India reported its first-ever case of COVID-19 on Jan. 30 last year and has since been one of the largest contributors of coronavirus cases in the world.
Though the government announced that the pandemic peaked out
in October and will taper down further by February this year, the virus still has
many in grip of fear—if not because of its fatality, then because of the social
stigma that comes with isolation, or when seriously sick, the apathy of the
government hospitals.
Also Read: India records 13,083 new COVID-19 cases, 137 deaths in last 24 hours
India’s response to the virus attack has been controversial
to say the least. Many of the steps taken by the government, or their lack
thereof, in the initial days, have come under great criticism by the
independent agencies and media.
Let’s see how India bore the pandemic:
The beginning
India spotted its first coronavirus case on January 30 in
Kerala. The patient was a student who studied in Wuhan University in China and
had returned to India.
The number amassed so slow initially that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi was bold enough to organize a massive ‘Namaste Trump’ event in Ahmedabad,
Gujarat. The two-day event saw a huge crowd gathering at Sardar Patel Stadium
in the city, welcoming US president Donald Trump, as Hindu-Muslim riots erupted
in Delhi over the same week.
The Indian health ministry on March 13 announced that coronavirus
was not a ‘health emergency’. The announcement came a day after the WHO had declared
the COVID-19 a ‘pandemic’.
Tablighi Jamaat event
The period was also marked by a long drawn communal vilification
of members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who held a gathering at Delhi’s Nizamuddin
in early March, which went on to become a ‘super spreader’ event.
After the event—attended mostly by people from foreign
countries– gained notoriety for spreading the virus, the Delhi government on
March 30 ordered a legal action against Maulana Saad, the head of one of the
faction of Jamaat.
The central government too booked the foreigners under Foreigners
act, 1946, which entailed cancelling of their visa and blacklisting.
Lockdown
After a slow initial response to the pandemic, during which
the officials kept denying that there was a community transmission, the Indian
government went for a 14-day-long national lockdown, announcing it merely hours
before the deadline when the trapdoor shut on 1.3 billion people of the
country.
Over the next two months country extended the lockdown
thrice, before moving to unlock the economy in phases May onwards.
Migrant crisis
The period was also marked with a grave migrant crisis,
during which millions of migrant workers were left without food or livelihood
to sustain themselves with. Reports in media showed, in absence of
transportation means, thousands of migrants were forced to walk to their
hometowns and villages, with many of them succumbing on their way.
On May 8, reports of 16 migrants being run over by a train
hit the headlines. The migrants were walking for several hours, beginning from
Jalna in Maharashtra, to eventually reach their hometowns in Madhya Pradesh.
The authorities claimed the migrants slept on the tracks
after getting tired of walking. But the version was discredited by many, who claimed
they committed suicide by lying down on the tracks.
Later in September, the government told parliament that it
had no data of deaths of migrants during the lockdown.
PM-CARES Fund
The India government announced PM-CARES Fund on March 28 to
raise money from general public and corporates to finance the pandemic
requirements.
According to reports, the fund within its first week of
forming collected Rs 6500 crore, mainly from corporates and public sector
enterprises.
But the PM-CARES came under a shade when replying to an RTI,
the government admitted that the Fund was not a public authority—even with the
PM as its ex-officio member and three cabinet ministers as ex-officio
trustees– and refused to share any information regarding its formation under
section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.
The incident made many in the civil society wonder what was
the need for PM-CARES Fund when there’s a similar PM National Relief Fund for
same purpose. If it’s not a public authority, who is handling the fund? Many
asked.
In an unprecedented turn, India’s GDP shrank by -23.9% in
the first quarter when it was shut behind the lockdown.
In the second quarter, the GDP loped with a new vigour, and
the shrinkage improved to -7.5%.
Though the recovery came as a shock to many, it didn’t
prevent the country to enter technically into a recession as it faced a
negative growth for two quarters straight.
