@advpranita_a
New Delhi: Every country continues to do their best to come out of COVID-19 pandemic. Each country is facing some roadblocks and India has also some unique challenges, such as overpopulated cities, farmer’s suicides, unemployment etc. India is a country with over 1.3 billion people of all ages and classes. This makes it challenging and complex for the Indian government to deal with this crisis.
Due to the impact of the crisis it was necessary for the Modi government to enforce a lockdown. In spite of all odds of the crisis it is impressive how the government has galvanized resources to handle the pandemic.
It was difficult for the people of India to get used to the new norms, however, most of them have cooperated very well and followed measures to adhere to the rules. The sudden hard lockdown, which no one could anticipate, including the government, caused a lot of discomfort to businesses as well as migrant workers. Both the State and Central government united and delivered an uphill task right from arranging food, travel, shelter, including distributing N95 mask and PPE kits free of cost via municipalities.
All necessary precautions including prior screening of passengers, maintaining social distancing at station and in the train were followed. The government also supplied Oxygen Cylinders and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets to States and Union Territories. The Government of India (GoI) also arranged special trains and buses to transport stranded migrant workers to their respective destinations and help reunite them with their families. For Indian citizens stuck abroad, the government has started, under the Vande Bharat Mission, various flights to bring back Indian nationals from different countries.
Lots of individuals and NGOs are raising funds for people who are financially impacted by lockdown e.g. street vendors, daily wages workers, migrant workers, people from slum area etc. In bigger cities, NGOs, non-profit organisations and celebrities came forward to support in their best possible way.
The true heroes in this pandemic were the police forces, doctors, nurses, health workers, sanitation workers, ambulance drivers, hospital cleaners, crematorium workers, paramedical staff, bank employees, administrative officers to karamcharis and volunteers. They were under immense pressure to facilitate the measures being followed and prevent the spread of the virus.
Apart from this, India has extended its help to more than 150 countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This has happened as Indian government’s foreign policy has always focused on building relationships with neighboring countries and global powers based on humanitarian grounds. India has sent essential drugs, testing kits and other medical assistance to many countries around the world, including to the US, to help fight the coronavirus that has infected millions globally.
India is also proud of the fact that the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan has been elected as Chair of the Executive Board of World Health Organization for the year 2020-21.
The pro-active steps taken by the Modi government 1.0 to digitalize India has facilitated the connections with our diverse groups across continents. Digital diplomacy and internet activities played a vital role during COVID crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in SAARC, G-20, NAM meets virtually.
It was remarkable to see a very active government during this pandemic and some of the actions as following have been key achievements:
Aarogya Setu: An Indian open-source CoVID-19 “Contact tracing, Syndromic mapping and Self-assessment” digital service, primarily a mobile app, developed by the National Informatics Centre (a division of Govt of India).
Suraksha Stores: The government plans to set up a chain of retail shops called ‘Suraksha Stores’ across India which will provide daily essentials to citizens while maintaining stringent safety norms.
YUKTI: Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” launched a web-portal YUKTI (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) to monitor and record the initiative by the ministry to combat Covid-19 with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation (YUKTI).
Ujjawala scheme: The government is providing free LPG refills for the next three months to over 8.3 crore poor women under the scheme and Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for healthcare workers.
Jan Dhan: As many as 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders received Rs. 500 each in their account. The total disbursement under the scheme was 9,930 crores, the finance ministry said.
PM-KISAN: About 6.93 crore farmers were benefited through the PM-KISAN scheme to help farmers tide over the Covid-19 crisis.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana: The government will release 12 million MetricTonnes of food grain during the April-June quarter. It will provide for 80 crore people at 5 kg per head per month at no cost.
New India Fit India : Fit India Movement is a nation-wide campaign that aims at encouraging people to include physical activities and sports in their everyday lives. On the first anniversary of the Fit India Movement, PM addressed the nation and interacted with fitness influencers and citizens online. This address has focused on raising awareness about the importance of fitness and health, especially during a global pandemic.
VAIBHAV: Prime Minister inaugurated the Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit on October 2 through video conferencing. The Summit was provided a platform to leverage the expertise and knowledge of global Indian researchers for solving emerging challenges and created an ecosystem of Knowledge and Innovation in the country through global outreach.
Farm Bill/Kisan BILL: The three bills that were passed are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. The bill would raise the farmers’ income and will make the farmer independent of government-controlled markets and fetch them a better price for their produce.
Poshan Maah/Local for Poshan: The third Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated in September 2020 to address the problem of malnutrition in women and children which is being spearheaded by India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD).Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Rashtriya Poshan Maah this year celebrated through digital platforms. The POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to reduce anemia among women and adolescent girls in the age group of 15-49 years, reduce low birth weight and which aims to eliminate malnutrition in India by 2022.-By Pranita A. Deshpande
Atmanirbhar Bharat: It focuses on the following elements:
Economy
Infrastructure
System
Vibrant Demography and Demand
As Indians and as OFBJP, we feel proud the way our government has managed the crisis so far. For those who do not know OFBJP we are Indian origin people living on foreign soil who support the current ruling party of India, BJP.
The author – Advocate Pranita A.Deshpande can be contacted at Email:
advpranita@gmail.com
