Covid-19: When citizens protect the right to life
The right to life laid down in the Constitution seems in grave danger today with the coronavirus pandemic raging across the country. Our elected representatives, who are dutybound to uphold this right, have been found severely wanting in this regard. However, in many places, citizens have come together at significant cost to their lives and livelihoods to lend a helping hand to those in need.
Ramnagar village in Kanpur, with a population of 5,000, has seen five Covid-19-related deaths, with 50 cases being reported. The government’s overstretched health care system, which is hardly enough for the metros, was not likely to be of much help to this little village. But people did not give up. They collected money and created a corona relief bank. They secured basic necessities such as oximeters, thermometers and medicines. Isolation facilities were set up and the entire village sanitised. Ramnagar is now free of Covid-19.
In 11 villages in Hapur in western Uttar Pradesh, people were quick to impose their own lockdown as soon as the second wave took hold. No one has left these villages for weeks and no one has been allowed in. As a result, these villages have been protected from the vicious second wave. These could be models for other rural areas, but it is unlikely that any political initiative will be forthcoming.
Let us look at another heartwarming story of mutual cooperation. When Harendra Gangwar, a teacher from Bareilly, died of Covid-19, it was found that he was not entitled to the state pension scheme. Yet, ₹19 lakh was deposited in his account, thanks to the efforts of a self-care team. This team has been formed by those teachers who are not beneficiaries of the government pension scheme.
Members of this team across the state contribute ₹100 each in the case of the death of a colleague. There are more than 45,000 members in this group. The government ought to be making every effort to promote such groups.
Another inspiring story is that of Ashu and Akash, two friends from Roorkee. Neither of them were eligible for any welfare schemes either from social institutions or the government. Their families were in precarious financial situations already, made worse by the onslaught of the pandemic. Akash is studying for his bachelor’s degree and has to pay the fees to continue his course. To raise money for this, he started selling vegetables on an e-rickshaw portal with his friend, Ashu. Now, both can fulfil their immediate needs.
There are thousands of young people who, despite being victims of adversity, do not want to make the rounds of government offices or charitable institutions pleading for help in cash or kind. They have confronted challenges and moved on with their lives, on their own.
There are many women who have taken up the responsibility of feeding orphan children in their neighbourhoods. The tradition of Panna Dhai (a 16th-century nursemaid to Maharana Sangram Singh’s son Uday Singh II) has not been forgotten.
On May 3, I had written in this column about how people are overcoming their own grief over the loss of loved ones and are collecting medicines for those in need. Such people have been and are the bedrock of Indian society and civilisation. This time of distress has been a learning experience for many Indians even as they face so much trial and tribulation. Job parameters are changing, businesses are reinventing themselves, social relationships are transforming and even last rites are taking new shape.
In Varanasi, Christians renounced their centuries-old customs when they came to Manikarnika and Harishchand ghats with the bodies of their relatives to be cremated. Their ashes are being buried in cemeteries. Similarly, some people from Braj are immersing the ashes of the departed in the Yamuna itself, eschewing the practice of conducting this ritual in the Ganga in Haridwar or Prayagraj. This was never the tradition in this area. The virus is forcing many changes in traditional beliefs and customs.
Today, in the midst of hopelessness and despair, these examples fill us with renewed hope that some good may come out of this terrible time. Society may put aside its differences and pull together to confront crises as the villagers I mentioned did. People may accept adapting traditions and customs when required. People may put aside personal considerations to help others in greater need.
But our political class seems to have learnt no lessons from all this. They are busy hurling accusations at each other and playing futile games of one-upmanship. They should sit back and contemplate on what they were elected for — to uphold people’s constitutional rights. This is a task at which they have failed on all counts.