Over one million people contracted Covid19 in India so far. The situation is becoming serious day by day, as more than 30,000, cases are getting added each day. As per the Experts, the figure would reach 2.5 million by 15th August, if the same trend continues, as corona has become rampant in rural areas. Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Bihar, Karnataka, AP, Telangana, and Kerala, are in very bad shape with regards to Covid19. Centre, by deputing teams to these states, washed its hands off, making states responsible. It has not shown any seriousness other than using the data to claim that we are in a safe zone.
Governments around the world are rapidly expanding their health care capabilities, but in India, there is very little regulatory control over the private health care system. Some states are using a private pool of hospitals. Shutting down of hospitals is not a solution, but proper nursing protocols, genuine PPEs, ventilators, Oxygen cylinders, and dependable rapid tests are only the urgent need of the hour. Since states are unable to make use of private hospitals. The government Of India should announce health emergency and take over all the private hospitals in the country to fight COVID 19, and once the situation is eased, they could be surrendered back, with lock stock and barrel. The recent remarkable growth of the private health sector has come at a time, when public spending on health care at 0.9 percent of GDP, is among the lowest in the world. This proportion has fallen from an already low 1.3 percent of GDP under UPA in 1991 when neoliberal economic reforms began.
The government's common minimum program promises an increase in spending on health care from 0.9 percent to 3 percent of GDP in five years with health insurance schemes for poor families. In the past 2 years, although expenditure on health care has increased in absolute terms, the proportion of GDP it represents has declined. Many complaints are being lodged with the government regarding the exorbitant amount of money being charged by health care providers and causing hardships to the general public during this COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore it’s suggested that Govt Of India should pass an order under health emergency that COVID 19 should be treated at all private hospitals and Nursing Homes free of cost.

COVID 19 has made the opening educational institutions for in person classes looks highly unlikely at this point. In wake of this situation CBSE decided to reduce the syllabus. In this process of reduction it has pulled out a few very important chapters from its curriculum. While CBSE’s decision to reduce the syllabus to the extent of 30%, is welcome, but one fails to understand the very purpose of education when students will not learn anything about secularism, partition, citizenship among other subjects. The concepts of secularism, federalism, are very important, enshrined in our constitution, as basic tenets, and the decision to withdraw is too biased to accept, the motive behind this, is questionable. The board’s justification that it was meant to reduce the exam stress of the students due to the prevailing health emergency, situation and prevent learning gaps begs the question as to why these topics needed to be learned. A learning center must give scope to study all aspects. In fact, without proper study/ examination, the Government should always try to avoid meddling. A neutral approach will pave the way for free thoughts to thrive afresh.

CBSE As such not made a clear rationale behind dropping some subjects as ” dispensable” while retaining others as “indispensable.“ There is a strong case for every student to have exposure to India’s composite culture—its heterogeneity, diversity, and pluralism. It helps in the cultivation of tolerance as a virtue.

Are the curricula only meant to pass the examinations? For the students, textbooks are just an assemblage of facts that need to be understood or even memorised sometimes. Our pedagogical systems are disconnected from lived realities. It may be at the behest of political influence those chapters were taken out of the syllabus with a preconceived mind. Excessive involvement of the government in matters of schooling and pedagogy leads to fanaticism. The historical framework of anything which shaped the country to this position should find a place in learning material. Its time to evolve teaching methods that encourage students to apply facts to real-life problems while encouraging them to seek knowledge. The sad reality is that secularism and federalism are not practiced anymore. Nonetheless, it’s some consolation that the “banishment” of key components of what we all cherished as “liberal” education is “temporary “, only one-time measure and the expunged contents have not yet been replaced by new content propagating a constricted vision of India and the world.

The decision taken by Telangana Govt to set up a toll-free number to guide people facing Covid19 symptoms like breathlessness, sore throat, etc, through a call center is a welcome gesture to be appreciated by one and all. But much to the chagrin of virtuous people, all institutions are annihilating the primary code of adhering to the ethical values. In the existing scenario, patients of the Covid19 pandemic are still knocking the doors of hospitals, praying admission, but facing refusals, which is very unfortunate. Mohammad Nissar a folk artist of Hyderabad, allegedly not allowed in some private hospitals, but succumbed to the virus in Gandhi hospital, is a current example.
The proverbial “make hay while the sun shines” seems to be the mantra for greedy druggists or hoarders at the time of this COVID crisis. To mint money somehow, is their motto oblivious to the grave situation the country is going through. Even in the case of only antiviral drug Remdesivir, which is currently known for treating Covid19, hoarders have made it dearer, which is made available in the black market, for Rs 70,000 to 80000, per vial in some cities. The situation is alarming and serious and the government is expected to step in to stop hoarding of the life-saving medicines/injections, as its original price is between Rs 4800 or 5400 depending on the brand.
Further exorbitant billings, not expected by the patients, are shocking. Anything and everything which is a necessity and critical for patients well being are being converted into an opportunity for amassing pelf in the service-oriented fraternity as well. India has the third-highest number of Covid19 cases in the world. Since the first reported case in Kerala on January 30th, the virus had spread to every state in the country. While cities such as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, etc are continuing to bear the brunt of the cases of COVID 19, the cases in Tier 2, Tier3 towns, and districts, are also rising.
Life has changed for certain. The outbreak of Covid19 and it’s rapid spread across the world within no time toppled systems that existed for centuries. Jobs have been laid off, salaries have been halved, physical closeness has become a big no, face masks have become part of the daily outfit, hand washing has become too frequent, sanitizer has found its place at wash-basin, drawing room, car, trouser pockets and everywhere. Countries have been locked down for months and thousands of scientists, medical experts, and researchers are working overtime to invent a remedy for this global pandemic. Yet the deadly virus continues to rampage, killing thousands of people, and pushing millions into quarantine. And the latest--India is fast running to top the list of the highest Corona affected countries in the world, we have surpassed Russia making us 3rd on the list. This is all due to our delayed actions, for which who is to be blamed, will leave it to your wisdom.
It’s not in good to have contentment considering the fatality rate which about one percent or below the total population. Already nearly 10,00,000 people have been suffering from it, and around 30,000 casualties and this number may grow exponentially in the ensuing season. One more swirling swine virus is likely to be floated by the diabolical dragon devil, which has no morals, no ethics, no humanity but with an ulterior motive to destabilise the people and the economy. Therefore how far this nation would be able to march forward risking the health of its people, is yet to be seen. However, efforts to develop the vaccine for Covid19 must be expedited to save mankind from the pandemic.

The recent encounter of gangster Vikas Dubey is more like a real-life imitating the reel life (not vice versa).
 Dubey's encounter in UP exposes the dangerous nexus between politics, crime and a rotten political system. The journey of Dubey whose men had massacred 8 police personnel when they raided his den was a depressing tale of the corrosive political culture in UP which made a mockery of rule of law. Dubey who is a product of political-bureaucratical-criminal nexus would have resulted in his death, sooner than later. 5 of his aids had been killed in separate gunfights in multiple locations. Dubey’s surrender and his aids encounter are raising many questions. Why kill? Why not capture alive?  These men would have been more valuable to the police alive than dead as they would have been able to shed light on don’s activities, Don too, if not encountered, would have revealed political-bureaucratic and criminal nexus. But if you see, police killing someone and calling it an “encounter” has become common now.  Dubey’s and his associates' encounters, felt like a movie plot of Manmohan Desai’s film (I'm not familiar with the directors of this generation).
We expect the government elected by the people to uphold the constitution not exploit the loopholes in the system and take advantage of it. Even hardened criminals do not deserve such death. They should be brought before the law. This is yet another addition to the alarmingly high number of extrajudicial killings over the last few months. The onus is on the state, and the judiciary to nip this trend in bud, lest we end up having a police force that sees it fit to bypass judicial procedures as and when they please. While I agree, that those engaging in crime must be brought to book, there is supposed to be strict adherence to the procedure.
The UP gangster Dubey may not have anyone mourning his death in a stage-managed accident-cum-encounter, responsible as he was for many killings, the last being 8 policemen. Does it sit easy on the conscience of the police, which has put out the most outrageous and improbable theory? Does it not indicate that the police patrons of Dubey and their protector policemen had too much to lose, had the don filled the details of the unholy politician-criminal nexus that has entrenched itself in the state in the mutually-self serving manner? Does this not damage Yogi ‘s image of a no-nonsense leader with zero tolerance for corruption and mafia, for good, considering he was personally supervising Dubey’s case? India is a democracy after all and even criminals with such intimidating rap sheets like Dubey have a right to justice, representation, and being heard in the court of law. Supreme Court has declared encounter killings as unlawful. A fair and transparent trial can not be dispensed with to satisfy cries for vengeance. Goading the police on to deliver instant justice, or even tolerating such behaviour creates an atmosphere of impunity that could lead to the murder of innocent people as happened with the custodial deaths in Tamilnadu. Support for such killings by police will not make society more just. Mob justice is no justice at all. When law -enforcers short circuit due process the damage to state institutions is severe and long-lasting. UP’s Police theory on why it killed Vikas Dubey doesn’t stand to reason. The politics of criminal nexus will never be exposed. This encounter is “encountering the truth. “

Today I came across a write up on the disengagement of Chinese forces, in Galwan valley. The author of the write-up heaped a lot of praises on Modi, which is agreeable but in the end, he talked about the failure of the government in 1962. Agreed this is a democracy, he is entitled to have his opinion, I welcome it. We can hardly expect an objective analysis from a Modi bhakt.
In reversing the image of India from the Nehruvian era, our PM aggressively highlighted his Foreign Policy, which has been built on hugplomacy and charisma, which is good for optics, but not for diplomacy, and especially not for China, which can not be bracketed with anybody. The fact of the matter is that we have failed to read China. Our PM visited China before becoming PM and as PM around 5 times in the last 6 years, total about 18 times he had meetings with Chinese PM, latest being Mamillapuram in Tamilnadu, and we have tried to please them by making many compromises, but all this didn’t work, and I don’t understand why the Border issues did not get frozen. Instead, we are getting intimidated, and if someone feels it’s great handling. I leave it to each person's wisdom. Our eastern neighbour continues to be as inscrutable as it was in 1962. If Nehru nurtured a romantic notion of civilisational loyalties, Modiji, graduated that to a shared sense of Asian leadership, one which saw even more Chinese investments in India and mounting trade deficit.
Coming back to the issue, the disengagement may be music to the ears but Chinese maneuvers are difficult to anticipate and hard to believe.
I'm curious to know if the claims of Chinese troops infiltrated deep into Indian territory already, then does this retreat mean anything at all?
Nehru, when China encroached he had the guts to call the parliament and make a statement, on the floor of the House, and didn’t conceal the facts. Now its a bit puzzling as well because if the PLA can pull back after just a phone call from Mr. Dowal, why was China allowed in the first place to breach LAC resulting in loss of 20 soldiers? Why was not NSA engaged in dialogue when tensions were mounting? However, it’s now amply clear that PLA did breach the LAC.
There is an uncanny resemblance between what is going on now on the India-China border with events in the run-up to the 1962 war. The debacle in the war was rightly blamed on the Nehru government, for its military unpreparedness. But now India is in a much better position to face china’s challenges, the situation in terms of the military equation is never the same as in 1962. In both cases, New Delhi failed to fully understand fundamental strategic objectives regarding India. Nehru could be impugned for his idealistic notion of Afro-Asian solidarity and his suspicion of America’s strategic designs that influenced his thinking on China, but present government whose foreign policy actions are transactional rather than idealistic considerations, seems to be equally naive about Beijing's long term strategic objectives. New Delhi has compounded its failure by indulging in reckless rhetoric regarding Aksaichin and POK. A senior cabinet minister’s declaration about liberating Aksaichin and recovering POK, while justifiable in terms of India’s legal rights to these territories, was ill-timed. This rhetoric coupled with few other issues could be the reason for the fiasco.
Most importantly PM should keep everything transparent, with a hawk’s eye on PLA movements, and use Parliament to keep the opposition and the nation abreast of developments. Silence would be interpreted as appeasement, something Chinese love to feed on.

It’s a laudable decision that CM of TS KCR, Government, decided to celebrate the birth centenary of our former prime minister Sri Narasimha Rao. He was a polyglot, polymath, and a proud son of Telugu soil (Telangana), who led a full five-year term despite having no full-fledged majority but by winning hearts of opposition with his soft, shrewd, stoic and strategic silence. It is not very often that destiny chooses certain leaders, and Narasimha Rao Ji was one such favourite child of destiny, who rose from a very humble background to become the architect of economic reforms, virtually reinvent India both at home and abroad. However, it’s ironic, that a man of such extraordinary erudition, political sagacity, and multifaceted accomplishments had to face humiliation in his twilight years and denial of dignity even in death by his party for which he had given his life.
Shekar Gupta, a senior Journalist who had close access to Mr. Rao as PM wrote in 2017” Rao was punished by the middle class for keeping the BJP out of power for full 5 years, why else would it hate someone who gave them so much, through economic reforms? Similarly, he was punished by the Congress party for keeping the Gandhi family out of power. For daring to believe that he could lead the party, and keep it in power, whatever the cost, in the absence of an active Nehru or Gandhi. It is for this sin that the very party that should have been so grateful to him now wants the law to take its course and would have celebrated his convictions and later did not allow his body to be brought into its HQs” Given his politically successful and administratively historic stint as PM, PV deserves a thankful recognition from his political alma-matter -The INC. The 100th year of his birth gives more than a century old party a chance to regret and recognise his contributions as Union Minister for decades, and silent but vibrant PM for half a decade. Its time for the High Command to apologise for its ingratitude.
Against this backdrop of situation, it’s commendable that both Centre and State Govts have reacted positively at last. If you recall, in 2014, TRS announced that his birth anniversary would be celebrated as a state festival. Now it has decided to organise year-long celebrations not only in the state but in over 50 places across the globe. TS CM, KCR’s announcement that he would request PM Modi Ji, to confer the “Bharat Ratna” posthumously on the latter’s predecessor PV. The 1991 economic liberalisation , abolition of license -permit raj, which his astute leadership is best known for, helped lift millions out of poverty. Since the whole world knows how he was sidelined, Modi Ji must look beyond party lines and confer the highest civilian honor upon him. 

A couple of days ago I saw a news report that China intends to occupy Ladakh. India-China tensions reveal the preparedness of China for any eventuality. Even while engaging in talks at the military command level, China seems to be preparing for confrontation, while India seems to be pinning hopes on ‘peaceful resolution ‘ and as of now its no exaggeration that India’s relations with China turned topsy-turvy after the recent violent clashes our soldiers had with Chinese. If you see, the present government has not spared a single occasion to criticise Nehru ‘s government for creating twin problems of China and Kashmir. If you observe now, our leader had visited China many times, in various capacities, and the Chinese leader too was invited to India. I have read that the meetings took place at different places, at different times for about 18 times. then should it not be discussed about important border dispute that has been simmering for decades? But whereas it has been increasingly dependent on a strategy to accuse Congress, for all this. The people of India wouldn’t be satisfied with the mere rhetoric of “saving every inch of our territory. “ When the reports and satellite maps show that that there are encroachments. The conflicting statements, Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar said on 17th June, that the Chinese side sought to erect a structure in the Galwan valley on our side of LAC, and on 19th our Honourable PM said no one had entered our territory. India-China relations have always been lopsided at India’s cost if we see history, Nehru went out of the way to promote China’s case at Bandung conference in 1955, but Zhou Enlai thought it was being patronised and we know the result, of having good faith. But after so many years, with so much enlightenment, things have not improved despite many moves made by the Modi government, to please China. I wonder who is to be blamed for all these failures, maybe they will still blame Nehru. Looking back during Dalai Lama’s visit last time, we were silent on Tibet, as China will not be happy, secondly when popular protests erupted in Hong Kong against China India maintained silence, there are many instances like this. The PM started a new tradition of the summit without Agenda with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019 at Tamilnadu ‘s Mamallapuram. India’s personality-based approach to foreign relations also helps China. Our approach has seen Nepal taking unfriendly action, against India, it even hurriedly got it approved new map by its parliament, attaching to Nepal bits and pieces of territory that is, to put it mildly, disputed. Our Government has uneasy relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and  Srilanka. While Pakistan, it’s known. China is coolly exploiting the situation, by extending financial support to improve their infrastructure, and thereby provoking them against us.
Had the government been foresighted and proactive enough, our troops, instead of doing just patrolling in the area, would have been occurring the rightful position, in the Galwan valley. We could have preempted, also, the standoff that cost us the lives of 20 Indian soldiers, etc. This is not to say that India doesn’t have any option. We shouldn’t back down till the Chinese restore status quo ante on the LAC. The economic boycott alone will not be that effective. We should isolate China diplomatically by supporting Hon Kong, Tibet, while expanding our ties with Taiwan, work closely with QUAD, lend our support to Uighurs, and oppose its adventurism in the South China Sea. Our Defence preparedness should be in top gear for the limited purpose of restoring the sanctity of LAC.