India to share the technology ‘free of cost’ with more than 50 countries from Latin America, Africa and Asia, reports Asian Lite News
India is all set to share ‘free of cost’ its Covid-19 vaccination technology with more than 50 countries from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
CEO of National Health Authority Dr RS Sharma made the revelation while addressing the second Public Health Summit 2021 organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Sharma said that CoWIN portal for vaccination is unique in the world in terms of portability, scalability and inclusivity and it is a citizen-centric platform, and that 300 million plus registrations and vaccinations with granular details of each individual are available on the portal with a very simple process of registration.
“More than 50 countries from Latin America, Africa and Asia have shown interest in our vaccination system and we will share the technology with them free of cost,” Sharma informed.
In his address, Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, Delhi called for a robust health care system in India with about 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as health budget. He also underlined the need for close collaboration between the Centre and the states on health issues despite health being a state subject.
Guleria further called for equitable access to healthcare in rural and remote areas, stressing “there is need for augmentation of specialised manpower and upgradation of health infra in the country”.
Speaking on the event, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that Covid has strengthened Public-Private Partnership model in India’s healthcare system with a win-win situation for both.
He said that this partnership between Industry and Public Health Experts can work on different models such as health care and diagnostics delivery, vaccine development, Research and Development, telemedicine facilities for rural areas and digital delivery of medicines.
The minister said that this partnership could be a game changer and will truly transform the health sector in India.
Referring to the world’s largest free vaccination drive Singh said, with the delivery of more than 32 crore doses, India is the fastest country in the world to administer vaccines. This, he said, not only makes it the world’s fastest vaccination drive but also makes it distinct because of the smooth manner in which it has proceeded despite the heterogeneous character of the country and a huge population of 135 crore.
India overtakes the US in total covid vaccine doses administered
In a significant COVID-19 vaccination milestone, India has overtaken the United States in the total number of vaccine doses administered so far, the union health ministry said.
As many as 32,36,63,297 doses have been administered in India since the vaccination drive started on January 16.
While #India launched the #COVID19 vaccination drive on January 16, and administered over 32.36 crore doses till date, the #US which started its inoculation drive on December 14, 2020 has given over 32.33 crore doses.https://t.co/OZnBII4Mtn
The United States, meanwhile, has administered 32,33,27,328 doses of the vaccine since vaccinations started on December 8. The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France, have administered 7,67,74,990, 7,14,37,514, 4,96,50,721 and 5,24,57,288 doses respectively.
More than 1.15 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said.
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 28.80 ll crores on Monday…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated the people of the country for a record single day vaccination drive on Monday.
Expressing happiness over the fact that 80 lakh people got the vaccine jab on Monday, the Prime Minister praised the frontline Corona warriors for their hard work.
“Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight Covid-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the frontline warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done India!” he tweeted.
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 28.80 ll crores on Monday, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Monday after 80 lakh dose was administered on single day.
According to the data released by the Union Health Ministry on Monday morning, a total of 28,00,36,898 vaccine doses have been administered in the country through 38,24,408 sessions, including 30,39,996 doses on Sunday.
COVID vaccination of people aged 45 underway(ANI)
As many as 1,01,25,143 healthcare workers (HCWs) have received their first dose while 70,72,595 have been administered the second dose. Similarly, 1,71,73,646 frontline workers (FLWs) have been inoculated with the first dose while 90,51,173 have received their second dose.
A total of 5,59,54,551 people aged between 18 and 44 years have received their first dose, while 12,63,242 have been inoculated with the second dose.
As many as 8,07,11,132 people aged between 45 and 59 years have received their first dose, while 1,27,56,299 have been administered the second dose.
A total of 6,47,77,302 people aged over 60 years have received their first dose, while 2,11,51,815 have been inoculated with the second dose.
Cases drop
India recorded 42,640 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest since March 23, according to data released by the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.
As it continued with a declining trend of coronavirus infection, the country reported 1,167 deaths. This is the fifth consecutive day in the last two months when the toll has been below the 2,000-mark.
It is also the 15th consecutive day when India reported less than one lakh new coronavirus cases. On March 23, India had recorded 47,262 cases while on June 22 India reported 53,256 cases.
The overall tally of Covid-19 cases in the country now stands at 2,99,77,861.
The active cases have now come down below 8 lakh. The country has 6,62,521 active cases presently and has witnessed 3,89,302 deaths so far.
According to the Union Health Ministry, a total of 81,839 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total discharge to 2,89,26,038 till date.
The Health Ministry said that a total of 28,87,66,201 people have been vaccinated so far in the country, including 86,16,373 who were administered vaccines in the last 24 hours.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 39,40,72,142 samples have been tested up to June 21 for Covid-19. Of these 16,64,360 samples were tested on Monday.
It emphasised that all deaths with a diagnosis of Covid-19, irrespective of co-morbidities, are to be classified as deaths due to the infection….reports Asian Lite News
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that any death resulting from Covid-19 infection should have to be certified as Covid death, and if not done so, the certifying doctor will face action.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in an affidavit, said: “It is mandated that any death resulting from Covid-19 must have to be so certified that is, as Covid death, failing which everyone responsible, including the certifying doctor, will be responsible for penal consequences.”
It emphasised that all deaths with a diagnosis of Covid-19, irrespective of co-morbidities, are to be classified as deaths due to the infection.
The MHA affidavit said: “All deaths with a diagnosis of Covid-19 irrespective of co-morbidities are to be classified as deaths due to the infection. The only exception could be where there is a clear alternative cause of death that cannot be attributed to Covid-19 (e.g. accidental trauma, poisoning, acute myocardial infarction, etc) where Covid is an incidental finding.”
It submitted, that for recording of Covid-19 deaths, that there is a statutory mechanism in place either by way of an Act of Parliament or guidelines having the force of mandate and the law. Any breach of the guidelines mentioned here under would be a criminal offence as stipulated under Section 188 of the IPC, it said.
Noting that broad guidelines for recording of Covid-19 related deaths in India were prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it said: “The guidelines clearly state Covid-positive deaths implicate deaths related to the infection. These guidelines are in sync with the WHO Mortality Coding.”
Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan visits the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to review the COVID-19 preparedness, in New Delhi (PIB)
The Centre said as per the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, the contemporary system is state governed and implementation of the statute is vested with the state governments/Union Territories administration.
The state authority (Chief Registrar) has been declared as the chief executive authority in the respective state for implementing the provisions of this Act and rules and the order framed.
“The District Registrar for each district within the state is responsible for executing the provision of RBD Act and rules in respective districts. There are more than 2.8 lakh registration centres in rural areas and nearly 7,500 in urban areas,” the affidavit added.
According to provisions of the act, at the local area level, the death events are registered by the designated local authority (Registrar) on the basis of information given to him/her by the informant prescribed under Sections 8 or 9 of the RBD Act.
The affidavit said under the provisions of Section 10 of the RBD Act, the information related to cause of death is filled up by the medical practitioner attending to the deceased at the time of terminal illness.
“The medical practitioner should after the death of the person issue a certificate as to the cause of death in prescribed forms stating to the best of his knowledge and belief the cause of death. This cause of death certificate is sent to the Registrar along with death reporting form on the basis of which the Registrar makes necessary entries related to cause of death in the register of death, at the time of registration of death event,” the affidavit added.
Under the provision of Section 17 of the RBD Act, “no extract relating to any death, issued to any person should disclose the particulars regarding the cause of death as entered in the register”.
“Accordingly, the cause of death cannot be disclosed by the Registrar to any person, hence the extract/death certificate does not include any information related to the cause of death of an individual, it is therefore most respectfully said the death certificate does not show the cause of the death of any individual,” said the affidavit.
On May 24, the Supreme Court had suggested there must be a uniform policy and also some guidelines for issuance of death certificates for those affected with Covid-19.
A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and M.R.Shah had said many times, reasons given in a death certificate can be heart attack or lung failure but these could be triggered by Covid-19. The bench asked Centre’s counsel, “So how are death certificates being issued?”
The Centre filed affidavit in response to the petitions filed by advocates Reepak Kansal and Gaurav Kumar Bansal citing Section 12(3) of the Disaster Management Act (DMA) providing monetary compensation for the families of those who died during a notified disaster. The top court will take up the matter on Monday.
The new commitments build on the Rs 135 crore ($18 million) funding that was announced by Google in April for COVID-19 response….reports Asian Lite News
Google on Thursday announced new grants of nearly Rs 113 crore to help strengthen India’s healthcare infrastructure and workforce in rural areas, as India prepares for the third Covid wave.
Google.org will support procurement and installation of approximately 80 oxygen generation plants in healthcare facilities in high-need and rural locations with new grants of approximately Rs 90 crore to GiveIndia and nearly Rs 18.5 crore to PATH non-government organisation.
Google.org will also make an Rs 3.6 crore grant to NGO ARMMAN to run skilling programmes for 180,000 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and 40,000 Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) in 15 states in the country.
The company said that it will also invest in the efforts of Apollo Medskills to help upskill 20,000 frontline health workers through specialised training in COVID-19 management and strengthen the stressed rural health workforce and rural health systems.
“We’re now broadening our COVID-19 support to helping strengthen India’s healthcare infrastructure and workforce — especially in rural areas. With these new commitments, Google is proud to be supporting our partners as they build a bigger, better-equipped healthcare system,” said Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and Vice President, Google India.
The new commitments build on the Rs 135 crore ($18 million) funding that was announced by Google in April for COVID-19 response.
In addition to this, Googlers worldwide have donated and helped raise $7 million for organisations supporting high-risk and marginalised communities.
“We are thankful to Google.org for their strong commitment to ensure we save as many preventable deaths as possible, which happen due to lack of medical oxygen,” said Atul Satija, CEO, GiveIndia.
Special attention will now be paid to the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which employ a mammoth 11 crore people, reports Mahua Venkatesh.
As India starts the “unlock” process with the daily Covid 19 cases coming down, the Centre’s focus will shift on doers who can implement existing and new schemes announced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package. Special attention will now be paid to the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which employ a mammoth 11 crore people. While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year announced a Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans to MSMEs with the aim of easing the liquidity crunch, only Rs 2.54 lakh crore out of the total allocation has been utilised so far.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
This has led to severe cash crunch for the sector, one of the pillars of India’s economy.
Sample this. The owner of a micro unit located at the outskirts of the glittering millennium city Gurgaon, dealing with air coolers, is staring at an uncertain future. His business typically picks up with the onset of summer. But this year, just like the last, has fetched him no money. “Not only has my income flow choked, I am also saddled with unused stocks. Banks refuse to help me start any other business as they want some collaterals,” he said, adding that he has no knowledge of provision of collateral free loans.
Banks, burdened with high non-performing assets – loans that do not fetch returns– and also a high level of compliance, are reluctant to provide credit to MSMEs.
The benefits of the scheme, therefore, have reached only a few. Reason? Over 95 per cent of the MSMEs can be categorised as “micro.” Most of these units have no access to institutional credit. The scheme essentially is for those who already have access to institutional credit.
“The Centre is aware of the fact that there have been serious gaps in the implementation of the schemes. The focus will be on timely execution of the existing schemes rather than carving out any new ones,” Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP’s national spokesperson on economic affairs, told India Narrative.
Animesh Saxena, president, Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) told India Narrative that the thrust until now has been on cheap credit. “What is needed more than cheap credit is easy access to credit. The benefit of the Rs 3 lakh crore is reaching to only those who already have access to institutional credit,” he said.
“They (micro units) either borrow from private lenders or NBFCs (non-bank financial institutions) at a much higher rate of interest. These micro units have been left outside the ambit of the scheme,” Saxena pointed out.
In a letter sent to the Reserve Bank of India on May 21, the FISME said, “When it comes to crunch, the first expense that is cut is payrolls. It is our humble prayer to RBI and the GoI (Government of India), not to let an MSME close down until all efforts to save it have failed. The alternative is scary. Along with tens and thousands of these small establishments, lacs of workers will come on road, increasing human misery manyfold. In economic terms too, it will shrink purchasing power further, creating a vicious circle of downward economic spiral.”
According to India Briefing, a platform providing insights on doing business in India, the MSME base is the largest in the world after China.
“The sector provides a wide range of services and is engaged in the manufacturing of over 6,000 products-ranging from traditional to hi-tech items,” India Briefing website said. There are about 63.05 million micro industries, 0.33 million small, and about 5,000 medium enterprises in the country.
(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
Visitors are seen at the sightseeing spot Asakusa, in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2020. Japan on Friday completely lifted its request for people not to travel across prefectural lines, with the move met by a return of passengers to airports and train stations. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi/IANS)
The move, which will come into effect on Friday, comes as Japan is grappling with a fourth wave of the Covid pandemic…reports Asian Lite News
The mandatory quarantine period for inbound travellers to Japan who have visited India, as well as Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka within 14 days of arrival will be extended from six to 10 days, the government said on Tuesday.
The move, which will come into effect on Friday, comes as Japan is grappling with a fourth wave of the Covid pandemic amid mounting concerns over the highly-transmissible variant first detected in India, Xinhua news agency reported.
“There is a strong feeling of unease among the Japanese people regarding coronavirus variants, so we have decided to further tighten border controls in order to protect their health and lives,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press briefing.
Travellers who have visited any of the six regions will be subjected to a mandatory 10-day quarantine period spent at a designated facility, during which time they will have to undergo three Covid-19 tests, the government said.
The new measure will mainly affect Japanese citizens who have been to any of the six countries, as the government had already banned entry to all foreign nationals and those who have residency status, who have visited India or any other of the five South Asian countries within the past two weeks.
A three-day quarantine period will also be imposed on those who have recently been to Kazakhstan or Tunisia.
Addressing the media also on Tuesday, Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said they were considering extending the current Covid-19 state of emergency declared for Tokyo, Osaka and seven other prefectures due to the fourth wave.
Tamura’s remarks come as the emergency period is set to expire at the end of the month, yet the number of new daily infections, including variant cases, have shown little signs of abating.
As of Tuesday, Japan’s overall coronavirus caseload and death toll stood at 718,864 and 12,312, respectively.
Japan has the lowest rate among advanced countries of administering COVID-19 vaccinations.
According to recent government data, Japan had administered at least one shot to just over 4 per cent of its population.
On Monday, mass vaccination centres were opened in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture with the state-backed facilities aimed at helping to complete administering vaccinations of 36 million seniors aged 65 or older from a total population of 126 million by the end of July.
Japan began inoculating its elderly population of about 36 million in mid-April, after its vaccination campaign for health care workers started in February.
ISRO set to transfer ‘Shwaas’ technology to industries
The officials of VSSC had a video meeting of interested companies and explained about ‘Shwaas’ and its systems…reports Venkatachari Jagannathan
The Indian space agency will soon transfer the technology for making the ‘Shwaas’, the oxygen concentrator developed by it at a cost of about Rs 60,000 to industries, said a top official of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC).
On Friday officials of VSSC had a video meeting of interested companies and explained about ‘Shwaas’ and its systems.
“It was a first round meeting and about 50 industries participated. I had interacted with them. My team and I answered their queries,” S. Somanath, Director, VSSC told IANS.
“We are entering into an agreement with each of them who are meeting the criteria on technical capability. The technology sharing/transfer will take place in the next two days. The technology transfer will be free,” Somanath added.
According to him, medical equipment, space equipment, electronics and product manufacturing companies are selected now and more could be based on their credentials.
Somanath said VSSC spent about Rs 60,000 to build its prototype.
“The cost can go down by 30 per cent if production is done on a large basis. All the components are currently available in India. Some items are imported by Indian companies but they can also be made here,” Somanath remarked.
Couple of days back, ISRO had announced its decision to transfer the technology to make portable medical oxygen concentrators developed by VSSC.
The medical oxygen concentrator ‘Shwaas’, can deliver an enriched level (over 95 per cent) of oxygen than in air to support patients with respiratory illness or who are on oxygen therapy.
The device enhances the oxygen gas content by selectively separating the nitrogen gas from ambient air through Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), ISRO said.
‘Shwaas’ is capable of supplying enriched oxygen continuously at 10 litres per minute (LPM) adequate for two patients at a time.
According to the ISRO, the 600 W device operates at a voltage of 220 V/50 Hz, has a controllable oxygen flow of 0.5-10 LPM, has two oxygen outlets, oxygen concentration of 82 per cent and 95 per cent normal at a pressure of 50-80 kPa.
‘Shwaas’ has an audible alarm for low purity, low & high levels of pressure and flow rate of oxygen. The device, which weighs 42-44 kg, is 600 mm high, 500 mm long and 400 mm wide and has a LCD display showing oxygen concentration, flow rate, and pressure.
Various studies have shown that RdRp and ORF1b-nsp14 genes are more sensitive in detecting Covid-19…reports Asian Lite News
An Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Science and Technology has developed a new RT-PCR kit with novel gene which targets facilitating detection of Covid-19 across various mutant strains.
In a statement, the Ministry of Science and Technology said, “A newly developed multiplex RT-PCR kit has a higher accuracy of detecting Covid 19 across the various mutant strains of the virus responsible for the global pandemic. As the pandemic is going through a second wave with multiple variants, the selection of target genes in multiplex RT-PCR assay is becoming critical for accurate detection of the virus.”
Even though coronaviruses make far fewer errors than other RNA viruses, the mutations in S, R, and N genes often interfere with RT-PCR assay.
Kerala
“The new multiplex RT-PCR kit developed by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an Institute of National Importance under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India targets two SARS-CoV-2 genes: RdRp and ORFb-nsp14, and the human RNAse P gene as the internal control to help detect a range of mutant strains,” the Ministry said.
Various studies have shown that RdRp and ORF1b-nsp14 genes are more sensitive in detecting Covid-19. In order to target the multiple variants in the second wave, using two highly accurate confirmatory genes like RdRp and ORF-nsp14, can give precise results. The ORFb-nsp14 is one of the least mutated genes in Covid-19 and currently there are no kits in the market with ORF-nsp14 as the target.
“The new kit is based on multiplex Taqman chemistry, amplifying all three genes in a single reaction. The amplification time for the assay is 45 minutes, apart from the time required for the RNA isolation from nasopharyngeal swab samples. Multiplexing two confirmatory genes will help shortlist possible new variants if one of the genes fails to amplify and can be marked for sequence analysis,” the Ministry said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated this kit at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, and found that it has 97.3 per cent sensitivity and 100 per cent specificity in Covid 19 detection.
The SCTIMST has signed a non-exclusive license MoU with Huwel Lifesciences, Hyderabad, on May 14 to commercialize the kit.
“This unique RT-PCR kit will be a significant weapon in our fight against COVID-19 by a facile detection of SARS-CoV-2 mutations which are becoming increasingly important,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.
This is the time to spend on people, not pander to Wall Street speculators by continuing with the Chicago School fiscal rectitude that ruined societies in South America in the 1970s, writes Prof. Madhav Nalapat
There have been substantive measures taken since the full force of the second wave of SARS2 hit India in February, and many are expected to show results within this year or the next. Rather than focus only on such recent actions, the Government of India needs to examine precisely why such measures were not taken early enough, in 2020. Had they been, much of the tragedy that has fallen on family after family would have been prevented. It was only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened in March in the midst of his election tours that matters began to improve.
It is unlikely that there will be a rigorous effort at enforcing accountability within those whose lack of preparedness in 2020 for the scenario that unfolded in 2021 caused the shortage of oxygen, medicines and supplies that led to the deaths and misery of so many families across the country. The PM’s decision on 24 March 2020 to enforce a 21-day lockdown on the entire country at almost no notice (and which was followed by a similar national lockdown) was intended for a crisis-level expansion in hospital bed availability, and in the supply of the essentials needed to overcome the impact of the virus on vulnerable individuals.
SPECIALISTS NEEDED
The second wave has been far more deadly than the first, and its ferocity could have been anticipated, had specialist facilities such as the National Institute of Virology in Pune been placed at the heart of the central effort taken to meet the crisis caused by the present SARS2 spike. Specialisation in paediatric care or heart issues is essential for health, but in an epidemic so similar to SARS1, what was needed was full mobilisation of the best epidemiologists in India. Together with those from other specialisations, they needed to be present in each group tasked with framing policy to combat the pandemic.
Not that such avoidance of specialisations is an aberration. Officers who have spent decades in unrelated fields have been regarded from 1951 onwards as sufficient to take up leadership roles in specialist departments such as Defence or Home. In the complex world of the 21st century, administrative expertise by itself may not be sufficient for success in outcomes, nor can the domain knowledge needed for such success be picked up from a few briefings. More departments, including Health and Education, need to follow the example of the Department of Science & Technology and that of Atomic Energy by ensuring the embedding of domain specialists, especially at middle and higher levels. It would appear that a “doctor is a doctor, no matter what he is a specialist in”, seems to have been the belief while choosing the personnel who were chosen to manage the SARS2 task forces, empowered groups and regulatory authorities
These were brought into operation during the start of the pandemic in 2020. What is needed is substantial expertise in the prevention and handling of epidemics, especially those of viral origin. There are several world class experts in this field in India. Judging by the reports featuring those prominent in government-appointed bodies, relatively few epidemiologists and specialists in viruses appear to have been tapped for manning SARS2 policy and monitoring groups.
What had been needed from early 2020 itself was to have ensured that longstanding regulatory and other obstacles got cleared. There needed to be decentralisation of oxygen production and supply in place of the cumbersome system involving a few big producers that has long been in operation in the country. The removal of regulatory blockages to expansion and decentralisation of oxygen supply took place only after the direct intervention of the Prime Minister six weeks ago. Similarly, there needed to be a trawl of companies operating in India that have the potential to make vaccines and therapeutics found to be helpful in battling SARS-2.
This seems to be taking place, but again, only after Prime Minister Modi’s March 2021 intervention, by which time the country was in crisis. Had those in the substantial machinery set up by the PMO in 2020 to manage the crisis anticipated problems and worked on improving the availability of the requisites for mitigation, such measures could have begun to be implemented in 2020 itself. There are complaints that medicines produced by domestic companies that showed promise in trials were ignored in favour of more expensive substitutes from abroad. Such reports need to be investigated. Unfortunately for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 100% of the blame for the lack of preparedness is being placed at his door, not just in India but globally.
Oxygen cylinders
OBJECTIVE AND RESULT
Not for the first time, there has been a gap between what Prime Minister Modi wanted and what was in practice accomplished. There was sound logic behind the forced exchanging in 2016 of previous Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes with others. For too long, there had been recourse to currency paper and other requirements from foreign companies that were selling the same product to any country that paid the high price demanded, including Pakistan and entities linked to the PRC. Only recently, after the intervention of the PMO, have features been added to currency notes that make it more difficult to replicate. When demonetisation was announced by the Prime Minister in 2016, the country had been awash in counterfeit notes, which presumably was a factor behind this decision.
India is not Germany or Israel, and a substantial segment of the economy is tethered to cash. This segment suffered substantially because of the sudden drop in liquidity to near zero. The RBI should have made arrangements to ensure that liquidity was sufficient to prevent a liquidity cataclysm within the small and informal sector. Both sectors that are linked to enterprises much larger, and whose travails affected supply chains across a range of enterprises. It is not the Prime Minister’s job to ensure that banks get prepared on time to handle the flood of currency that would inevitably come to them once DeMo was announced. It was not the PM’s job to make sure that segments of the economy did not suffer on account of a sharp dip in liquidity consequent to the changeover to new notes. It was not his job to ensure that new notes were sent on time to banks and to ATMs across the country. These were the tasks of those lower down the chain of command. The Reserve Bank of India failed these essentials in such a manner that it became an object of ridicule across the world. Soon afterwards came the rollout of GST.
This was an essential reform, but needed to have been designed so as to ensure a quantum increase in overall growth. The initial GST structure was complex rather than simple, and those designing it added penal provisions that made compliance even more of a nightmare. Carrots were few, the stick substantial. Tax rates were complex and much too high, while exemptions given were much too low. North Block often forgets that the purchasing power of the rupee is not what it was in the 1970s. This needs to be kept in mind while designing exemption limits and cutoffs in its tax policies. The focus of the original design was on immediate revenue rather than on ensuring that the flow multiplies over a period of 3-5 years through growth-inducing features. That was the time needed for production and innovation to rise to the levels needed to meet the Prime Minister’s objective of a $5 trillion economy.
Such an expansion will come about not because of government increasing its revenue (which objective has long been an obsession to many in the Finance Ministry) but because tax rates and regulation get pruned to levels that are less reflective of the permit-licence period. At the same time, there has too often been a genuflection of North Block and Mint Road to Wall Street .This has resulted in being tight-fisted while dealing with individuals and sectors where generosity was called for. In 2012, it was forecast in The Sunday Guardian that Narendra Modi would (on becoming Prime Minister) become the Deng Xiaoping of India, transforming the country. The sooner this becomes a reality, the better.
SPEND ON PEOPLE
In 2018, it was not a done deal that the BJP would come close to a Lok Sabha majority in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Rahul Gandhi emerging as the Opposition alternative to PM Modi and the Balakot strike changed that. Sentiment prevailed in the form of anger at Pakistan and hope in a future led by PM Modi. These trumped the efforts of an opposition itself scarred by corruption charges to paint Modi in the same colours. It was true that the economy was slowing down, but it was expected that this would son be set right by PM Modi. During the current SARS2 second wave, fear has overshadowed hope for the future and anger at Pakistan.
Fear caused by the economic havoc caused to individual families by job losses and the impact on business of the pandemic. Fear that savings will be wiped out should the disease hit a family, at a time when it is affecting millions and draining away the savings of even the middle class. Fear of the future is everywhere, which is why calls for positivity (itself a sinister word in the lexicon of SARS2) are not falling on receptive ground. 2021 need not have begun on an unhappy note. It was suggested in *The Sunday Guardian* in 2020 that 5% of GDP get spent as additional expenditure on boosting jobs and incomes during the pandemic. The boost is not just for the year just past. The same increase in spending needs to take place in 2021 and 2022.
This is needed to ensure that the economy roars with double digit growth by 2023. The extra spending needed to be diverted to individuals and entities in such a manner that jobs were rescued and families were saved. As an example, had migrant workers been given a dole for at least six months through their bank accounts that compensated them for the loss in income because of lockdowns, that may have prevented millions from returning to their villages during that period. This is the time to spend on people, not pander to Wall Street speculators by continuing with the Chicago School fiscal rectitude that ruined societies in South America in the 1970s.
DIVERSIFY MEDICAL SUPPLIES
A back of the envelope calculation shows that India has several companies that have the potential to develop vaccines that will be as effective as any competitor. These include Cipla, Shanta Biotech, Biological E, Panacea Biotech, Hester Biosciences, and Zydus Cadilla, besides the three already in the ring (Bharat Biotech, Dr Reddy’s and SII). What were the bottlenecks that stopped the entry of more companies developing vaccines when the pandemic became visible in India in January 2020? It would appear from the records available that public funding for vaccine development in India has been low. And that bottlenecks to vaccine development by multiple companies that are a leftover of past practices were allowed to continue. This is being changed since March 2021, but could have been done in 2020 by the numerous task forces and empowered groups set up to handle the consequences of the pandemic.
India being a country where doing nothing brings little censure, those involved in such lack of action during 2020 are likely to continue in their posts. Changes need to come if the confidence of the public is to be won back. Listening to a trove of statistics recited by an official when citizens are desperately searching for oxygen or medication may not result in a “positivity” boost in public sentiment. Especially when infections have reached levels not seen in the country till now. Regulatory changes would have ensured the dissemination of oxygen supply though smaller production units a year ago, and why this was not attempted at that point in time remains unclear. The situation is the same with therapeutics. Action needed to have been taken by the administrative machinery as soon as the Prime Minister alerted the nation in early 2020 that it was at war with a deadly pathogen. This would have mitigated the effects of the onset of a second wave.
DON’T WASTE TIME
Diplomats and other officials are preparing to conduct negotiations with the WTO on ensuring greater access to vaccines and medication helpful in the protection of citizens during a pandemic that has devastated societies across the world. Such negotiations may be a waste of time, as India already has the laws needed to ensure access to vaccines and medication, should it use those. There are TRIPS and WTO stipulations that an epidemic or a pandemic frees a country from the obligations it has entered into previous to such a disaster.
The Quad needs to ensure that a collective effort be made to escape dependence on the PRC for intermediate materials used in the production of drugs. It is self-destructive on the part of the PRC to continue to restrict access to these, as doing so would only speed up the shift of supply chains from that country. The Consul-General of India in Hong Kong has correctly flagged the extortionate prices being charged by Chinese producers of oxygen concentrators and other equipment. This has been going on for months at the very time when media outlets in China were talking of that country’s “generous assistance” to India. It has been pointed out that the core of each “Chinese” oxygen concentrator is made in Europe.
Why no action was taken during the start of 2020 itself to ensure that these were directly imported from Europe and manufactured in India remains unclear. The Prime Minister’s repeated calls to action need to be actioned on. The blame for such lack of preparedness and effort will fall on Narendra Modi and not on any other person, and this is already happening across the country. For everything going wrong, the blame is being placed on the Prime Minister, to the delight of his adversaries. They expect to coast to victory in subsequent elections because of such a situation, and their confidence is growing with every passing month. They expect that Bengal will not be a full stop but just a comma before other victories get chalked up.
DEVOLVE POWERS
Devolving more powers to state governments is a must. And corporates need to be given the freedom to procure vaccines from wherever they can find it, and ensure their staff are protected free of cost? Several private companies have a logistics chain for their items that is reliable, and these can be tapped to carry items essential in winning the battle against SARS2. Not only All of Government but All of India needs to be involved in the biological warfare that has been unleashed on the world’s most populous democracy. What needs to be done by the government is to mandate online transparency in (a) the receipt of funds, (b) the supply of vaccines and oxygen, and (c) availability of medication. Almost every day, complex graphs and charts are being rolled out by officials to the media.
These are too general and too opaque to have the effect of generating sufficient confidence within the public that the system is delivering results. There also needs to be transparency in goods that are being donated across the world. Rather than make efforts at centralisation that slow down the last mile delivery crucial to the saving of lives, what is needed is to reveal (i) which hospital, (ii) what equipment and (iii) from where it is coming from. Transparency will ensure efficiency rather than efforts to manage more than what the system can handle effectively.
NGOs CAN HELP, NOT HURT
The digital revolution promoted by Modi since he took charge of the country in 2014 needs to be used to ensure that information reaches the public, not everything going to some designated agency, and from then on, radio silence. Donors will multiply once they are certain that what they are giving is actually going to those in need. Curing a headache by cutting off the head has been Standard Operating Procedure in several departments since colonial times. Just as the entire bureaucracy cannot be put into the freezer because 5% of bureaucrats are corrupt, that 5% of NGOs are dodgy and have agendas that go against the national interest should not be a reason for slowing down certification and permissions for all of them.
It is not the job of government agencies to block, it is their responsibility to act as facilitators. The agencies would also ensure monitoring which separates the bad apples that get discovered in the course of their operations. Individuals and NGOs have done service during the pandemic in a manner that the world has seen and appreciated. Only a few NGOs need to be the targets of investigation and action. The rest should be allowed the freedom to operate. Restraint and restriction should be the exception and not the rule. In efforts to catch a crook, 99 individuals doing useful and honest work should not be prevented from doing so.
RAMP UP THERAPEUTICS
Therapeutics need to be ramped up in India, and it is expected that changes in administrative practice can ensure this. Many drugs found useful in dealing with the pandemic have expired patents, while others that are essential can be produced either through collaboration or on occasion, compulsory licensing. When a German pharma company sought to stop this from happening to a product in India, the courts stood by patients and not the patent. This avenue needs to be explored rather than avoided out of worry of the US Trade Representative.
The USTR under Biden is not what the USTR was under Trump, and it is unlikely that lifesaving measures will be blocked by the White House in the manner that was threatened during the period when Trump was in office. Should India produce drugs not only for itself but for the world (as policy resets can ensure), it would be difficult for even Switzerland or Germany to block such a situation, despite the influence of Big Pharma in those countries. Unlike what its detractors say, the Vaccine Maitri policy of the Modi government made sense, but needs to be combined with moves to ensure that bottlenecks to production of PPEs and other requisites get removed. ICMR and the Health Ministry need to be pro-active on this. Given the dismal record of the WHO during the pandemic, relying on that organisation for guidance on what to do is an invitation to disaster.
DUAL SYSTEM FOR VACCINATION
COWIN is a good system, except for the many millions too poor to access the internet. A dual system has been suggested by a health specialist based in Japan, Dr Sunil Chacko. This is that those too poor to have access to the internet should be given the right to walk in to vaccination centres kept for them. Others could schedule appointments through their smartphones. Once more companies in India are enabled through policy resets to increase the production of vaccines, India can produce around 4 billion SARS2 vaccines annually within the next two years, and be able to vaccinate the world. India can equally well produce low-cost therapeutics effective against the disease and send them across the world, as is happening in the case of HIV-AIDS. 2020 was a year of missed opportunities. 2121 needs to be the year of the Great Reset.
Vaccines are one of the ways of “breaking the transmission”, but others “like shutting down the government” should be undertaken, said Fauci…reports Asian Lite News
Anthony Fauci, the top US expert on Covid-19, has called on countries to provide India with resources to make its own vaccines or donate vaccines.
“India is the largest vaccine-producing country in the world. They’ve got to get their resources — not only from within but also from without and that’s the reason why other countries need to chip in to be able to get either supplies for the Indians to make their own vaccines or to get vaccines donated,” he told a TV interviewer on Sunday.
“One of the ways to do that is to have the big companies that have the capability of making vaccines to really scale up in a great way to get literally hundreds of millions of doses to be able to get to them,” he said.
He said that the “endgame” in fighting the pandemic is vaccinating everyone.
At the same time, he said that all of India should “shut down”, as some states have done.
Vaccines are one of the ways of “breaking the transmission”, but others “like shutting down the government” should be undertaken, Fauci said.
“I have advised them in the past that you really need to do that. You’ve got to shut down. I believe several of the Indian states have already done that but you need to break the chain of transmission,” he said.
Fauci made the observations in an interview on ABC TV with George Stephanopoulos, who was former President Bill Clinton’s spokesperson.
Fauci said that a priority for India should be to set up field hospitals like China had done.
“They have really got to get hospital beds and do really what the Chinese did way back a year or so ago, where you essentially build up with — the equivalent of field hospitals. You’ve got to get that. You can’t have people out in the street not having a hospital bed,” he said.
In fact, during the Covid crisis last year, tents were also set up in New York’s Central Park to treat those who could not find hospital beds and convention centres and sports venues were also made into emergency medical facilities.
Kerala covid toll rises
Fauci called the oxygen shortages in India “really tragic”.
President Joe Biden has ordered the supply of vaccine manufacturing equipment and ingredients to India along with oxygen and devices for making the gas and medications to treat Covid-19. The total Covid-19 aid package for India is expected to run to $100 million, according to his Spokesperson Jen Psaki.
Biden’s administration has also agreed to a request made by India and South Africa to the World Trade Organisation to waive the intellectual property rights. However, it faces opposition from other countries, including Germany and Switzerland, blocking WTO approval.
Fauci dismissed suggestions that dropping the patent rights to allow others to make the vaccines would hamper the manufacture by companies now making them.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” he said. “They can scale up. You know, they’ve done an extraordinary amount. You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve really just really done something that is really quite impressive in the way they’ve gotten their vaccine supply up and out for the rest of the world.”
Waiving patents won’t interfere with that now, he said.
