HONOURING RESPONSIBILITIES

The massive evacuation plan designed by the Ministry of External Affairs begins today. Over the course of 7 days, 64 Air India flights will repatriate stranded Indians from the US, UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Philippines, Oman and Bahrain under Operation Vande Bharat. In addition, Indian Navy deployed 3 ships to bring Indians home from Maldives and Dubai under Operation Samudra Setu. The Home Ministry apprised that the migrant workers, laid-off labourers, persons with medical emergency, elderly, students, etc., would be given preference including those whose facing expiry of their short term visa and those who require to return to India due to death of a family member. MEA has asked stranded Indians in the identified countries to coordinate with the respective Indian embassy. The government has clarified that they will be charged for the emergency flight from Rs 12,000 to 1 lakh depending on the country of their departure. However, Civil Aviation Minister did clarify that special cases wherein those stranded are not in a condition to pay would be catered accordingly. The important precondition is that travelling Indians must be asymptomatic following which they will be subject to a 14-day quarantine period upon their return to India and would be tested at the end of that. Those travelling will also have to download the Aarogya Setu app. The first phase of such evacuation exercise comes as a test not just for India to bring back its nationals but also for the states to receive them with prior preparations in place. Quarantine centres have to be readied and hospital beds have to be counted beforehand and all this has to be on top of existing pressure of the domestic situation. The intent is indeed noble but immense precaution needs to be maintained. In the first phase, nearly 15,000 Indians will be brought home and sent to quarantine centres. But the prerequisite for their travel is to be asymptomatic, not Covid-negative. With asymptomatic carriers being a silent threat, India must be wary of the risks involved. Even China reported a spurt in cases when its nationals returned from Russia. The medical infrastructure in states will indeed be strained but at the same time, the exercise of adding numbers to quarantine centres test the resilience of the existing system in place. And, when we speak of quarantine centres, they ought to be livable and not in dismal conditions. There have been reports of such centres lacking basic hygiene which will compound the troubles of both the returning Indians as well as authorities. Henceforth, it is necessary that clean and functional quarantine centres are identified and due vigilance of the authority over the state of these centres is maintained. This should be applied not just for centres to house these returning Indians but rather all government centres across the country.

While the controlled leeway offered to residents across the three zones — Green, Orange and Red — is yet to show its result, there has been a rise in cases since the beginning of the month. While the steep rise in cases is attributed to the ramped-up testing, the rise per se is unsettling. The third week of May shall show the true trend of rising cases as the relaxations in restrictions as part of the third phase of lockdown would reveal the infection spread. The 24-hour death count reported on May 5 was alarmingly high and sparks apprehensions of throwing away the gains India had made from a rather timely imposition of the national lockdown. It is widely acknowledged that the snoozing economy is forcing the government’s hand in easing restrictions but any prudent government would be wary of throwing away substantial gains. The evacuation exercise underlines India’s urge to honour the responsibility towards its citizens. But India has to balance its humanitarian considerations with domestic concerns as it prepares a plan for an unprecedented summer inflicted with a deadly pathogen and a disrupted economy!