Dear Dr. Gohain, Thanks for your apt and succinct observation.
Apart from its relentless push towards a "Hindu Rashtra" - with all its concomitant effects, the regime is also too obsessed with minting money. The Rafale "deal" and the PMCARES fund are just too major and all-too-blatant illustrations. (One excellent analysis of how the watchdog institutions are now reduced to playing second fiddle to the regime in pursuance of its twin objectives, in terms of a case study of the Rafale "deal": < https://m.thewire.in/article/government/the-rafalisation-of-india>.) The vaccine approval business is yet another - though not all that stark. But, the end result is loss of too many human lives. Reports of monumental undercounting of deaths are pouring in from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. (Ref.: <https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=481472826454126>, < https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=443543233608642&id=100038589066792>, < https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/wait-for-final-rites-get-longer-as-crematoriums-across-gujarat-overburdened-7272440/lite/> and <https://youtu.be/UkM4vqjbCts>.) The Leaders of the regime have the scantiest regard for human lives. News has just come in that, at least, four journalists covering the West Bengal poll who, in the process, had recently come in contact with Amit Shah have reported covid +ve (ref.: < https://drishtibhongi.in/2021/04/19/4-journalists-covid-19-positive-after-interview-with-amit-shah/ >). Two candidates have died. Yet, the BJP opposed the compression of the poll schedule as demanded by the TMC and the EC has duly obliged. (Ref.: < https://m.timesofindia.com/india/ec-not-to-club-remaining-bengal-phases-tmcs-request-declined/amp_articleshow/82105469.cms >.) Its way of containing resultant mass alienation is to constantly keep fomenting paranoia and hatred. That's virtually its only card and also the trump card. Quite unfortunately, that appears to be effective. At least, as yet. But, the second wave - with its stupendous and dizzyingly rising human cost, may, even then, eventually turn out to be a bit too much. Let's see and, in the meanwhile, keep doing whatever we can. Unless it changes rather sooner than later, it's doom for "India". Best, Sukla On Mon, 19 Apr 2021, 18:39 Dr Hiren Gohain, <[email protected]> wrote: > What a monumental folly!Can only be spawned by a mad ideology immune to > human sympathy.Like the Nazi plans for inferior humans. > HG. > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: Mohammad Imran <[email protected]> > Date: Mon, 19 Apr, 2021, 17:17 > Subject: State-owned vaccine manufacturers sit idle as India scours for > jabs > To: mohammad imran <[email protected]> > > > > > https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/state-owned-vaccine-manufacturers-sit-idle-as-india-scours-for-jabs-report > > State-owned vaccine manufacturers sit idle as India scours for jabs: > ReportWhile > SII and Bharat Biotech, both private firms, struggle to meet India’s > domestic requirement besides international obligations, the government is > giving no job to seven public sector firms[image: State-owned vaccine > manufacturers sit idle as India scours for jabs: Report] > > - > - > > <https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalheraldindia.com%2Findia%2Fstate-owned-vaccine-manufacturers-sit-idle-as-india-scours-for-jabs-report&text=State-owned%20vaccine%20manufacturers%20sit%20idle%20as%20India%20scours%20for%20jabs%3A%20Report&hashtags=> > - > > <https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalheraldindia.com%2Findia%2Fstate-owned-vaccine-manufacturers-sit-idle-as-india-scours-for-jabs-report> > - > > <https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalheraldindia.com%2Findia%2Fstate-owned-vaccine-manufacturers-sit-idle-as-india-scours-for-jabs-report> > > [image: Sanjukta Basu] > Sanjukta Basu > <https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/author/670100/sanjukta-basu>Published: > 18 Apr 2021, 8:50 PM > Engagement: 890 > > Presently, two private Indian vaccine manufacturers-- Serum Institute of > India (SII) and Bharat Biotech -- are struggling to meet India’s domestic > demand of 90 million doses every month besides their other contractual > obligations. But they are producing about 70 million doses per month, which > is considerably below the required quantity. > ADVERTISING > > Shocking as it may be, the Narendra Modi government did not consider any > of its own institutes for manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines, an investigative > report by Down To Earth (DTE) magazine reveals. > > These include the Central Research Institute (CRI) in Himachal Pradesh; > BCG Vaccine Laboratory (BCGVL), Pasteur Institute of India (PII) and HLL > Biotech in Tamil Nadu; Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation > Limited, Uttar Pradesh; Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited, > Maharashtra; and Human Biologicals Institute, Telangana. The > state-of-the-art Integrated Vaccine Complex based in Chengalpattu, Tamil > Nadu has also been lying idle since its inauguration in 2016, says the > report. > > It is clear by now that vaccination is the only way to combat the highly > contagious coronavirus. And it is here that India is falling behind. There > is crunch of vaccines across the country as Covid infections and deaths > climb at maddening pace. Till the first week of April this year, India has > managed to fully immunise barely 0.9 per cent of its adult population with > double doses of the vaccine; another 12.7 million people have received a > single dose. Reports of vaccine shortages have emerged from across the > country including Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra among others. > > However, India has disbanded its public sector vaccine manufacturers to > make way for private players, finds the DTE investigation. While in a > belated move, on April 16, 2021 the government announced a plan to include > three PSUs in the vaccine-making process, three major vaccine manufacturing > units under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which have the > maximum expertise and capacity to produce vaccines, have not been included > in this list, the report reveals. Even the Integrated Vaccine Complex was > not included. > > The report says that on March 17, Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav > Thackeray had specifically asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a > video-conferencing to allow the transfer of Covaxin technology to > state-owned Haffkine Institute in Mumbai. The Centre has not yet given a > go-ahead. > > Before the Covid-19 pandemic, India was the world leader in vaccine > production. But presently, China and USA are manufacturing more Covid-19 > vaccines than India. > > The DTE report suggests that India’s public sector needs a second chance. > Government needs to put money into the public sector to ramp up their > infrastructure and vaccine production. Nations the world over are realising > that profit-driven private players might not be enough during the > unprecedented crisis, the report says. > > “In India, the public sector should be revived to its full capacity with > adequate support to strengthen its inherent strengths on expertise and > skilled human resource,” Y. Madhavi, researcher at the Council of > Scientific and Industrial Research–National Institute of Science, > Technology And Development Studies, is quoted as saying. > > The report also questions the government’s decision to identify only one > company (Bharat Biotech) for technology transfer. “Involving more companies > in manufacturing could have averted the shortage,” says Vibha Varshney, the > lead investigator and writer of the magazine’s report. > > The three-part investigation also finds that most of the vaccines for the > novel coronavirus disease through March 2021 were manufactured in China, > followed by the United States, India, the European Union and the United > Kingdom. Amongst them the US and UK have kept all their vaccines for > domestic consumption. EU countries are sharing within themselves. > > India and China are the only countries exporting almost half of their > vaccines to other nations, mostly those in the developing and > underdeveloped world. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZji4MDyxvZvLkqJFofB0%2BiZ_OVXsx%3DubGS3HV6ZvTZ3RA%40mail.gmail.com.
