What’s wrong if Maharashtra expects more?

Maharashtra is expected to buy at least 12 crore doses of vaccines from the sources available in the market. Representation pic/Ashish Raje

Last week brought some comforting news amid deaths and despair. Mumbai's COVID-19 caseload dipped; the Centre doubled state's Remdesivir supply immediately after the demand was made and worked on giving Maharashtra more oxygen from all possible sources, in the middle of fears that the quantity needed to be increased if active cases continued to spike; the import duties on pandemic related items were waived off for next three months. Above all, the political parties decided to slow down poll campaigning in West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled his rallies and diverted his attention to the issue that the people and opposition wanted him to address on a priority basis. It's a challenge that the PM faces amid expectations from the country that is divided vertically over his handling of the pandemic since last year. "After successfully confronting the first wave of Corona, the country was full of enthusiasm, full of self-confidence, but this storm has shaken the country," Modi said in the 76th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat' on Sunday, while pledging the Centre's entire might to give a fillip to the endeavours of state governments.

Maharashtra has been a glaring example of helplessness, frustration and anger that the successive COVID waves have induced. Primarily, Maharashtra suffers the most and pays heavily for being the country's economic power house. The state's sufferings extend across the country because of its migrant working population that supports families back home. The State Bank of India's report says that migration of labour from key economic hubs across Maharashtra to their respective hometowns poses a great risk to the manufacturing sector. In the first fortnight of April about 9 lakh migrants have returned home, says the report, adding that Maharashtra will incur an economic loss of around Rs 82,000 crore, and the loss will increase further if restrictions get harsher.

Clearly, Maharashtra carries a bigger burden than most other states and needs even bigger effort to save it from further disaster. Planners in the state and Centre, the political leadership included, may have been blaming each other for the crises we are against now, but it is proved beyond a doubt that their inability to understand the projections of the second wave and building the proportionate mitigation measures, be it infrastructure, medicine or oxygen, has given us a national feeling of doom and gloom. While saying so, we haven't spared the irresponsible citizenry for violating COVID appropriate behaviour, and wrote on March 15 in this column that the worst was knocking at our doors. The realisation of cooperating with law enforcers has come only after the unforeseen spread that our existing health infrastructure couldn't support. Every class of the society, ideological groups, people up in the social and political order and their followers have been hit by a great leveller called the novel Coronavirus. We have seen influential people appeal for help in getting oxygen and ICU beds for their friends and kin. Statistics available on Sunday said India had a record 3,49,691 new novel Coronavirus infections in a day, taking its total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,69,60,172. The active cases crossed the 26-lakh mark.

The worst is not over yet, say experts who expect the second wave to peak in May which leaves no option but to improve supplies and infrastructure at breakneck speed to avoid more casualties. A study by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has said that daily COVID-19 deaths in India could peak at over 5,000 by mid-May this year. It said universal mask coverage could save at least 70,000 lives. The report published on April 15 stated further that India's nationwide vaccination drive could help prevent the worst. And that brings us to another most important inoculation programme, undertaken in the first stage by the Centre, which wants state governments to take it further for the adults in the 18-44 years group.

PM Modi said on Sunday that the states will continue to get free of cost doses for the above 45 years people. He advised people to not fall prey to rumours, telling them that vaccines will be available for every person above 18 years from May 1. But the people in Maharashtra government, who said they will have to import vaccines because the Indian manufacturers will not be able to cater to their entire requirement, want to know the PM's plan of making vaccines available.

Maharashtra is expected to buy at least 12 crore doses from the sources available in the market, and like other states, also want to know whether the Centre will negotiate prices with suppliers on their behalf.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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