Dudurudh

I want to start this post with the following quote:  Everyone is afraid of the consequence of error, but the greatest error is not to move, the greatest error is to be paralyzed by the fear of failure. Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Program Mike Ryan was one of the key figures involved in the response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Two weeks ago, he made the above statement which has resonated with me to no end especially in the context of the work I, like so many thousands of others, am doing. But it rings especially loudly in the Indian context now. In an earlier article I praised the bravado it took for PM Modi to declare the nationwide curfew in India. And the problems that bravado has now thrown up are slowly turning into a humanitarian crisis in some states. The scenes from Delhi and other parts of the country are heart-wrenching, shameful and belie the notion that PM Modi is some sort of administrative magician who can do no wrong. But once again, let...

By the time I post this, India would've started day 1 of a 21 day curfew. It's an insane idea which will not just inconvenience a lot of people but also throw lives into disarray. The economics of it is of course terrible but the human costs are much more severe. Lots of people will be out of jobs, out of their homes, hungry and unable to access basic resources. We will hear heartbreaking stories about people who are beaten up by the cops for no real reason. We will hear about the ridiculous lack of capacity at government hospitals. There's no denying that for the foreseeable future, we are going to hurt just as the rest of the world has. There is nothing "right" about this decision to confine people to their homes and, in many cases, to the streets. And now imagine all those exact same consequences for all of those people but with the additional burden of a virus that, as of today, has no cure or vaccine. India is an unenviable situation. But we're at that s...

Late last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered what can only be described as a statesmanlike address to the nation regarding India's response to the Coronavirus. The 30-minute speech is one I'd encourage us all to watch and take to heart because the full force of that crisis is yet to hit India (and long may it stay that way). Screenshot of Prime Minister Modi during his address to the nation on March 19. Source: https://youtu.be/h12UQUnhxtA Wishful thinking aside, there is nothing to suggest that India will be spared by this global pandemic which has already killed 13,000 people. All over the world, several strategies have been deployed to varying impact but they all seem to be some combination of social distancing, large scale testing and whatever hospitals can do to keep patients alive. Alongside "social distancing", the phrase "flattening the curve" has dominated public discourse (at least in the US) and for good reason. If you haven't heard...