[WSMDiscuss] COVID-19 Pandemic- What Could Explain Mishandling and Callousness?

[Umakant]

Dear Friends

Greetings! Ever sincethe COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was announced the fate of teeming millions wasdecided in a manner befitting their low status thereby marking out them fordiscrimination and exclusion in the most blatant way in contemporary times. 

 

What could explain‘Mishandling’ and ‘Callousness’ by the Government of India and respective StateGovernments barring few which stood apart from the rest? 

 

We have theConstitution, Law, Parliament, Government, different Organs of the Government,Judiciary, Independent Media and a vibrant Civil Society. But we neither have‘Due Diligence’ nor ‘Accountability’ in our system. 

 

And this is not thefirst time and not even the last time when we are witnessing incompetentgovernment machinery which simply cannot handle any pandemic or disastersituation. 

 

Perhaps we are stillsearching for an answer? Or shall we say ‘Mediocrity’, which breeds not only ignorancebut also arrogance, as a possible explanation for this inbuilt ‘Mishandling’and ‘Callousness’? And where does this ‘Mediocrity’ come from? Has ‘Mediocrity’got something/everything to do with the Brahmanical caste system? 

 

Do pass it on toothers in your circle/network. 

 

Trainson their mind: Death of a mother at a railway station, a conversation in Heaven

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Opinion/Column, Indian Express, May 29, 2020 

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/bihar-railway-station-mother-death-migrant-crisis-shramik-special-trains-coronavirus-pratap-bhanu-mehta-6432062/

 

Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Hansa Mehta, Rabindranath Tagore, BhimRao Ambedkar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu, JayaprakashNarayan, Deendayal Upadhyaya are milling around. Narada shows up to needlethem.

 

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Why Do We Treat Internal MigrantsDifferently From International Migrants?

Chetan Choithani and Reshama Roshania, Opinion, The Wire,May 28, 2020 

https://thewire.in/rights/migrants-internal-international-lockdown

 

It is time we acknowledged the significant contributionsIndia’s internal migrants make to source and destination communities.

 

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Noting‘several lapses’, SC orders no travel fare to be charged from migrant workers

Express Web Desk, May 28, 2020 

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-supreme-court-on-migrant-crisis-railways-centre-responds-6431317/

 

Supreme Court on migrant crisis: Originating state should provide mealand water at the station while the Railways will provide the same during thejourney.

 

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A toddlertrying to wake up dead mother shocks Indians

Al Jazeera and News Agencies, May28, 2020 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/india-toddler-waking-dead-mother-highlights-migrants-misery-200528043019019.html 

 

At least nine migrants have diedin recent days, exposing the suffering of migrant workers due to coronaviruslockdown. 

 

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SupremeCourt Deserves an 'F' Grade For Its Handling of Migrants

Madan B. Lokur,Opinion, The Wire, May 28, 2020 

https://thewire.in/law/after-humanitarian-law-died-a-million-deaths-the-supreme-court-has-finally-stirred-itself 

 

After humanitarianlaw died a million deaths, the Supreme Court finally took suo motu cognizanceof the plight of the workers forced to set out for distant rural homes becauseof the lockdown.

 

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As India Starves, Modi Govt.Celebrates 

Bhasha Singh, NewsClick, May 28, 2020 

https://www.newsclick.in/india-starves-modi-govt-celebrates 

 

On the one hand people are struggling in trains while on theother, 750 virtual celebration rallies are being organised.

 

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“The fleeing labourers are caught in an unusual combinationof crises” 

MukulikaR in Conversation with Uma Chakravarti 

ICF,May 27, 2020 

“The fleeing labourers are caught in an unusual combination of crises” 


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“The fleeing labourers are caught in an unusual combination of crises”

The historian talks about the plight of the labouring class, the actions of the state, and more.
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With Regards 

Umakant, Ph. D 

New Delhi  



 






My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality. 
B.R.Ambedkar
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