C Covid19 Pandemic in India :
The first cases of COVID-19 in India were reported on 30 January 2020 in three towns of Kerala, among three Indian medical students who had returned from Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic. Lockdowns were announced in Kerala on 23 March, and in the rest of the country on 25 March.
COVID-19 has completely and badly affected Indian
people. India, has the second-largest population in the world is suffered
severely from COVID-19 disease. COVID-19
has driven the people lives of India as
well as rest of the world, totally in a
different way. Hence similar to other countries, India is also badly troubling now in an enormous way like
education and so called best health infrastructures
totally affect the economic condition towards downward direction of today’s time and the future in a cruel
manner. There is no end till now to stop this pandemic and the whole world are
facing another COVID-19 aftermath i.e. Pandemic
crisis. Vaccination drive in India is
also poor. The second wave has made
India’s position significantly worse. The total confirmed cases per million now
are comparable to those in the rest the world and the rate of vaccination is
lower in India. While death rates seem
lower in India, there is massive underreporting. After accounting for the underreporting within
official statistics, India’s total confirmed cases and deaths might exceed that
of the rest of the world by a large margin.
Lockdown was announced in India for about two years. There was talk of a
trade-off between lives and livelihoods when the Covid-19 crisis erupted last
year. As India struggles in the second wave, it is clear that the country did
poorly in both dimensions.
India, the fastest growing economy, is now in turmoil thanks to the BJP's 8 years of misgovernance, alleged, adding that inflation is touching an all-time high and so are unemployment levels. People are knowing that a select group of crony capitalists and industrialists whose wealth has increased manifold. Adani Group is diverse businesses include port management, electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy, mining, airport operations, natural gas, food processing and infrastructure and many more in other countries.
NCP and Congress, which shares power with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, listed rising inflation, high unemployment, "suppression of democracy", failure to safeguard national security, hate politics, historic fall in value of the rupee, "economic collapse" and erosion of social fabric as the eight "failures" of the government. A wrong ideology has ruined communal harmony of the country.
One of the most publicized promises made by Modi during the Lok Sabha elections’ campaign was that the NDA government would credit ₹15 lakh in every citizen’s bank account, after it had brought back the black money stashed overseas. Party chief Amit Shah later said it was a "jumla" or election gimmick, which was seen as a self-goal that laid the party open to further ridicule.
impact of covid-19 and death in india
The spread of COVID-19 has been largely uneven across the states of India. With 123 million population, Maharashtra was the second most populous and urbanized state in the country. It is one of the more developed states and ranks high on the human development index. There have political impact influenced on Maharashtra in various ways. Maharashtra was the worst affected state with respect to COVID-19 infections and mortality. Until 23rd December 2020, it had 1.9 million cases and 48,876 deaths due to COVID-19, accounting for 19% of total infections and 34% of all COVID-19 attributable deaths in the country. The case-fatality ratio in the state is higher than the national average. It has been observed that the rapid community transmission of the virus in a short time has resulted in a higher incidence of the disease and deaths resulting from it and, consequently, has affected the life expectancy. Many states, including Maharashtra, were experiencing the second and the third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also experienced that Maharashtra has been worst affected, but medicines related to the Pandemic was in short, in view of political interference. With the global literature hinting at the implications of COVID-19 for longevity, it becomes imperative to make a regional assessment of the same owing to the disproportionately high load of infections and deaths due to the pandemic in the region. This assessment involves premature mortality, with its consequential bearing on life expectancy, person-years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life years (DALY). With the age-specific load of the infection and fatalities, person-years of life lost offers an understanding into the skewed share of life lost during the productive years, which has implications not only for a macro assessment, but also for household-level micro assessment. Years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a summary measure of premature mortality that reflects the sum of years lost from a predefined age, such as standard life expectancy. A higher YPLL is indicative of premature mortality and contributes to the compression of life expectancy. DALY measures the disease burden of the population and consists of YPLL and Years Lived with Disability (YLD). DALY serves to understand the implications of differential severity of the disease for individuals conditioned by their age, sex, and any pre-disposed condition. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, estimating YPLL and DALY is appropriate as over two-thirds of deaths are under 70 years of age ‘a standard age for estimating YPLL.
If we have a cursory look at the day-to-day figures of positive cases, Maharashtra is definitely reporting the highest number of cases across the country. It was also earmarked that some States are under-reporting the infection and death cases. Maharashtra’s contribution to overall morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 is significant among all other states in the country. Of the 1.29 crore COVID-19 cases reported across the country, Maharashtra’s contribution stands at almost 32 lakh. Every fourth COVID-19 infected person is from Maharashtra.
More than half of the COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra are being reported from four major cities, Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nagpur. It categorically explains that the extent of urbanization in any community is one of the important determinants for COVID-19 morbidity. Maharashtra is one of the most urbanized (more than 50 per cent) states of India. The scale of urbanization in Maharashtra is comparable only to Kerala and Tamil Nadu. UP, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh are the five most populous states, but the proportion of urbanization in UP and Bihar is 22 and 11 per cent, respectively. Nearly 70 per cent of the population in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal is located in rural areas. This demographic profile has a major impact on the COVID-19 transmission dynamics. some States were under-reporting the infection and death cases.
Shortages of Remdesivir injections in the market were noticed in April and May 2021 due to a sudden surge in the demand for the drug for managing COVID-19 patients, especially, it is made artificial in Maharashtra, for political mileage. The bench of Bombay High Court said they to know about the reduction in the allocation of Remdesivir to Maharashtra from May 1 to May 9, 2021. There have been black marketing for the injections. For the earlier period of ten days, the allocation was 4,30,000 vials, and the same for the next 10 days is 3,74,500. This means a reduction of 60,500 vials of Remdesivir for Maharashtra," the judges said. In Gujarat State, MLA and MP, was distributing this injection free of cost to their public. An unprecedented surge in demand of some crucial medicines (Remdesivir, Fabiflu), used in treating Covid patients, has created a mess. The Government mechanism was also not strengthened in view of increase in infections and politics were played. After public raised hue and cry, Companies like Cipla or Cadila, and others have increased production. Millions of Remdesivir may have been exported, citizens suffering due to its shortage, said by Delhi HC. Several companies in India were manufacturing the medicine and millions of vials of the drug must have been exported, but we do not have enough to cater to our own patients. The court also asked the Centre on what basis it was deciding how much of the drug was to be allocated to the Delhi government and whether anyone can directly approach the manufactures or suppliers for buying the medicine.
Shortage of Oxygen cylinder for Covid patients :
It is said that Centre has formed an empowered committee for the allocation and every state is being supplied oxygen according to its requirements. But supply of Oxygen was politicized for few states and caused shortage leading to the death cases. Targeting the Rajasthan, Maharashtra State government, Central minister claimed that about a year ago, the Centre had allocated funds for oxygen plants and other resources to every state. At last, high courts of this respective State interfere and started dealing with Central Government, for supply of Oxygen cylinder.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/oxygen-shortage-rajasthan-govt-levelling-false-allegations-against-centre-says-arjun-ram-meghwal/articleshow/82275889.cms
Vaccination was to be a safeguard against the third Covid-19 wave, but was severely botched. Only 18.2 crore people have been vaccinated and 4.16 crore of them have received both doses in the four months since the vaccination drive began on 16 January, but the Centre claimed before a skeptical Supreme Court that the entire population above 18 years, numbering 940 million, will be vaccinated by the year end. The apex court questioned the differential pricing of the vaccines when they were originally proposed to be procured and distributed free by the Centre. In her February budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a provision of Rs35,000 crore for vaccination for 2021-22, but a Right to Information (RTI) response reveals that just Rs.4,488.75 crore has been released to buy vaccines from two domestic companies.
In a new opinion piece, two scientists clarify the failures of vaccine planning and deployment that have contributed to this second wave.
The experts make a series of suggestions for how Indian officials should manage and prioritize the country’s vaccine program.
Between January and May 2021, India bought roughly 350 million doses of the two approved vaccines - the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, manufactured as Covishield by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Covaxin by Indian firm Bharat Biotech. At $2 per dose, they were among the cheapest in the world, but not nearly enough to inoculate even 20% of the country's population.
When the pandemic made its landfall at the beginning of 2020, India and South Asia were seen to be much less affected while the rate of morbidity related to the pandemic was much higher in Europe. The delusion of not being affected drove the Indian nation towards figures that are now the second-highest in the world, both in terms of the number of people infected and the mortality rate. With a plummeting economy, sharp fiscal deficit (Business Today, 2020), and rising unemployment, the dire condition of public health infrastructure exposed by the pandemic hit hard (Jaffrelot and Jumle, 2020; Vishnoi, 2020). The government failed to ‘flatten the curve’ and ramp up testing capabilities (Our World In Data, 2021) despite the warning by public health officials (Miller, 2020). The rising protests of migrant workers (Migrant Workers Solidarity Network [MWSN], 2021), questions regarding the emergency package (Narayanan, 2020) including how short-term reliefs packages of free food grains were marred by political and administrative hurdles (Business Today, 2020) – showed clearly that the ‘atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant/self-sufficient India) mission popularized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was heading towards an abyss. Neither the chowkidar (gatekeeper), the chaiwallah nor the recent rishiraj/rajarshi (sage king) personae of the prime minister could deal with this real and unprecedented crisis (Chatterjee et al., 2021).
Since 2016, Indian economy have suffered too many economic shocks in quick succession. The currency ban, GST and intermittent lockdowns all reduced employment.
Court Cases (Legal battle) :
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/misuse-of-investigative-agencies-by-ruling-party/288034
Sohrabudin Encounter case
Tulsi Prajapati and the arrest of Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, former Home Minister Rajasthan
Ishrat Jehan encounter
The case of Shri D.G. Vanjara,IPS
The case of Harin Pandya
Investigations against Advocate General, certain Ministers and officials of the Gujarat Government
misuse of government institutions :
RBI, CBI,
Election Commission,
ED ,
Income Tax,
NIA,
CVC,
Governor,
LG,
Police force of Union Territory,
Niti ayog,
Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SICs),
official bodies ranging from the UGC to top officers in research and academic bodies including university appointees like vice chancellors,
Every institution of democratic governance is being subverted by the ruling party and its government. Agencies like the ED, CBI, Income Tax department and even the Governor’s office are being weaponised to target opposition leaders, to engineer defections in opposition parties and to topple opposition-run state governments.
the government has attempted to subvert the RTI Act and its machinery through pushing amendments – a legislative way of curbing transparency and accountability. In the process, the whole mechanism of information commissions will be made dependant on the government, further weakening it. It is not new for opposition parties in India. Around six to seven ministers from Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet were facing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The BJP-led central government has adopted a policy to trouble the governments of non-BJP ruled states and misuse power.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) had issued notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, it is clear that the Centre is trying to divert public attention from real issues such as inflation and unemployment. The Congress leader alleged that Modi wants to run the government in a dictatorial manner.
the number of cases taken up by ED for investigation under FEMA saw a sharp rise from 915 in 2014-15 to 5,313 in 2021-22; and likewise the cases under PMLA rose from 178 in 2014-15 to 1,180 in 2021-22. Overall, the number of cases taken up by the ED have risen by nearly five times, from 1,093 in 2014-15 to 5,493 in 2021-22.
PMLA cases in Modi 2.0 regime have gone up by nearly six times
the role of Directorate comes in to picture as and when any contravention under FEMA and occurrence of scheduled offence disclosing the generation of PoC (Proceeds of Crime) as defined under Section 2(1)(u) of PMLA is noticed by the Directorate or a warrant of arrest issued by the Magistrate or Court after taking cognizance of any scheduled offence appended to FEOA and where the amount involved is Rs. 100 crore or above, provided the accused has gone outside India.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was shown the way out of the parliamentary committee, which is considered very important in the BJP. Nitin Gadkari has performed well in every department in the tenure of the Modi government so far. However, Nitin Gadkari's failure to get a place in the parliamentary committee raised the eyebrows of the political circle.
It is being said that the reason behind this is the internal rift in the BJP. Nitin Gadkari was often seen taking a stand against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. That is why the Congress party accused Modi-Shah of throwing Nitin Gadkari out of the parliamentary board. Devendra Fadnavis seems to be given more priority as the face of the party in Maharashtra instead of Nitin Gadkari from the BJP. Because while removing Gadkari from the parliamentary committee, Modi and Shah have given Devendra Fadnavis a place in BJP's Central Election Committee. Therefore, it is said that Devendra Fadnavis will be active in central politics in the coming years. In preparation for this, he has been given a place in the Central Election Committee. Devendra Fadnavis has done full justice to both the roles of an administrator and a star campaigner. On the other hand, it is being discussed that the BJP leadership thinks that Gadkari is no longer useful in terms of winning the elections.
Delhi Govt.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CBI) has conducted raids at 21 places including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's house. CBI has taken this action this morning and CBI has raided in Delhi Rajasthan too. On this action, Sisodia has targeted the central government by tweeting. Also, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also condemned this action. The raid was conducted in connection with alleged irregularities in the excise policy in Delhi. A few days ago, BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa complained to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinay Saxena that Manish Sisodia had benefited big liquor businessmen as part of a political conspiracy. It is possible that CBI has taken action against Manish Sisodia on the basis of that complaint. Meanwhile, Sisodia has made a series of tweets while this action is going on.
CBI has come and they are welcome. We are honest. We are doing the work of building the future of lakhs of children. One who does good work is given similar trouble. This is the misfortune of our country. This is the reason why our country is not number one. We will fully cooperate with the CBI so that the truth emerges at the earliest. So far many cases have been filed against me but nothing has come out of them. Nothing will come out of this action either. Manish Sisodia tweeted that no one can stop our efforts to provide good education.
The work being done in Delhi's education and health services is being noticed all over the world. They want to stop this work. Due to this reason, the house of Health and Education Minister is being raided. All the good works of 75 years are being stopped. Arvind Kejriwal has tweeted that India is lagging behind due to this reason.
Although it is true that Ghulam Nabi Azad was a leader without wide mass base, it must be admitted that his image was that of the secular and national face of the Congress. Therefore, the defection of Ghulam Nabi (Born on March 7, 1949), who has been an integral part of the Congress for nearly five decades and is on the verge of seventy-five years of age, will definitely have some effect on the Congress.
In short, the price of party service has been paid to them. He was originally a supporter of Sanjay Gandhi. Later, Ghulam Nabi worked as a leader in the special circle of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi for a long time. The sources of the party went directly and indirectly in the hands of Rahul Gandhi and the importance of Ghulam Nabi in the party decreased. It became so low that he became the unannounced spokesperson of a rebel group known as 'G-23', which started in the party against the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. While leaving the party, Ghulam Nabi wrote a long letter to the in-charge president of the party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, saying that his displeasure was expressed in very clear words and no one would say that it was not true. But it should not be forgotten that Ghulam Nabi Azad has not shown enough frankness while expressing it. Be it a political party, an organization, an industry or a business, change in leadership is inevitable. It also happened under the leadership of the Congress party.
Although he lost most of the elections, after 2014, Rahul Gandhi has not failed to raise his voice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the country. Rahul Gandhi has done no wrong in touring, meeting and protesting all over the country. During this period, as much as Rahul has traveled all over the country, all the leaders of 'G-23' have not traveled as much! Even in Parliament or Legislature, these Congress leaders have never taken an aggressive stance against Narendra Modi and the government. Not putting the government in trouble by taking an aggressive stance in the House is a help to the government and in return, if the chief of the government sheds tears in the farewell ceremony speech, then we should realize what is the point behind it.
After Jyotiraditya Shinde, Ashwini Kumar, Kapil Sibal, now Ghulam Nabi Azad has made many serious allegations about Rahul Gandhi's leadership. In democratic politics, he and his clan leaders have the right to make such accusations and point fingers at the shortcomings of the party leadership. However, an account should have been presented of what efforts these leaders made in establishing leadership outside the Gandhi family to save the Congress party. As an organization, the Congress Party is allowed to go to the national level to strengthen and organize public opinion against the government, but what efforts these leaders have made in the state and in their districts, how many protests, marches, sit-ins, and marches have been held against the government. Had Nabi given it, his criticism against Rahul would have received a frank meeting and public sympathy.
It cannot be said that all the allegations made by Ghulam Nabi Azad are baseless. Congress is not just a party, it is a 137 years old idea, it is the image of India. It is not that this idea will disappear immediately with someone's departure, but in the future, the idea will not be allowed to fade away and if his behavior is autocratic, then Rahul Gandhi will have to take a role of introspection, only then will Congress as a party recover. Ghulam Nabi could not achieve such self-examination by staying in the party, he has fallen short somewhere.
