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Business News/ Opinion / Views/  We have spotted the culprit... and it is us
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We have spotted the culprit... and it is us

Global data comparisons and social observations should make us stop pointing fingers at others and accept the largest share of blame for India's horrific second wave of covid. We the people have been much too cavalier

Shoppers crowd at a marketplace coronavirus surge in Covid cases. (AP)Premium
Shoppers crowd at a marketplace coronavirus surge in Covid cases. (AP)

Amid an unmanageable surge in hospitalization-needing covid cases, resulting in the crumbling of India's health infrastructure, barbs of allegations and counter-allegations are being tossed around among politicians and political sympathizers of all hues. The Supreme Court and high courts have also been pulling up central and state governments for their ‘inactions’ that are seen to have led to an extraordinary loss of lives. In this motivated diatribic melee, the biggest contributor has been spared blame, as it does not add to anyone’s political capital and could even be counter-productive. The obvious culprit is I, the common man.

Being a commoner has its perks. One does not have to be politically correct all the time. Not mincing words has no serious ramifications, as one does not have to pander to any specific constituency. Let me pounce upon this privilege of not being special and pronounce my conviction: a vast majority of us Indians are disingenuous, either corrupt or corruptible, cavalier, callous and selfish.

A quick review of Covid data of comparable countries reveals a close link between covid-appropriate behaviour by their people and the volume of covid cases and consequent deaths.

Check www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

As on 13 May 2021, according to Worldometer data, the US had recorded 101,076 cases of covid per million population, France 89,316, Italy 68,546, the UK 65,176, Canada 34,512, India 17,279 and Japan 5,221. Now take deaths per million. Italy recorded 2,049 fatalities per million, the UK 1,872, the US 1,799, France 1,640, Canada 653, India 189 and Japan 89.

One might have noted news of endemic flouting of covid protocols by large numbers in advanced and wealthy nations, with many even hosting large 'corona parties'. Lack of covid-appropriate behaviour can be seen in the numbers. A Toronto-based NRI barrister, Rajwant Bamel, told me how walkers and joggers there habitually shift their path in public parks to ensure several feet of distance in case another masked person approaches on a track. No wonder, Canada has less than one-third of America's and less than half the per-million covid cases of other Western countries. In Japan, famously, even before covid, the typical Japanese would wear a face mask even for a common cold to prevent passing it on. That habit has kept the infection rate very low there, even though the country has had relatively few disruptions to their daily routines on account of the pandemic.

One should not rejoice at India’s comparably low per-million covid count. First, it is likely that this number is understated because of inadequate testing; second, the disease has only just begun to spread in the countryside; and third, the pandemic is still expanding aggressively. While the sheer volume of daily infections and deaths is frightening, it is us everyday folks who are mostly responsible for this.

In February, at a funeral of a couple in Haryana, I found that only three-four, including this author, of around 200 attendees had worn masks and maintained the required distance. A few of those gathered to mourn these covid deaths were even smoking from the same hookahs. We were frowned upon and sniggered at, as if wearing masks and sitting at a distance was either bad manners or plain silly. Such flagrant disregard of covid norms, extrapolated to a larger population, could only have resulted in a catastrophe.

Government establishments are not being exonerated here. The Uttarakhand government, for example, should have been penalized by the Centre for allowing millions at the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. Elections in five states, some critics have said, need not have been held at such a time. Complexities of the latter, however, merit further examination. Covid may have made it prudent to push these polls forward by about a year. However, a postponement of any state's polls that would have resulted in a gap of more than five years between the former assembly's election and the first meeting of a newly elected one would have created a constitutional crisis, requiring the imposition of President’s rule. The Centre would thus have judged it circumspect not to postpone state elections, for the opposition and media would probably have alleged a ‘death of democracy’. An Election Commission order permitting only e-campaigning would also have attracted criticism of political impartiality, with allegations that this was done in favour of a certain party with ‘deep pockets’ and to deprive millions without access to audio-video means of campaign messages. The avoidance of mass rallies in all states should have been a consensual decision among all parties in the fray. No single party by itself could take the suicidal course of calling off its mass rallies, unless it had little stake in that election.

Before the recent spike in covid cases, almost all governments, Centre and states, have generally acted responsibly and built then-required covid healthcare infrastructure, often from almost naught. At the time of the first wave's peak in mid-September, we did not hear of deaths for paucity of ventilators, hospital beds or oxygen. Remember, administrations also had the arduous task of reviving the economy after long lockdowns. The onus was on us, we the people, to have adapted to a new normal and adhered to covid protocols.

No nation can be expected to create healthcare capacity that is many multiples of its usual requirements. The second wave's peak daily infections, as officially recorded, were more than four times last year's. No health infrastructure is sufficient if the number of infected people rises so high so fast.We have seen people dying outside hospitals in developed countries as well. Japan’s second largest city Osaka, with a population comparable to Delhi’s, has been having around 900 new daily cases for last few days, and its well-regarded health systems are already under stress, leading the authorities to declare an emergency there.

To resolve our current crisis in India, we need complete cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders. We must shun mutual brick-bats and provide life-saving amenities to as many as we can by our concerted efforts. Apart from responsible behaviour by people at large, quick and coordinated universal vaccination by the Centre, states and private players holds the key.

Jagvir Singh is founding partner, Jupiter Law Partners

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Published: 14 May 2021, 08:06 PM IST
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