With rapidly decreasing cases of Covid-19 cases, Delhi is slowly moving towards the ‘unlock’ process, sources told The Sunday Guardian.

In the last 24 hours, 3,009 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Delhi, the lowest number of fresh cases since 1 April this year when the number of single-day cases was recorded at 2,790. During this time, 252 people have also died. At the same time, Delhi’s infection rate has also come down to 4.76 percent.

With dip in numbers, Delhi has reached the graph as it was one and a half month ago, when the outbreak of the second wave of Covid had not reached the city. In Delhi, on 1 April, there were 2,790 new cases reported in 24 hours and there are 3,009 on 21 May. In Delhi, the infection rate was 4.64 percent on 4 April and 4.76 percent on 21

Aalam Shaikh, brother of Chief Engineer Rahman Shaikh of the P305 barge, which sank off the Mumbai coast during Cyclone Tauktae, has alleged that its captain did not take the cyclone warning seriously.

He also said that safety equipment and life rafts on the vessel were faulty and that the captain was forced to go ahead given the risks of such rough weather.

Captain Balwinder Singh is one among the 26 people still missing. Mumbai Police filed a case against him on Friday after Rahman Shaikh, the rescued chief engineer of the vessel, lodged a complaint against him.

A furious Aalam Shaikh, who is also a chief engineer, told The Sunday Guardian, “This FIR registered against Captain today is not enough. All those responsible should be booked and hanged to death for killing 49 innocent people. Why did DG Shipping not check the vessels and safety equipment inside properly? Why were warnings ignored by the captain? The captain had been in continuous touch with the owner of the ship and was pressured by the owner to take such a big risk, putting so many lives at stake! A former captain belonging to the company said he had left the job because he had been pressured in the same way. Everyone from the captain to ONGC, the ship owner to charterer, is responsible and should be held accountable.”

Earlier from the Apollo Hospital in Tardeo, a video was released in which chief engineer Rahman Shaikh, who is recovering from his injuries, said, “There was a miscalculation on the captain’s behalf and also the company. Everyone on board barge P305 could have been saved had many of the life rafts not had punctures and the captain had taken the cyclone warnings seriously.”

Aalam Shaikh also said how his brother had alerted the captain multiple times. “The cyclone warning came on the 11th and 12th and that’s when my brother alerted the captain and asked him to leave for harbour. Other vessels in the vicinity also left. But he said that the winds were not expected to cross 40 kmph and the cyclone would cross Mumbai in one or two hours. But in reality the wind speed was more than 100 kmph. Five anchors broke. They couldn’t withstand the cyclone,” he said.

The barge also hit an unmanned oil rig once after which there was a big hole through which water started coming in, said Aalam Shaikh. Life rafts were used but most of them were punctured, he said. Shaikh said that the crew tried to pump out the water but the hole was too big. “When it was out of control, the team went up, where they found that the captain was missing,” he said.

Aalam, who is involved with ship management services, alleged that the vessel was bought as scrap from Malaysia. “Why was such a thing allowed?” he questioned. “Such companies and vessel owners should be blacklisted,” he demanded.

Amid the current rise in cases of mucormycosis, a rare fungal disease affecting Covid-19 patients after recovery, the Union government said on Friday that it is working to tackle the new infection and the shortage of the medicine used to treat it.

At least 7,250 cases of mucormycosis, or “black fungus”, have been reported in several states across the country as of 19 May. Rajasthan, Telangana, Gujarat, Haryana, and Assam have declared it as an epidemic. It is a potentially serious condition that affects vision and the respiratory system.

“In our ongoing fight against Covid-19, a new challenge of black fungus has surfaced. We must focus on precaution and preparation to deal with it,” Prime Minister Modi said on Friday. His remarks came at an interaction with the doctors, paramedical staff and other frontline health workers of Varanasi over the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan also held a meeting on Friday where he expressed his concern over the spread of black fungus. “Rising number of black fungus cases is a concern. Now we are ramping up the production of the drug used for the treatment of the disease. Every state has been asked to put black fungus in the notified list,” he said.

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday had urged the states to make it a notified disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. Under the Act, all states will have to report all confirmed or suspected cases of this condition, seen in recovering Covid patients, to the Health Ministry.

The Centre has said that the Health Ministry along with the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) are making efforts to significantly ramp up the domestic production of the antifungal drug amphotericin-B and also increase imports. This would lead to a nearly 250% increase in supply, taking it to around 570,000 vials in June, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya had informed on Thursday that five more manufacturers have been given licenses to manufacture the drug within the country and the production by the existing five manufacturers is being ramped up.

Some states like Delhi and Maharashtra have reported that they are running low on the drug, leading to families running pillar to post and posting on social media platforms in search of it.

Each vial of amphotericin B costs Rs 7,800 and patients are prescribed more than one a day, families in Delhi reported.

“One patient needs 60 to 100 injections (of amphotericin B) depending on the severity of the illness. With the current caseload, we need more than 150,000 injections,” said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope to reporters. Maharashtra has reported 1,500 cases of mucormycosis so far and 850 patients are undergoing treatment.

AIIMS director Randeep Guleria stressed on the increasing trend in the fungal infection among Covid patients and informed that use of excessive steroids and uncontrolled diabetes with Covid can contribute to the development of mucormycosis. “Steroid use has become much more in this Covid wave and steroids given when not indicated in mild or early disease can cause a secondary infection. Those given high doses of steroids when not indicated can lead to high blood sugar levels and a high chance of mucormycosis,” Dr Guleria told ANI.

Taking a note of the secondary and opportunistic fungal infections which are getting amplified due to the present surge in Covid cases and mucormycosis becoming a cause of concern, the Union Health Secretary in his letter to the Chief Secretaries and Administrators of all states and UTs advising them to review their preparedness for infection prevention and control, as well as hygiene and sanitation in hospitals.

In the letter, the Health Ministry listed certain activities and urged states and UTs to undertake those to ensure “robust infection prevention and control practices in Covid hospitals and other healthcare facilities”.

All states and UTs have also been directed to establish or activate the Hospital Infection Control Committee with the head of the institution or an administrator as the chairperson, as well as designate an infection prevention and control nodal officer, preferably a microbiologist or senior infection control nurse.

The government has also instructed the states and UTs to prepare and implement the Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Programme in hospitals/health facilities, as per the guidance given in National Guidelines for Infection and Control in Healthcare Facilities, train all hospital staff to develop their skills in IPC.

The Health Secretary also directed the states and UTs to establish surveillance of healthcare associated infections. In due course, with focus on ventilator associated pneumonia, catheter-associated blood stream infection, catheter-associated urinary tract infection, surgical site infections, gastro-intestinal outbreaks.

AIIMS has also released new guidelines for detection and care in cases of black fungus. Meanwhile, India reported 259,591 new Covid-19 cases and 4,209 deaths in the last 24 hours. As many as 3,57,295 people also recovered from the disease across the country in the 24-hour period. At least 2,91,331 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in India, while the recovery tally has mounted to 2,27,12,735.

“The cumulative caseload in India now stands at 2,60,31,991. There are 30,27,925 active Covid cases in the country,” the Health Ministry said.

We had evaluated in the middle of the financial year 2020-21 between May and June 2020 about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our lives and the economy of the country along with the entire world. When it did hit our country first time in March 2020, at that time the bottom line of the argument was the structural change to cope up with the challenges and uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic during the lockdown and unlock phases and thereafter post Covid-19 pandemic.

Now the primary concern is the uncertainty of longevity of the core problem with different strains of the pandemic and at present, the real challenge is how to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and its new strains. Whether the Union and/or state governments are ready to take stringent actions like lockdown to minimise the positive cases by breaking the chain (already implementation is in progress in many states), vaccination to all became the biggest criteria for reposing confidence among the general public, but production of vaccination is not on par with the requirements. The funds of Rs 4,500 crore assisted in advance by the Union government to the companies and the fund of Rs 35,000 crore allocated in the Union government budget since production capacity are a constraint to the companies.

Then there is a practical challenge of whether human and physical infrastructure are available to serve the vaccination to all as the country has been poor in terms of readiness of all kinds of infrastructure for years together and continues to be, as per the experts.

Manufacturers are expressing that Bharat is such a huge country with 130 crore population that it will take at least two years to completely vaccinate all the people in the country.

However, Narendra Modi-led government expressed their confidence to ensure that around 216 crore vaccines are going to be available by December 2021 with an expectation of huge vaccine availability from August 2021.

Amid these adversities and expectations, the revival of the economy from the clutches of the pandemic uncertainty is an utmost priority for the country’s future. Now, we should think to adopt the multi task-oriented mindset with psychological structural changes in our future living systems.

As per observations, our government has understood, digested and are trying to adopt the real sense of economy, that is the health of its people for the healthy economy. Since people’s health is embodied as a part and parcel of a healthy economy or otherwise, the objective of the nation will be lost.

We should also realise that economy should not only be concerned about wealth or/and profit maximisation alone, it comprises the famous quote “Health is Wealth”, it should be stored in everyone’s mind.

As I mentioned in my previous article, “Health is on the state list as per our Constitution” and Union Government needs to step in to provide assistance, guidelines, SOS, and protocols during the uncertainties at this time irrespective of whether the infrastructure exists in the states.

But all these relentless efforts will prove to be successful only when there is a match between inputs of the Union government and availability of human and medical infrastructure at the state level. These resources can’t be made available in a day or month on the ground. It will not happen until the last person at the farthest village of the nation is served which is possible if there is qualitative coordination between the Union and state governments. Unfortunately, no such discussions have happened objectively since politicians are only engaging in blame game rather than providing true and fair information of patients to render the services from the ground.

After observing the miserable problems of the people of all sections and most particularly pathetic conditions of the poor and needy during the second wave of the pandemic, the current scenario of our country in terms of medical and health infrastructure is alarming.

There is no use in wasting time to criticise each other, whether it is Central or state governments of the present or past at this juncture. Immediate relief is the utmost priority for a smooth supply chain for the required medicine, ventilators and availability of oxygen on par with demand. But it has become a problem to assess the exact needs as many state governments suppress the facts that lead to the mismatch the requirements of oxygen, ventilators, and other medicines.

On the other hand, readymade Covid-19 standard hospitals infrastructure should be established, like the hospitals established by DRDO with PM Cares funds, to cope with the current scenario. Though health is a state subject, the Union Government is already spending thousands and lakhs of crores on health and most of these funds have been utilised for creating health and medical infrastructure in various states along with the schemes like Ayushman Bharat for the medical treatment of the BPL families and state governments are also spending huge expenditure in the same line, but still, we are suffering for basic amenities in this sector.

Together Union and state governments should prepare protocols for the health and medical sector objectively and amend the constitution to place it in the concurrent list to operate the system under the guidelines by setting up a National Health Mission like NITI Aayog or a part or sub section of NITI Aayog.

It will help assess and evaluate the much-needed health and medical infrastructure in every state to recommend the required infrastructure by imposing conditions and establishing norms for incurring the capital expenditure in this sector in the budgetary allocations of the Union and state governments. Why this much priority is required in this line of activity? The answer to this question is healthy growth in the economy is possible only when people are healthy and how can the people contribute to the nation without the assurance of qualitative health services to them and all governments’ responsibility is safeguarding the health of its people.

The Union government had announced that state governments should take an adequate decision on lockdown as per the local requirements.

At present, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc. have registered 20,000 to 40,000 new cases every day. Out of this, states like Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka for the time being extended the lockdown, whereas states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana announced curfew/lockdown with strict guidelines.

Both Union and state governments seem to be worrying about safeguarding the economy and human lives together, but some experts opine that stringent lockdown can break the chain as we had succeed in the first wave because of it.

The reality is Union and many state governments are choosing lockdown as the last resort, but, it is the biggest challenge to control the Covid-19 second wave with this attitude.

The impact of contrast in GDP by 23.9% in the first quarter of the previous financial year 2020-21 has been still continuing adversely due to the new strains and uncertainties in the second wave and our economy has apparently recovered prior to commencing the first quarter of current financial year 2021 – 22 and 12% growth in GDP is expected for this period and that has become a big question.

The writer holds a degree in commerce and works as an FCA. The views expressed are personal.

DRAGON FROM THE EAST

Dragon is a symbol for fire breathing serpentine beast that can fly in from nowhere and create chaos in moments. Mythology is filled with that. Cinema has used it so effectively. A flick of the armoured tail of the dragon could erase towns and villages. And the terror a dragon silently brought even when it was invisible is something that can only be imagined and not explained.  

The dragon always came from the east, far away in the east, not without a reason. The Chinese emperors were obsessed with the dragon symbolism because the dragon was the emblem of that supreme power that hid in their clenched fists. A fire-spewing dragon gliding in from the east is an ultimate image of terror, fire, destruction, death, and cruelty that is unmatched even by your most villainous thoughts. A dragon is complete evil.

FIRE OF THE DRAGON

When in October 1949, Mao Zedong declared the country as People’s Republic of China, the seeds were sown for a hundred-year takeover of the world and the formation of a global Chinese empire. People have written about the abundance of expressions in Chinese documents that aspire for grand Chinese supremacy in the world in 100 years of their so-called revolution and formation of communism. Mao Zedong ruled with an iron fist till his death in 1976 and kept the country under severely controlled communism. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the fall of the Soviet Union had become imminent and in the post-Mao period, the world felt a kind of liberal socialism emerging out of China. In fact, the world mistook ‘post-Mao China to be a society aspiring for socialistic democracy. The western world overwhelmingly gave a helping hand to China to emerge on the world stage. Hundreds of billions of western dollars were spent on China in modernising the State, developing industry, transferring vital technology and helping State-owned businesses. All the while, China had no intention to build a democratic fair society. It showcased socialism but pursued hardcore communism. In fact, it was global benevolence that unleashed the dragon and filled the fire in the dragon’s belly to be spewed out in time. And mark my words – by 2049, the centennial year of the Chinese Communist Revolution, the globe will be under the hellish fire of the dragon which it parented with goodwill. This yearr is being touted as the year of rejuvenation of the People’s Republic of China, which is nothing but a hegemonistic ambition.  

THE WILD FIRE AND THE COLD FIRE OF THE DRAGON

There are two ways to conquer the world. One way is through direct military expansion and strategies while the other way is through softer options of remotely manipulating in the economy, politics, societal peace, health and hygiene, environment and food security and internal opposition to the establishment. In the old world, only militarisation was the option. In the new world of technology, communication and shared resources, the non-military options turn out to be very effective and disastrous too. China has been mastering both. The new dragon has not only the wild fire in its mouth, but it also has the cold fire in its belly.

CHINESE MILITARY ASPIRATIONS

In 2020, the Department of Defense of United States sent an Annual Report to Congress, entitled “Military and Security Developments involving the Republic of China”. The report brought out some startling figures. 

China now has the largest number of battleships — some 350 large frigates, which is way ahead of what even the USA possesses. 

China has over 1250 Ground Launched Ballistic Missiles (GLBM) and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM). In fact, India and the USA only have GLBMs of some 300 kilometres reaching capacity whereas GLCMs that either of us has, are capable of striking up to 5000 kilometres away. In addition, China has the most robust surface to air integrated air defence architecture in the world, which is unmatched as yet in capacity and coverage. Besides, the nuclear arsenal, armaments, military bases and strategic military cooperation with countries are expanding every day. And China is in the advanced stage of negotiations (some already successful) to establish military bases in Djibouti, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola, and Tajikistan. Already, some islands and disputed lands in the South China Sea and the Pacific are in Chinese hands without a contest. With this, the hegemonistic empire in the Eastern part of the globe is already under the breath of the dragon. And its strength is such that it is almost impossible to contain its influence even for the west.

CHINA’S FOREIGN AID BUILD-UP

One big way in the modern world to influence countries to be subservient is by providing aid to the country and influencing the communities. International aids and international NGOs also work from within the countries at times and influence the cultural, socio-economic, socio-political and environmental justice systems, thereby determining the kind of development or non-development they want in such countries. China began this game soon after the 1980s, it had been pledging as much as 2% of GDP to foreign aid to impressionable countries. In official circles, it is recorded that China pays some US$ 5 billion in annual aid to countries for developmental projects and much more in terms of concessional loans, which bind the countries in its obligation. Aid Data group conducted the most detailed study on this aspect and stated that between 2000 and 2014, China gave about $75 billion and lent about $275 billion — compared to $424 billion given by America during the same period. A fifth of this Chinese aid, $75 billion, was in the form of grants given away. This is a systematic influence building exercise in countries in need. In 2018, China established the Chinese International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), which became the flagship organisation for disbursing economic aid to countries in need, so that they could be subjugated to the economic slavery of China in the long run. CIDCA disburses grants, interest-free loans, concessional loans, low-concessional loans and several kinds of aid. Centre for Global Development has brought out a clear description of CIDCA’s activities. 

 In the following map, one can see the number of countries and their geographic locations, that have signed up with CIDCA for Chinese financial aid. And it is absolutely clear that these countries are located in very strategic global locations of the Pacific Ocean rim, South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, Atlantic Ocean and the West African bight. One of the most notorious economic aids of CIDCA is the ‘Sovereign Guarantee Loan’, through which a developmental project in the country is identified and elaborated by China, built by a Chinese company and funded by a Chinese bank. This exposes the country’s information and sensitivity completely to China and because a Chinese company only builds the project, the company in an indirect manner begins to colonise the country. The American companies necessarily started scouting small and cheap labour countries to produce cheaper technology items. And most cheap labour countries are under the Chinese Sovereign Guarantee Loan grip and CIDCA assistance obligation. Under other aid schemes of China, about 140 countries are covered. 

In fact, Chinese international loans to countries surpass 5% of global GDP. The grip of indebtedness of nations to China is tightening in time. A white paper from China also elaborates upon the foreign aid it is disbursing.

Further, the Chinese population growth is now under severe State control and has reached below 0.4%, while India’s population growth rate is approximately 2.5 times more. With an over 7% mortality rate, the Chinese population is declining and it might just take a couple of years before India and China will have the same population, with India being a young population country in contrast to China. This will pose difficulty for China to manufacture goods at a cheaper price. Thus, Chinese hegemonistic ambition needs to see that it gets to a position of high influence in countries of cheap labour. In this regard, we need to notice that those countries under immense Chinese aid and benevolence, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh etc. have population growth rate anywhere between 1% to 2 %, thereby ensuring that China will have access to young and cheap labour around the world in the coming years to meet its aspirations to become the undisputed superpower by 2049.  

 The writer is Chairman, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Government of India, New Delhi. This is Part 1 of the two-part article.

Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday terminated from services “in the interest of the security of the state” Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Davinder Singh, who has been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly providing support to Hizbul Mujahideen.

Two more teachers from Kupwara district have also been suspended under sub-clause (c) of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India by the Lieutenant Governor.

“The Lieutenant Governor is satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and on the basis of information available that the activities of Davinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Under Suspension) S/o Deedar Singh R/o Overigund Tral, Pulwama are such as to warrant his dismissal from service,” reads an order.

“The Lieutenant Governor is satisfied under sub-clause (c) of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India that in the interest of the security of the State, it is not expedient to hold an enquiry in the case of Davinder Singh… Accordingly, the Lieutenant Governor hereby dismisses Davinder Singh…from service, with immediate effect,” it added.

Similar worded orders were passed by the Lieutenant Governor against Bashir Ahmad Sheikh of village Dildar Batpora and Mohammad Yousuf Ganie on Trich in Kupwara. Both were teachers in the Education Department.

Earlier, Dr Abdul Bari Naik, Assistant Professor of Geography, Government Degree College (Women), Udhampur and Naib Tehsildar (Revenue Officer) Pulwama – II and Idrees Jan, a teacher in the Government Middle School, Kupwara, had been dismissed under the same law.