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With another standoff between the #Delhi government and the L-G, this article looks at the fundamentally schizoid nature of India's fight against #COVID19.
Basic dilemma: health is a state subject, but a pandemic is national.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.outlookindia.com/magazine/amp/india-news-covid-19-special-who-decides-policy-to-fight-coronavirus-the-conflict-and-a-debatable-law/303325
Basic dilemma: health is a state subject, but a pandemic is national.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.outlookindia.com/magazine/amp/india-news-covid-19-special-who-decides-policy-to-fight-coronavirus-the-conflict-and-a-debatable-law/303325
Last week, we saw some effort at a coordinated fight, with meetings between #Kejriwal and the home minister. But politics has never been absent in the Centre-state tussles over policy. Kerala, #Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi....
"We requested the Centre to shut airports and not to run Parliament in end February-early March. They didn’t listen. Now that the situation is out of control, they want us to handle the situation." -- @MahuaMoitra
@bhadrakali20
@bhadrakali20
//Asking Ranchi before deciding on a lockdown? No such luck.
“We were never consulted, but it is we who get the huge influx of migrants." -- Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Jharkhand minister //
“We were never consulted, but it is we who get the huge influx of migrants." -- Mithilesh Kumar Thakur, Jharkhand minister //
// India has invoked the Disaster Management Act (NDMA) 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 to do all this, and questions are being asked about the adequacy and validity of the two laws, especially their conflicting provisions. //
"Under NDMA, the Centre possesses the power to decide on international travel. It delayed the suspension despite our demand. That’s the reason for the exponential surge in Mumbai." -- Nawab Malik
// #Kerala was keen on conducting rapid antibody tests to check community transmission in March, but never got a nod from ICMR. Kits developed by Kerala’s Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), sent for approval in April, are yet to be green-signalled.//
//“ICMR told us our product didn’t have a high sensitivity, although it had a perfect specificity. They haven’t said what is required. If it needs to be re-engineered, we need to know." -- RGCB director//
This is the level of coordination with #Kerala. Plain churlishness.
This is the level of coordination with #Kerala. Plain churlishness.
The most egregious was the policy on plasma therapy. Kerala was out with the FIRST proposal perhaps. It had everything that was called for: a large pool of recovered patients, scientific expertise, a hard-won breathing space to conduct experiments AMID a pandemic. But no.
Indeed, Kerala's experiments could have benefited everyone. But no.
Why no? Because, well, just because.
Because ICMR said so.
Why no? Because, well, just because.
Because ICMR said so.
