NOTICE BEFORE YOU DIE
With the second surge of the pandemic hitting us most states have issued lockdown and curfew guidelines. Of course the fact that the Kumbh Mela was allowed to continue till almost the bitter end is another matter, as is the Election Commission’s refusal to club the remaining phases of the West Bengal election on one date so as to put an end to this super spreader event where rallies are attended by mask-less crowds and addressed by mask-less leaders on the dais. However, what took the cake was the Rajasthan government guidelines recently. One of these guidelines stated that in case of a cremation, a four-day notice has to be given to the SDM before permission will be granted. Make what you can of this, but it clearly shows that the pandemic management has been left to the red tapes of bureaucracy and the out-of-the box thinking that is needed to handle it is clearly missing.