Is the Covid pandemic really back? The rapid spread of the disease in China in recent days has prompted the Indian government to go into overdrive in order to prevent another tragedy like the one that accompanied the second wave of the pandemic in India, which saw a huge number of fatalities amid crippling shortages of oxygen and hospital beds. However, the singling out of the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra, with an advisory calling for following proper Covid protocols or to suspend the march, appears discriminatory and political in nature, especially as the Congress had anyway announced a nine-day break for the yatra between December 25 and January 2. No similar advisories were issued for other large gatherings, weddings or Christmas and New Year festivities. Malls, trains and the Metro in Delhi continued to be packed to capacity with no masking or social distancing in sight. The role of the media, especially television channels, in dubbing the Congress yatra as a super-spreader of Covid is disturbing as there is no logic behind the claim.
It is, no doubt, wise to be cautious but the BF 7 and BF 12 variants of the Covid virus were traced to Gujarat in October-November. Yet there was no visible effect on the poll campaign in the state where Assembly elections were held on December 1 and 5. There is every reason to be well prepared so that the horrors of 2021 are not repeated, but there is no cause for spreading panic. More testing is the need of the hour, as is ramping up the vaccination strategy. Now that people are finally seeing a return to normalcy after two years of despair, it is important that any recurrence of the pandemic is tackled swiftly. Nobody wants another lockdown or a slowing of businesses. If Covid is here to stay, we must find an effective way to live with it.
Push for gender equality
In a major push for gender equality and women’s rights, the Kerala High Court has said discriminatory restrictions cannot be imposed on girl students, adding that in an ideal society, women must be able to walk on the streets at any time of the day or night — but for such an atmosphere to come about, safety has to be enhanced. "Our children have the right to experience life in all its vicissitudes and manifestations, and cannot be locked up or secluded even on the grounds of offering them protection. It is the inviolable duty of society to offer protection, and to make our streets and public spaces safe... Since this is not an ideal world, certainly, concerns of protection and requirements of security would have to be given the primacy that it requires, however, without boxing in our girls, and making them feel that they require a man to protect them,” the court said.
The single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran made these remarks while hearing a plea filed by women students of Kozhikode Medical College Hospital against a November 15 notification that barred women from stepping out of the college hostel after 9.30 pm. The girl students pointed out that the notification was not applicable to male students in the hostel.
This is not the first time that women students have been faced with unfair gender bias. A couple of years ago, students of women’s hostels in Delhi University protested against arbitrary hostel curfews and discriminatory fee structure for girl and boy students. The gender bias, in fact, is instilled from childhood when girls face a strict deadline to return home but boys are allowed to stay out as late as they want. Of course, it is conveniently linked to safety and security, but as the Kerala judge said, “Lock up men, because they create trouble. Let ladies walk free.”
