Home Blog Page 450

प्रजातंत्र और अराजकता

संजीव सिंह
-
0
प्रजातंत्र और अराजकता

प्रजातंत्र की परिकल्पना एक सभ्य एवं अनुशासित समाज को ध्यान में रख कर किया गया होगा। उस समाज के सामाजिक प्राणी एक दूसरे की चिंता करते होगें। “राष्ट्र प्रथम” ही उनकी विचारधारा रही होगी।

लेकिन इसी व्यवस्था को अगर धूर्तो/मौकापरस्त/जाहिलों/कबीला-जीवों की नगरी में लागु कर दिया जाए, तो फिर ये उसी समाज के लिए एक विनाशकारी व्यवस्था में परिवर्तित हो जायेगी। ईरान की इस्लामिक क्रांति से अच्छा उदाहरण और भला क्या हो सकता है- “एक हस्ते-खेलते-खाते देश को लील गया “

कहने का तात्पर्य है की, प्रजातांत्रिक व्यवस्था के दो मुख्य स्तम्भ हैं, कर्तव्य एवं अधिकार और यह व्यवस्था सुचारु रूप से चलती रहे ,इसके लिए इन दोनों स्तम्भों के बीच संतुलन होना बेहद आवश्यक है।

यह बात जगजाहिर है की,आसुरी प्रवृति के लोग अपने अधिकारों का अनैतिक एवं अत्यधिक दोहन एवं कर्तव्यों की अवेहलना करते हैं।
अपने देश में ऐसा ही कुछ हो रहा है। संतुलन बिगड़ रहा है। “प्रजातंत्र ही प्रजातंत्र की राह में बाधा खड़ी कर रहा है”

“Strong Intervention” अर्थात “कड़े निर्णय” लेने समय आ गया है। अन्यथा भारत को ईरान बनते देर न लगेगा। और ध्यान रहे …… हमें कोई शरण भी न देगा।

!!राम राम !!

Pardadigms of working women in lockdown

avanibhaiya255
-
0
Pardadigms of working women in lockdown

The lockdown is a sensible test for the working women in India. Whether it is work from home or work away from home the womens have full time to works and household chores despite no maids available due to lockdown. The household chores such as mopping, cleaning, washing utensils and clothes has to be carried out simultaneously. Apart from cooking during a lockdown is specific task as everyone wants everything orders in hands. Those who use said lockdown is a time to spend more time with their husbands. Does that attachment really needs during this time. It’s a crucial time for every Indian Family as everyone of us have spend our savings to survive our living in lockdown.

With fruits, vegetable and grocery items are limited it’s difficult to manage home these days. This lockdown is a period to carry household chores plus office project completion task for every women. Working women prefer to work during nights with lights off and door closed as their is no need for disturbance in work. Apart from kids are free during these times it is difficult to keep them engaged in creative activities or household chores. The house with old in laws is worry some as they need domestic maid and nurses write from morning tea till dinner in the bed. With the office project deadlines one hand has to be on keyboard and other on the toes of fulfilling demand of each and every family member.

The root cause of difficult times as a working mother is a small secluded family without family support and at the same time the urge to fulfill the career aspirations in different avenues. The working mother always get into work life balance trap and it will continue to be an ongoing challenge. The work life balance strategy offers a variety of mean to reduce stress level and increase job satisfaction of employee. That’s why it is up to us how to manage house and work both without maids it is little bit difficult. Hats off to those women who manage house with domestic maid and completing office projects.

Kerala : The systematic disintegration of the Hindu heritage

itsmeprad
-
0
Kerala : The systematic disintegration of the Hindu heritage

The aroma of spices, the beauty of backwaters, the mesmerizing lush green rainforests, the scenic tea plantations and the exquisite coconut palms, nature has been abundantly blessed Kerala, the God’s own country. A home to people from different religions and cultural background. From temples to synagogues, there is a place for everyone to worship. The very proof of the ‘acceptance & coexistence’ nature of Sanatan Dharma. But some forces are gradually and consistently trying to destroy the cultural and religious aspects of Hindus in Kerala. They’ve been doing it since past many decades with different approaches.

Kerala is the land of some of the famous temples in India with grand revenue generation. Every year the number of devotees are increasing and similarly the revenue. But still many of these temples are not developed or maintained properly. Most of the temples are run by Devosom Boards which looks after the collection and expenditure. The state government says that they have nothing to do with the temple money. But in truth, the earning of the Devosom boards are deposited in the Treasury Saving Bank, a unique banking system of Kerala state government in which various state departments also deposits funds but somehow the TSB doesn’t come under RBI. TSB started in 1963 and Congress was the ruling party of the state then.

Though the government was overturned in the very next year by CPI but they didn’t object the formation of TSB and it is still functioning. Apart from being a bank, TSB is the point of distribution of salaries & pensions by the state government. Thus, even with ever increasing financial deficits, the government can indirectly use the money earned by the temples (not a single penny from any other religious entity/organization) for paying the salaries and pensions without being questioned. The money deposited/spent in the temples is not fully used for the glorification of temples across the state instead it gets used for welfare of the government. While churches and mosques are blooming and flourishing on large scale in Kerala, the temples are busy funding the state government.

Another intriguing aspect of Kerala is the cuisine. Apart from the world famous spices, Kerala is the home of people who proudly eats beef (the meat can be of buffalo, cow or ox, doesn’t matter to them) and still calls themselves Hindu. In Hindu culture we respect every living soul and cow is the primordial being, worshiped as a God, as a mother. But still the communist mentality has gone so deep into soul of those ‘Hindus’ that they’re ready to protest, even violently too, if you say something against their beef consumption. Kerala is among other few states that do not have any legal restriction on cow slaughter. Kerala boasts of secularism but when it comes to respecting the beliefs of Hindus, they put a tag of ‘regressive kind’ on those who questions it. Thus, the arabian menu is being served and promoted in every nook & corner of the state.

Alcohol and narcotics are the other main culprits. As per studies, Kerala is the no. 1 consumer of alcohol and it is also a major source of revenue for the government. Nowadays the narcotics usage has been increasing alarmingly. Youngsters from all communities and religious sects are falling into addiction of these things. They are distancing themselves from their cultural roots while trying to westernize their lifestyle. Due to religious restrictions in the other two prolific religions, majority of these youngsters are from Hindu families.

But the most notorious one is the introduction of communism. The communist ideology spread throughout India majorly with the help of caliphate movement in 1920s as the Indian Muslims and Russian communists supported each other. Spreading the idea of communism wasn’t possible without breaking the Hindu majority. So, they broke the Hindu society on the basis of caste, social and economic stature. They demonized the Hindu religion and it’s practices while supporting the Abrahamic religions. The ideology of communism is similar to Abrahamical ideology, only one can rule all the others, they are bound to work only for the one and anybody who doesn’t follow the one must be made to follow the one or else be eliminated. Thus, eliminating the culture itself will make a Hindu either a communist or a purposeless human.

India’s Covid response conundrum

Sudheendra Karri
-
0
India’s Covid response conundrum

The week that went by, saw us hit a grim milestone world over, a hundred thousand fatalities since the outbreak began, with half of them in a little over a week. It would be fair to say that given the depth of the spread of the contagion, though we are fairly early in the trajectory in the sub continent, the Govt has been largely proactive in its action plan as we close into this first phase of the lockdown and begin a new one. What remains to be seen is how much of a leg room have we got ourselves through these curtailments.

Projecting the extent of the crisis has varied from as dire as losing a few million lives to calling it the ‘small flu’. Multiple statistical theories of BCG induced immunity to the virus, India having received a less virulent strain etc., have been circling the news wires for long now.

The fact though is, nobody has a crystal ball on how to read this. The best metric is to trust the forecasted models and learn from countries ahead of us and how they are dealing with the epidemic and work out a strong containment strategy.  

What next : Do nothing, mitigate or suppress

Looking back a month into the lockdown, though there may be a few reasons to cheer that the shelter in place has worked to a certain degree, we got to pay close attention to the fact that we are behind majority of rest of the world both in tests/mil & as a result reported cases/mil.India along with Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia even Japan for that matter have among the lowest testing rates on record

Given the long incubation period of the virus coupled with asymptomatic transmission patterns and a significant lag in the incidence to mortality curves, it becomes paramount to maintain these closures in play.

Any logical action at this time within the bounds of this prolonged lockdown would be a welcome move to help face an otherwise dire collapse of India’s healthcare system that clocks among the lowest ratios of beds to heads in the developing world. As ICMRs awaits delivery of antibody testing kits along with scaling home grown solutions, it’s critical to rationalize test infrastructure and lock and test high risk clusters. Could a door to door population census styled test campaign be on the cards?

What to lock, when to open
Unlocking India is going to be a bigger challenge than being locked up. Job destruction is putting the nation at crossroads as a fall out from the enormous pressure being inflicted on the agrarian economy and consumption patterns of society

As much as we’d want a rational determination of re opening parts of the country, its very likely the virus that’s going to dictate the true timeline. Given the constraints, we’d need a calibrated and carefully tailored approach, that’s got to balance the impact of a glaring health crisis to managing the economic fall out in a post Covid world.

The sight of hordes of migrant workers walking back to villages, unemployment rates as high as 20% per CMIE’s latest data is a startling indicator on what’s to come . If not balanced,the economic fallout of the crisis could be more severe than the crisis itself.

The multi trillion dollar stimulus rolled out in the US if quantified in real terms is as big as India’s economy. Can India afford an equivalent dole? Answers may be divided, but we definitely need to do more than the 0.5 -0.8 % of the revival package injected by the administration, when the rest of the developed world is pumping as much as a tenth to a fifth of their GDPs to cushion their economies.

There have been multiple proposals from policy think tanks ranging from tapping into MNREGA to increasing work hours & wages to ‘Uberization’ of farm to market logistics to cash loading funds into Jan Dhan accounts to support communities in distress. We’ll probably see a lot of these coming to fruition through coercive action in days to come.

Will India surprise the world with handling this crisis drawing from the accolades it received the way Polio eradication was dealt with many years ago. Only time will tell!

Addressing the elephant in the room: Privacy amidst public health crisis

Gautham R
-
0
Addressing the elephant in the room: Privacy amidst public health crisis

The Government of Karnataka (hereafter “State Government”) in its bid to fight the COVID-19 pandemic was the quick to invoke the enabling provision of National Epidemic Act which gives powers to the State to frame regulations aiding the fight to curb the spread of the infectious disease amongst the population. The Government has extended its support to fight the dreaded disease by providing protection against eviction to tenants belonging to the health sector, encouraging telemedicine consultation.

In a double to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the State Government decided to publish database containing a list of all persons (14,910 residents of Bangalore Urban/Rural District alone) in each of the districts who have either contracted the virus or who have been currently placed under quarantine. This database included details of these persons’ residential addresses and their travel history, among other things.

On a bare flick through the database it appears that the Government has published “personal data”, as defined in B.N Srikrishna Committee, and in doing it appears that the Government had transgressed the fiduciary obligation that existed between data principal (“individual”) and data fiduciary (“State Government”) while handling personal data of the individuals. It is pertinent to note that publishing of personal data of individuals who have contracted the disease or individuals with mere travel history contemplates for harassment of such individuals when their personal data can be used by the public to trace their exact place of residence violating privacy of the individuals. Probably had the State Government decided to publish the names it would have been the last nail in the coffin, inviolably breaching privacy.

Want of Data Protection legislation would mean, breach of privacy would have to be interpreted on the touchstones of K.S Puttuswamy v, Union of India (hereafter “K.S Putuswamy Judgment”). The judgment contemplates for negative right against State interference, as well as the positive right to be protected by the State. It is pertinent to bear in mind while interpreting the judgment that privacy as right under the Constitution is “not an elitist construct” and even then the State has no eminent domain over the privacy of an individual. The Supreme Court in the aforesaid judgment was tantamount on the obligation of state and non-state entities acting as data fiduciary in protecting the personal data of the individuals which would go a long way in protecting the privacy of such individuals.

It might be enticing to lean in favour of public health over privacy as held by the Division Bench of Supreme Court while considering conflicting interest of an individual infected with HIV and the public health at large. It is pertinent that we do not jump into the above conclusion without considering principle of proportionality as enumerated in the K.S Puttuswamy v. Union of India (II) (hereafter “Aadhar Judgment”). Justice Sikri in the recent Aadhar Judgment laid down a four-fold test to determine proportionality:

(a) A measure restricting a right must have a legitimate goal (legitimate goal stage).

(b) It must be a suitable means of furthering this goal (suitability or rationale connection stage).

(c) There must not be any less restrictive but equally effective alternative (necessity stage).

(d) The measure must not have a disproportionate impact on the right holder (balancing stage).

The action of the State Government not only has to pass the test of being just, fair and reasonable as enumerated in K.S Puttuswamy Judgment but also has to pass the test of proportionality as laid down subsequently in the Aadhar Judgment. Legislation, be it plenary or subordinate, can be challenged on the grounds of arbitrariness i.e being disproportionate, excessive or unreasonable as upheld by the Supreme Court overturning its decision in McDowells case. Though the measure of the State Government has legitimate goal in preventing spread of the pandemic disease, the executive action seems to be disproportionate and non-necessity.

Firstly, there seems to be a lacuna in law for the State Government in collecting the personal data of the individuals. Secondly, lack of knowledge and consent of individuals serves as a predicament for the executive succeeding judicial review. Thirdly, the decision to share the personal data beyond the realms of public servants concerned would on the face of it seem disproportionate. Fourthly, role will come to be performed by private insurance companies whose business model depends on excluding those at risk of sickness which would exclude the vulnerable constituencies of population from coverage or as a matter of fact charge high premium. Considering the alternatives before the State Government to tackle the situation, publishing personal data does not seem to fall under the ambit being  just, fair and reasonable as held by the Apex Court on several instances.

There is usually a strong presumption in favour of the constitutionality of an enactment and the presumption being in favour of the constitutionality of legislation, the burden lies upon the person who attacks the statute to show that there has been a clear transgression of the constitutional principles. It would not be a surprise if a public spirited individual approaches the Court seeking adjudication on such lacuna in law in the regulations in the coming day. The decision to exclude the name of the individuals from the data base presents the State Government with a better case without having to stare at the barrel arguing and defending such an action on its part. Perplexity of the current scenario leaves the Court with testing questions to adjudicate on privacy vis-à-vis public health.

Delhi: Is Arvind Kejriwal doing enough?

prateekjain28
-
0
Delhi: Is Arvind Kejriwal doing enough?

India as on April 12 (11.30 IST), has witnessed 8356 cases of Coronavirus and Delhi has crossed a thousand mark, the only state after Maharashtra crossing the thousand mark in Covid19 cases out of which 712 cases belonged to Tabligi Jamaat or Special Operations as now termed by Delhi Government to avoid any backlash from not a minority community alone.

Though everyone is praising Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Social Media platforms, therefore he must be doing something good, wherein fact the ground reality is completely different.

Those on ground volunteering to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic witnessed the fact that it is Sewa Bharati, an RSS affiliate whose volunteers are selflessly helping the needy across Delhi irrespective of their gender, race, religion, caste etc. Now, from helping the NE citizens residing in Delhi to feeding the animals/birds to even reaching the Khadir Basti of Yamuna paar, the area which is not even connected via road with a sole purpose of feeding and helping the poor & needy, they are doing everything possible.

If facts are to be looked upon, Sewa Bharati has successfully distributed 50000 dry ration kits, where each kits includes: 

  • 10 Kg wheat
  • 2 Kg rice and lentils each
  • 1 litre Oil
  • 1 Kg salt and sugar each
  • Packets of Turmeric and Garam Masala of 250gm each
  • Packets of milk powder and tea of 500gm each
  • A noodle packet
Sewa Bharati volunteers packing “essential box” at Okhla packaging centre
Essential commodities/Dry ration packed by Sewa Bharati volunteers

Apart from distributing dry ration kits, these volunteers are feeding 1.30 lakhs needy daily for which organisation has set up 125 kitchens across Delhi, have identified 630 spots across Delhi to distribute kits and food and are also looking after elderly citizens in this crisis. Be it helping the PG students to launching a separate IVR number for NE students to managing the crowd (yes, they were the ones who magnificently managed the crowd when migrant workers in Delhi were forced and transported by Delhi government to Anand Vihar ISBT just after the day when false announcements were made later in the night by unknown sources that buses will be waiting for them at Anand Vihar ISBT to transport them to their homes) to even arranging transportation for 92 persons. And not just humans, but these volunteers are also taking care of animals and birds by providing 28000 Kg of fodder to 28 cow shelters and have identified 97 spots across Delhi to feed birds. Now, this is entirely managed and monitored online 24*7 by ~3000 Sewa Bharati has left me totally flabbergasted. [1]

Sewa Bharati distributing food at Keshav Puram, Delhi
    Sewa Bharati volunteers distributing food at Khadir Basti of Yamuna area, Delhi

    Delhi, which is currently being ruled by IITian progressive CM, progressive as claimed by his communist friends has failed to control & secure the population of ~2 crore whereas it’s border sharing state UP led by a regressive bhagwa CM Yogi Adityanath as termed by Lutyens media has very well managed to contain this #coronavirus spread with just 402 cases. Yes, the state population with ~21 crore has only 402 active cases whereas Delhi with nearly 10 times less population has almost 3 times the number of active cases in Uttar Pradesh. From transferring the amount of Rs. 1000 to each of ~21 lakh workers registered with labor department via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to identifying 43000 vehicles to carry out home delivery of essential commodities to sanctioning the ration free of cost to 1.65 lakh beneficiaries of Antyodaya Anna Yojana and MGNREGA to giving advance pensions to 86 lakh beneficiaries to directing District Magistrates to provide assistance of Rs. 1000 to those who are not covered in any of the schemes to operating 2230 Relief camps and 2500 food camps where 10 lakh people were given shelter and food to personally analyzing and visiting the Covid19 hotspots [2], Yogi Adityanath has left no stone unturned in containing this Coronavirus spread. However, on the other hand Delhi CM Kejriwal claims to have feed 71 lakh poor’s which is far far away from reality. A CM who only believes in publicity has not shown any of his facility where the food is being prepared. In fact, some days back Delhi government claimed a kitchen which was run by Jhandewalan Temple Trust and volunteers of Sewa Bharati as their own.

    Image courtesy: Aajtak news channel
    Image courtesy: ANI News, Twitter

    The MLA Rohit Kumar Mehraulia of Trilokpuri area of East Delhi behaved rudely with the residents of his assembly when they complained regarding no food or pension being given to them even after an announcement was made at a press conference of Delhi CM Kejriwal. The most daft incident was when a lady who reached Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai office for food, she was handed over the Sewa Bharati helpline number.

    Delhi has a CM who is only busy in doing press conferences, spreading extravagantly on his PR who even in this crisis instead of coming out and battling this pandemic is enjoying all the comforts of luxuries. Had Kejriwal spent the money on feeding and helping the poor, he would not be forced to take the bogus route to uplift his image.

    Also, give a thought on the situation of Delhi had Sewa Bharati would not be in picture today battling this Covid19 pandemic!

    References:Authorised Delhi RSS SM SwayamsevakFacts & figures of UP govt cited from various articles available over internet

    Who let the speech out?

    nerdysamosa
    -
    0
    Who let the speech out?

    Last evening, I got a strangely- weird text from my girlfriend asking “Who let the speech out? Who? Who?” Not sure what effect did the changing weather had on her head. It confused me for a moment as what does it even mean, so I replied back “Babe! What does it mean?” She said she was just wondering about all the free speech vs. hate speech debate that’s on fire in the country when a flying thought struck her mind, and that was ‘Who let the speech out?’ Although she found it funny as it relates to the popular 90s number ‘Who let the dogs out?’, I didn’t. But I couldn’t say so because the month is February and valentine’s day is coming and I didn’t want to triple my budget by being stupid and telling her that it’s not funny. So I did what every sane person will do, I said “that’s funny” and then we both went to sleep.

    I was about to slumber down into the dreamland when suddenly a feeling of uneasiness covered my head as the question “Who let the speech out?” refused to leave my head. I got up from my bed and went outside, the clock was stating that it was 2 in the morning. I went out and felt a cool breeze on my face and thought “I am gonna miss this breeze as soon as the summers start”. I live on the 6th floor and my balcony faces the road so I can see traffic easily. I stood in my balcony and looked around, I could see the minimal traffic on the road, and the neighborhood was quiet. No one was selling anything, no one was buying anything, no children playing, no groups of the retired uncle and aunties walking and laughing. No rush of traffic. For a moment everything felt very still and the moment seemed to go on for multiple moments. That stillness can be unsettling when we as an entity of this society has become accustomed to a sense of chaos in our everyday lives.

    In that moment of stillness, I could hear something. It was not something coming from outside, but from within me. In the brief moment of stillness, I could hear myself, I could hear my thoughts. You must be thinking what is so special about it? Every day we speak to others to do things, to get things done, to communicate, to say what we feel and so on, so what is new in this?

    Every day we speak, we talk, we communicate, we utter hundreds of words. What we fail to do is listen. We fail to listen to ourselves. We fail to understand how the other person is going to hear us. We fail to understand if another person is really listening to us or merely hearing us.

    In today’s time when we talk about things like freedom of speech, freedom of expression, we are so entitled to freedom and so oblivious to the price of that freedom that we fail to understand the real value of freedom. One person’s freedom should not be another person’s prison. We can’t pay for our freedom by stealing someone else’s freedom. Freedom is the ultimate goal of life, physically, mentally and spiritually. Freedom is the universal right of every living creature.

    So when we raise our slogans of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of being able to say what is on our mind in a society which grants us this ultimate right, don’t we as the contributing entity of that society have a duty of understanding what we are going to talk about? Do we first listen to ourselves and use our ability to stand in another person’s shoes to understand how that person is going to hear us.

    In today’s time, we are so interconnected and living in a global village. We have the ability to express ourselves on the unthinkable magnitude. Each and every person has the ability to put his or her thought in the world. We have the superpower which our ancestors could never think of. And as our uncle, Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility”.

    In the day and age where one person is asking for the partition of the country again on a communal basis and another person asking to shoot the traitors of the country, they both became heroes to someone who is living in this country. Someone who is able to identify himself or herself with them on multiple levels; can be caste, religion, creed, language, color. Someone who one day wishes to be able to use his or her freedom of speech just like his or her hero did today. Without understanding the power and consequences of one’s words, that someone will one day be standing in the same place as their heroes did today, in some capacity, where one will be asking to break the nation other asking to shoot the traitors, without realizing that both the actions are unlawful. But they will be able to use the freedom of speech, won’t they? Isn’t that what our ancestors fought for hundreds of years? We should be proud of that, shouldn’t we? That is for you to decide.

    For me I feel, today we as a society have to make a pivot to, “What should be said” from “Who is speaking”. We need to learn to understand what is in the speech instead of blindly fighting for or against the person “who let the speech out”.

    Washington Post doing a ‘Deshabhimani of America’

    binoyashokan
    -
    0
    Washington Post doing a ‘Deshabhimani of America’

    Even in this doom and gloom of Corona scare, as a Malayali on 11th April 2020 my day had a very cheerful beginning. Ever since this Corona devastation started, the first thing I used to do once wake up is to listen to the news which will be full of Corona-updates starting in the order of world numbers first, followed by national figures and then local state-level statistics. On 11th, apart from the news of Kerala’s Corona numbers showing a downward trend, there was one more thing which was the main reason cheerful starting of the day. It was an article in WashingtonPost showering praise on Kerala for its commendable achievement in combating Coronavirus in India.

    As a Keralite as well as an Indian it was indeed a matter of pride to see an international media house appreciating our efforts in a fight against a pandemic, a global disease.

    Kerala well deserves this praise. Kerala has long been a front runner in the field of health care in the country like in the case of many other fields. The laying of foundation of state’s medical infrastructure date back to pre-independence era. Even before Allopathy took its roots there, the earlier Kerala had its own Ayurvedic system in place. Today’s Kerala boasts of its Ayurvedic prowess even as one of the main muscles in its tourism promotion. This stems from that rich heritage of Ayurvedic tradition. State’s first general hospitals are established in the 19th century during the rule of local Kings and Rajas. Then came the proliferation of medical facilities under the Christian management as part of their religious overreach across the state. Then there was a competition in the field from other religious outfits. Added to all these were demand for world-class medical facilities arose from Malayali’s exposure to the outer world as one of most active explorers of opportunities abroad.

    The reading of the article was progressing on the expected lines, and suddenly got stuck on a particular line. “In more than 30 years of Communist rule, the state has invested heavily in public education and universal health care.” This was that line which triggered the alarm and arouse my curiosity which led to the further finding that the heading of the article also was edited from what it was originally. Initially the heading was, “India Kerala Coronavirus: How the Communist state flattened its Coronavirus curve”. This was later changed to a more neutral looking ”How the Indian state of Kerala flattened its Coronavirus curve”. That is, the wordings “Communist state” was replaced with “Indian state of Kerala”! An afterthought of an over enthusiastic Commie sympathiser in the Washington post?! Lol! Of course yes, that was the case.

    So these two things out of the article was proof enough to show that it was no less than a leftist-Communists propaganda material, for which Washington post was very notorious in its home country. It was for this very reason only that US president Donald Trump had cancelled the subscription of WashightonPost along with NewYorktimes in the Whitehouse few months back.


    Even in the 70’s itself Washington post was referred to as ‘Pravda of the Potomac’. ‘Pravda’ being the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union then and ‘Potomac’ being an important river in the American civilization, the reference was as good as saying that Washington post was nothing but the ‘Pravda of America’. It was called so because of its alleged left-bias and the importing of Communists propaganda of Communist Soviet Union into the America. Since the discussion is on Kerala, that reference is nothing less than American’s calling the ‘WashingtonPost ‘the Deshabhimani’ of America’.’Deshabhimani’ is the official newspaper of communist party of Kerala.

    This was not the first time WashingtonPost is running a propaganda for the Communist govt of Kerala. Almost two years back they had done a front page story about Kerala’s communist govt. and party especially focusing on the very mediocre finance minister in the Kerela govt.

    One might wonder why a global publication giant of the stature of WashingtonPost would bother to run a propaganda piece for a far away tiny bit land on the globe. But we must bear in mind that as it was widely believed, it was in Kerala where the first ever democratically elected govt. came into rule during the heydays of Communism. Much the same way, today when the Communism is nearly wiped out from the face of the earth the same Kerala may be the only or one of the few places where a democratically elected communist govt is ruling today. That is the reason for those who, like WP, who still carries the sweet memories and hangover of a glorious communist era doing propaganda for such small a place like Kerala.


    As Trump correctly called ‘they are fake’, in this piece also we can see how they build their propaganda on fakery. If one sees the line “In more than 30 years of Communist rule, the state has invested heavily in public education and universal health care.” one who don’t have much knowledge about this small piece of land would assume that Communists are ruling Kerala for 30 years and what all the good happened/happening in Kerala is due to the good work done by Communists in those long 30 plus year rule of theirs.

    But the real fact is the opposite. Kerala’s superior position today in many area should be attributed to the fact that Kerala was lucky enough not be under a continuous rule of Communists like what happened in Bengal. Communists never ruled more than 1 term ie. 5 years continuously in Kerala.

    As implied by WP in this article, if continuous rule of Communists was the reason for progress of any state in India then it would have been West Bengal which should be in the position of Kerala today. West Bengal (today Bengal) is the state which was continuously ruled by Communists for more than 30 years, not Kerala. And you see the result. Bengal is among the most backward states in India. The only ‘achievement’ of such a prolonged Communists rule in Bengal was that today ‘Bengali’ labours are freely available in all states across India including Kerala. It was the poverty and joblessness in Bengal, a gift of long Communist rule, which is forcing this Bengali exodus from the state.

    So, dear WashingtonPost – ‘the Deshabhimani of America’, as Keralaites while we are taking immense pride in seeing our state Kerala excelling in all fields compared to other states in India including health care sector, and while we are proudly acknowledging that it was this superiority of our state in the medical field is definitely one of the reasons of our pretty good decent performance in containing Coronavirus epidemic, please do not try to sell to us your dirty Commie propaganda amidst this moment of crisis as we the people of Kerala know who is who and who did what.

    The war against COVID-19 is a psychological one and our nation is winning it right

    Prepsa Saini
    -
    0
    The war against COVID-19 is a psychological one and our nation is winning it right

    How the pandemic has engulfed our minds and how the Government is spearheading a fight against it.

    As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) aggressively swells across the globe, our nation, like most of the world, is grappling with a steep rise in reported cases and fatalities. The virus, termed as COVID-19 by the WHO, is touted as one of the most dangerous viruses that has reached human civilizations since the recorded history. It is an unprecedented situation which a vast majority of us have not quite experienced. It reminds us of the horrifying stories from the early 20th century when the Spanish flu took the life of around 50 million people.

    Times like these are stressful. Information continues to being fed to us through digital media, print media and our family and friends. As the nature downpours its wrath, what it brings on the frontline for the entire society, is a question largely unanswered and unthought of; how a pandemic can affect our mental and psychosocial well-being. Therefore, minding our minds becomes an incredible challenge for all us. It not only impacts the physical, social, and economic front but also significantly impacts the mental and psychosocial well-being of the individuals.

    FEAR: THE INVISIBLE ENEMY

    In any disastrous situation, it is common for individuals to feel stressed and worried. The most common emotion faced by all is fear. Behaviorally, our survival instinct kicks in and the person feels fear on diversified fronts. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought its own set of fears arising from insecurities which include health insecurity due to risk of being infected and infecting others, especially when the transmission mode of COVID-19 is not fully established; common symptoms of other health problems (e.g. a cough, fever) mistaken for COVID-19.Financial insecurity- loss of income, jobs, helplessness, social and emotional insecurity (due to boredom, isolation/loneliness and in some cases extreme depression leading to suicidal tendencies). COVID has presented an unprecedented challenge for the health workers who fear infecting their family members as they go back home. Different age groups have different fears. Children feel lack of activity, suffocation from wearing a mask, elderly and disabled are the most vulnerable as they are isolated in the extreme manner.

    This consistency in build-up of fear, can lead to long-term consequences for individuals, families and communities at large. Patients, health professionals, sanitary workers alike could go under insurmountable psychological pressure which may lead to various psychological problems, such as anxiety, fear, depression, and in some cases, leading to suicides.

    GOVERNMENTS EFFORTS IN BUILDING NATION’S RESISTANCE     

    At this very instance, the acknowledgement of mental health is half the battle won. Our hon’ble Prime Minister played a commendable role in spearheading the nation’s call for – “Jaan hai toh Janah hai”– by reaching out to people and ensuring India stays well ahead in this battle. The announcement of stimulus and relief package for the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid hits all the checkpoints – Psychological support, sharing of emotional burden, development of a sense of companionship by acknowledging the tougher ground realities. It is strengthening the unity of nation. It is codifying and developing emotional resistance to such emergencies; which determines a nation’s ability to come out better from such tough times. The Government of India in its strategic move didn’t only take the most stringent of actions for the fight against the virus, but examined the situation and its long-term consequences and took steps for the overall well-being of its citizens.

    The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) released several videos, audio-visual aids as well as advisories for behavioral health of every individual under the campaign ‘Help us to help you’. These aids are available in both English and in Hindi. These are practical tips to take care of one’s mental health during the lockdown; an audio-visual aid on managing stress and depression during. ‘Lockdown to knockdown COVID-19’ is an animated video with lucid tips. The Ministry has also given measures on dealing with social isolation, emotional problems, emotional issues after recovery, ways to recognize mental health problems in beloved and caring for persons with mental illness. The proven conventional warriors, Meditation and Yoga, have come to the rescue as the Ministry is rolling out awareness campaigns on Meditation and Yoga for stress management. (Available in both English & Hindi).

    The vulnerable groups, especially the elderly and children need special and additional care at this hour. The MoHFW has curated a video under ‘Help us to help you’ campaignon ‘Connecting with the little ones during the COVID 19 Lockdown’ and ‘Taking care of mental health of children and elderly during COVID – 19’.

    Several prominent health experts from institutions like NIMHANS, Bangalore, Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh, and Sneha, Mumbai have given simple measures that can be performed by individuals to manage mental health and well-being during the COVID19 outbreak. These are videos & advisories and similar content is available on the MoHFW website. For people in need of assistance, a Psycho-Social toll-free helpline number has also been provided.

    Set of books, both in Hindi and English have been transported to the quarantine centers so that people not only make good use of their time and their behavioral health is also taken care of. A publishing house has also donated 1,000 books to coronavirus quarantine centers in Kashmir.

    The links between mental health and immunity are very strong. Mental health is an umbrella term for many conditions. Our mental health affects how we think, feel and act. But it also impacts our physical health, how our body deals with infection, how we recover and repair. Enhancing the body’s natural defence system (immunity) plays an important role in maintaining optimum mental health. In view of the same, The Ministry of AYUSH has also recommended self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and boosting immunity with special reference to respiratory health. These are supported by Ayurvedic literature and scientific publications.

    SPECIAL INITIATIVE TO SUPPORT DAILY-WAGE WORKERS

    India saw a mass movement of workers and daily wage earners from cities back to their villages. Cutoff from their hometowns due to the lockdown, hundreds of migrants are currently living in shelter homes and make-shift camps across India. The MoHFW has asked facilities such as NIMHANS, Banglore and CIP-Ranchi and State Governments to provide mental health support, counselling services and other support for the thousands of migrant workers currently housed in relief camps and shelter homes across India. The MoHFW also issued guidelines on dealing with psychological issues of migrant workers. Additionally, there are directions to involve teams of professionals available under the District Mental Health Programme to provide counselling services. The ministry shared a list of clinical psychologists and counsellors registered to the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists who have volunteered to provide counselling. Similarly, The Ministry of Home Affairs have asked the States to take care of the medical and psychological needs of the migrant workers along with food and shelter requirements. Another boon in these times of COVID-19 is the release of the telemedicine guidelines by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in partnership with NITI Aayog and Medical Council of India, which would prove invaluable in counselling in these testing times.

    The State of Tamil Nadu, under the Tamil Nadu Psychology Association has made a team of 63 psychologists, who are offering counselling over telephone in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Assam, similarly, under the Sarathi 104 Health Helpline has been offering 24×7 health advice, counselling, information sharing and reporting of COVID 19 to callers every day. On an average, the team has been attending to approximately 8000 calls in a day post.

    PRIORITIZING WOMEN AND CHILD CARE

    The Ministry of Women & Child Development, has also issued a “Coping Strategy regarding children during COVID-19 situation.”This guide focuses on ways to minimize adverse effects on mental health of children and adolescents in these times of pandemic and suggests 16 steps for parents and caregivers on how they can be more reassuring to their children. Further, the guide also elaborates on how to identify and cater to stress response in children as well as steps to be taken by Parents/caregivers to support themselves. The ministry has also circulated a fact-based information document in Hindi for Pregnant and Lactating women with do’s and don’ts, how to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Instructions on the continuous nutritional support for beneficiaries under Anganwadi Services to States and UTs was another step of aid and relief.

    WEAPONS OF MASS-CARE

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has set up a Fact Check Unit to receive messages from the public at large and respond to them in a defined time-frame. This unit will also keep a check on any fake news causing distress in the population. Further, audio and visual creatives on awareness, etc. prepared by various agencies of the government have been disseminated after translation into local languages. Best practices of States/UTs in tackling the pandemic; positive messages by various celebrities are being broadcasted by the Ministry at the national level.

    The launch of Arogya Setu app will have a positive impact on the population and give a sense of safety at hand as one of the key features of the application is self-assessment and it provides a complete list of helpline numbers across the country. This application not only help citizens identify their risk of contracting the novel coronavirus but is designed to keep the users informed in case s/he has crossed paths with someone who has tested positive. Available in 11 languages, as of date 50 million people have downloaded Arogya Setu app.

    Psychological crisis intervention plays a pivotal role in the overall deployment of any disease control. Healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, and allied & healthcare professionals are rendering their services tirelessly to provide care and medical/ clinical support in this situation of crisis. Sanitary workers and police are also doing selfless service and playing critical roles in addressing the challenge of COVID-19. The Ministry of Finance under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package has announced the medical insurance scheme for frontline workers (sanitation staff, doctors, ASHA workers, paramedics and nurses) involved in managing the COVID-19 outbreak. Accepting mental health as a challenge by the government, is indeed noteworthy.

    The fight against coronavirus is a long one. We have entered lockdown 2.0. India, with its growing efforts will emerge over this pandemic. As the famous saying goes, give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself; therefore, taking care of our health and well-being as well as of those around us by adhering to simple measures, can make us victorious in this fight and will show the world our strength as a unified nation.

    Prepsa Saini is a Young Professional, NITI Aayog.

    DISCLAIMER: Views expressed above are the author’s own.

    शिवसेना के राहुल गांधी साबित हो रहे हैं आदित्य ठाकरे

    janjagrannews
    -
    0
    शिवसेना के राहुल गांधी साबित हो रहे हैं आदित्य ठाकरे

    लॉकडाउन के कारण हुई परेशानियों को सुलझाने में नाकाम रहे उद्धव ठाकरे को बचाने की कोशशें करते उनके बेटे आदित्य ठाकरे खुद को शिवसेना का राहुल गांधी साबित कर रहें हैं।

    14 अप्रैल को मुंबई की जामा मस्जिद के पास इक्कठी हुई भीड़ के मुद्दे पर केंद्र सरकार को घेरने की नाकाम कोशिश जूनियर ठाकरे पर भारी पड़ती दिख रही है। पहले 29 मार्च को वो कहते है कि हम सभी मजदूरों के लिए रहने और खाने की व्यवस्था कर रहे है और सभी मजदूरों को यहीं रोकना चाहते है l

    फिर 14 अप्रैल को कहते है हमने केन्द्र सरकार से मजदूरों को उनके घर पहुंचाने की व्यवस्था करने के लिए कहा है।

    उनकी ऐसी बातें सुनकर जनता भी उनसे पूछ रही है आखिर करना क्या चाहते हो। ऐसा लगता है राजपुत्र आदित्य ठाकरे भी राहुल गांधी के पदचिन्हों पर चल रहें हैं।

    1...449450451...889Page 450 of 889