COVID-19 presents us the Time to Think what we Didn’t !

It is the dream of every country to attain the ‘Developed Country’status , and once that status is attained, they aspire to be a ‘Super-Power’. Dr.Kalam, one of the greatest visionaries of India had this dream that India should become a Super-Power by 2020. India is aspiring to be that with able leadership but thanks to COVID-19 the road to such promise is now temporarily halted.

Think about the Environment

Ramachandra Guha, Historian and Author of ‘India After Gandhi : The History of World’s Largest Economy’ in an interview with BBC in 2012 listed several challenges which will hold India back from becoming a superpower. One of them is the sustainability of present patterns of resource consumption.The way we consume energy and resources has changed a lot since 2012 but the way we manage our wastes is yet to be made anew and efficient. World Health Organization deemed that Air Quality Index (AQI) levels in cities above 25 is unsafe. In Delhi it is usually at or above 200 and sometimes even a lot more. In Feb, 2020 it was at 300 but because of the lockdown it has come down to 100 recently. Central Pollution Control Board, Govt of India reported that the air quality of India’s capital has attained a satisfactory level. 

Shashi Tharoor rightly said after noting the purity of air in Delhi – “the blissful sight of blue skies and the joy of breathing clean air provides just the contrast to illustrate what we are doing to ourselves the rest of the time”. In Tamil Nadu’s capital Chennai’s AQI is 49 and is deemed ‘Good’. True after decades we are getting Fresh Air everywhere.

Water pollution has also dropped much and the case of River Ganga (or) Ganges could be taken for instance. Considered as a Holy river, Ganges originates at the Gangotri glacier in the western Himalayas. This river is actually considered to be among the top 10 most polluted rivers in the world because of human waste and industrial wastes that spoils it daily.

What Rs.2000 +Crores budget to clean Ganges could not do, COVID-19 has done. Yes, due to the lockdown, there has been a remarkable change in Ganga’s water quality. Media reports states that “the water quality of river Ganga at Har-ki-Pauri in the holy city of Haridwar has been classified as fit for drinking”.

TNIE reported Dr .P.K. Mishra, Professor at Chemical Engineering and Technology, IIT-BHU saying “there has been 40-50 percent improvement in the quality of water in Ganga”. The lockdown led to Industries around the river that poured their wastes and effluents into it to shut their plant, thus making the river get its holiness a little.   After this lockdown are we going to let this go? Is it not the time to think about our environment’s safety?

Think about value of Human Life

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Jan 11, 2020 in Nagpur at a Road Safety Week function “five lakh accidents take place in the country every year and around 1.5 lakh people are killed, and between 2.5-3 lakh people are injured. The GDP loss to the country is two per cent. Besides, 62 per cent of those killed in road accidents are in the 18-35 age group”. We can say that loss of life is happening daily in India due to COVID-19 but at the same time we have been given time to sit and think for a minute about how much loss of life happened before this pandemic. 1.5 lakh people die in India due to road accidents a year.

A sizeable portion of youth have taken life for granted. Globally, some 35 million people are estimated to suffer from drug use disorders and who require treatment services, according to the World Drug Report-2019 released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).For details on how drugs and alochol are hurting India’s youth, consider reading Magnitude of Substance use in India 2019 report by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Govt of India). However Lockdown has made it very tough for drug and liquor to reach users. This is actually good.

Think about Farmers’s Issues

Another thing you should note down during this lockdown is the food donations that is happening everywhere in India. In India’s recent history, the struggles of farmers were only seen by the public but they were not felt. Now without usual load of rice, veggies and dhal, (the sweet and savouries) that pain was slightly felt by us all at occasions during this lockdown. Fortunately, we have adequate food and generous hearts to feed the needy and hungry. Grocery is as important as the vaccine now, and farmers are no doubt as valuable as doctors especially at this point of time. But they don’t get the reward they actually deserve.

The Economic Tomes reported that the Indian basmati rice industry had its highest ever exports of around 4.71 Billion US Dollars in 2018-2019.That is just the Basmati Rice Industry we are talking here. According to the directorate of Rice Development, Government of India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Traq, Kuwait, U.K, USA, Yemen Republic, Oman and Canada have been the major buyers of Indian basmati rice.  This is just one part of India’s agriculture products that the world loves to have. The farmers are taking it hard on themselves to grow these crops. Is this not the time for all of us to realize their value and stand for them when this crisis settles? Farmers deserve better financial support and when they don’t get that, it is only right to stand for them together. Don’t you think so?

There are many things to think about in this lockdown period for the empowered and educated youth of this country. Everyone has to give their time to talk, know, debate, discuss and support these farmers, the environment and quality of life. All these changes that was discussed is because of the fact that this Lockdown is in effect. Once lifted, are we gonna let the past kill the present? If we change our perspectives, we can shape this country into a superpower quite sooner than we may think. Quality demands sacrifice and smartness. Let us try to be more smart,so that we may sacrifice less and reap benefits more. COVID-19 though a lethal infection, has something for all of us to learn.