of people’s court.  

Many schools and government aided institutions have been turned into vaccination centres. Are these centres well-equipped to store the vaccines because people are making a beeline for Covid vaccines? 

The authorities concerned need to think about it before it’s too late. The vaccination centres are now becoming Covid clusters because in queues Covid protocols can’t be maintained.  

For winning this war against this virus our governments—both the Centre and states need to act smart.  

By lighting diyas and beating thalis one can’t surmount this odd. A smart policy and effective implementation of the policy is needed.  

The newly elected chief minister of Assam has talked about building a ‘new Assam’. We hope that this will not remain a mere gimmick aimed at becoming a heartthrob in people’s mind.  

Hopefully his government will lay emphasis on improving the healthcare system in Assam. Every crisis throws a challenge.  

Every crisis brings out the best in an individual. Let’s turn this crisis into an opportunity. Before signing off would like to make a humble request to the political fraternity at least now stop politics and act on the ground.