Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, nothing is making sense anymore. Nobody was aware of this situation, and of course, nobody saw it coming. The pandemic halted everything from the lives of the people to their work and businesses. The economy went down, crashing to levels nobody could ever imagine, making recovery even more difficult than ever before. Just when we thought that the virus was gone, reopening all the institutions, organizations going back to our everyday lives, it came back much more substantial than we could have ever thought!
India recorded more than 1.6 lakhs of COVID cases today, making it the 2nd worst-hit country after the USA. As the cases are increasing exponentially, we can see India crossing the 2-lakh mark of COVID cases in no time. If the people persist in taking things lightly, India will reach the 2 lakh mark very soon. We can see several rallies happening where people barely even follow any COVID-19 protocols. Still, on the other hand, we come across the news like wearing a mask is mandatory even if a single person is traveling in the car. Does that make any sense to you?
Wearing a mask is mandatory for even a single person traveling in the car: Is it making any sense?
As we all know, election rallies in India are on a full fledge. The Assam and Bengal elections observe a weird state of turns, making the demonstrations unserious towards the COVID-19 protocols and violent. Since the previous month, a lot has happened from large gatherings during the farmer’s protest, and many people arrived from Canada, UK to support the farmers. The easy entry protocols in the country with unserious checking and preventive measure, the COVID-19 battle we almost won initially, is turning into vain. The sad reality is that despite having such huge numbers of cases daily, everything is working smoothly but not the education.
Delhi high court, on April 6, ordered that wearing masks is compulsory even though a single person is traveling in the car or any other vehicle otherwise fine would be compensated. Here our question arises- is it really a preventive measure or just a cheap strategy to extort money?
We can’t say anything because the whole situation in India is confusing. On the one hand, the Indian government is allowing thousands of people to gather in rallies without even making sure the people are wearing masks, whereas on the other hand, even though two or more people living in the same family, under the same roof, sharing the same food have to wear the mask and if they are found not doing so, the government will compensate a tremendous amount of fine.
There is a vaccine shortage in India also, making the revival of our before world more difficult. Hospital beds are going short, but all the government cares about is votes. Are we really going in the right direction?
Night curfew: Is it really an effective preventive measure against COVID?
Delhi and Maharashtra government announced night curfew recently. Maharashtra is recording more than 50,000 cases daily, whereas Delhi is recording nearly 13,000 cases in Delhi. In 2020, none of the former two mentioned cities recorded this many cases. Even scientists and analysts worldwide say that there is no effect against the virus, and cases will continue to rise in this trend only unless stricter lockdown like before is implemented.
People travel throughout the city during the day, visit restaurants, travel to their workplaces, and everything happens like before. The chances of spreading the COVID-19 are much more during the day than at night. This night curfew will only affect the nightlife in the metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi, where people still go clubbing by gathering in huge numbers without caring to wear their masks. Is it really necessary to party daily when hundreds to thousands of people lose their lives daily, and several people are falling apart? I don’t think so.
The night curfew has proved to be nothing but a bare minimum by the Indian government just to fake assure the citizens that they are working on the COVID-19 protocols and doing something for their welfare. Further, these meаsures dоn’t tаke intо ассоunt the eсоnоmiс соst оf inасtivity bоrne by businesses, whiсh is аlreаdy reeling frоm lаst yeаr’s drаstiс meаsures. There is nо арраrent mediсаl benefit in enfоrсing night сurfews exсeрt tо рrevent lосаlised gаtherings, аnd they оnly аffeсt heаlthсаre ассess аnd eсоnоmiс асtivity, nоt СОVID-19.
Everything is working. Just the education is halted: Is the future of India in safe hands?
The Indian government has made it clear that we can have thousands of people in rallies and stadiums . Still, we can’t have in-person lectures epitomize how poorly universities and colleges have been treated during the pandemic.
In March 2020, educational institutes all over India, whether it be university, college, school, or coaching, stopped providing physical classes and shifted to the online mode. Since then, children have been struggling to manage their education online as it has numerous painful factors.
Firstly, we often used to discourage the students from spending much time on their devices. When used for a prolonged period, these devices cause not only physical but also mental health problems. But now, they have no option but to use them from morning till evening to attend their classes.
Secondly, physical classes can never replace online classes because what is taught in the class by being present on the spot can never be replaced by teachers teaching online. This is making the students not understand the topics with full potential and is going vain. Courses that require practical work have no other choice but to terminate them until the situation “improves.”
But obviously, we can’t just put the lives of the children at risk. If we had followed and ensured proper COVID-19 protocol, reopening would not be such a big issue. If we аre gоing аheаd with sсhооl re-орenings, we need tо ensure thаt they hаve effeсtive sаnitisаtiоn аnd РРE kits аvаilаble. In Indiа, сlаssrооm strengths аre huge, аnd the сhаnсes оf virus trаnsmissiоn inсreаse drаstiсаlly in suсh сlоsed sрасes. Henсe, we need tо lооk аt imрlementing а hybrid mоdel with smаll аttendаnсes in sсhооl аnd distаnсe leаrning with digitаl tооls.
The conclusion
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, health and family welfare minister of India, blamed the ordinary citizens for the spread of COVID-19 to such a drastic increasing rate. Are we wholly responsible for this situation, or is the government also involved?
Why did we gо intо nаtiоnwide lосkdоwn when we were аdding 100 саses а dаy аnd why аre we nоt gоing intо lосkdоwn but аllоwing сriсket mаtсhes, роlitiсаl rаllies аnd Kumbh melаs when we аre аdding 40,000 саses а dаy? Nobody knows. All that we know is government rallies, religious gatherings, mass protests, and some stupid laws are more important than the people’s lives.
