Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

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  Table of Contents, Mainstream, May 15, 2021

  14 May 2021

  * Covid-19 and the Showman - How they lost the plot in India | Jawhar Sircar
  * Initiate talks for a National Government | Anil Nauriya

• Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, May 15, 2021

  14 May 2021

  Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, May 15, 2021
  The credibility of the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre and those of BJP ruled states of UP and Bihar has taken a hit over their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government’s failure to prepare for the second wave of Covid-19 has amplified a social catastrophe but public officials remain in denial and have repeatedly threatened citizens and medical personnel who have complained or shared photos. In the past week we have witnessed (…)

• Covid-19 and the Showman - How they lost the plot | Jawhar Sircar

  14 May 2021

  by Jawhar Sircar
  I had the unique opportunity to observe from within the functioning of the Narendra Modi administration for over two years, as head of the national public broadcaster. I resigned before my term, when I could take it no more. I witnessed at close quarters the collapse of the apparatus of governance, which invariably invites catastrophes of the type we are suffering now.
  At a conceptual level, the problem arose when the square peg of an American Presidential system that (…)

• Initiate talks for a National Government | Anil Nauriya

  14 May 2021, by Anil Nauriya

  I would like to highlight a few considerations from a political and Constitutional angle. Perhaps these would strike a chord also with Democratic Socialists of various persuasions.
  1. There needs to be National Mourning until the current public health crisis lasts. This would emphasise in a formal way to all in the Indian state and outside it the gravity of the crisis before the country. At the moment various sections of the state go into denial at the earliest opportunity or excuse. (…)

• Governance Lost! Finder will be rewarded | S G Vombatkere

  14 May 2021, by S G Vombatkere

  6.5.2021
  In early 2020, the Coronavirus took all countries by surprise, causing the first Covid storm (Covid-1). Even countries with a sound public health infrastructure struggled to manage the crisis arising from system overload. It was well understood world-over that the three rules of masking-distancing-hygiene were vital primary measures. Lockdowns were announced, and understood as only a means to check Covid spread and to “buy time” to gear-up and expand public health infrastructure, (…)

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  Covid-19 pandemic: Joint Letter from 12 Opposition Parties to the Prime Minister | May 12, 2021

  14 May 2021

  Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
  Joint Letter by Major Opposition Parties to the Prime Minister
  Dear Mr Prime Minister,
  The Covid-19 pandemic in our country has assumed unprecedented dimensions of a human catastrophe.
  We have repeatedly in the past drawn your attention, independently and jointly, to the various measures that are absolutely imperative for the Central government to undertake and implement. Unfortunately, your government has either ignored or refused all these suggestions. (…)

• Managing the Covid 19 Pandemic: Executive’s failures lead to Judiciary’s Directives | P S Jayaramu

  14 May 2021, by P S Jayaramu

  by P S Jayaramu *
  For nearly 15 months, India is affected by the killer Covid -19 Pandemic. The first traces of it began when a group of Indian students returned from the Wuhan Province of China in January 2020 and tested positive for the virus. However, the Pandemic started spreading nationally from March 2020. That is when, the Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation and announced sudden nation-wide lockdown. The sudden announcement was reminiscent of the equally sudden demonitisation (…)

• Global Vaccine MNC Monopoly depriving vaccine for Developing World | Soma Sundar

  14 May 2021

  by Dr. Soma Sundar M *
  A workable solution to Covid pandemic is vaccinat7ng a significant part of the population to break the chain and achieve herd immunity. Otherwise new waves of disease keep appearing taking toll of innumerable human lives. With delayed vaccination, new mutations would keep emerging and no lockdowns can rescue the nation.
  Unfortunately vaccine production by two manufacturers i.e. Serum institute and Bharat Biotech is no way close to the daily vaccination requirement (…)

• Need For Invocation of Emergency Powers Under The Patents Act | Chittarvu Raghu

  14 May 2021

  by Chittarvu Raghu
  Vaccination is the only solution to mitigate the ferocity of Covid-19. If we continue the present pace of vaccination, experts say that it would take many years to administer vaccine to all. The statistics released by the government disclose that we are unable to proceed with the vaccination due to the shortage of production of vaccine.
  Two vaccines Covishield and Covaxine have been authorised to be administered. Covishield is manufactured by serum institute of India (…)

• Foretaste of Oxygen deficiency: A Personal Account | AK Biswas

  14 May 2021, by A K Biswas

  A harrowing tale of a wife to save her husband
  Many newspapers on April 26, 2021 carried a heart-wrenching story under the screaming headline ‘Oxygen nightmare: Desperate wife fails to blow life into dying husband.’ Despite such last ditch attempts to resuscitate her dying husband by breathing into his mouth, he succumbed to the coronavirus on his wife’s lap. Thus, a solo battle of Renu Singhal of Agra, Uttar Pradesh to save Ravi Singhal ended. The story, no doubt, bears the stamp of (…)