On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a 25-minute long speech where he spoke of extending the lockdown to May 3, keeping a strict vigil across India until April 20, and following a 7-poing agenda that focused on humanity in the times of coronavirus.
However, while hailing the efforts of his government and the medical staff that is working to beat the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, PM Modi did not speak about several points, which were raised by several people.
Yogendra Yadav was one of the people to raise the issue. He tweeted, “My expectation from the PM address to the nation: 1. Transparency: * Scientific projections used by Govt * Country's medical preparedness * PM CARE fund 2. Transition plan for * Migrant worker * Farmers 3. Immediate relief thru * Universal ration * Community kitchen via MDM. Was hoping the PM would address some of these urgent concerns: * Food & cash support to stranded migrant workers * Ration to the poor without a ration card * Farmers to actually get MSP and damages for losses * Compensatory wages to MNREGA workers (sic),” he said.
So, let’s look at the points that Modi has missed discussing
The state of the economy: During his speech, PM Modi said that our lives were more important than the economy, which currently is going through one of the worst recessions, thanks to the virus. With several media houses already announcing termination of staff a day before Modi’s speech, it’s going to be interesting to see how things will look once the lockdown is lifted across the world. The US has also reported that there could be nearly 1 million (10 lakh) job losses in that country.
Small and medium-sized businesses have also taken a hit. Several companies have had to shut down due to the lack of resources, and most companies are taking a pay cut to meet with the demanding times.
Testing (or the lack of it): India has currently reported 10,000-plus COVID-19-positive cases and over 300 death across the country, but speculation is rife that this number is far greater than what the government has revealed. It is, however, difficult to confirm this, given several factors: firstly, the doctor to patient ratio in India; secondly, the inability to aggressively test due to the lack of facilities; thirdly, testing at a community level.
When it comes to the final point, despite government denial, it isn’t possible for a city like Mumbai to not have community-level transmission of the virus, given the number of cases and deaths reported in Mumbai’s slum pockets. These areas still struggle with basic sanitation.
To say that India is underreporting, however, will be unfair. With the facilities available, and India approximately conducting anything between 100 and 200 tests per day, it’s only fair to admit the doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff has done a fantastic job, while putting their own lives at risk.
Is the country medically prepared?: Despite PM Modi constantly claiming that India’s early intervention ensured fewer COVID-19 cases in the country, one needs to keep in mind that we jumped to 10,000 cases from 5,000 in four days. This means it took, four weeks to move from 0 to 5,000 (not including the first two Kerala residents who had returned from China) in four weeks, and from 5,000 to 10,000 in four days.
Scientific projections: This is an important aspect that PM Modi did not address. Scientific projection is how many cases the Ministry of Health expects to see at the end of this pandemic. The fewer the cases, greater the chances of India to flatten the curve. Currently, there are three places in the country have done their bit to flatten the curve: the state of Kerala, a district in Maharashtra, and a district in Rajasthan. If any of these models are implemented in India, then chances are the nation as a whole can flatten the cureve.
