No COVID-19 impact on progress of area coverage under kharif crops, 20 % more than last year as on July 17

Despite COVID-19 fear, Kharif sowing had no impact, registered 21.2%  more sowing: Data from the Agriculture Ministry.

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

Sowing of Kharif crops which is in progress appears to have no impact of COVID 19, rather the sowing areas coverage has increased by 21.2%r-- which indicates early sowing in hope of good Monsoon prediction.

Agriculture Ministry on its parts has claimed that it has taken several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the pandemic.

According to the Ministry, Kharif sowing so far has covered 691.86 Lakh hectares as against the sowing of nearly 570.86 lakh hectares last year. Which means this year is it additional sowing of 121 lakh hectares--apparently because of good Moonson forecast made by the IMD.

Not only the sowing progress, even the water storage in the country’s 123 major reservoirs are very encouraging—almost  150% more then the corresponding period of last year and 133 % of the storage of average last ten years, said a senior officer of the Agriculture Ministry. He said average rainfall till July 16 is 338.3 mm against the normal rainfall of 308.4 mm—a departure of nearly 10 %, the officer pointed out.

What is encouraging is that while rice sown area is increased by 18.50 %, sowing of pulses has increased by 32.35 %, oilseeds by 40.75 %, cotton by 17.28 %. The officer said adding that there was no impact of COVID-19 on the progress of area coverage under Kharif crops.

Sowing Area Coverage of Summer Crops:

• ·        Rice on 168.47 lakh ha against 142.06 lakh ha area last year i.e. increase in area coverage by 18.59%,

  ·        Pulses on 81.66 lakh ha against 61.70 lakh ha area last year i.e. increase in area coverage by 32.35%,

  ·        Coverage of Coarse Cereals reported on 115.60 lakh ha area against 103.00 lakh ha area last year i.e. increase in area coverage by 12.23%,

  ·        Oilseeds 154.95 lakh ha area against 110.09 lakh ha area last year i.e. area coverage increased by 40.75 %,

  ·        Sugarcane on 51.29 lakh ha area against 50.82 lakh ha area last year i.e. increase in area coverage by 0.92%

  ·        Under the Cotton, area coverage reported on 113.01 lakh ha area against 96.35 lakh ha area last year i.e. increase in area coverage by 17.28 % and

  ·        In case of Jute & Mesta, on 6.88 lakh ha area against 6.84 lakh ha area last year  i.e. increase in area coverage by 0.70% reported in the country.

• 
  
  

• Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The statesman 

After banning Chinese apps, India asks its states to avoid buying from China & go for domestic manufacturing to cut Rs 70,000 crore import bill

India strongly asks states to not to go for Chinese power equipment & produce domestic power equipment to cut its Rs 71,000 crore import bill

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

In another big jolt to China, the Indian Government has asked its states to avoid buying power equipment from china and cut its import bill by Rs 71,000 crore, which is spent on purchasing of power equipment.

Though India has taken a logic that all these were being done due to the strategic nature of the industry. Union Power Minister R K Singh while addressing its state power ministers further warned that all imported equipment would be subjected to  "stringent testing to check the influx of malware like Trojan".

The move is likely to further hit Chinese power equipment manufacturing industry, which has nearly 30 % of the market share. In 2018-19, India had purchased equipment worth Rs 20,000 crore from China.

In another big jolt to China, the Indian Government has asked its states to avoid buying power equipment from china and cut its import bill by Rs 71,000 crore, which is spent on purchasing of power equipment.

Though India has taken a logic that all these were being done due to the strategic nature of the industry. Union Power Minister R K Singh while addressing its state power ministers further warned that all imported equipment would be subjected to  "stringent testing to check the influx of malware like Trojan".

The move is likely to further hit Chinese power equipment manufacturing industry, which has nearly 30 % of the market share. In 2018-19, India had purchased equipment worth Rs 20,000 crore from China.

Though the Minister did not say India is banning Chinese equipment, he meant that only, claims sources in the Power Ministry. He said the power sector is a strategic sector should have domestic production. “Sector being strategic in nature is vulnerable to a cyber attack. Imported equipment would be subjected to testing to check the influx of malware like Trojan," he told states.

Addressing all the State Power Ministers through video conference, Union Minister of Power and Renewable Energy also highlighted the need of PM’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in the power sector.

He said that India's import bill for purchasing power equipment was around  Rs.71,000 crore in the year 2018-19, which include Rs 20,000 crore's import from China. “It should be our sincere endeavour to promote manufacturing of power infrastructure equipment within the country,” the Minister said.

Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The statesman 

Stubble burning going to be a history: claims Scientists who developed a wheat variety that can be sown under rice stubble

Stubble burning going to be history: Scientists developed a wheat variety that can be  sown under rice stubble retained conditions

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

In a major breakthrough that could bring down the practice of stubble burning of paddy crop in North India, Indian Agriculture scientists have developed a wheat variety that could be sown under rice stubble-retained conditions.

The new wheat variety RHTL 14 and RHTL 18, would not only help in reducing the practice of paddy stubble burning but would also use less water. The new variety could allow deeper sowing of wheat seeds to avail advantage of residual moisture in the soil under dry environments, said a senior officer of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

According to the Ministry, the wheat seeds could be sown in the paddy stubble with deep sowing and there is no need to cut or burn stubble for sowing wheat after harvesting paddy. The scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, have mapped two alternative dwarfing genes Rht14 and Rht18 in wheat. These genes are associated with better seedling vigour and longer coleoptiles (sheath protecting the young shoot tip).

In India, over 23 million metric tonnes of leftover rice residues are annually burnt by farmers to get rid of the straw and to prepare their fields for sowing wheat. The burning of stubble causes a major pollution problem in the entire North Indian region. However, once the new seeds are accepted, there would be no need to burn stubble for sowing wheat, the Ministry said.

The team of scientists led by Dr. Ravindra Patil of the ARI have mapped the dwarfing genes on chromosome 6A in durum wheat. They had also developed a DNA-based marker for a better selection of these genes in wheat breeding lines. The DNA-based markers will help wheat breeders to precisely select wheat lines carrying these alternative dwarfing genes from a massive pool of wheat breeding lines, the officer said.

The presently available semi-dwarf wheat varieties, which were explored during the Green Revolution, carry conventional Rht1 dwarfing alleles and produce optimum yields under high-fertility irrigated conditions.

But it was not adapted for deeper sowing conditions in dry environments due to shorter coleoptiles. And low early vigour often results into reduced seedling emergence. Moreover, crop stands of Rht1 wheat also remain poor where previous crop residues pose a barrier for seedling emergence due to the short coleoptiles.

Vijay Thakur, The Statesman.

विस्तारवाद नहीं विकासवाद: Modi takes a tough stand, indirectly tells to choose between युद्ध या बुद्ध,

विस्तारवाद नहीं विकासवाद: Modi told China though indirectly to choose between 

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

Though I was very disappointed on Prime Minister's sixth address to the nation and called it "much ado about nothing". But today he apparently corrected himself and did what was really needed to stand with security forces and give them a morale boost.

He categorically said विस्तारवाद नहीं विकासवाद.. an indirect message to China and to convey the world India wants peace and development and at the same time would not tolerate the expansionist attitude of China

1) He rightly pointed out that this is not the time for "expansionist" attitude. विस्तारवाद (expansionism) would only lead to destruction and would not help any country. 

2) He said it is the right time to go for development and the world is looking for only development..

3) But at the same time, he clarified that peace talks cannot be done without being strong. India is always for peace but at the same time, it is quite capable to deal with any eventualities.

4) This is not only a message to China But to the entire world that India is no 1962 India, it cannot tolerate any nonsense.

Prime Minister visited Ladakh without announcing media. It surprised many, even in the political circles were surprised at the move. At a time when the two countries are at the point of the war, no Country head prefers to go to the HOT Point. PM Modi went there and told them indirectly to choose between युद्ध या बुद्ध (war or peace). The message was loud and clear for China.

He interacted with Indian soldiers posted there at the remote border outposts. Modi also met with the soldiers who were injured in June 15 violent face-off with China. Interacting with the soldiers in a military hospital in Leh, PM Modi said they gave a befitting reply to the Chinese. PM Modi told them their bravery will be a source of inspiration for times to come. "The Bravehearts who left us, have not gone without a reason. Together, you all also gave a befitting reply (karara jawab bhi diya hai)," he said.

The move caught most by surprise as it came at a time when India and China are embroiled in a months-long standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

 

PM Modi's visit came nearly a fortnight after 20 Indian soldiers, including a Colonel-rank officer, were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley. While China also suffered casualties in the faceoff, it is yet to release details. The Prime Minister's visit to Leh comes at a time when relations with China are severely strained and is being seen as one aimed at sending a strong message to China, as well an attempt to boost the morale of the Indian forces posted in the tough terrain.

Earlier, Defence Minister Rajanth Singh was scheduled to visit Leh and interact with the troops, along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Indian Army chief Gen MM Naravane. However, in a last-minute change of plans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself decided to meet the troops.

Indo-China Skirmishes at Galwan (2020)

The May-June 2020 China–India skirmish at Galway valley and at a few more places along Indo-China Border is part of an ongoing military a standoff between the two largest nation of the world. Since 5 May 2020, Chinese and Indian troops have reportedly engaged in aggressive melee, face-offs and skirmishes at locations mainly Galwan, Pangong Lake along the disputed Line of Actual Control.

India has been accusing China of not defining LAC since 1962 war, It entered into an agreement with China in the nineties and promised no use of weapons at the LAC and told China to give its map on LAC, which it has never given so far. And this has become the bone of contention between the two nations. The recent melee fighting has been going on since May but on the intervening night of 15/16 June 2020, 20 Indian soldiers lost their life where as nearly 43 Chinese soldiers died in the skirmish.

India took a tough stand and reinforced the region with 12,000 additional workers, who assisted India’s Border Road Organisation (a Military the organization involved in developing border roads in India) developing Indian infrastructure

According to defence experts, the standoffs are Chinese pre-emptive measures in responding to the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road in Ladakh. The Chinese have also extensively developed their infrastructure in these disputed border regions.

US President Trump offered to mediate between the two nations to bring peace, However, India and China have both maintained that there are enough bilateral mechanisms to resolve the situation through quiet diplomacy.

The tough stand was taken by India and the subsequent long interaction between India’s NSA (national security advisor) Ajit Doval with Chinese Defence Minister slightly cooled down the atmosphere and China agree to most of India’s demand.

Ends.

China's Solar Monopoly is dangerous: Dr Eicke R. Weber, a world-renowned Solar expert

The world must find a solution to China's Solar Monopoly

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

During my interaction with Dr Eicke R. Weber, a doctorate from Cologne University & Presently the Vice President of International Solar Energy Society, he explains the danger of China's monopoly mainly on PV cells especially when solar installations in the world would increase 10 times by 2050... the Interview appeared in The Statesman last year when he visited India to be the chief guest in International Solar exhibition in Greater Noida. I am reproducing the article as it is very relevant in the present context.

About Dr Eicke R Weber:

Dr Eicke R. Weber, a doctorate from Cologne University in defects in deformed silicon, has dedicated over four decades in silicon research and solar energy panels. He has been a professor in the University of California and Berkley for over twenty years and earned name in the field of silicon defects and III-V semiconductors. He mainly researched how metallurgical silicon with a certain amount of impurities could be used to produce high-efficiency solar cells.

Presently the Vice President of International Solar Energy Society, Dr Weber was also the Director of the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy—a world-renowned Solar Energy research institute. As a Director of the prestigious institute, he intensified networking between the University and with corporate world involved in the solar business. He was also involved in setting up a new Sustainability Center Freiburg between Fraunhofer and the University for Solar Energy promotion. Dr Weber spoke to Vijay Thakur, Special Representative the Statesman, on the future of solar energy and its necessity.

Excerpts of the Interview:

Question

What you think is the main challenge before the global solar industry. And how do you these challenges can be it can be tackled?.

Answer.

Though there are many challenges before the industry. But we know it is the future and will soon have some solutions. Among all challenges, the biggest challenge is global solar cell production is mostly in the hands of one country that is China. In the coming years, it can create global imbalance, which is not strategically good for any country.

Today China is probably the only country which is catering to most of the global PV cell demands. Their rate per watt is very low and frankly speaking there is hardly any country which can match Chinese price. And this is the problem strategically speaking is it advisable to give full business to China. So far we have not taken it seriously, but time has come to prevent the entire marketing getting dominated by one country only.

Today total annual solar installation around the world is around 500 GegaWatt, which would cross 3,000 to 5,000 GWatt by 2030 which means 10 times increase. By 2050 demand of solar panels would touch 50,000 Gwatt. By a simple calculations, solar panel demand would increase 100 times incoming thirty years.

It is time for our global political leaders to see if we can give the entire business to only one country. Strategically I would call it a blunder, and request big countries mainly India to venture out in solar cell productions. If this trend is not reversed, it would bring imbalance in the solar market, which is going to be the main source of energy in future.

 

Question:

How do you think we can meet this challenge?

 

Answer:

It is time for countries like India, USA and Germany to come forward and produce large scale solar cells at a very affordable price to meet China price. If we do not do now than we will miss the bus. Solar cells production is fully mechanized, and within a couple of years, we can meet the Chinese price in Germany as well as in India. Our leadership should show their will power in this direction, and that is the only solution.

Question:

India has set a great target for the use of solar energy. It is encouraging and subsidizing the solar industry. How do you see the future of the Indian solar industry and its role in the International solar market?

Answer:

No doubt India has done a great job in promoting the solar industry during the past couple of years. India has not only promoted the domestic solar industry, but It is also providing services to third world countries. Certainly India has a very important role to play in the global transformation process in renewable energy. After China, India has the biggest growing solar energy demand in the world. It has very ambitious targets to bring down CO2 emissions. Solar energy appears to be the only source for the whole of India. It can be harvested anywhere in the country at and at a very reasonable and affordable price. Solar energy production has come down as low as two to four cents a unit.

Now coming to India’s role in the international market, we must admit that India is going to lead the International market. I will not be surprised if I see India covering a solar market of developed countries.

 

Question:

One of the main problems in promoting the solar industry is that it cannot be stored and the present cost of storage cost is very high. You think when this problem would be over or when power storage would become pricewise competitive in India and abroad.

 

Answer.

To a great extent, the present storage cost is high. But it is coming down year by year. At present, lithium-ion batteries are around USD 100 a KiloWatt Hour. We are expecting its prices to go down like PhotoVoltaic cells in a couple of years. If we see 20 years ago, PV cells were not a choice for a country like India, but today the prices have reduced several times. Today in India solar power from solar has become the cheapest source of energy. Similarly in the coming years, we will see prices of battery storage solutions to go down like PV cells. But at the same time, there are other ways of energy solutions. The excess electricity produced from the solar system can be used to separate hydrogen from water, which can be stored for a long time. We see the storage of solar energy by generating hydrogen.

Having said all that, we strongly believe that in the coming five years, prices of solar energy storage would come down to a level where a common man can afford it. But we will have to wait for a time when solar energy generation and storage would become cheaper than the existing grid system. I would not be surprised if the solar storage would become cheaper than the transmission and distribution cost and its losses.

 

Question:

International Solar Alliance (ISA), an alliance of 121 countries blessed with solar energy is headquartered in Gurgaon India. Indian leadership has shown its commitment to help third world countries to promote and install solar power projects. Do you think ISA would help India to emerge a global leader in developing countries?

Ans:

Yes, India has a real opportunity to be a leader in the global solar energy industry of the developing countries. ISA would, directly and indirectly, help India become a global leader. It can provide services to all developing countries particularly the continent like Africa. India can offer decentralized power supply to developing countries by designing mini-grids for off-grid solar solutions at a very affordable rate. African countries are really looking forward to India for affordable solar business solutions. India can train technicians of developing counties and provide them with utility items of the solar industry.

Question:

Now Electric Vehicles are coming in a big way in India. It is likely to penetrate deep into Indian cities and rural areas. You think the introduction of EVs would help the Indian solar industry?

 

Answer:

Certainly, I have very high hope from Electric Vehicles. The spread of electric vehicles would revolutionize the solar industry. It appears strange but true, electric vehicles and the solar industry have a very close link. One, we can now charge electric vehicles directly using PVs which would bring down carbon emission level and reduce dependence on fossil fuel. Since EV would be an organized industry, it would manufacture Lithium-Ion batteries in volume and ultimately bring down the prices good quality batteries for off-grid solutions.

And lastly, the average life of EV batteries is five years. After five years, its power rate becomes as low as 80% and cannot be used for electric vehicles. But for a home solar system, these batteries can be run for another five years. EVs would open a new market of used LiOn batteries for domestic usage. As a result, the cost of electric vehicles would come down as the used batteries will be used for home solar systems giving them a second life. Since its prices would be much less, those who cannot afford costly solar batteries would opt for second life LiOn battery. This way EV would not only promote solar power but would also bring down the storage system.

Vijay Thakur, The Statesman.

 

Ends.

 

 

Delhi's first dense 'urban forest' in the heart of polluted ITO

Delhi to have its first Dense 'Urban Forest' in the heart of Pollution at ITO

BY Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, The Statesman, vijaythakurx@gmail.com

In a unique initiative to develop 'Super Dense' greenery in the heart of Delhi’s most polluted ITO area, Government has developed an amazing “Urban Forest” in the office complex of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that would not only act as an ‘Oxygen Bank’ but would also bring down the temperature of the complex by as low as 14 degree Celsius.

If Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadkar is to be believed the 'Super Dense' ‘Urban Forest’, 30 times dense than a normal forest, would need minimal maintenance and would be self-sustainable by October 2021. The forest will have 12,000 saplings of 59 native species in just one acre of land. The Minister further claimed that it could help in reducing the temperature by as much as 14 degrees and increase the moisture by more than 40%.

The samplings would be accommodated in such a small space through three dimensional, multi-layered plantations having 30 times the surface area of the greenery of single-layered lawns, the Environment Ministry claimed. It would also have 30 times more ability to protect against natural disasters to conserve the environment, the Minister claimed, the Ministry added.

The idea behind this dense urban forest was to create a natural Oxygen bank and Carbon Sink in areas where pollution has reached a dangerous level. The pollution level has already reached at the dangerous level at the ITO crossing, which is nearby to the CAG complex. Since there was hardly any space available for greenery, the government adopted the Miyawaki method of forest creation. The 92-year-old Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki had developed this technique in 1970 when he developed a first is a unique 'Super Dense Urban Forest' in Japan in which trees grew 10 times faster and 30 times denser than usual. As per his technique, within three years of little maintenance, the area can be converted into a ‘Super Dense Jungle’. Thereafter it would hardly need any maintenance except some brief spell of watering that too very rarely.

This would be Delhi’s first dense urban forest with multiple tree layers including 12,000 saplings of 59 indigenous species in just 1 acre of size. Once this becomes a dense forest it would have its own ecosystem with the capacity to restore habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and microfauna. These are essential for pollination of crops and fruits and to help maintain a balanced ecosystem. The multi-layered forest has shrubs, small to medium-size trees and tall trees carefully arranged as peripheral and core plant communities. After it becomes a dense jungle, it would not need much maintenance.

Some of the rare native species planted here include Anogeissus pendula (Dhonk), Diospyros cordifolia (Bistendu), Ehretia laevis (chamrod), Wrightia tinctoria (Doodhi), Mitragyna parvifolia (Kaim), Butea monosperma (Palash), Prosopis cineraria (Khejri), Clerodendrum phlomidis(Arni), Grewia asiatica (Falsa), Phoenix sylvestris (Khajoor) and Helicteres isora (Marodphali). The species selected are part of Delhi’s potential natural vegetation and are best suited to the region’s terrain, climate and soil.

“The urban forest sends out and the action-oriented message of bringing back lost environmental protection forests. In-depth field surveys of potential natural vegetation, well-planned native species’ propagation and restoration projects like these are the need of the hour,” the Minister said. 

Urban Forest

An urban forest is the one that within a city or town, normally it include vegetation growing in and around human settlements. As opposed to a forest park, whose ecosystems are also inherited from wilderness leftovers, urban forests often lack amenities like public bathrooms paved paths, or sometimes clear borders which are distinct features of parks.

Urban forests play an important role in the ecology of human habitats in many ways. Aside from the beautification of the urban environment, they offer many benefits like impacting climate and the economy while providing shelter to wildlife and recreational area for city dwellers

About: Akira Mayawaki

Akira Mayawaki, 92, is a Japanese botanist and expert in plant ecology. He is specialized in seeds and the study of natural forests. He is active worldwide as a specialist in the restoration of the natural vegetation on degraded land. Since 1993, he has been Professor Emeritus at Yokohama National University and Director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology. He received the Blue Planet award in 2006.

He studied the concept of potential natural vegetation (PNV) in Germany and developed a refined method of ecological engineering to restore natural forests from seeds of native trees in very degraded soils (with hardly has any humus). His method was praised world over and now known as the "Miyawaki method". Using ecological theories and the results of his experiments, he quickly and successfully restored, sometimes over large areas, protective forests (disaster-prevention, environment-conservation and water-source-protection forests) at over 1,700 sites in Japan and various tropical countries in the form of shelterbelts, woodlands and woodlots, including urban, port and industrial areas.

Although most experts believe that rapid restoration of a forest is impossible or very difficult on a laterized and desertified soil following the destruction of the rainforest, Miyawaki showed that rapid restoration of forest cover and restoration of soil was possible by using a judicious choice of pioneer and secondary indigenous species, densely planted and mycorrhized. After studying local plant ecology, he uses the species that have key and complementary roles in the normal tree community.

He alone has been involved in planting over 40 million native trees. The Miyawaki method of reconstitution of "indigenous forests by indigenous trees" produces a rich, dense and efficient protective pioneer forest in 20 to 30 years, whereas natural succession would need 200 years in temperate Japan and 300 to 500 years in the tropics.

Ends.

The IAS officer who quit IAS 46 years ago to serve poor and neglected people. Magsaysay award winner, Aruna Roy, cautions Modi govenrment to give "substansive" help to migratory workers

Modi's big announcement without substance not to help Poors: Aruna Roy 

My Interview with RTI activist Aruna Roy where she hit at Modi's big announcement without substance. She admits present economic package will do little to alleviate  people's suffering

About Aruna Roy

S

She quit IAS in 1974 after completing six years of her service to give more to society by working as a social activist rather than being in India’s most prestigious services IAS. She has always been at the forefront of running campaigns directed toward helping the poor and the marginalised. It was due to her Ramon Magsaysay award recipients in 2000 for Community leadership, Aruna Roy had quit the elite Indian Administrative Service in 1974 and rather opted to work at the grassroots level in remote villages of Rajasthan for the upliftment of poor and marginalised people. She and her team comprising Shankar Singh and Nikhil Day formed Majdoor Kisan Shakti Sangthan (MKSS) initially fought for fair wages of workers from a remote village Devdungri. Subsequently, her team exposed ‘organized corruption in government departments’ and started her three decades long battle for ‘Right to Information’ which actually proved a game-changer and made a major change in the functioning at the grassroots level.

Besides the Ramon Magsaysay award, she was also awarded the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in persistence and hard work that the Right to Information, the Right to Work (the NREGA), and the Right to Food Acts were passed. In an interview to Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, the Statesman, Aruna Roy spoke large scale migration of labours in wake of Covid-19 and the inhuman treatment given to them. Excerpts:

Question:

What is your assessment of the coronavirus lockdown being enforced across the country since 25 March?

Ans:

China told the world about the SARS-CoV-2 virus on 31 December last year. India has its first COVID-19 case on 30 January. The lockdown was enforced more than 50 days later on 25 March. The Union government had a lot of time to prepare much better for this than it has. The lockdown was announced in haste without adequate time and notice given to people and the effects are plainly visible for all to see. It seems to have inflicted far more pain and suffering on the population than the virus and disease have. One only has to contrast the actions of the central government with the way that Kerala, which incidentally had the first case in India, has managed the situation to see how planning and foresight could have easily made the lockdown far less tragic than it has, very unfortunately, been. A lack of sensitivity to the plight of the vulnerable people in India has been patently visible.

Question:

The lockdown has triggered an unprecedented mass exodus of migrant labourers and the destitute and their families across the country. Many of them lost their lives in the course of their perilous journeys. How could this epic human tragedy been prevented?

Answer:

While one certainly has the benefit of hindsight now, the most obvious thing to have done to prevent this tragedy would have been to prepare better and given Indians more notice before announcing the lockdown. The Prime Minister's announcement at 8:00 pm on 24 March had nothing to say about offering basic amenities and services to the nation's marginalised. The absence of assurances from the Prime Minister and the way that we have seen a substantial outsourcing of relief measures in cities to civil society conveys the apathy of the government towards migrant labourers. This has to be contrasted with the reported shrinking of funds to NGOs, as companies are under directive to divert CSR money to GOI. Government has failed to ensure that each person was fed and given an allowance to tide over the crisis.

Question:

What is your take on the roles of the Centre and state governments in handling this colossal  crisis, especially with regard to its devastating impacts on the poor and vulnerable people?

Answer:

Different states governments have handled the crisis differently. Some, like Kerala, have done very well. Bihar offered Rs. 1000 to workers who had migrated out from the state. This was a very good measure and other states could have also taken.

The lack of financial support from the centre to the state governments, like the delays in the GST payments to states put paid to all the tall claims by the union government of cooperative federalism.

Some common characteristics that one has seen across many states with regard to migrant workers has been the way that most states treated them as step children when it came to offering them aid. Now, however, they are reluctant to let them go since these workers are the real drivers of the economy. That some states to which these workers want to return to have been reluctant to take them back for fear of spread of the virus has also been very sad to see. While all states seem to want workers to revive their economies, at the time they are viewed as people who will spread the disease. In a sense, migrant labour are only seen has beasts of burden for the sake of the economy who are otherwise abandoned by both their home states and host states.

Question:

And what do you think of the judiciary’s role in this entire episode?

Answer:

Barring some High Courts, the Higher Judiciary has largely been missing in action and has abdicated its constitutional responsibility to uphold the rights of citizens. A real test of a democracy is its adherence to constitutional values when the going is hard and in times of crisis. By not addressing critical issues hands-on, despite wide media coverage of the tragedy unfolding across the country, is to be mourned.

Question:

The Union government recently announced a seemingly massive economic package involving a slew of welfare measures for migrants, street vendors and small farmers. You think is it sufficient or mere an eyewash?

Answer:

The economic package is certainly not sufficient. Certain measures like expanding rations or increased financial allocations for MGNREGA are welcome. But this is far from enough. The government is offering loans to street vendors and small farmers when they need immediate cash transfers as relief. Even corporates have criticised measures like the dilution of labour laws and protection. Having gone through all the measures of the economic package, if one were to ask how much of this will provide immediate relief to the migrant workers trying to reach their homes, there is very little indeed. The government has to do a lot more, especially for the poor and those who are affected most acutely by economic distress. Big announcements without much substance will do very little to alleviate the suffering that people are facing.

 Ends.