2021 Strategic and Political Analysis-1

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Apr 2021 23:45

Thol. Thirumavalavan, the elected MP from the reserved seat of Chidambaram

wonder who elected such creeps to represent them

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Apr 2021 00:00

udit raj opining on khujliwal. we were not wrong in our assessment

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Apr 2021 00:08

Historically it has been Bharat's magnanimity towards friends and foes alike that has did us in. Another wake up call- America which got HCQ last year or Africa, all have united to put down Bharat. Hope not a single unit of #Covaxin leaves Bharat till cent % of us are jabbed.

via@dcd1996

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Apr 2021 00:14

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Apr 2021 13:02

sajo · Post by **sajo** » 25 Apr 2021 13:19

chetak wrote:Thol. Thirumavalavan, the elected MP from the reserved seat of Chidambaram

wonder who elected such creeps to represent them

Does Ph.D in mass conversion mean what I think it means?

Adrija · Post by **Adrija** » 25 Apr 2021 13:41

https://drgpradhan.blogspot.com/2021/04 ... a.html?m=1

Long read but absolutely worth it...

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Apr 2021 13:47

Such sick people shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 26 Apr 2021 02:50

General awareness and round the clock education about health and financial losses would have gone a long way to save lives. The fear would have gone long way to keep things safer for the public. I don't believe that Indian media even reminds public that flu season is coming. Or the cost of hospitalizations. Instead we have kejriwals that do this and courts only question them instead of asking the GoI to take immediate actions to remove him and take over. Why aren't Indian courts themselves requiring round the clock reports from kejriwal, uddhav, mamta, pinyayi, etc.?

While Delhi continues to suffer an oxygen crisis, Arvind Kejriwal ads appear on India Today 25 times in 10 hours
https://www.opindia.com/2021/04/arvind- ... n-6-hours/

sudarshan · Post by **sudarshan** » 26 Apr 2021 06:49

chetak wrote:stalin is removing dish antennas, pawar is removing towers, while Modi is removing their langotes, electorally speaking, of course

what sort of people live in India, nut cases who think that EVMs can be manipulated by dish antennas and towers. Mumtaz bano is probably fearful of kitchen mixies or egg beaters.

Thanjavur: Dish antennas at counting centre removed as DMK objects

[img]....[/img]

[img]....[/img]

Wrong, wrong, they got it all wrong. It's not dish antennas or towers, Modi is going to do it through the azan loudspeakers.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 26 Apr 2021 12:02

WaPo, WSJ, NYT are propaganda news just like wire, laundry, mint, quint, minute, telegraph etc etc, no credibility, just anti India, anti Hindu and anti Modi bile

they are shaping up to bring about a soft regime change so that they shoehorn in some eyetalian mongrels and mafia goombahs

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 26 Apr 2021 12:39

India TV stations are shouting death score of different cities. It is quite depressing. But I do not have moral authority to be angry on them. It may compel other Indians to take precautionary measures more seriously.

darshan · Post by **darshan** » 26 Apr 2021 16:48

I am hoping that the fear would bring in change. However, these news media is hardly doing it in correct manners. No one is increasing awareness at the same time. And there needs to be penalty for shouting on news channels. News channels aren't fighting fake news. It's the race to run number agenda. Service class is being fed lot of fake information and that needs to be looked into. WhatsApp and other social media platforms need to be reigned in. Always engage service class to stay in the loop of this BIF agenda. Let them forward you junk to see what they see.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 26 Apr 2021 18:22

I yearn for the simpler times before 24x7 news channels and pessimism p0rn peddling social media networks. The images such as above, lines of ambulance outside mortuaries etc to make people fall deeper into gloom and doom is so insincere.

The shortage of crematoriums, burial grounds and morgues in India is not a new problem. As population exploded in our cities, our politicians at local and state level as usual have neglected the need to expand the final resting place for deceased citizens. These issues routinely come up before every city corporation and municipality elections but after the elections it is forgotten. India probably has 15 to 20 million deaths annually, even if we add 50% more deaths to the official covid death count published by MoHFW it amounts to <3% of the overall annual deaths. So majority of the burials and cremations are always for people who have died from other causes. Even in the US, CDC admits the overall death numbers year over year did not change much but the death reason attributed to covid made up 10% of the total deaths in 2020. So what is the point people like Burkha Dutt ,Rajdeep Sardesai etc are trying to prove by camping outside cremation grounds and drawing pleasure from the gory images of burning bodies and grieving family members ? The BBC, CNN, Reuters, NYT, WaPOS of this world have done this before. We all remember how India was whipped when the plague epidemic hit GJ and MH in the early 90s, although the number of deaths were <100, they reported it as if India was dragging the world back to 18th century ! Its a shame we did not take the opportunity during the chaotic months in US after the elections to tighten news reporting standards and ban twitter and facebook permanently. I can see how whatsapp adds some value but i fail to see how Twitter and facebook are useful at all to our society. Yes, we have much work to do after the pandemic is over to improve our public healthcare system, increase hygiene, reduce burden on our large metro cities etc. but along with infrastructure improvements we need better laws to govern social media networks and TV reporting.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 26 Apr 2021 19:15

Ambar wrote:I yearn for the simpler times before 24x7 news channels and pessimism p0rn peddling social media networks. The images such as above, lines of ambulance outside mortuaries etc to make people fall deeper into gloom and doom is so insincere.

To be frank I have stopped watching TV channels for nearly two years now. Often the only time I switch it on is when the Cable TV wallah comes to collect the monthly fees. He too is happy, because I am one of the only few customers who don't make complaints (as I don't watch TV). I just retain the TV subscription to watch any shows like RD parade, Ind. Day functions or to just check up on head lines (from Doordarshan channels). For me Television does not offer me any new knowledge, ideas or world view - so I avoid it. YouTube+Google Chromecast generally is what I use now.

I also threw out one Malayalam news paper (which I used to read from the days I was a child) three years back, after it was purely giving out biased reports. With a strong rumour that the news paper was now financed by Jamaat-E-Islami did not want to do any terror financing from my side. Today I only have one English news paper (pro-INC) again to get local information, like traffic restrictions, major crimes etc.

But from what I understand there is also a very strong campaign going on in social media against the biased Main Stream Media, and against the seculars & liberals who are into rumour mongering. More than a GoI or BJP effort, most of it seems to be from very common people who do seem to have a level head and a keen interest in checking facts. In KL at least I see many youngsters (well read, and often lawyers) who are bringing point by point rebuttal to rumour mongering done by communist intellectuals (who often have the IQ of a buffallo). The MSM still have better coverage and they are experts when it comes to slandering and rumour mongering, but I still feel that there is also an under current of information flow which also is making common people aware of ground realities as well.

shravanp · Post by **shravanp** » 26 Apr 2021 20:49

This shunning of news channel and newspaper (I don't blame the readers), is unfortunate. If we are to be left to the mercy of social media, then thats a very weak thread that can be snapped anytime in future, thus pushing ordinary aam junta into total darkness.
I think there has been systematic destruction of various influencers:
1. Up until 90s, B'wood was still considered as soft-power, with India's interests pushing envelope of influence beyond just India. Russia, Africa and M/E were all under its sphere of influence. Today its totally vanished. I think much of that is due to funding. It comes from West and underworld which have influenced it to come up with treasonous content that people have shunned watching B'wood movies. If this is the intent, then the plotters have succeeded in it. Done and dusted. Destroyed the soft power.
2. Media: With all the shouting matches going on I don't know how much of the actual viewership is. And then we have rNDTV types of bottom scrappers/vultures. They have successfully managed to twist the narrative in stark OPPOSITE of ground reality. For example NRC/CAA riots in Delhi. Hindus were at receiving end, however they successfully executed the narrative of Muslims being victims and sold those ideas to West. Aam junta starts shunning MSM. Again, aam junta gets pegeon-holed and doesn't get true ground information. We do deserve a clean and just content. Is it too much to ask? 90% of media is compromized and sold out to Kejris & RaGa. Besides major ownership stakes are foreign based.
3. Newspapers/NewsApps: I am not sure how much of the print is still being consumed. Its a loss making business. With vast majority moving towards mobile apps, I don't know if print editions are still being subscribed. However the biases are similar to media.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 26 Apr 2021 21:10

India has one of the highest newspaper readership in the world. How long they will last i don't know but people still love to hold the actual paper in hand and read every single page. Its also the preferred medium for government announcing tenders, low-skilled jobs, matrimonial, obituaries etc.

The news apps are even more dangerous than the newspapers as they can be written, hosted and published from anywhere in the world. Hence we have sites like The Wire, The Quint, Caravan, The Print etc. operate with absolute impunity all the while peddling fake news.

I don't know what the solution is but we seem to be living in a era of pessimism p0rn thanks to the social media networks. One draconian option could be to regulate the schedule of news reporting, read news once every 8 hrs unless there is an emergency announcement. This will automatically put most of these misery feeding vultures out of business. Ban WaPoS, NYT, BBC, CNN etc from India, no one watches them anyways. Twitter and FB have proved time and again to be detrimental to our national security, they either need to be tightly regulated or outright banned. We banned tiktok and after the initial hoo haa now no one misses it anymore.

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 26 Apr 2021 21:50

I have feeling that content of regional language newspaper is quit different than that of national English news papers.
Surprising fact is that English language news media IS NOT opinion maker. Regional language media is main opinion maker and is more pro India than national thekedars.

shravanp · Post by **shravanp** » 26 Apr 2021 21:56

Based on what I hear from my cousins in Mumbai, the regional media channels in Maharashtra will make NDTV look pro-BJP. They are rabidly anti-BJP. Newspaper like Loksatta/Maharashtra Times follow same biases. Am I missing something here?

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 26 Apr 2021 21:58

rsingh wrote:I have feeling that content of regional language newspaper is quit different than that of national English news papers.
Surprising fact is that English language news media IS NOT opinion maker. Regional language media is main opinion maker and is more pro India than national thekedars.

Depends on the state. Most media houses are also owned by politicians.

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 26 Apr 2021 22:00

rsingh-al-brusselabadi, you have to be introduced to the rag “Malayala manorama”. The sooner they shutdown the faster Kerala will get less shrill. They are the most perverted of local newspapers

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 26 Apr 2021 22:20

sudarshan wrote:
chetak wrote:stalin is removing dish antennas, pawar is removing towers, while Modi is removing their langotes, electorally speaking, of course

what sort of people live in India, nut cases who think that EVMs can be manipulated by dish antennas and towers. Mumtaz bano is probably fearful of kitchen mixies or egg beaters.

Thanjavur: Dish antennas at counting centre removed as DMK objects

[img]....[/img]

[img]....[/img]
Wrong, wrong, they got it all wrong. It's not dish antennas or towers, Modi is going to do it through the azan loudspeakers.

I see what you did there

Vips · Post by **Vips** » 26 Apr 2021 22:38

shravanp wrote:Based on what I hear from my cousins in Mumbai, the regional media channels in Maharashtra will make NDTV look pro-BJP. They are rabidly anti-BJP. Newspaper like Loksatta/Maharashtra Times follow same biases. Am I missing something here?

Loksatta/Maharashtra Times is Pro Marathi Manoos (Shiv Sena). Other regional rags like Sakal are owned by Pawar Family and Lomat is owned by the Dardas who are very old (Con)gress stooge. So nothing surprising.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 27 Apr 2021 01:07

Vips wrote:
shravanp wrote:Based on what I hear from my cousins in Mumbai, the regional media channels in Maharashtra will make NDTV look pro-BJP. They are rabidly anti-BJP. Newspaper like Loksatta/Maharashtra Times follow same biases. Am I missing something here?
Loksatta/Maharashtra Times is Pro Marathi Manoos (Shiv Sena). Other regional rags like Sakal are owned by Pawar Family and Lomat is owned by the Dardas who are very old (Con)gress stooge. So nothing surprising.

Same with TV channels like ABP Majha etc. There is hardly any neutral media left in MH.

venkat_kv · Post by **venkat_kv** » 27 Apr 2021 01:16

I would like to add one more point to this reporting by the foreign and the local sold out presstitutes. It looks like they are following the usual shoot and scoot trajectory in the corona times abdicating the entire responsibility to the Center, nothing is being asked of the state govts or local dispensation.

the people on the ground know that there is a corona wave going on and there are also deaths, but by amplifying it through social media they are trying to bring anger against the Modi govt and also make people think that deaths are really more and in the number they are projecting (the NDTV's Quint, Wire's vultures). that is why you also have "Modi give us oxygen" or "modi resign" trying to trend on twitter. most of the people will not think that even if Modi resigns will the corona wave go away?

there was a interview by a channel called Nationalist Hub (center right channel in telugu) in you tube where he points out that people are retweeting the same stories eg: " My grandmother died in front of the hospital without oxygen and i had to burn the body. this was tweeted/retweeted by Peacefulls as well. nobody will ask since when did they start burning their dead?

The Kejriwal govt in Delhi that tom tommed moholla clinics or his bureaucracy credentials are completely silent on his inability to set up oxygen plants in hospitals even after the Central govt sanctioned money. But the bugger has money to get his face in advt's after the PM-CM's meeting. Nobody will also ask for his support on the Singu border where untill recently they were blocking the oxygen trucks.

the anti nationals will have to be made an example of- no other way. the govt will not have not have to spend time countering the fake news and can go about governing.

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 27 Apr 2021 01:28

venkat_kv wrote:....the anti nationals will have to be made an example of- no other way. the govt will not have not have to spend time countering the fake news and can go about governing.

+1008
Think BJP sometimes goes easy on such people because they're scared of being seen as "suppressing media" etc by the foreign media, or atleast it feels like that. But the "suppressing media" part will happen one way or the other so they might as well clean up the trash.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 27 Apr 2021 04:57

"Ban WaPoS, NYT, BBC, CNN etc from India, no on..."

It was encouraging to read a few months ago about the departure of the Huffington Post from India. It's time for a dramatic kick out of CNN, NY times, BBC, Washington Post et al. They have been just atrocious on this Covid pandemic in India, and on several other issues.

venkat_kv · Post by **venkat_kv** » 27 Apr 2021 05:45

Varoon Shekhar wrote:"Ban WaPoS, NYT, BBC, CNN etc from India, no on..."

It was encouraging to read a few months ago about the departure of the Huffington Post from India. It's time for a dramatic kick out of CNN, NY times, BBC, Washington Post et al. They have been just atrocious on this Covid pandemic in India, and on several other issues.

Varoon Shekar Saar,
it will be difficult to kick all the ones listed above. CNN and BBC have big institutional backers from their respective govt's. NY times and Wapo could be slightly easy as they have only rich people backing them. But instead of banning or kicking them out I agree with Suraj Saar's opinion that we should make rules that make their day to day operations difficult.
We need to bring newer laws that make compliance tough or following rules. fines punishments for these shameless lot should be enough to make them leave on their own after a while.
Banning them outright will only give oxygen to these cadavers and vampires posing as journalists. we should do it in an indirect way.

Manish_Sharma · Post by **Manish_Sharma** » 27 Apr 2021 05:57

shravanp wrote:
... I think much of that is due to funding. It comes from West and underworld which have influenced it to come up with treasonous content that people have shunned watching B'wood movies. If this is the intent, then the plotters have succeeded in it. Done and dusted. Destroyed the soft power.

Both indira and pawar wanted to turn Bollywood into a anti Hindu platform, despite anti Hindu movies like mother India, there were many pro Hindu movies too.

THIS WAS CHANGED WHEN ABDUL REHMAN ANTULAY WAS MADE CHIEF MINISTER OF MAHRASHTRA. He stood up Daud his kerala village native as sole Don. His mission culminated in murder of Gulshan Kumar...

Since then there's no movie made with bhajans. It's all anti Hindu all the way.

shravanp · Post by **shravanp** » 27 Apr 2021 06:36

Definite and prescriptive legislative actions needed to fix the mainstream media. Narrative should be put forth that this is not targeting media but an attempt to bring common man's trust back to msm. Whatever happening now is certainly no way to go forward. Most of the channels are downright rogue. Lies, lies and more lies.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 27 Apr 2021 09:47

While on this topic, an article from our JEM saar:

How Misery Mongering Turns The Fourth Estate Into A Virtual Fifth Column - Swarajya

Didn't two-legged realize vultures are on self-appointed duty outside crematoria. It's also strangely poetic that they have nothing else left to feed upon.

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 27 Apr 2021 10:17

The sheer disrespect towards the Indic religions by taking pictures of burning bodies is just extreme racism/ colonialism and contempt.
What these Nazis ( and Nazis they are ) are doing is reveling in the deaths of the natives and the regime change opportunity they see.

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 27 Apr 2021 10:34

If the Modi Govt wants to teach the Hinduphobes a lesson, they can do so in very legal ways. Example: file a class action lawsuit against WaPo, Barkha Dutt etc for privacy violations, pass an order to expunge the images, render an apology and pay a compensation of $1M. Expel Hinduphobes like Annie Gowen from India.

Tell WaPo that if they don't comply, then they will be kicked out of the country

They will go to the SC no doubt and we have liberal darlings like Chadrachud there. But the Govt has to put its foot down. Be willing to take on the courts.I am sure there are a dozen laws in India from the 1800s and 1900s that can be brought to bear on this case.

GOI shouldn't do it now because it will be accused of focusing on the wrong thing. Revenge is best served cold. Wait a couple of months and start the proceedings

There are several other ways too: for example, make the daily life of WaPo correspondents "a bit difficult"

LakshmanPST · Post by **LakshmanPST** » 27 Apr 2021 11:17

rsingh wrote:I have feeling that content of regional language newspaper is quit different than that of national English news papers.
Surprising fact is that English language news media IS NOT opinion maker. Regional language media is main opinion maker and is more pro India than national thekedars.

You haven't seen Telugu media...
They're giving data of Oxygen exports from as back as 2015 to blame Modi for current shortage...

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 27 Apr 2021 11:20

Prem Kumar wrote:If the Modi Govt wants to teach the Hinduphobes a lesson, they can do so in very legal ways. Example: file a class action lawsuit against WaPo, Barkha Dutt etc for privacy violations, pass an order to expunge the images, render an apology and pay a compensation of $1M. Expel Hinduphobes like Annie Gowen from India.

Tell WaPo that if they don't comply, then they will be kicked out of the country

They will go to the SC no doubt and we have liberal darlings like Chadrachud there. But the Govt has to put its foot down. Be willing to take on the courts.I am sure there are a dozen laws in India from the 1800s and 1900s that can be brought to bear on this case.

GOI shouldn't do it now because it will be accused of focusing on the wrong thing. Revenge is best served cold. Wait a couple of months and start the proceedings

There are several other ways too: for example, make the daily life of WaPo correspondents "a bit difficult"

True, it's not like GoI is the darling of the western "liberal" media anyway - they are being excoriated for hyooman rights and other associated shite, so what difference a couple of penalties would make? But like Suraj-san said earlier, instead of expelling, let's make them pay an additional cost somehow - hurt their bottom(s)(lines). Or goad them somehow to self-deport - any half-decent product of the LBS Institute can come up with some spools of sticky red-tape.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 27 Apr 2021 11:46

why would such a thing be acceptable in any democracy

and what would such a thing be called if not some form of inducement

if inclined, go here to verify this news

Covid-19 care centre at Ashoka Hotel for Delhi high court judges

It will be covid center for hizzonners and their families

Will the hizzonners accept it

India is watching ...

madhu · Post by **madhu** » 27 Apr 2021 13:15

LakshmanPST wrote: blame Modi for current shortage...

My understanding of this virus is, it is no more pandemic. Now its is endemic. We need to learn to live with it just like other diseases atleast till science comes up with better solution.
Even vaccine will just save you from serious illness not from covid. So this disaster was waiting, cound not have stopped. If not O2 it coud be some thing else... If not khumb mela it could be some other thing...

I see too much Modi bashing everywhere... Can't even argue with them as they just use biased data or western media. The act is that left feels that they can use this as a Trump moment to modi.

TV i never had. After CAA i had decided to get out of tweeter & FB. But now i am thinking the same for WA groups too including family groups. World will be peaceful and mind will be virus-free...

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 27 Apr 2021 13:37

When EVERY other govt department is working overtime to battle the current covid crisis, milords are going on their annual ‘summer holiday’!

via@ShefVaidya

Economic Times@EconomicTimes · 21h

» SC advances summer holidays to May 7. Will reopen on June 28.
» SC Will set up hospital of its own within complex.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 27 Apr 2021 14:25

Covid: Missing facts, misdirected discourse

Covid: Missing facts, misdirected discourse

The current stentorian discourse sans facts, which shifts the blame on to the government for the supply chain failures of hospitals, misses a more critical fact.

27th April 2021
S Gurumurthy

"One-fifth of Indian districts have not reported any Covid-19 cases for the last seven days. We seem to have flattened the Covid curve,” declared Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan two months back, on February 15. By then the daily infections that had peaked to 90,000 cases last year, were down to less than 9,000. But things changed dramatically into an unprecedented disaster in April (see table). The grim situation called for a huge national resolve to deal with the crisis. But the unfortunate deaths caused by the shortage of oxygen in Delhi made the ecosystem so emotionally surcharged that all facts and reasoning became irrelevant. The missing facts misdirected the public discourse, distorted the narrative on Covid and damaged the national will to face the challenge. Look at what crucial facts were missed.

Profiteers’ complaint

The oxygen shortage-induced deaths first occurred in Delhi’s corporate hospitals. These hospitals made huge profits, even more last year, thanks to the pandemic. That provoked the National Herald site to write an article titled Profit in times of COVID-19: Is it time to take over private hospitals? (20.6.2020). The report said “Rs 25,090, Rs 53,090, Rs 75,590, Rs 5,00,000, Rs 6,00,000, Rs 12,00,000 — these are not random numbers. These are the per day costs and cumulative two-week costs for a bed in private hospitals in Delhi if one gets Coronavirus.” Adding the cost of the personal protection equipment (PPE), tests and medicines, the bill equalled Indians’ annual income, it said. Home treatment fee was no less; it varied from Rs 5,700 to Rs 21,900 a day plus cost of tests. The Herald report cited a writ against this loot in the Supreme Court.

Alarmed by the writ, the Association of Healthcare Providers (AHPs) and FICCI members agreed to self-regulate. What were the self-regulated fees? AHP’s daily fee for general wards was Rs 15,000 plus Rs 5,000 for oxygen; for ICU Rs 25,000 plus Rs 10,000 for ventilators. The FICCI’s rates were even higher -- Rs 17,000 to Rs 45,000 per day. And more. Hospitals bought PPEs at Rs 375-500 apiece and sold them to patients at 10-12 times more. Chennai and Mumbai were no exceptions, said the Herald.

It is these hospitals that now filed writs under the constitutional right to life, for oxygen supply by governments — for which they charge the patients Rs 5,000 per day! Anyone heard of these horrendous facts of the loot in the uproarious debate on oxygen shortage causing deaths? This is important because the profiteering hospitals could have set up their own oxygen plants at minuscule cost. Read on.

O2 privatised, unregulated

The production, trade, stocking and use of oxygen is privatised. The trade in medical oxygen is not controlled or regulated in India — though its prices are controlled by the National Pharma Pricing Authority (NPPA) — an autonomous body under the chemicals and fertilisers ministry. Producers enter into private contracts with industries, hospitals and also governments to supply oxygen. Hospitals plan how much oxygen is needed for an emergency, estimate the lead time for delivery and order accordingly. Their supply chains were long both in distance and time, particularly for Delhi hospitals, which are thousands of kilometers away from their production sources spread across several states. Supplies have to be trucked in from industrial zones in eastern India. This needed meticulous advance planning to ensure timely deliveries even during normalcy. But hospitals did not plan stocks for contingent needs and saved on costs. Did anyone hear any of these facts in the noise of the last 10 days?

No shortage

Second, there is no shortage of oxygen. We produce 1,00,000 tonnes a day, with one company in Gujarat alone producing a fifth of it. Of the total produced, only a minuscule part, some 1%, is medical oxygen. Even in the Covid crisis, it may not top 5-6%. The production of oxygen, mostly captively used, is concentrated in far-off areas. Oxygen in liquid form is traded and transported through heavy, safe tankers, each of which costs Rs 45 lakh. Worse still, oxygen worth Rs 300 is stored in a cylinder that costs Rs 10,000! The distant production and multiple trade chains in oxygen, transport in tankers and stocking in cylinders created huge logistic issues even in normal times. In times of pandemic, this supply chain wouldn’t withstand stress, particularly when Delhi, where the deaths occurred, is several hundred kms away from where the oxygen has to be transported.

Profiteers failed, but shifted the blame

After the Covid first wave last year, each (Delhi) hospital should have set up their on-the-spot oxygen producing unit. A report by The Print says that a 240-bed hospital with 40 ICU beds uses oxygen worth about Rs 5 lakh per month in normal times. It costs some Rs 50 lakh to set up a Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plant, which they could recover within 18 months. Every Delhi hospital could afford it. But none was ready to allocate the precious space to house an oxygen plant. They opted to buy oxygen from a thousand kilometres away instead and not make it in their backyard. The supply chain risks of oxygen were brought out last year by Cherish Paul, John Paul and Akhil Babu of the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Jubilee Mission Medical College and Research Institute, Thrissur, Kerala. In an article in the Indian Journal of Respiratory Care titled “Hospital oxygen supply: A survey of disaster preparedness of Indian hospitals,” the three experts concluded that most of the hospitals rely on a single pipeline from a single location, inviting mishaps during disasters. They recommended multiple sources of oxygen depending on the size and the hospital’s proximity to a liquid oxygen plant.

Apply this caution to the Delhi hospitals. They could themselves produce oxygen but did not. They never planned for an uninterrupted supply of oxygen during a disaster. When their supply lines for oxygen on which they profiteer failed, they cited the constitutional right to life and asked the court to direct governments to give oxygen! The off-hand and emotional response of the court actually helped to shift the blame on to governments. That changed the very discourse and narrative on Covid. Did the public have any hint of these critical facts in the last few days?

Hospitals thwarted 129 on-spot oxygen plants

The current stentorian discourse sans facts, which shifts the blame on to the government for the supply chain failures of hospitals, misses a more critical fact. Anticipating a contingency like this, the Modi government had ordered 162 PSA plants at a cost of over Rs 200 crore in October last for government hospitals all over India. This could have produced 80,500 litres of medical oxygen per minute. This translates approximately to one ton of liquid oxygen per day per plant. But out of plants ordered for 162 hospitals, only 33 got installed. Why? Even state government hospitals thwarted the Centre’s plan for on-the-spot oxygen production facilities. The Print says, orders were placed in December but when vendors reached the hospitals for installation, many “faced resistance” from them, pretending “no space” — the real reason being vested interest to procure oxygen rather than generating the entire requirement onsite. This showed how advance planning for on-the-spot oxygen supply by the Centre was thwarted by even the state-run hospitals. In the contemporary shouting and counter shouting in the media and social media, has anyone heard about this farsighted move of the government, beyond the feeble voice of The Print?

New Covid Tsunami isn’t a return of the old

An even more critical fact that is absent in the discourse on oxygen deficit, is that the present Covid Tsunami is not the return of the old, but a totally unanticipated new one massifying like hell. The Covid curve, which began rising from March first week, gathered pace through March, rose fast in the first two weeks of April and became a Tsunami later. In just seven weeks, Bihar saw a rise of daily new cases by 522 times, UP by 399 times, Andhra by 186 times, Delhi and Jharkhand by 150 times, West Bengal by 142 times and Rajasthan by 123 times — disaster of a size, a Tsunami, beyond anyone’s anticipation. This is not the repeat of Covid 1.0 last year. It is a new, double mutant Indian variety that got generated in each place where Covid 1.0 had gone before. No expert could anticipate this. This was bound to flood hospitals and ICUs throwing all plans awry.

Need national will

This unprecedented Tsunami called for shared responsibility and collective will to face it and not to miss the facts or misdirect the discourse and shift the blame. That even in the face of a national disaster like Covid we showed the lack of collective will is a matter of concern. How the opposition parties branded the vaccine, Covaxin, approved by the government for emergency use exposed this national deficit. Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Jairam Ramesh shouted in chorus against Covaxin. Anand Sharma said it was dangerous. Except Rajasthan, opposition-ruled Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal and Jharkhand created doubts in people’s mind about vaccines. Result, the people hesitated for the jab. In January only 33% beneficiaries were willing for the shot, 40% preferred to wait and 16% said ‘No’. In March, those willing rose to 57%, those who preferred to wait halved and naysayers reduced to 6%. Three precious months were lost.

Against an average daily vaccination of 30 lakh, making it 9 crore a month, only 10.8 crore had first jabs, and 1.6 crore had double jabs till March, which could have been double that number had vaccine hesitancy not crept in. Also, as a nation we let down our guard. As the Google mobility data shows, despite Covid continuing we began leading a near normal life — 78% in entertainment, 87% in parks and public places, 92% in transportation, and 120% in shopping as compared to the pre-lockdown period. And mostly without social distancing and without wearing masks. Now we have a huge challenge — to face up to which we need collective national will. Are we capable of it?

S Gurumurthy
Editor, Thuglak and commentator on economic and political affairs

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 27 Apr 2021 15:58

^^^Looking at the rise and the new Double variant, is it that someone introduced this mutant into the mix? Is such a thing possible?