Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme on Sunday. The address comes in the backdrop of a brutal second wave of Coronavirus infections that is battering India and stretched the country’s health care system.
On Saturday, India recorded 3,46,786 fresh cases of Covid-19 in a new daily high. With 3,46,786 people testing positive out of 17,53,569 tests in the last 24 hours, India’s total Covid-19 tally reached 1,66,10481. The number of deaths recorded in 24 hours, 2,624, was also India’s highest ever, pushing the country’s total to 1,89,544.
During his previous Mann Ki Baat address, PM Modi urged everyone to take Covid-19 jabs and said all citizens should commit to the aim of “dawaai bhi, kadaai bhi”.
He also reiterated his government’s call for modernisation of the agriculture sector and emphasised how the farmers need to “adopt new alternatives along with traditional farming” to boost their incomes.
The PM’s address will be broadcast on All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan. It will also be available on the AIR news website (www.newsonair.com) and the newsonair mobile application. Viewers can also tune in to the programme on YouTube channels on AIR, DD News, PMO and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Earlier this week as the oxygen crisis deepened across the national capital, the Delhi High Court asked the Centre to coordinate with the Delhi government on the issue of making available medical oxygen to hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, observing that citizens cannot be left to die. The court made it clear that the efforts which Delhi government has to make in this regard cannot be trivialised and they should not leave it entirely to the central government.
The HC also asked the Centre about the preparedness to deal with the expected COVID-19 second wave peak in mid-May, terming the mounting cases as a ‘Tsunami’. The court said the viral disease has a low mortality and those who have a low immunity will eventually die but the problem comes when people who could be saved are also dying. “The mortality rate needs to be reduced."
Prime Minister also conducted a high-level meeting with Chief Ministers of 10 states/UTs with the most number of COVID-19 cases. Where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal raised the issue of the oxygen crisis in hospitals in the national capital and underlined the need for having a national plan to deal with the situation. However, sources in the Central government alleged that “Kejriwal used the entire PM-CM meet platform for playing politics".
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