INDIAN POSITIVES IN THE DARK CORONAVIRUS CLOUD

Positivity in the time of lockdowns, containment, contact tracing, social distancing etc, is the mantra; a call to spot the silver lining in the dark Coronavirus cloud. The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a disaster of unimaginable proportions; manmade or not, is a matter of debate. Yet, as they say, every mishap is an opportunity for change and improvement.

This ‘push back’ from our environment has thrown up several flecks of positivity as it has led to an introspection of the way things are currently done and in finding ways of doing them differently and better. Importantly, what is more inspiring is that beacons of positivity can be spotted only within the opportunities the COVID-19 crisis has thrown up, but also in the very response to the crisis.   

The points of positivity span horizontally the domains of public policy, economics, culture, environment to name a few; and vertically from the mankind at large, to each one of us individually.

Besides the more palpable positive spin-offs such as significant reduction in air pollution, lesser CO2 emissions, our rivers being a lot cleaner, fewer street crimes and motor accidents etc, there are several more profound ones. Here is my list.

 ? India’s biotechnology prowess is a shining star in this crisis. Biopharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech Ltd is partnering University of Wisconsin-Madison and US-based company FluGen to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. Serum Institute of India, Biological E, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Zydus Cadila are other Indian firms that have vaccine candidates which are in pre-clinical trial stages. In a post-Covid world it is important that India is at the forefront of the global effort to combat this pandemic.

 ? Kerala became the first state in India to receive rapid-polymerase chain reaction (rapid-PCR) testing kits from Pune-based Mylab, which can reduce the testing time for coronavirus considerably (2.5 hours) and prevent community spread of coronavirus. In addition, the collaborative effort between the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram, and the privately-held uBio Biotechnology Systems, Kochi, succeeded in creating a low-cost rapid diagnostic kit based on antigen-antibody reactions for Covid-19. This test does not require a swab sample.

 ? The Indian Government has now cleared several made-in-India kits for testing. The firms approved to supply these kits are Gujarat-based Voxtur Bio, Delhi-based Vanguard Diagnostics and the government-owned HLL Lifecare.

? In another first, a Trivandrum-based research institution has developed a substitute diagnostic kit for Covid-19 using the reverse transcriptase loop-mediated amplification of viral nucleic acid (RT-LAMP) technique. This kit is claimed to be less expensive and more accurate than the current diagnostic kit which uses the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. The point here is that the covid crisis is providing the much needed stimulus to basic research in India, which had been floundering in recent years.

? The covid crisis has been a good opportunity to get our data sets correct. It has provided a rare chance to study baseline pollution. This is possibly the best time to monitor and study seismic events, soil structure and natural waves as there is little transient noise being recorded as many parts of the world are in lockdown. The transient seismic “noise” from vehicles, trains, metros, construction work etc which used to mask the sound of seismic activity beneath the soil is now reduced greatly, according to analysis by seismologists.

? The COVID-19 crisis has also brought into focus the state our public health system; a regular item on our public policy agenda, yet least acted upon. The Government will now be finally compelled to invest in its capacities. Utilisation levels of government health budgets in India have been extremely low. In 2018-19, only 59% of the total National Health Mission budget for the year was spent. At the hospital level, spending was even lower — only 38% of the funds made available for hospital upgradation were spent. This will now have to change for the better.

? The crisis has brought to the centre stage the toil and sacrifice of our warriors in white, the community health workers. From the super specialist in AIIMS, the GMP in the public health centres, the nurses, to the oft disregarded ward staff and sanitation workers. They all deserve every bit of our appreciation and gratitude.

? It has placed the spotlight on hygiene; in public and work spaces, residential areas and finally on to personal hygiene. COVID-19 will do for hygiene and sanitation in our country what the Swach Bharat Mission has struggled to do so, thus far.

? In a move to take hygiene to the next level India’s top 12 packaged consumer goods makers have signed up to work with the government for Suraksha Stores—an initiative in which companies through their network of distributors will adopt neighbourhood stores and help them with education and certification on safety and hygiene standards. Initially, one million stores will be covered; the scope will be widened as more companies join the initiative.

? Also in focus is waste management including its safe disposal. While we all are contending with domestic waste, particularly now, in question and quite rightly so, is the biomedical waste generated at the hospital/isolation centres. In addition, peculiar to the current situation of home and self-quarantine, is the biomedical wastes being generated at our homes which can be a source of infection.

? Another bright spot has been the manner in which the Indian telecom sector has withstood challenges posed by this crisis. It has come out shining. It may be noted that in recent months the telecom sector has been ravaged by regulatory demands and internecine competition. The post covid work culture and business environment is going to be exceeding reliant on a robust telecom infrastructure and this should provide the much needed impetus to the sector.

? Private security agencies, which were tagged as essential services during the covid lockdown, have quietly meet expectations. It is one of the few services that has seen marginal retrenchment of workforce as idle assets continued to require securing. These guards have performed well as an adjunct to the local Police in providing security and required assistance. Hopefully their creditable performance would translate into better training and working conditions.

? New-age digital payment modes, such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar-Enabled Payment System (AePS) and Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), are playing a crucial role in maintaining social distancing, while ensuring seamless cash transfer to beneficiaries under the recently announced Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). As on 13 April, more than 320 million beneficiaries had been given cash support through direct benefit transfers (DBT) which is part of the ?1.7 trillion PMGKY package, announced on 26 March to help the poor battle the impact of covid-19. Yet the current crisis has brought some glaring shortcomings relating to access to cash and services. It is an opportunity for the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity (specifically the Indian telecom ecosystem) to step up and get its house in order to address these issues.

? There is an opportunity for the Indian Railways also as freight traffic has risen during lockdown with trucks have gone off the road and the Railways have stepped in to transport essentials. The number of freight wagons on the tracks rose to 790,000 between 23 March and 14 April, compared to 490,000 wagons the same period last year. Over 20,400 tonnes of consignments were loaded during lockdown, earning the railways ?75.4 million. Railways is a non-polluting mode of transport. However with the Railways as a policy using higher freight costs to cross-subsidise passenger fares, this resulted in the freight switching to the cheaper road transport leading to higher air pollution and highway congestion. The lockdown period is an opportunity for the Indian railways already struggling with budgetary issues to revitalise its freight infrastructure.

? The Covid-19 has also put to test some of the Governments flagship welfare schemes, revealing gaps which would not have surfaced in routine circumstances. The e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) launched on 14 April 2016 is a pan-India electronic trade portal linking agri markets across states. There are 585 mandis in 16 States and two Union territories that have been integrated on the e-NAM portal. Farmer collectives can upload a picture of their produce and quality parameters from their premises to help distant bidders to visualise the produce before bidding. However distressing reports of farmers destroying their produce for want of buyers or transport indicated that all was not well with e-NAM.

? The Union government has since then updated the e-NAM, with two new software updates so that farmers don’t have to travel long distance to sell their harvests. The two software modules – warehouse-based trading module to facilitate trade from warehouses and farmer producer organisations’ module – are aimed at reducing the need to physically move entire harvests to aggregators for sale.

? The crisis will also, at the corporate level, breathe more live into BCP- Business Continuity Planning. It is the least operationalised instrument of incident management. Emergency management of most business entities start and end at the Emergency Response Plan and the Crisis Management Plan.

 ? The Crisis should provide a shot in the arm to Impact investing – or socially responsible investing which has struggled so far. It is expected that post-covid money flowing into sustainable stocks is likely to accelerate in the coming years. Investment decisions would be biased towards companies incorporating positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies.

? On the personal front, it is good time to count your blessings. You wake up in the morning, reach for the light switch and you have light, check your mobile you have signal, go to the washroom room you have running water, the Wi-Fi is working, there is food on the table .And yet there the nation is in an unprecedented lockdown to safeguard us from a highly infectious pandemic. You cannot thank enough all those people who are making it happen.

 ? It is also a good time to be compassionate in ways more than writing a cheque to your neighbourhood do-gooder NGO. It is an opportunity to reach out, with your time and resources, to the less fortunate. It is time to do what you always felt you would do for the less privileged.

? Besides improvement in personal hygiene, the Covid-19 has taught us Indians how to queue up correctly; without looming over the person in front and jamming your back pack into the person behind. My personal favourite is the ban on sale of gutka and declaration of ‘spitting in public place’ as an offence.

? Finally, it is the realisation that it is truly a ‘connected’ world, society, community, colony and household. You are as vulnerable or healthy as the people who serve, assist and support you. Your maid, driver, security guard, the milkman, the newspaper boy…….