Winter lingered longer in 2020. It was early March and weather was still crisp and pleasant. No heat, no humidity. The only heat was in the newspaper pages and media channels, with shrill coverage of the CAA NRC protests/counter-protests and Delhi violence. Morning walks were a delight- spring had arrived and the trees in our neighborhood were a riot red and yellow flowers, when not exploding in lush green leaves.
Meanwhile, news of an unusual disease, first in China and then in Italy and France, started bubbling up since February. Media started following it and we started reading it with an arms-length curiosity as explosion of a volcano in Italy. A highly infectious virus, first detected in Wuhan was killing Chinese people and quickly spreading globally through international travelers who flew from/through China. First non-travel case in the U.S. was detected on Feb 26. Till March 10, there were 113K global cases, out of which 81K were in China. Although 33K cases and 872 deaths were reported in 109 countries by this time, including 9172 in Italy; 7513 in Korea; 7161 in Iran and over 1000 in France/Germany/Spain, it somehow still seemed like an international problem that will not affect us directly. Our reaction to Covid till mid-March was "oh, no! really? that's sad". U.S. had 472 cases and India detected 44 cases as on March 10. My school friends in New York were already afraid and were sharing their anxiety in school chat forum. We were empathetic, but could not relate to their fear. Between March 8-15, I had taken 8-10 bus rides, visited crowded market, eaten street food, drank roadside tea, met with friends, visited medicine store inside hospital- all without battering an eyelid. At workplace however, the inkling of a major global pandemic was there- emergency action plans were being drawn up for work coverage. Things started becoming strange at our doorstep when on March 19, Prime Minister called for a 1-day people's curfew on March 22, and appealed to citizens to clap and cheer loudly at 5 pm for 5 minutes to thank the healthcare workers. Little did we know that he was preparing the citizens and the Covid warriors for a long haul. March 22 saw a level of eerie urban emptiness that defied any recent memory. Powerful political parties, with all their might and protest angst, were unable to enforce the kind of total voluntary shutdown that India saw on this day. At 5 pm, millions of citizens also responded to Prime Minister's call and clapped and cheered and beat plates/bells to cheer the healthcare workers. India also announced ban on all international flights effective March 22. Still, the depth of the problem did not sink in in the minds of most people and people were taking the flow of events as an eventful aberration in their otherwise monotonous life. This is possibly because almost no one walking the earth in March had any memory of a global pandemic. The philosophical, chalta-hain attitude of Indians, coupled with misleading pseudo-scientific claims coming via social media were also to blame. WhatsApp was buzzing with forwards that seem ridiculous in hindsight- Covid-19 virus does not survive over 27 degree celcius/BCG vaccine of Indians will act as a shield against Covid, and so on.
Anyway, things started unfolding rapidly from there onwards. Many gasped in disbelief when on March 24, Government of India announced a 3-week complete lockdown from March 25-April 14, which was subsequently extended to May 1 and then to May 17 with increasing level of conditional relaxations in Covid-safe regions as time progressed. In between, there was social and political turmoil regarding return of millions of migrant workers from rich states to poor states. Additionally, Kolkata and south Bengal was hit by an unprecedented super-cyclonic storm Amphan on May 20, which brought in its trail unprecedented damage and hardship. This, when Covid cases were exploding and healthcare system already stretched thin. At other locations, there were floods and rains and China border posturing menace if nothing else. We survived all of that, to restart jostling for toehold in buses; to grab the freshest of cauliflower as soon as the farmers cooperative truck downloads its consignment in the makeshift morning stall in the sidewalk; to continue doing the work that of us do. Students have started online classes, maids and workmen are being allowed back in households; food establishments are limping back to business. Many in our circle of family, friends and colleagues have been infected; many recovered and some unfortunately have succumbed. At the time of writing this article, India has 6 million infected and 95,000 dead. This after 6 months of the onset of pandemic. Quite likely that several times more people were touched by the virus asymptotically, and cause of death of some more people were Covid as well.
Reflections
Despite all criticism, some for valid issues, overall the Government of India and state governments did absolutely amazing work in face of unprecedented challenge. Government and workers in all categories fought with chin up, stiff jaw and dogged determination. The spirit of entrepreneurship, laced with patriotism, was also in full bloom. I think there is much here that we can look back and be very very proud of. The continuously rising recovery rate and the falling fatality rate are the two significant achievements which mask several other significant achievements in inner layers. Some are listed below:
- PPE- In early March, WHO spoke of a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). At that time, India had zero manufacture of PPE and entire requirement was being met through imports, mostly from China. In September, India has 111 manufacturers with a manufacturing capacity of 187,000 PPEs per day. It is a $1 billion industry in India now.
- Testing capacity- From a capacity of mere 10,000 tests per day in early April, on September 27 India conducted a record number of over 1.2 million tests- a stunning 120 fold growth. This took the total number of such tests conducted to over 63 million, and counting.
- Laboratory infrastructure- From only 52 accredited Covid testing labs in March, India now has 1,773 laboratories- 1,061 in the government sector and 712 in private sector.
- Kit manufacture- India has a manufacturing capacity of 1 billion RT-PCR kits. Manufacturers have surplus stock, and government has allowed limited export in recent months. Globally there is still a big shortage and the market is expected to be over $5 billion.
- From vaccine manufacturer to vaccine developer- Indian drug companies are already major manufacturers of vaccines developed by international pharma companies, for distribution worldwide. India supplies more than 60% of vaccines supplied to the developing world. Serum Institute of Pune is world's largest vaccine maker. But this time, 4-6 Indian pharma companies are also in the race for Covid 19 vaccine development. Planning the logistics of the vaccine delivery is another mammoth task. No other nation has the size, complexity, socio-economic status variation and geographical spread as India. States have been told to submit their detailed plan for vaccine distribution to the Government of India by mid-October.
- Ventilator- At the start of the pandemic, the stock of ventilator in the entire country was around 47,000. Ventilator manufacturing capacity went up from about 300 per month from 8 manufacturers to over 30,000 from 16 manufacturers. This, coupled with shift in treatment protocol, has resulted in excess capacity in the country. Soon, Indian companies will be competing with global giants in the international market for this high end healthcare equipment.
- Overnight creation of healthcare infrastructure- Hundreds of thousands of bed capacity was added almost overnight. Delhi started a 10,000 bed new Covid hospital temporarily. Religious places, railway coaches, stadiums were converted to temporary hospitals/safe homes rapidly.
Other important collateral gains during Covid time, that are going to last-
- Huge boost to cleanliness- Covid achieved what Government's flagship project Swach Bharat Abhijan (Clean India Mission) aimed. What could not be done by massive awareness campaign costing $500 million, was done magically by Covid. Hygiene became a way of life all across the country.
- Clean air- As of 2019, 21 of the 30 cities with the worst PM2.5 pollution levels globally were in India with five cities in the top 10 in the national capital region of Delhi. Across Indian cities, a 20%-60% reduction was witnessed in the 68-day 4-phase lockdown periods for PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 and 10%-60% increase in daytime ozone concentrations. CBCB published a report titled 'Impact of Lockdown on the Ambient Air Quality', which sates that PM2.5 reduced by 24 per cent during the pre-lockdown phase and further reduced by almost 50 per cent during the lockdown phases as compared to levels observed during 2019. The grinding halt of vehicular traffic and sharp drop in industrial pollution are the obvious reasons. People from Punjab started getting clear view of the Himalayan mountain range 200 km away. Great details are available in https://ccapc.org.in/policy-briefs/2020/aq-changes-lockdown This once-in-lifetime air quality study opportunity without human activity presents tremendous insight to scientists and policy makers. Eventually, climate change will kill more people than Covid-19.
- Digital acceleration- The digital payment mindset has received a huge boost. India has been a notorious cash economy, even after demonetization. Since the beginning of lockdown in late March, Government distributed around $5 billion in cash benefits to citizens, entirely through digital payments. RBI data shows that India is now clocking around 100 million digital transactions a day with a volume of $67 billion- a five-times jump from 2016. Even the elderly have mastered the art of paying online and buying daily essentials in cashless payment mode.
- Social empathy- India seems to be giving and caring and sharing than ever before. In the early part of the lockdown, social, political and Hindu religious organizations were a the forefront of distributing food and essentials to the marginalized sections of the society. It multiplied after the super cyclone hit. Many people are trying to make themselves useful to others in some way.
- Recognition of existence of invisible migrant workers- Only when large number of fearful poor people tried (or were nudged) to return home, the governments realized there were that many migrant workers in the country. Various estimates have put the number of migrant workers in India between 0.3 million to 30 million. The exporting and importing states realized during Covid that they have no idea of the number of inter-state migrants. In future, maintaining of biometric-based log of migrant workers, as well as adherence to one nation-one ration card policy will be advisable for tracking.
- rejuvenation of time-tested Ayurvedic principles- Suddenly India seems to have been transported to the Vedic age- people eating all kinds of leaves, herbs, roots and plant extracts. People are also eating fruit, milk; drinking herbal extracts and practicing several ayurvedic techniques of doing water/oil cleaning of nostrils; practicing breathing techniques to calm the mind. Homeopathy is not too far behind too- amazing to see people gulping down arsenic laced solution based on recommendation that Arsenic Album medicine is useful for preventing Covid.
- Family bonding- For notoriously feudal minded urban Indians, doing household chores together as family was unthinkable. For everything, there is the ubiquitous mashi in the east/bai in other regions- part time lady workers who would come daily to sweep/wipe/wash/clean/cook. The excuse was convenient when both were working. Even if one was at home full time (I have to be carefully gender neutral here!), most often (s)he would be the director type, supervising and orchestrating all the action rather than doing all the song and dance by self. As a result, the families were thrown at the deep end of the pool when suddenly 4-6 hungry and anxious people were locked inside home 24X7, with no maid and no Swiggy. 3 full meals plus snacks on daily basis for months, in addition to all other household chores? A true OMG situation. However, from chaos emerged new order. Men rose to the occasion and women shined as always. The kitchen sink, the floor mop and the chopping board had a new boss. Food habit changed. Weighing machine started smiling after a long time. Families had lunch together after ages. People fell asleep happily tired. Urban India has been trying to ape the Western world for a few decades now- they suddenly became truly American or British quite by accident.
- Digital learning- This got a huge boost during Covid. Schools scrambled to put train teachers on Zoom/MS Teams/Google Classroom. Students mostly loved online classes as it gave them a sense of freedom and a less rigorous academic environment. Some school students found the digital environment empowering enough to challenge the teachers with their own point of view on the topic in a very university-like manner. The examination-based academic evaluation process had a tectonic shift too. Schools are resorting to various new and hybrid models ranging from open book format to on camera examination. This shake-up of a cozy solidified system of one-size-fits-all was welcome and much needed.
- Non-exam based selection process- For students seeking admission to college/university and not through all India competitive examination such as JEE or NEET, Covid brought a huge shift in mindset of both students and institutions. After pondering for weeks on how to proceed, when the exam-based selection process has been rendered infeasible, institutions discovered new method of evaluating the applicants. For art and design students, some did portfolio evaluation followed by virtual interview; some gave creative assignment that needed to be completed in 24 hours and uploaded in institute server; some did just interview over Zoom. The shakeup of the selection process was useful in removing the cobwebs in some way.
- Work-from-Home principle established- Suddenly, the employers found enough confidence in employees working from home, and were pleasantly surprised to see that it was working beautifully. The online systems such as Office365, digital platforms such as Salesforce and meeting apps such as MS Teams or Zoom are robust and reliable. Productivity has not gone down noticeably. In fact, after a few months employees are complaining that workload has become more than business as usual. The IT companies, who already allowed work from home, exceeded themselves to announce that most employees will work from home for the next one year. In April, Directorate General of Training announced "Work from Home guidelines during the COVID-19" for half a million employees of Government of India. This statement from Department of Personnel & Training in May sums up the experience- “Many of the ministries/departments in Government of India have successfully managed and rendered exemplary results in combat against the ongoing pandemic outbreak during the lockdown period by leveraging e-office and video conferencing facilities of National Informatics Centre (NIC). This was the first-of-its-kind experience in the Government of India” This also had huge collateral benefit- urban mobility reduced dramatically, saving fossil fuel and resulting in clean air.
