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year 2025 is far away and the publichealth cannot be jeopardized till thattime schedule.8.11 The Committee also lamentsthe poor state of primary healthcareespecially in rural areas. TheCommittee strongly recommendsthe Ministry to urgently increase itsspending under the National RuralHealth Mission to strengthen the deliveryof health care services in therural areas, keeping in view the languishinghealth infrastructure andinadequate delivery of health servicesto much needed rural population.8.12 The Committee is of the viewthat pandemic Covid-19 offers a windowto revisit the country’s healthpolicy with the purpose of strengtheningthe health sector, and thusnecessitates a higher investmentin creating permanent basic healthinfrastructure. The Committee alsobelieves that a higher budgetary allocationwill also boost the healthcareindustry and shift the focus toIndian manufacturers and domesticsupply chain of products. The Committeebelieves that it is the opportunetime to boost India’s healthcareinfrastructure and push for greatertechnology deepening in the healthcaresector.Our Central Govt was so overconfidentthat the Union Health MinisterDr. Harsh Vardhan went overboardto publicly announce that:-We are in India, has emerged asthe world’s pharmacy, and it supplied5.51 crore Covid-19 vaccines to62 different countries, Union healthminister Harsh Vardhan said.“We are in the end game of theCOVID-19 pandemic in India” andto succeed at this stage, Union healthminister Harsh Vardhan on Sundaysaid, politics should be kept out theCovid-19 vaccination drive.That is when as a nation we havecommitted terrible mistake of beingoverconfident propagating an imageof “Make in India” Vaccine whichwas actually “Made by India” andIndia had no control over the sameas it is apparent now the shortageof vaccine is staring at our faces andwe have no clue by when we wouldbe able to inoculate our population.We also do not know by the time weplan inoculation whether, the vaccinewould be effective or not is amillion-dollar question.The next issue that acted as a superspreader was holding Kumbh at12 July 2021“We are in the end game of the COVID-19 pandemicin India” and to succeed at this stage, Union healthminister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said, politicsshould be kept out the Covid-19 vaccination drive.Haridwar by preponing from 2022to 2021. Normally Kumbh is heldafter every 12 years. The last HaridwarKumbh Mela was held in 2010.The actual due date for the ‘current’Kumbh at Haridwar was 2022, not2021. Thus, the moot question arisesthat how it got advanced by onewhole lethal year at a time India’ssecond Covid wave was expected.So not only did the Governmentof India, and the Government of Uttarakhandnot cancel the KumbhOpinion ExpressMela, which they could easily havedone, so as not to endanger the livesof millions of people by causing asuper-spreader event for COVID-19;they also need not have let it takeplace this year at all, simply becausethis is the 11th, not the 12th year,since the last Kumbh Mela at Haridwar.They could have used this timeto create the conditions where holdingan event like the Kumbh couldhave made some kind of sense, maybe,in 2022.
The Central Govt and the StateGovt of Uttrakhand ignored all thesuggestions offered by the seers todefer Kumbh next year.A group of prominent seers in thecity has demanded that the scheduledto be held next year be postponedby a year in view of the Covid-19 threat. The group which includesmahamandaleshwaras (a rank inreligious hierarchy) of prominentashrams, claims that the mela wasin any case scheduled to be held in2022 but had been preponed to January2021. Swami VishwatmanandPuri, general secretary of ParamadarshAcharya MahamandaleshwarSamiti (PAMS), told TOI,The slow progress on holdingKumbh Mela did cost heavily to MrTrivendra Singh Rawat, who hadto resign as Chief Minister and hissuccessor, Tirath Singh Rawat, immediatelysaid that there would beno ‘rok-tok’ – no restrictions – onpilgrims, and that with GoddessGanga’s blessings, faith will triumphover disease.However, on 6th April at the ReviewMeet for Kumbh the CentralGovt team observed that Kumbhmight become COVID-19 ‘superspreader’: (Source ANI 6th April2021).As expected, 91 lakhs devoteeshad attended Kumbh Mela as perThe Kumbh Mela Force i.e. the GoverningBody (Source: HindustanTimes-30th April 2021 -3.00 AM)Thus, the manifold increase innumber of cases of COVID-19 in UPand Uttarakhand and many otherStates is stated to be just becauseof Kumbh. Many seers lost battleagainst COVID-19, consequentlysome of the Akhara heads suddenlycalled off and returned. Since manydevotees participated in the Melawere from villages, the real numberwould never be known.When elections in Bihar wereheld, though the election commissiondirected (The Hindu 21st October2020) the political parties tofollow appropriate Covid Behaviour,said directions were brazenlyflouted by one and all. The ElectionCommission did not move even itslittle finger. Consequently, all thestar campaigners of Political Partieswere sure that nothing would happeneven if they continued to floutall normsNow coming to another superspreading events i.e. elections heldin five states despite country reelingunder second wave of Covid. Thesequence of events as reported byIndia Today - 30th April 2021 is asOpinion Express July 2021 13
Page 1: Vol: 29 | No. 7 | July 2021| R20www
Page 4 and 5: A Monthly News MagazineJuly 2021Cov
Page 6 and 7: formationvery leniently and casuall
Page 8 and 9: COVID-19Wheredid we gowrong?Did a r
Page 10 and 11: our societies or areas. Only those
Page 14 and 15: follows:-(a) When West Bengal went
Page 16 and 17: It is matter of record that theGovt
Page 18 and 19: 18 July 2021chose Sirum Institute o
Page 20 and 21: Making Peace withNature to addresse
Page 22 and 23: displaced in South Asia by 2050.“
Page 24 and 25: 24 July 2021resources and products
Page 26 and 27: dering them in becoming inclusive,s
Page 28 and 29: is incorporated in infiltration, bi
Page 30 and 31: earning between men and women.The w
Page 32 and 33: 32 July 2021Opinion Express
Page 34 and 35: of world with Wuhan, a city infecte
Page 36 and 37: Disaster managementand internal sec
Page 38 and 39: urban and rural segments was itself
Page 40 and 41: Happy Homecoming?Will Mukul’s ret
Page 42 and 43: Time to play theTaiwan cardAt a tim
Page 44 and 45: CMYK PRINTECH LIMITEDcompletes8 edi
Page 46 and 47: India, Bangladesh ties“India and
Page 48 and 49: Social Media DiscordIndians can’t
Page 50: Reasons to include a workoutin your

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