MyVoice: Views of our readers 17th April 2021

Votebank politics and Covid

It is amusing that the Modi government impose heavy penalties on mask violators, including those travel alone inside the vehicles, but permits events of Kumbh mela, election campaigns and other human mass gathering events without any restrictions (April 16). It is clear that our leaders, ruling as well as opposition, are bothered about vote bank politics rather than beating the pandemic in true spirit. No wonder Covid daily cases have crossed two lakh mark and still growing.

Kshirasagara Balaji Rao, Hyderabad

The other day we saw the incandescent flames of funeral pyres on the banks of the River Narmada near Bharuch in Gujarat and realised the seriousness of the Covid-19 situation. The visuals of several bodies being cremated on a single pyre for speedy disposal elsewhere in the country spread sombreness. The gloom is deepening as the second wave of the pandemic is showing no sign of abating, but surging towards a peak and taking its toll on our country.

The reality of the pandemic sinks deeply into our consciousness when we read newspapers and watch news channels and absorb every detail of ''the biggest news story of our times". That hospitals are facing medical oxygen shortage and they are forced to discharge patients makes grim news. The problem of slow vaccination is compounded by the scrapping of planned vaccination camps due to vaccine shortage. We must accept the "human factor" in the second wave and our share of the blame for creating the conditions conducive to it.

This is not to conceal the fact the new variants are proving to be more infectious and virulent. Our national response to the pandemic has been, at best, very mixed. It is nobody's case that no steps have been taken to ameliorate the situation. The flip side to the handling of the Covid-19 crisis pertains to ignorance, lack of awareness and fatalism. Most people do not seem to realize that the coronavirus is around looking for access to the respiratory tract in the human body.

The deadly virus must be chuckling at election meetings and religious events and the human folly behind them. Crowded election rallies and mass gatherings, as in Haridwar as part of Kumbh Mela, facilitate the rapid spread of the disease and imperil lives. Disregarding the advice not to risk attending political and religious events without observing the Covid-19 norms is a recipe for the transmission of the disease. One may be devout, but relying on God for protection from a pandemic without taking precautions is inadvisable as it is irrational. Combating a pandemic takes a lot of doing. At this point in time we have to pull our socks up to free the country from the grip of the second wave of the pandemic.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's urging the Election Commission to club the remaining phases of polls to one in order to minimise the risk of Covid spread sounds logical. As the country sees unimaginable high and fast surge of new cases daily, touching two lakh mark every day, there should be a review of polls calendar. With four phases of polls still left, it would be more risky to go according to stipulated plan. If they are clubbed and finished in one go, the adminstration will be free to focus on covid war. The Election Commission should take a call before it's too late.

Dr D V G Sankararao, Nellimarla

None is bothered about students

Education system in India is in dire straits. The postponement or cancellation of public examinations frequently is any indication. The governments at the Centre and in the respective States are taking drastic steps to cancel the examination leaving the students future hanging. The future of the students will be bleak if the governments take such wrong steps continuously. The government framing rules while giving permissions to filmmaking, boarding trains, loitering in public places. They have given free permission to worship god of their choice. And the devotees dip in the Ganga in large numbers during 'Kumbh Mela'. But not a single restriction had been promulgated.

The Centre had given permissions to cinema theatres to run shows with limited viewers, the States to liquor shops to drink freely. The Election commission notified polling dates. The political parties conducting rallies and stage shows, where mad rush attending it and the possibility of pandemic destruction will cause of concern. India has 130 crore population. Despite many number of police, paramilitary and other monitoring cells and heavy men and machinery in states as well as at the Centre we have failed to conduct examinations. It is not because of students not interesting to face the examinations, but because of the Centre and states not showing any interest to conduct them.

Velcheru Nageswara Rao, Vizianagaram

Rapid results

Now, certified laboratories will have to send RT-PCR results on WhatsApp within 24 hours. There have been many cases where delay in positive results resulted in severe lungs damage, so earliest report is need of the hour. Earlier, there was a delay in patients getting Covid-19 positive results and on it SP Bhandarkar, amicus curiae appearing in the suo motu PIL suggested that the reports of the patients, whether positive or negative, shall be immediately sent to the patients on WhatsApp and hard copies of the reports shall also be made available to the patients. If these directions are not complied with by the laboratories, the authorities will be free to take appropriate action against the concerned laboratories.

Anushka Panwar, Ujjain