COVID-19 and its effects in India

The Novel Coronavirus is an exigent issue these days. I will pen down my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic through India’s perspective.

Fake News

You got to hand it out to the Indian Whats App family groups that provide remedies of every non-treatable disease, including eclectic ways to get rid of the Novel Corona Virus. This is not the first time that such an issue has been highlighted in India. Facebook-owned WhatsApp has long been battling the menace created by the dissemination of false news and rumors via its platform. WhatsApp is still finding a way out from this. Meanwhile, every information that you find actionable should be verified and then only implemented. And do not help spread facts and news whose source cannot be verified.

To give an idea about how much onerous this problem can be, I will give a personal example. I received a message in my family WhatsApp group which claimed that “Corona Virus” has been identified long back and its panacea is to use Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Along with the message, there was a picture from a medical book with the same information highlighted. Astute readers can identify that the information is correct but is irrelevant to the “Novel Corona Virus” that is wreaking havoc today. Ingenuous readers might end up consuming such drugs.

Can’t get a mask?

Are you one of those, who had to contemplate twice before shelling money for buying a mask which generally is sold for very less than the current market price? If you are, then you are not alone. Multiple cases have been seen across Indian cities in which masks were being sold for 30 Rs to 100 Rs whose market prices are otherwise 3–10 Rs.

It’s a rudimentary case of demand and supply. There’s not enough supply and prodigious demand, driving the prices through the roof. So, the retailer who has most of the required commodity in-stock can benefit the maximum.

A simple solution for that can be to have a home made mask. If you are consummate enough in using a sewing machine, it won’t take you more than an hour to make one with an old piece of cloth. You can ask your mother or elders in your house to sew the same for each member of the family. Or better, you can learn how to make one!

The best thing about home made mask is that it is reusable.

You need not throw that into a dustbin after you have used it. You can just wash it, get it under some sun and it can be used again!

Pandemic Shopping

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi had requested a few days back on air to all Indians to not worry about supplies of eatables and grocery items. However, panic has taken over people in some parts of the India, and precipitate public have been seen hoarding groceries for months.

I had experienced this issue first hand. I live in a small city and there’s only one supermarket in the vicinity of my area. Knowing that we might be in for a lockdown, I wanted to buy some packed food and eatables. I visited the store in the afternoon on Saturday, but the Police had forced shut the store due to the prodigious number of people showing up. I came to know that the store opened again in the evening and went to buy some supplies. The whole shopping experience can be epitomized up as a real “Pandemic Shopping Experience”.

It was similar to something I had only seen in Hollywood apocalyptic movies before. Police was also present just as a precaution. A limited number of people were allowed entry inside the store at once to keep the number of people inside the store constant. People were made to line up outside the store at some distance to one another and had to get their temperature checked on the entrance. A lady on the microphone was announcing that sections other than eatables have been sealed off and that we need to hurry once we are inside so that other people can also buy.

Even after entering the store, there was inbuilt haste within me to finish the shopping as soon as possible and get back home.

In simple words, it was insane!

The unanswered questions

There are a large number of questions that cannot be answered by anyone today, because of the uncertainties looming the future. For starters, how long is the situation going to be affected due to COVID-19? How long the economy will suffer? We know that business in the service industry is the worst hit. But, the other businesses are also being affected slowly.

Will there be any ripple effects because of the lockdowns? Will the crime rate go up in certain sections of India in the short run? Will there be a strong correlation between increased crime rates and demographic indicators?

Will the unemployment rate increase in the short run? India has a lot of young workforce. If India is not able to rise among the top of the major global powers, it will lose its only chance to get there.

India’s current young generation that everyone boasts about is only going to remain young for the next decade or two.

If by the years 2035–2040, India is not able to take the benefit of the young people, then India will have to deal with a lot of people who will be aging very fast. They cannot be addressed comfortably unless India builds strong infrastructure and improves its services in all the public sectors.

The administrators and the strategists for the coming few years are going to play very pivotal roles in deciding India’s trajectory on the world map. Currently, red-tapism and corruption rooted deep into India’s veins are thwarting it from achieving its true potential.

Is the current situation an alarm for the citizens of India and the Indian government?

Is the situation an alarm to improve our systems, obviate corruption, and to get a reality check on our development plans? If not anything else, the situation caused by a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak will surely push the Indian administrative system and the healthcare system to their breaking point. It has been made very clear by various reports that India is not ready to handle a bull blown outbreak of the COVID-19 like China and South Korea and other nations have been able to.

Would India been able to contain the spread of the virus if it started from India, as effectively as China was able to? No. Not nearly as efficiently as China did it.

The reasons? There are a few. India’s population density is almost triple that of China. Except for the Hubei province, China was very successful in containing the situation. Also, India has not been experienced in the past to contain any similar situation. Tomas Pueyo has cogently written here about how other East Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand have brilliantly responded to contain the outbreak to a minimum. It’s because all of them were hit by SARS in 2003 and the administration of the country knew the threat posed by a full-blown outbreak. They acted fast, very fast. Their good response can be measured by the fact that we are not even hearing about them in the news, even though being in close proximity to China.

Are India’s administrators well versed to tackle a full-blown outbreak?

Only time will tell.