The British government on Friday announced a “green list” of countries from which travellers are not required to quarantine upon return to England.
Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand are among 12 countries and regions on the “green list” of travel destinations from May 17 for people in England, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
Speaking at a press conference at Downing Street, Shapps said COVID tests will still be required before and after travel to these destinations.
Shapps described the step as “tentative” as concerns remain “about resurgence of COVID”.
Under the new traffic light system, Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal have been added to the “red list”, which means travellers from those countries will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days on their return.
Shapps said the government’s latest decision was “necessarily cautious”. “We must make sure the countries we reconnect with are safe,” he added.
Countries on the green, amber and red lists would be reviewed every three weeks from May 17, according to Shapps.
The British government is only responsible for coronavirus restrictions in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own policies in relation to public health matters. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not said when they might ease their strict travel restrictions.
Another 2,490 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,431,043, according to official figures released Friday.
The country also reported another 15 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,598. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
More than 35 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
Earlier Friday, Public Health England declared a coronavirus strain first detected in India, known as B1617.2, as “variant of concern”.
Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is “still not out of the woods” amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
NEW YORK (TIP): As India’s health-care system faces a crisis amid a deadly second wave of coronavirus pandemic, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) is leading several efforts to bring relief to India.
The largest ethnic medical organization in the US, representing the 80,000 strong Indian American physician community in the US, airlifted the first batch of 1,000 Oxygen Concentrators on April 29 through SEWA International, according to a press release.
In collaboration with its partners on ground in India, AAPI has also identified destinations based on urgency and acute need for the medical equipment, AAPI president Dr. Sudhakar Jonnalagadda stated.
“We have no doubt, this is just the beginning of a long road ahead,” he said. “We are assessing the situation on the ground constantly and coordinating with various local task forces and teams.”
Dr. Sajani Shah, chair of AAPI Board of Trustees urged members to stay engaged and provide feedback to help AAPI tackle problems in a more effective and efficient manner
Educating the public and the physicians in India is vital to combat the virus,” says Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, president-elect of AAPI.
She has reached out to the Indian media across the platform offering regular series of educational materials to be published in India for the use and implementation of effective ways to treat patients who are impacted by Covid-19.
Dr. Ravi Kolli, AAPI vice president urged members to help secure much needed ventilators, which will also be critically scarce as the morbidity and hospitalization surge, out matching the supplies.
“AAPI is facilitating interaction between US and Indian doctors to advise them about the evidence-based protocols to treat Covid-19 patients,” Dr. Jonnalagadda said.
AAPI is also working on relaxing the restrictions on US physicians to treat patients in India, he said.
AAPI, Dr. Jonnalagadda said encourages using this route because they give global malpractice coverage and help Indian American physicians to register in India by renewing their India licenses.
AAPI is in constant touch with Indian Embassy and Indian Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan to see how best “we can help our motherland during this horrific pandemic,” he said.
AAPI has written to a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lock down the country to contain the spread of the virus, and to ramp up the vaccinations.
“AAPI has been in the forefront to help India to combat the pandemic,” said Dr. Satheesh Kathula, treasurer, thanking members and non-members for their donations.
AAPI would like to help India in a big way, said Dr. Jonnalagadda urging all community leaders to educate their members to be on alert to avoid spread of the virus.
WASHINGTON (TIP): US House members Raja Krishnamoorthi and Judy Chu joined an expert panel hosted by the US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) to address violence and hatred against Asian Americans and what’s being done to keep them safe. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, there has been a serious increase in the amount of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence throughout the country, noted a USINPAC press release.
The May 1 panel discussion was part of its bi-weekly series of panels addressing issues of importance to the Indian American community.
“It is deeply disturbing, this rise of hate,” said Krishnamoorthi, Indian American House member from Illinois noting, “The rise in hate crimes has been 169 percent in just the last year.”
“That number has also been going up steadily in the past five years,” he said. “Combined with domestic, violent extremism, driven largely by white nationalism, this is an issue that we have to be worried about.”
“We have to fight discrimination, bigotry, intolerance, prejudice and hate wherever it rears its ugly head,” said Krishnamoorthi.
“This has been an incredibly difficult year for all of us as our country has struggled with a dangerous pandemic, an economic recession and historic grappling with issues of systemic racism, prejudice and violence,” said Chu.
“Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, there have been over 3,800 reported anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents, fueled by Donald Trump’s usage of the terms ‘China Virus’ and ‘Kung Flu,’ fanning the flames of xenophobia.”
Both Krishnamoorthi and Chu addressed specific instances of violence toward Asian Americans that have been widely publicized, including the shootings in Indianapolis and Atlanta.
They both also spoke about legislation Congress is taking up to tackle this pressing issue. Krishnamoorthi discussed his bipartisan Hate Crimes Commission Act which is co-sponsored by 150 US representatives.
Chu mentioned her meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office to discuss his plan and the US Senate’s 94-1 passing of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which includes the text from her bill, the No Hate Act.
“The world is facing a lot of challenges, especially in the United States as the pandemic has spiraled out of control and, as a consequence of that, we have seen actions that have impacted the Asian American community,” said USINPAC Chairman Sanjay Puri.
“We brought together this distinguished panel to discuss this issue and inform Indian Americans, and all Asian Americans, about what is being done to keep them safe.”
Experts joining the panel included Dr. Pawan Dhingra, Professor of American Studies at Amherst College; Shawn Singh Ghuman, Co-Founder of the National Sikh Campaign; Dr. Maria Hwang, Professor of East Asian and Gender Studies at McGill University in Montreal; Aarti Kohli, Executive Director for Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus.
NEW YORK (TIP): From cash to medicines to oxygen supplies, Indian American organizations are mobilizing resources for Covid-19 relief in India hit by a devastating second wave of the pandemic with 260,000 new cases in last seven days. The total case load is nearing a staggering 20 million. Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of global Indian diaspora leaders, are launching their ChaloGive for India campaign which began with an initial $1 million raised through their private donor network of members. “Our hope is that this urgent ChaloGive campaign for India will inspire the broader community to give generously and support India’s fight against Covid-19,” said Ashish Shah, Senior Director, Philanthropy and Community Engagement at Indiaspora. The grassroots initiative ChaloGive for India will facilitate donations to trusted and vetted high-impact nonprofits that are working on the ground during the second wave of Covid-19 relief, the organization said. Visitors to ChaloGive.org will have an option to give toward three major areas of Covid-19 relief. First, they can give for creation of urgently needed Covid-19 care centers and makeshift hospitals through nonprofit WISH Foundation. Second, make direct cash transfer to families who have lost a primary earning member through nonprofit GiveIndia. Third, they can provide food relief and livelihood assistance for migrant workers and other underserved populations through EdelGive Foundation to nonprofits Goonj and Jan Sahas. Donors from anywhere in the world can either choose one area to donate to or make a contribution that will be evenly split between the three areas listed. US donors also will receive a tax exemption. “India needs all the help it can get and many I know are impacted. This is the time for all of us who can to give generously,” said Indiaspora member, Jay Vijayan, founder and CEO of California-based Tekion Corporation, who donated toward the campaign. Starting with its inaugural ChaloGive giving campaign in October 2019, Indiaspora launched its second campaign, ChaloGive for Covid-19 in April 2020 during the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis. Another leading community organization, the American India Foundation, has received a donation of $8.9 million, its largest ever gift, from Matercard for Covid-19 relief efforts. The donation will be used to buy and place portable hospitals in areas of greatest need across India. AIF will install “2000 portable beds in India, addressing the immediate healthcare needs of the nation,” which “will help an estimated 2.5 million Indians to gain access to healthcare,” the organization said. Earlier, AIF said it was sourcing & delivering 500 oxygen concentrators to Delhi hospitals in the next three days to swiftly shore up supplies of oxygen in the capital. Houston-based Sewa International has ramped up their fundraising goal to $10 million to fight the pandemic’s second devastating wave. The nonprofit organization said its volunteers in the US and in India, are working round the clock to rush medical equipment and essential supplies to hospitals, institutions, and individuals in India. Sewa International is seeking the advice of a team of doctors in the US on procuring the appropriate medical equipment and supplies to be shipped to India. Gitesh Desai, President, Houston Chapter of Sewa International, told ABC 13 News-Houston that 400 oxygen-concentrators have been already shipped to India, and 2,184 more would be shipped shortly. Sewa which has started ‘Help India Defeat Covid-19’ campaign to ship oxygen concentrators to Indian hospitals, is also providing food and medicines to about 10,000 families and more than 1,000 orphanages, and senior citizen centers across the country.
“Sewa is building a Digital Helpdesk to provide critical information on ambulance services, hospital bed availability, and blood and medicinal supplies to people,” aid Swadesh Katoch, Sewa’s Vice President for Disaster Recovery.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (APPI) is also rushing 200 oxygen concentrators to Indian hospitals with the help of non-profit SEWA International.
The largest ethnic medical organization in the US also plans to offer tele-Consult services in India in local languages and organize webinars to educate AAPI members and their counterparts in India on zoom.
AAPI has also identified three telehealth platforms that would offer free service to physicians from India/US and patients:
Dr. Anupama Gotimukula, President-Elect, who is leading the AAPI Initiative to help India said groups of physicians will form smaller groups with Indian physicians in their own state/region and do it yourselves (DIY) in their own language for Tele-Consult.
The Google sheet prepared by AAPI has a list of volunteers that would be updated regularly.
In addition, with the purpose of educating AAPI members and their counterparts in India, AAPI is organizing educational webinars with small groups of doctors on zoom.
AAPI is offering MD-To-MD zoom chats and discussions about one’s patients, disease, course of medicines, and progress daily 7-8 am IST/9:30-10:30 am EST.
Two leading Indian born CEOs, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, have pledged to rush critical aid to the land of their birth.
“I am heartbroken by the current situation in India. I’m grateful the US government is mobilizing to help.” Nadella tweeted last week.
In a Twitter post, Pichai said that he was “devastated to see the worsening Covid crisis,” and announced 1.35 billion rupees ($18 million) in aid from Google and its employees.
Give India, an online donation platform, will receive a grant for families hit by the crisis. The company is also contributing $15 million in free advertising for public health information campaigns.
Indian American technology guru and entrepreneur, Vinod Khosla, has also pledged $10 million towards providing oxygen supplies to India.
“The Khosla Family is adding $10 million to @GiveIndia to its previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need,” he tweeted Sunday night.
“There is large and very urgent needs and a day’s delay costs lives. One day at one hospital without oxygen had eight people die gasping for breath.”
-US Ambassador in India not only noted the “difficult times” that India is currently facing with resurgence of COVID-19 but also pledged to help the nation.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Daniel B. Smith on May 3 was appointed as US Charge d’Affaires to India and said that he is ‘ready to work’. He was the former US acting Secretary of State and in 2018, he took the role as the director of the Foreign Service Institute. Prior to this, Smith has also been the Career Ambassador in the United States and in 2014, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. In 2010, the present US envoy to India was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece). Smith entered the US government in 2007 as Executive Secretary.
Further, Smith not only noted the “difficult times” that India is currently facing with the resurgence of COVID-19 and shortage of medical supplies but also pledged to help the nation as New Delhi assisted Washington. Smith’s maiden remarks on Twitter after taking over the position came as United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) fifth emergency shipment in five days landed in India on May 4. The consignment carried more than 500 oxygen concentrators to help the hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients along with more than 100,000 N95 masks to ensure the safety of the frontline workers.
While US Ambassador in India pledged to enhance US-India cooperation amid COVID-19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in person with Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Dr S Jaishankar in London on May 2 when both senior diplomats the cooperation over COVID-19 resources along with other issues such as Indo-Pacific landscape and the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Further, even the US Department of Defense has said the final two flights of essential supplies for India have been delayed and will arrive by May 5.
MINNEAPOLIS (TIP): A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black man’s constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air, according to indictments unsealed Friday, May 7.
The three-count indictment names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin, Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care. Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.
Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Kueng appeared via videoconference in US District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.
Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death and is in Minnesota’s only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Friday’s federal court appearance.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd — state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back and Lane held down Floyd’s legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judge’s refusal to move the trial due to publicity.
Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Messages left with attorneys for two of the other officers were not immediately returned, and an attorney for the fourth officer was getting in an elevator and disconnected when reached by The Associated Press.
Floyd’s arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked protests nationwide and widespread calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.
Gunjan Rastogi (left) and Ajoy Dube participate in the webinar.
NEW YORK (TIP): The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) organized a virtual interactive zoom meeting on Thursday, April 29, 2021 with the Indian Consulate Office in New York, NY. Topics focused on clarifying changes/issues relating to OCI, emergency visa issuance and other related travel guidelines.
NFIA, formed in New York in 1980, is the largest Indian American National umbrella organization looking after the interest of our community and also promoting US-India Relations.
This effort was initiated and organized by NFIA’s Regional Vice President (RVP), Mrs. Gunjan Rastogi, who single-handedly spearheaded and successfully executed in a relatively short time frame. This was necessitated due to the fervent requests made by the Indo-American community as well as the community-at-large to hold another session with the Indian consulate office in an effort to gain a better understanding of the OCI changes/issues. The consulate office included Honorable DCG, Shatrughna Sinha and Honorable Consul (CPV) Murugesan Ramaswamy and the zoom live event was attended by approximately 280 participants from all over the United States.
The meeting kicked off with a welcome address by Gunjan Rastogi, followed by a moment of silence observed in honor of the COVID-19 victims in India. Next, NFIA president, Ajoy Dube made introductory remarks. The consulate office spent the first hour dedicated to the aforementioned topics which were clearly explained in an informative manner and this then transitioned into a Q&A session moderated by Mukesh Modi and Nilima Madan, both residents of the New York area. Several NFIA members attended were recognized at the event, including NFIA past presidents Subash Razdan, Sudip Gorakhshakar, Dr. Thomas Abraham and Angela Anand as well as NFIA Board members Raj Razdan, Dr. Hari Har Singh, Dr. Satish Mishra, Sunny Gabhawala, Aparna Hande, Prashanthi Harathi, Kamini Khare and Ashok Patnaik. Further, Mrs. Rastogi also recognized the presidents of the 13 supporting organizations who participated in the event: NIAASC, RANA, UPANY, Kerala Center, World Vegan Vision, India Home, Indian American Action Group, Metropolitan Asian Family Services, Navika Group of companies, Senior Community Center of Vaishnav Temple, Indo-American Senior Citizen NY, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and IALI.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks and the RVP expressed her appreciation to both theconsulate officers and to everyone in attendance. The Deputy Consul General encouraged the viewers to keep sending any unanswered questions to the Indian consulate office. Everyone in attendance felt that the interactive session provided the details and cleared a lot of lingering doubts relating to the OCI and the issuance of the emergency visas.
NEW YORK (TIP): A Sikh man was attacked with a hammer by a Black assailant who shouted at him “I don’t like you” and “You’re not the same skin” at a hotel in Brooklyn here, prompting a prominent New-York based advocacy group to call on investigators to examine if the assault was a hate crime incident. Sumit Ahluwalia, 32, of Astoria has said his assailant was fueled by racial hatred, according to a report. Ahluwalia said the man, a Black, assaulted him on April 26 at his workplace, the Quality Inn in Brownsville. He said the man came into the lobby of the hotel at around 8 am and started shouting while the front desk lady asked him if he needed help. Ahluwalia stepped into the lobby to speak with the man and to seek the hotel security guard. At that point, the assailant “started running towards me, very fast, and he put his hand in the pocket — I thought, ‘He’s pulling out a gun”’, the report said.
Pleading with the man, the victim said, “What happened? You’re my brother.” The attacker responded, “You’re not the same skin,” Ahluwalia said, adding that the man then “banged on my head with the hammer so hard.” The assailant then screamed, “I don’t like you,” and ran away, according to the report.
It said the victim “couldn’t feel what happened with me” and was eventually taken to an emergency room.
“I couldn’t sleep. I had a big bump on my head. I could fall — feeling dizziness, and the next morning I went to the doctor,” he said, adding that five days later, he was still feeling anxious and fearful.
“I didn’t do anything… I don’t deserve this. I’m a hardworking guy, wake up in the morning 6 a.m. and go home at 7 pm,” he said. Police have released pictures of the suspect, who was still being sought. Advocacy group The Sikh Coalition said its legal team is providing free legal services to Ahluwalia.
“We have already been in direct communication with law enforcement and demanded that investigators examine the real possibility that bias was a motive,” it said, adding that anyone with information about the incident should contact the New York Police Department.
The tragic incident comes as the US has witnessed a recent wave of anti-Asian hate crimes during this pandemic.
Eight people, including four Sikhs, were killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis last month.
In March last year, a man stabbed two Asian American children – aged 2 and 6 – and their father at Sam’s Club in Texas because “he thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.”
A group of Democratic Senators in May last year said there has been a surge in hate crime against Asian-Americans amid coronavirus pandemic and had urged the Trump administration to take concrete steps to arrest the spike.
NEW YORK (TIP): The Associations of Indians In America (AIA) NY, the oldest and largest association of Asian Indians in America unanimously elected its new president Harish Thakkar and the new board for the year 2021-2022.
President Elect, Harish Thakkar will spearhead the team for the year 2021-2022 with the help of Executive Vice Presidents Dr. Satish Anand, Dr. Bal Gilja, Dr. Jagdish Gupta, Usha Kapoor, Secretary Beena Kothari and Treasurer Dr. Pushpa Shah – Members at Large Dipika Modi, Divya Shah, Gitanjali Anand, Nishant Garg, Beenu Sabharwal, Rene Mehra, Joyti Gupta, Vimal Goyal, Govind Bhatija, Swati Vaishnav and Sunny Thakkar
Last year 2020, under the leadership of AIA – NY President, Harish Thakkar, AIA did many events for the community.
AIA NY Chapter 2020 projects were:
February – AIA NY Chapter family Bowling event
COVID help community projects.
June – AIA NY Chapter distributed groceries to needy families.
July – AIA NY young chapter Desi Next distributed Face Masks to Jamaica hospital.
July – AIA NY Chapter distributed meals to Westchester Hospitals & White Plains Hospital.
October 5th, AIA NY chapter celebrated 33rd Diwali on the Cruise in NYC on East Hudson river.
November-3rd, AIA NY Chapter, Diwali celebrations Zoom event. special guest on zoom event Congresswoman Grace Meng & Deputy Consul General of India, Shatrughna Sinha.
November 6th Friday – AIA NY Chapter did Diya lighting at Times Square in NYC with limited 25 people. Chief guest of Diya lighting, Consul General of India, Randhir Jaiswal, NY state Senator, John Liu, deputy consul General Shatrughna Sinha& Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer. This event was covered by all Indian media outlets.
The incoming President Harish Thakkar plans to take the organization to new heights with events planned for Celebrating India’s Cultural events like Holi and Diwali. This year AIA NY will also host Community help events whenever needed, Youth Basketball Camp, Hindi Summer Camp, Food Drive and Toys of Kids during the holiday season. With the help of the Executive team and Advisory Board Members, AIA NY plans to take on projects like Job Fair, Entrepreneurship camps and Youth Leadership Development Skill Camps.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Sunder Pichai from Google, Punit Renjen from Deloitte and Shantanu Narayen from Adobe have joined the steering committee of the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response, which is overseeing an unprecedented corporate sector initiative to help India successfully fight COVID-19.
The names of the three CEOs were added to the list of the steering committee on May 6. The CEOs have been active in organizing U.S. companies’ response to the COVID-19 crisis in India.
Others who were added to the list on May 6 are Mark Suzman, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Joshua Bolten, president and CEO, Business Roundtable; and Suzanne Clark, president and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The task force is a newly formed public-private partnership organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and supported by Business Roundtable. It is working with the Chamber’s U.S.-India Business Council and the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum to take immediate actions to help address the COVID-19 surge in India.
The U.S. corporate sector so far has committed more than 25,000 oxygen concentrators for India. The first 1,000 oxygen concentrators, provided by Deloitte, arrived in India on April 25, with critical logistical support from FedEx. These concentrators will be shipped to designated healthcare facilities for immediate use, the task force said.
The first shipment of ventilators landed in India early this week. All 1,000 ventilators are expected to reach India by June 3. Medtronic will provide end-to-end support for the initiative. As many as 16 businesses have joined the task force’s ventilator initiative.
Together, these businesses will provide over $30 million in support for India’s healthcare response – joining the dozens of businesses which have pledged their support in efforts to provide oxygen concentrators, develop information and best practices to support employees in India and more, the task force said.
According to the task force, while the country has been reporting over 4,00,000 cases daily, the actual case rate in India is estimated to be much higher.
Experts forecast the crisis will only worsen, with India’s peak not expected until mid-May, it said. Other members of the steering committee include Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture; Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Bank of America; Raj Subramaniam, president of FedEx; and Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM.
Gail McGovern, president and CEO, American Red Cross; Mike Parra, CEO Americas, DHL Express; Jim Fitterling, Chairman and CEO, Dow; Alex Gorsky, chairman of the Board and CEO, Johnson & Johnson; Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard; Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO, Medtronic; Brad Smith, president, Microsoft; Ramon Laguarta, Chairman of the Board and CEO, PepsiCo; Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS; Sanjay Poonen, COO, VMware; and Judith McKenna, President and CEO, Walmart International are also members of the task force.
Till date, over 45 U.S. businesses and associations have contributed to the Global Task Force’s activities. While the task force is focusing initial efforts on the pressing need in India, additional working groups will be formed to address COVID-19 surges in other countries.
Through its steering committee, the task force will work to concentrate efforts where corporate support will be most beneficial, it said.
NEW YORK (TIP): The surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India is nothing short of heartbreaking, says the U.S. Vice President U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said that the welfare of India was critical to the United States. She highlighted the assistance the U.S. was sending India and offered her condolences to those who have lost people to the pandemic. “As many of you know, generations of my family come from India. My mother was born and raised in India. And I have family members who live in India today. The welfare of India is critically important to the United States,” Ms. Harris said in a recorded message delivered at a diaspora event on COVID-19 relief for India.
The other speakers at the event were senior State Department official Ervin Massinga, who is involved with the U.S. effort in India, USAID official Anjali Kaur, Virginia State Senator Ghazala Hashmi, physician and volunteer Gunisha Kaur, entrepreneurs and philanthropists Lata Krishnan and M.R. Rangaswami.
“The surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India is nothing short of heartbreaking,” Ms. Harris said, as she offered her condolences.
“As soon as the dire nature of the situation became apparent, our Administration took action,” she said. While U.S. lawmakers and private citizens had been vocal for support to India as the second COVID-19 wave broke across the country, the Biden administration was widely criticized for being slow to act, with administration officials keeping largely silent days after other countries had stepped in to offer help to India.
However, since then, the U.S is sending, by its count, more than $100 million in assistance to India. Assistance of various forms has been mobilized on a massive scale by private citizens and the administration. There has been a public outpouring of grief and calls to help India, that have continued weeks into the outbreak in India.
“On Monday, April 26, President Joe Biden spoke with the Prime Minister to offer our support. By Friday, April 30, U.S. military members and civilians were delivering relief on the ground,” Ms. Harris said, outlining the material help that had been sent (N-95 masks, oxygen cylinders) and saying more was on the way.
“Meanwhile, we have announced our full support for suspending patents on COVID-19 vaccines – to help India and other nations vaccinate their people more quickly,” Ms. Harris said. Earlier this week the Biden administration said it would support a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, an unprecedented move.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, when our hospital beds were stretched, India sent assistance. And today, we are determined to help India in its hour of need. We do this as friends of India, as members of the Asian Quad, and as part of the global community,” Ms. Harris said.
“This has hit everyone in the diaspora on a personal basis,” said Mr. Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, an organization that works on diaspora engagement and philanthropy. “Someone has lost a relative, a friend, a sibling, a child to this dreaded pandemic in India,” he said.
Both Ms. Krishnan, who founded the philanthropic organization the American India Foundation, and Ms. Anjali Kaur spoke about the importance of transparency in the use of assistance.
‘Sub-granting’ of funds
Mr. Rangaswami said the government should consider permitting the “sub granting” of money, which was prohibited after the Foreign Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was amended last year. “In this time of need, I would definitely say that is a good thing for the Indian government to take at pretty quickly,” he said, calling for a limited-time waiver for last-mile organizations which were at greatest risk if they did not have access to sub-grants.
NEW DELHI / NEW YORK (TIP): Australian PM Scott Morrison offered all help during a conversation with PM Narendra Modi but did not relent on a travel ban that has stranded at least 9,000 Australians in India, including cricketers, who had come to participate in the now-suspended Indian Premier League.
During his telephonic conversation with Scott Morrison, May 7, PM Narendra Modi conveyed his appreciation for the prompt and generous support extended by Australia for India’s fight against the second Covid wave, said a PMO statement. The two leaders agreed on the need to ensure an affordable and equitable access to vaccines and medicines for containing Covid-19 globally, it said.
The Australian government, for the first time has imposed a temporary ban on its citizens from returning home if they have spent time in India up to 14 days before flying back. Those who attempt to return via third countries will be prosecuted with five years of imprisonment or a fine of nearly $ 50,000. During his telephonic conversation with Morrison, the PM conveyed his appreciation for the prompt and generous support extended by Australia for India’s fight against the second Covid wave, said a Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement.
The two leaders agreed on the need to ensure an affordable and equitable access to vaccines and medicines for containing Covid-19 globally, it said. “We agreed on the importance of ensuring affordable and equitable access to vaccines and medicines, and discussed possible initiatives in this regard,” said the PM.
The proposed rule was notified in the Federal Register on September 11, 2020 during Donald Trump’s term as president
WASHINGTON (TIP): The US government on Friday, May 7, withdrew a Donald Trump-era proposal which sought to collect the biometric details of every applicant under immigration and naturalization benefits.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the withdrawal of the proposed rule was consistent with the Executive Order signed by President Joe Biden, regarding restoring faith in the legal immigration system.
As per the proposed rule, which was notified in the Federal Register on September 11, 2020 during Donald Trump’s term as president, any applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or individual filing or associated with an immigration benefit or request, including US citizens, must appear for biometrics collection without regard to age.
Secondly, the DHS had proposed to authorize biometric collection, without regard to age, upon arrest of an illegal immigrant. The formal announcement revoking the biometrics rule comes days after US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that beginning May 17, it will suspend biometrics requirements for H-4, L-2, and certain E non-immigrant categories. Such a move was welcomed by a large number of Indian-Americans who were impacted by the biometrics requirement. The DHS said it will continue to require submission of biometrics where appropriate and remains committed to national security, identity management, fraud prevention and program integrity.
WASHINGTON (TIP): The US, which has urged its citizens not to travel to India due to an unprecedented surge in the COVID-19 cases there, on Friday, May 7, encouraged those in the country to book their tickets to return home through currently available flights. The United Airlines and Air India are continuing to operate numerous direct flights weekly from India to the US, a State Department health alert said. Additional flight options remain available on Air France, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways via transfers in Paris, Frankfurt, and Doha.
US citizens who wish to depart India are encouraged to book tickets through the airlines, the health alert said.
It is mandatory for anyone travelling to the US (2 years and older) to take a COVID-19 test no more than 3 days before travel and show a negative result to the airline before boarding the flight, it said.
The passengers should be prepared to show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (proof of a recent positive viral test and a letter from a healthcare provider or a public health official stating clearance for travel). Travelers are encouraged to follow post-travel guidance once in the US, it said. The US this week reissued its travel advisory on India, urging its citizens not to travel to the country due to an unprecedented surge in the COVID-19 cases there.
“Do not travel to India due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to crime and terrorism,” the State Department said on Wednesday in its latest travel advisory that looked identical to the one issued on April 28.
Both the travel advisories have been marked ‘Level 4’ which is the highest warning level.
On April 28, the Department approved the voluntary departure of family members of US government employees.
On May 5, the Department approved the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees.
“US citizens who wish to depart India should take advantage of available commercial transportation options,” it said.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for India due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.
Re: “Open Letter” – in re as Covid19 Tsunami ravages India, the need for the “raw truth” of this lab-created biowarfare agent is now necessary to fabricate more-accurate vaccines that can disarm the ever-mutating strains of SARS-CoV2, which if not disarmed, this virulent ever-more deadly mutating-disease can eliminate humanity globally.
Honorable P.M. Modi : As an un-conflicted American, having migrated from India at the age of seven (7), I spent four-plus years in Hong Kong and learned to love and admire the Chinese culture, although, Confucius has gotten wiser as I have aged as a happy New Yorker. Your early leadership with a strong “Lockdown” of India was a global example of a government honoring its duty to protect the public health. Given the sudden Covid19-mutated strain’s tsunami ravaging India, I write to you, because now, protecting and curing all the people across the world must be Job 1.
It is not a time for political advantage or even seeking compensatory damages, as it is now becoming clear that this lab-created virus can become an existential threat to humanity globally, and those who dream of building new empires will have nothing to dominate or rule over. Instead, India’s experience – a year after we were overwhelmed – speaks to a need for an international all-nations’ effort to disarm this biowarfare agent with President Xi’s help – using a form of Truth & Reconciliation Commission which grants legal immunity for “whole truth disclosure” – so scientists can get immediate access to all the creative knowledge, documents and lab variant-samples about this out-of-control PLA-Lab created weapon. This is much worse than a nuclear weapons threat, as its out of control, and its infection capability makes every person and animal on earth vulnerable, and rendering current vaccines potentially ineffective.
Disclaimer
As an open disclaimer, I see life thru an American Lens, given that human follies are well splashed across the pages of history, I am resoundingly certain of American Exceptionalism, structurally embedded in our founding Declaration and Constitution, with each American duty-bound to help “form a more perfect union” – not shaken, until our insurrection of January 6th.
That I successfully intervened, as requested by India, in the shameful auction of Mahatma Gandhi’s items in New York and had the items respectfully returned to India; successfully defended Krittika Biswas’ honor and won in every federal court and won the highest award for a false arrest and for a night in jail – an effort I was supported in by the now-late great Queens D.A. Judge Richard Brown, Rep. Gray Ackerman and, most effectively, by Senator Chuck Schumer; and, inter alia, successfully represented the Indian National Congress and the Hon. Sonia Gandhi in U.S. Federal courts regarding the painful “1984 Riots” and helped create a legal precedent, that India, like the United States with inter alia our unconstitutional Japanese-American Internment during WWII, has the right to fix her own mistakes without our meddling in her internal affairs. By so doing, I enhanced the bilateral relationship between our two great nations, which you later described in your pivotal Joint Address to Congress as “indivisible.” That exact relationship, I have always seen as our “Joint Destiny,” given the pull and push of history: Indian tea starred in the 1773 Boston Tea Party, and Lord Cornwallis, after losing to General George Washington, upon arriving as Viceroy of India ordered 5,000 Indian men, women and children be put to death for his American loss, and proceeded to rule with an “Iron Fist.” A Fist that never unclasped, until Mahatma Gandhi. And, Dr. Ambedkar, Columbia Law-educated, authored India’s Constitution, deeply informed by ours from 1787.
During the last decade, my incredible wife, Ranju, then-chair of the Diwali Stamp Project, spent seven (7) years seeking a United States Postal Service Diwali Stamp, and got help from many persons, but none more than Rep. Carolyn Maloney, then-Amb. Hardeep Singh Puri, then-ASG Lakshmi Puri, Rep. Grace Meng, then-Rep. Eliot L. Engel, Rep. Greg Meeks, and inter alia, then India’s New York-based CG Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay who wrote the Official poem for the Diwali Stamp Project. Indeed, Ranju asked and received from you – your support for the Diwali Stamp during your UNGA visit – as she did and received from then-President Obama. Ranju’s achievement was immortal, as the Diwali Stamp successfully dedicated on October 5, 2016 was a USPS “Forever” stamp, and Ranju made personal history by selling over 170,000 stamps for Day One, beating Batman, and making the Diwali Stamp #1 in USPS history. Indeed, your 2016 Diwali Message contained a clip of that Stamp Dedication, which serves to enhance our bilateral relations forever. Indeed, the United Nations has celebrated that achievement with 24 nations coming together to honor Ranju, and now, Ranju, as chair of the Diwali Foundation USA, bestows Power of One awards, aka Oscars of Diplomacy, on exceptional world class diplomats who personify the highest ideals of the United Nations Charter and enhance global peace & security.
More recently, I was invited by then-Chairman Eliot L. Engel of House Foreign Affairs Committee to testify on October 22, 2019 regarding Kashmir, and inter alia, issued: an apology for advocating “restraint” after India’s November 26th (akin to our 9/11); and India’s right to enact Section 370, and to restore normalcy as soon as public safety was secured. Indeed, on January 9, 2020, during our historic reception in the actual HFAC Room for strong US-India ties and celebrating Congress, your distinguished Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, with now-Joint Secretary Sandeep Chakravorty in attendance, showed pictures of a 16-nations’ strong ambassadorial visit to Kashmir earlier that day – a fact I celebrated then and there in Congress, which included, Rep. Brad Sherman and Chairman Eliot L. Engel participating.
SARS-CoV2 aka Covid-19 aka Wuhan Virus – Case Cracked on April 14, 2020: Lab-Created
With that truncated disclaimer out of the way, and with God’s Grace, I and my family survived Covid19 on or about March 29, 2020. Treating this Virus as a cancer case that I needed to crack, and after learning biochemistry and epidemiology during an intense effort, I did so, and a year ago, on April 14, 2020, I wrote a 6-page “Open Letter” to then-President Trump, Speaker Pelosi and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (“OL”; copy enclosed, with uniform spelling of “Wuhan”), and for POTUS, emailed it to a former Marine: Deputy NSA Matt Pottinger at 8:31pm. In the OL, I had the science, the facts, and recommendations, including, bringing our “supply chains” home. The next day, April 15, 2020, about 1 p.m. the United States opened a preliminary investigation into inter alia the origin of SARS-CoV2 from PLA-run Wuhan Virology Lab, and the motives of CCP China in causing its global-spread without sounding a pandemic-alarm directly or thru the WHO. I remain grateful for the start of the April 15, 2020 “all hands on deck” Investigation. I have since, written an Open Letter to President Joesph R. Biden Jr. on April 13, 2021 (copy enclosed).
It remains an open secret that my analysis was and is correct, and that this is a lab-created Frankenstein that transplanted the “Spike Glycoprotein(S)” (“Spike”) from Bats – a unique feature in bats, as they are either “cold” or “warm” blooded, and still, a warm Bat can procreate with a cold Bat due to the “Spike.” OL at 3. I called “Covid19,” aka “WuhanVirus,” a Trojan Horse, as its Spike feature does not cause our immune system to sound an alarm upon infection (and the T-cells remain asleep). Disturbingly, China has not turned over, to this day, the genome of Patient Zero who was admitted in Wuhan hospital on or about December 1, 2019, while a different protein string-virus was released on or about December 31, 2019 at the Wuhan Wet Market. The animal farms about a 1000 miles away from Wuhan, did not experience a Covid19 outbreak, thereby decimating the WHO’s coddled-team’s report, after a 3-hour chaperoned visit to the Wuhan Virology lab, falsely asserting a zoonotic virus jump from animal to human. Natural viruses mutate to become safe and un-hurtful. This Virus is mutating serially, as if it was a multi-stage ICBM, becoming more and more dangerous as it continues to exist.
WHO dishonored its high fiduciary obligations, and did not promptly alert the leaders of every nation that a pandemic was afoot and ask to lock-down China. President Trump said we were fighting an invisible enemy. I disagree. The Virus is surely invisible, but this string of protein, despite its lab-based default programing, has no animus towards us and does not benefit by causing death and destruction – and by my last count, our needlessly dead far exceed our losses at Pearl Harbor.
Despite Truth-in-Labeling laws, China, run by 100 years’ celebrating CCP, has succeeded in blocking this Virus from being origin-labeled by deeming origin-labeling to be racist. But, it’s not a fight over labeling.
Only Solution: Disarm Covid19
I now write to you – as my views have changed and evolved – as even war will not stop this mutated-variant’s tsunami that is ravaging India from jumping to other nations, even as travel restrictions are imposed on India, as we have gotten earlier variants despite best efforts to block travel. Indeed, re-visiting my prior conversation with China’s distinguished Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggests – that while I wanted a Little War in 2017 due to events in South China Sea, as in a stitch in time saves nine (a la nine dashes) – whereas he did not, as he clearly said. FM Wang, I believe, with President Xi’s change of heart, can be an asset for a new just and honorable peace for all: rejuvenate the world.
Diplomacy is always needed, even to arrange a surrender to end a war. Now, after India being ravaged by mutated variants, with other nations to follow, this ICBM of a virus must be disarmed ASAP with Biowarfare Codes only China can share. It has been reported that President Xi, whom I consider to be at least as much an exceptional mastermind as Chairman Mao was, if not more, has asked his diplomatic corps to unsheathe their swords to be Wolf Warriors – a function or definition that defies diplomacy, even as it weaponizes it.
How to Disarm Covid19 – Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s TRC
I urge you, as the champion of India’s sovereignty and chief protector of her citizens’ public health and safety, as well as a vital member of the “Quad,” and SCO, run by a dear friend Dr. Vladimir Norov as its Secretary General, to change our geopolitical matrix from competitive, adversarial and crime and punishment, to a restorative formula from South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission – so we can move forward collectively as a human family, and disarm this Virus of an ICBM.
South Africa was critical in MKG becoming a Mahatma. Perhaps, if you can get President Xi to share “nuclear codes” of this virus-ICBM to disarm it, more than Nobel Peace prizes will be awarded; prayers and blessings of humanity across India and the globe will follow for saving millions of people, who will otherwise continue to die from this ever-mutating Death Virus. India has a reputation throughout many millennia of being the land of peace. China is currently President of the UNSC, charged with enhancing global peace & security. If you can get President Xi to join you in peace-building the future, the “Rejuvenation” he seeks, will come with Confucius’ ultimate blessed wish: “May you live in boring times.”
Respectfully,
/s/
Ravi Batra
(Ravi Batra is a New York based attorney. He has earlier written open letters on the issue to President Trump (https://www.theindianpanorama.news/opinion/open-letter-donald-trump-covid-19-tsunami-ravages-india/), and President Biden (https://www.theindianpanorama.news/opinion/open-letter-us-president-joe-biden-covid-19-tsunami-ravages-india/) -Editor.
Centre, states should strive for uninterrupted oxygen supply
The disruption of oxygen supply is causing deaths almost on a daily basis in the country. Earlier this week, 24 patients, 23 of them Covid-infected, died in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar due to alleged shortage of the life-saving gas in the district hospital. On Saturday, 12 Covid-19 patients, including a senior doctor, succumbed at a private hospital in New Delhi after it reportedly ran out of medical oxygen for more than an hour. Though the Central government claims that there is no shortage of oxygen, the lapses are evident on all counts, be it production, allocation, transportation or supply.
Time is of utmost importance when a patient’s life is on the line. It’s a no-brainer that oxygen must reach the recipient in the shortest duration possible. It defies logic that Punjab has to keep waiting for 4-5 days for a tanker to bring 90 MT (metric tons) of the gas from a plant in Jharkhand’s Bokaro. After the Chamarajanagar tragedy, the Karnataka government has decided to focus on three broad goals to streamline the supply of oxygen allocated by the Centre: reduce the time taken to refill tankers; provide a green corridor for faster commuting of tankers; and avoid delay at toll plazas. Such a template needs to be adopted across the board at the earliest in view of the enhanced inter-state movement of tankers.
The Supreme Court has rightly directed the Centre to create a buffer stock of oxygen for emergency purposes in collaboration with the states and decentralize the location of the stocks so that it is promptly available if the normal supply chain is disrupted. That the Covid Care Centre at Delhi’s Commonwealth Games Village will soon have its own oxygen plant that will provide uninterrupted supply to 15-20 beds from its pipeline is too little too late. Such a self-sufficient arrangement will cut down potentially fatal delays. Coordination between the Centre and the states, and also among the states, is vital. There should be no disparity between a state’s requirement and the actual allocation as well as supply. The oxygen crisis can be overcome by removing bottlenecks at all stages.
The world is worried as reports from India about thousands dying every day for want of medical care pour in. While nations, organizations and individuals have come forward to reach to the suffering people of India the much-needed oxygen, medicines and food, the Modi government seems to be clueless as to how to control an unhinged pandemic ravaging the nation from shore to shore.
India alone has not faced the onslaught of Covid-19. The pandemic ravaged almost every part of the world. And governments all across the world, with a few exceptions though, swung into action to save lives of their people. No doubt, some prosperous nations, including America, with all medical facilities and the will to combat the pandemic, lost more lives than has India, but there was a tangible, massive effort to pin down the devil.
Not so in India. The Modi government remained indifferent as the number of cases begin to rise. Instead of putting their heart and soul into chalking out a strategy to minimize the harm from Covid-19, Modi government was more involved in making and implementing a strategy to win Assembly elections, particularly in West Bengal where for over 6 months, from November 2020 to April 2021, the top cabinet ministers, including the Home Minister and Prime Minister himself, campaigned ferociously to dislodge Mamata Banerji. The capital of India, Delhi, was one of the worst sufferers, as were other parts of the country, with people dying by scores every hour in the absence of medical care. And imagine, people dying because they cannot breathe. They cannot breathe and there is no oxygen in hospitals. They die in streets, in cars, in front of the hospitals because there are no beds available in hospitals.
What a shame for a country touting itself as “Vishwa Guru”, claiming to becoming one of the three largest economies in the world in a couple of years!
The way people are dying a painful death for want of Oxygen is a reminder of those who were made to die in gas chambers in Hitler’s Germany. Long after the genocide, the perpetrators were brought to book in a trial, now known as Nuremberg trial.
The dire situation we see in India today has a parallel in those killed in gas chambers. The willful negligence on the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has caused deaths. Mr. Modi has blood on his hands. He should be held responsible for Covid deaths and tried in a Nuremberg type trial for the heinous crime against Indians.
The holding of the Kumbh Mela, Election Rallies, Holi celebrations & IPL matches involving over 390 million people, despite the arrival of the second wave was a criminal negligence by Modi regime. Knowingly they put the lives of millions of people in harm’s way in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Modi regime is responsible for turning this pandemic into a humanitarian crisis. This is a decision that will also cripple the already wounded economy to an unknown degree and increase poverty and unemployment. The mishandling of first Covid wave resulted in GDP contracting by 23.9 per cent in the 2nd quarter of 2020. By some estimates, more than 100 million l people lost their jobs. These are “official figures”, issued by a regime notorious for fudging figures to hide the truth, and spread lies.
If India survives at all, it will be due entirely to the civic commitment of its front-line workers, religious organizations and ordinary citizens, who have stepped in to do the duties of a government that has abandoned its people. This humanitarian crisis is a direct result of the Modi regime’s, arrogance, complacency, lack of preparation, bureaucratic incompetence, fake nationalism and the criminal neglect of its constitutional duties.
An Assembly line of death & misery due to Covid on an insurmountable scale at crematorium and burial grounds of India has shocked the entire world. India has descended into a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. There is not a town in India where the crematoriums and burial grounds don’t have lines and wait times of 14-24 hours. Burial grounds and crematories are so full of bodies, it’s as if a war just happened. Some have buried their dead in their gardens.
India with majority Hindu population vs minority Muslims and Christians is witnessing more cremations.Parks, pavements and car parks are being turned into cremation grounds with makeshift pyres. Fires burn round the clock in crematories and there is a shortage of even wood to cremate the dead. Many places are holding mass cremations, dozens at a time, and at night, the sky glows. Unfortunately, it reminds Modi’s infamous words at anelections rally in 2017, “If a kabristan is built in a village, a shamshan should also be constructed there,” “Shamshan! Shamshan!” the mesmerized, adoring crowd echoed back. Only Modi can tell whether he is elated to see the overflowingcrematoriums, or he is repenting for those infamous words. He could have ordered to convert temporarily the BJP office spread over about 2,00,000 square feet in Delhi into a Covid hospital under Indian Army to repurpose it in record time and make it functional.Like
1,8 00,000 square feet Javits Center in NY, in March-April 2020 was turned into a 2,500-bed emergency medical facility for COVID patients in 17 days by the U.S. Army and run by them.This could save thousands of lives. At least this way Modi can atone for his criminal culpability that has seen hundreds of thousands of Indians dead and continuing to die. It looks like Modi is unmoved by the innocent deaths.
Each funeral and burial is a story of personal loss, misery, indignity and national shame.Hardly anybody knows anyone who has not been ravaged by this humanitarian crisis. Those who died at home or in cars, waiting outside the hospitals without a test or treatment or in the rural areas, Modi regime is not counting those as Covid deaths. This regime is notorious for its undercount of the number of infections and deaths. That is how there is a vast difference between the figures put out by the government and the foreign health experts and media,
Modi’s own arrogance, fakeHinduism and nationalism, bureaucratic incompetence and criminal negligence have combined to create humanitarian crisis of epic proportions in India.This is a catastrophe, and we are witnessing a crime against humanity. Modi and all those responsible for culpable homicide of thousands upon thousands of children, young men and young women, old men and old women of India, should be tried and prosecuted under a Nuremberg style Court trial. Will justice be done by Indian Courts or all of them should be tried in the International Courts?
Atul Kohli, Political Scientist at Princeton University, calls India a “two-track democracy,” where “common people are only needed at the time of elections, and then it is best that they all go home, forget politics, and let the ‘rational’ elite quietly run a pro-business show.”
MODI REGIME CREATED OXYGEN & HOSPITAL BEDS CRISIS
People are not getting oxygen and dying like animals. It is not the virus but acute shortage of Oxygen,which is the main killer across the country, against the fact that several projects for installing the oxygen are still pending with the Union government for clearance, but no heed was given to such an important need by the Modi government. In the capital Delhi with world class medical facilities and doctors, large number of people have died because of the shortage of Oxygen in prestigious private hospitals like Sir Ganga Ram, Jaipur Golden& Batra. One can imagine the state of affairs in state, district, municipal and small private hospitals, and rural India practically with no hospitals.
In so called big city hospitals across India; there is no oxygen, ventilators, plasma, medicines, beds and ambulances. Some Hospitals are admitting patients that have their own Oxygen cylinders. For every 200 patients there is only1 doctor available. This time it is the young who are filling the intensive care units. When the young people die, the older dependents, spouse and their children are devastated, and some lose their will to live.
Kevadia a famous tourist location, for “Statue of Unity”town in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, has no hospital. Here no death will be registered in the official Covid count because the individuals die at home. This statue was conceived and inaugurated by Modi in 2018. This was built at a cost Rs. 3,000 crores ($400 million) and additional Rs 2.63 crores was spent on its advertisement. It was touted by Modi to be the tallest statue of the world! The fact is wonder of the world Eiffel Tower, standing tall at 324 meters till the tip, is 142 meters taller than the 182-meter-tall Sardar Patel statue.
Unfortunately, rural India has been hit very hard this time. In rural India, where people die of easily treatable diseases like diarrhea, infection and tuberculosis. How they can cope with Covid, when Covid tests or Hospitals or doctors or oxygen is not available to them? The first lockdown was the strictest lockdown of the world with a 4hours’ notice. Millions of migrant workers stranded in cities with no work, no money to pay their rent, no food and no transport. Millions of them had to walk hundreds of miles in some cases 1,500-1,700 miles to their homes in far-flung villages. Hundreds died on the way. That exodus resulted in a different kind of chaos: there were no quarantine centers for them to stay in or Covid Test Centers, before they enter their village homes. There was not evena meagre pretense by Modi regime of trying to protect the countryside from the city virus. Now their criminal neglect has resulted in a massive outbreak of 2nd Covid wave in the countryside.
October 2020, the Standing Committee of Parliament for Health. had issued warnings of a more contagious Covid second wave and possibility of a dire shortage of oxygen.Central Medical Services Society (CMSS) an agency under the Union Health Ministry Dr. Harshvardhan was given the charge of commissioning the oxygen plants. CMSSfloated a tender on October 21, 2020, inviting bids for the installation of 162 PSA oxygen plants across 14 states with a combined capacity of 154 metric tons daily. The final contracts were given in December 2020 with a stipulation in the purchase order that vendor will install the plant within 45 days. This means the actual work on installing the plants could only start ten months into the pandemic. The entire cost of Rs. 201.58 was fully funded from PM-Carescontrolled by PMO. This works out to an average of Rs 1.25 crore per plant. A plant with the capacity of 1,000 liters of oxygen per minute can simultaneously cater to 100-160 patients on oxygen support. However, four months after the contracts were given, only 33 of the 162 O2 plants have been installed. UP out of 14, none, Delhi out of 8, none and MP that has no oxygen production facility of its own placed an order for 13 plants on April 14, 2021.
A very disturbing question arises, why private hospitals across India, especially 5 metro cities that are famous for world class facilities catering to medical tourism don’t have their own oxygen-generating plants?Then, why the State & local governments did nothing to mitigate the future oxygen shortage?
India’s daily oxygen production capacity is 7,200 metric tons and the medical oxygen requirement as of April 21 was 8,000 metric tons, according to a submission made by a central government official in Delhi High Court. This means even if the country uses up its entire oxygen production for medical use, as the government has now decided to do by banning use of oxygen for industrial purposes, India will still face a shortfall of 800 metric tons.
Struggling to get Oxygen
The grossly underestimated planned 162 PSA oxygen plants with no oversight.
If they were all operational with a combined daily capacity of 154 metric tons, it was a minuscule compared to the current shortfall of 800 metric tons. If India had installed oxygen plants on a war footing, the situation would have been different. For an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore, India could have added 1,540 metric tons of additional daily medical oxygen capacity. Significantly, by adding on-site oxygen manufacturing capacity, India could have reduced the need for the massive logistical exercise currently underway to move liquid oxygen in tankers from surplus states by road, airlifting tankers by Air Force and even import it from other countries.
On top of that according to Modi regime’s own data amid the pandemic, India exported over 9,000 metric tons of oxygen, a staggering increase of 734 percent in January 2021. India, one timeworld’s largest producers of medical oxygen, is being forced to import 50,000 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen using special India Air Force flights.
MODI REGIME CREATED VACCINE CRISIS
By the end of March2020, practically every health expert advised that it is the “Race between the vaccine and the virus.” Rapid vaccination of all eligible humans is the only way to fight Covid. This infection has no boundaries and there will be a 2nd and a 3rd wavethat will be more lethal and contagious than the present one.Experts have been proved right, the encouraging trend of declining daily infections and deaths shows; in the race between vaccines and variants in the USA—vaccines are winning.
As of May 5, 32.7% or 107.3 Million Americans are fully vaccinated, 44.3% or 148.6 million are partially vaccinated. US FDA by next week will approve Pfizer for 12-15 years old and by Sep 2021 Pfizer plans to submit two new emergency use authorization requests, one request covering children from 5 to 11 years old and a second applying to ages 2 to 5. A separate batch of results and a possible request, for children who are from 6 months to 2 years old, are expected in the fourth quarter of 2021.Researchers have estimated that around 70% to 85% of the country needs to be vaccinated for COVID herd immunity or to stop it from spreading through communities and peter out.
In April-May 2020, USA under “Operation Warp Speed” advanced $6 Billion to various Pharma companies to develop a vaccine by invoking Defense Act. In May 2020, Europeans mobilized $8 billion for Covid Vaccine research. They wanted to rope in India also for being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines. False pride, confused nationalism &fake self-reliant slogan stopped the arrogant and incompetent Modi regime from joining the consortium. By Aug 2020, US, UK & EU with a combined population of 800 million had placed orders for 850 million doses of vaccine. USA and the China are now manufacturing more Covid-19 vaccines than India.
In contrast, in India with almost 1,400 million people, Modi regime placed its first order of 16.5 million doses in Jan. 2021 and later, 100 million to the domestic producer Serum Institute of India.
A control-freak instinct took over Modi and he announced only Center would buy the vaccines. There will be no private buying, in other words he “Nationalized” the vaccines.Later, Modi regime used vaccines as a political tool to deny adequate quantities of vaccines to non-BJP ruled states like Punjab, Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi.
In fact, Modi Regime, botched India’s inoculation drive by failing to order a sufficient number of doses in advance or investing in vaccine plants in India. Thenfrom May 1, 2021, Modi regime allowed the states to buy/import vaccine directly. In fact, it has passed the responsibility of vaccinating Indians to financially strapped state governments. Now they must negotiate prices and purchase vaccines in the open market and most Indian states are not in a position to execute the task. There’s a scarcity of lifesaving vaccines in a country that used to be the world’s largest vaccine-maker till 2020.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is based on the SARS-CoV-2 strain, which was isolated in the National Institute of Virology under ICMR in Pune. The ICMR then transferred this strain to Bharat Biotech for developmentto manufacturevaccine for sale to public. As such, one is unable to calculate the share of public investment in the total amount spent on design, and developmentby ICMR. Bharat Biotech has to pay no royalty to anyone. Presently, the company manufactures 20 million doses per month of Covaxin. On April 24th, 2021, the company tweeted, “Following the Govt of India directives, we announce the prices of COVAXIN vaccines – Rs 600 per dose for state hospitals and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals”.
The largest vaccine manufacturer in the world till 2020, Serum Institute of India (SII) the maker of Covisheild under license from Swedish AstraZeneca is producing 70 million doses per month. SII invested Rs 2,000.00 crore of its own and got Rs 2,200.00 crore from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. SII has to pay royalty and they are under contractual obligationto supply an initial 200 million doses to WHObacked Covax vaccine sharing program to ensure availability to low- and middle-income countries. SII was expected to deliver the first 100 million doses between February-May 2021. Indian government data shows that it has so far delivered only 30 million, which includes 10 million set aside for India itself under WHO-Covax.SII has also made legally binding bilateral commercial deals to supply more than 900 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, and 145 million doses of Novavax, according to UN data. SII recently confirmed that it had been sent a legal notice by AstraZeneca, concerning its obligations to supply vaccines.
On Sep. 6, 2020 SSI CEO Adar Ponawala, Tweeted to PMO & Ministry of Healthto highlight challenges in vaccine production and distribution. In his “quick question” to the government heasked if the Health Ministry had Rs. 80,000 crore available over the next 12 months to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone.“I ask this question, because we need to plan and guide, vaccine manufacturers both in India and overseas to service the needs of our country in terms of procurement and distribution.”
The government hit back after Adar’s tweet, saying that it did not agree with the Rs. 80,000.00 crore figure and that it had sufficient funds to procure and distribute the vaccine. The government did not, however, specify the amount that it had set aside for this purpose. If one looks at $6 billion (Rs 44,000.00 crore) allocated by USA for vaccines for its 330 Million citizens for vaccines; Adar’s suggestion of Rs 80,000.00 crore for 1,400 Million Indians, was very reasonable.
Even the Doctors/medical experts have warned that GOI’s goal of vaccinating 300 million people every quartercosts are going to mount. Doctors said it may take two years to vaccinate the entire population, especially when it is a “Race between the vaccine and Covid” to stop Covid from becoming a pandemic or humanitarian crisiswith the expected 2nd and 3rd surge. Still PMO & MHO remained unmoved.
HLL Biotech Ltd (HBL), a state-of-the-art Integrated Vaccine Complex in 100 acres near Chennai, was approvedby the UPA government in 2012. The goal was to effectively fight the potential public health hazards that hit India from time to time. It was set up as a nodal center for manufacturing, research, and supply of vaccines at affordable prices under the Universal ImmunizationProgram of the GOI. It has a capacity to produce 585million vaccines for rabies, measles, Japanese Encephalitis, and Hepatitis B among other diseases. It was to replace three existing vaccine units which were set up decades ago-Pasteur Institute of India, Coonoor, BCG Vaccine Laboratory, Chennai, and Central Research Institute in Kasauli.
With the regime change at theCenter in 2014, it was starved for fundsand, only in 2017, escalated cost of Rs 710 crore was approved. In 2019 the Health Ministry denied project escalation cost of Rs 904 crore, expressing concerns about its “non-profitability”.
There are six production lines for vaccine manufacturing, but they are not currently functional. It needs Rs 150 crore or so to make it fully functional. HBL official says, “there is no vision in establishing the firm as the government could have easily upgraded the existing vaccine units to make Covid vaccines.
HBL has written to the Union Health Ministry and NITI Ayog for the additional sum but was denied. “But the government is profit-motivated, they think ‘what is the use of having this complex.” He further said:“The Centre can announce it as ‘Pandemic Research Centre” or it can run it on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. But the policies of the present government are against public sector undertakings. In the middle of a pandemic, a facility which was declared a “Project of National Importance” has not only been non-functional, but only contributed to the national effort against Covid-19 by manufacturing hand sanitizers and alcohol-based disinfectants for hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.
Besides disinfectants, HBL also has the capability to produce Viral Transport Medium (VTM) kitsused for transporting Covid-19 clinical samples of suspected patients for virus detection testing.With the rising number of infectionsthere is a need for collection of more clinical samples to increase the number of tests. HBL can develop such kits on a massive scale at an affordable/ competitive price. This required manufacturing license from the state and the Centre, HBL’s application is pending, and has not been granted as of May 5, 2021.
Modi perhaps does not want to see anything up and working that can even remotely be seen connected to Nehru, Gandhi, PM Singh of the UPA government even if it cost human lives in lacs.That is the reason he changed the names of all schemes started by his predecessors including BJP’s AB Vajpayee’s government. This is yet another example of Modi style of governance where it lets people die. But Modi does not stop there.He has put up HLL Biotechin Jan 2021 for sale leaving the brand-new plant to rust and there are no buyers yet. That is exactly how an elected autocrat works. That is exactly how arrogant rulers govern. (The Print & The Federal.com).
UNDER ITS WATCH, MODI REGIME ALLOWED THE DOUBLE MUTANT STRAIN OF CORONA VIRUS B.1.617 TO SPREAD
The Indian origin home grown virus was first detected on 5th Oct. 2020. That is the main cause of deaths in current Second wave. According to Indian Express only in Jan 2021 a Covid Genomic consortium, a network of 10 labs was formed with a budget of Rs115 crore for further research.The Health Ministry never gave Rs 115 crore to the Dept of Biotechnology. The dept was told to find the money on its own. They were able to allocate first tranche of 80 crore on 31 March 2021 that is after 6 months of detecting B.1.617, and,by that time the Second wave was already spreading exponentially, and death rate was going up rapidly.
MODI REGIME DID NO PLANNING FOR 1YEAR TO FIGHT THE EXPECTED 2nd COVID WAVE
Although the emerging pandemic gave Modi over a year which he could have spent preparing for the second wave, rather than deploying resources in healthcare & vaccines; he was busy in promoting himself, superstitions, quackery and mythology for Covid treatment like banging bells, plates, clapping, lighting earthen lamps (diya) or candles, Cow urine, Cow Dung, Quack Ramdev’s Coronil, his own minister Arjun Ram Meghwal’s Bhabhiji Pappad and showering flower petals from helicopters on healthcare workers. Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, president of the Hindu Mahasabha declared that “consuming cow urine and cow dung will stop the effect of infectious coronavirus.” The swami added that a “person who chants ‘om namah shivay’ a salutation to Shiva, a Hindu deity, and applies cow dung on his body will be saved.”
According to WSJ Feb 10, 2020, PM Modi wrote to Xi Jinping, offering the Chinese leader help in tackling the Wuhan coronavirus. Details of the assistance aren’t public, but Mr. Modi’s offer probably didn’t include supplies for a “treatment that a senior Hindu fundamentalist advocated recently”. In fact, WSJ was referring to Cow urine and Cow dung treatment.
Unfortunately India’s most popular news media, co-opted early on by Modi, rich & famous celebrities like Amitabh Bachan, Virat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani etc., theyall supported Modi and his team mate’s superstitions, quackery and mythology for Covid treatment.
Modi started laying symbolic foundations for the “Hindu Nation” as per the bonehead idea of theRSS. He was busy in the planning, designing and finally to be the Master of groundbreaking ceremony for Ram Mandir on Aug. 5, 2020 in the middle of raging Covid pandemic.
Prof. Ashok Swain,Peace and conflict researcher wrote, “Modi does not anymore pretend even as the leader of a secular country. He sees himself and overtly acts like a king of a Hindu Kingdom.”
October was wasted by Boeing that spanned the deliveries of Modi’s 2 personal toys costing Rs. 8,450.00 for his personal travel and for namesake President & VP travel also!One was delivered on Oct 1st and the 2nd,on Oct. 24, 2021. These Boeing 777-300 ER have state-of-the-art missile defense systems called Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) and Self-Protection Suites (SPS), whichare capable of countering missile threats from an enemy and on par with the US President’s Air Force One in terms of security measures. US economy was $21 Trillion vs. India’s 3.2 Trillion in 2020. After waiting for 5 months, the world-famousGlobetrotting PM made his maiden flight on March 26, 2021 to Bangladesh in VVIP “India’s Air Force 1” to influence voters of West Bengal.
Much of the Oct and entire Nov 2020 Modi and his entire government was busy campaigning for 3 phase Bihar Electionsending on 29th Nov, when barring China all major economies of the world were reeling under the brutal attack of the 2nd Covid wave with mounting infections and deaths. Just a glance at what is happening in the US and Europe should have opened their eyes to the catastrophes of the pandemic.
On Dec. 10, 2020, again, Modi was the Master of the groundbreaking ceremony of Central Vista (est. cost Rs 20,000.00 crore) with New Parliament and new home for himself. Presently he lives in 17 acres with 5 bungalows; that is the largest & most expansive real estate in the world for a head of the state.
British sculptor Anish Kapoor wrote that Architecture as propaganda, is often used “to give a good face to a fascist regime.” “This is not the redesign of buildings; it is instead Modi’s way of placing himself at the center and cementing his legacy as the maker of a new Hindu India.”
In January 2021, citing Covid, UP Panchayat Elections were postponed to April to coincide with the Kumbh Mela-the world’s largest religious gatheringthat normally convenes every 12 years. It was last held in 2010.Modi regime fraudulently brought it forward by a year against the protest by a large section of Hindu priests, by saying 2021 is an auspicious year for it. To start on March 11 and to end on April 27, 2021.
On Jan. 28, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory against COVID-19 while addressing the virtual summit of World Economic Forum at Davos. February 21, BJP passed a resolution praising Modi’s “leadership for introducing India to the world as a proud and victorious nation in the fight against Covid-. “It can be said with pride, that India “defeated Covid-19 under the able, sensitive, committed, and visionary leadership of PM Modi.” That ebullient mood was communicated across the country. It is not that they wanted to get the economy going but wanted to get back to campaigning.
On February 24, the world’s biggest, Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium was inaugurated in Ahmedabad, remodeling and renaming Sardar Patel stadium by President Kovid in the company of Home Minister Shah & his Zero qualification son Jay Shah, Secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the President of Asian Cricket Council (ACC). The occasion was the start of the world’s biggest cricket tournament ending on May 30, the Indian Premier League (IPL).
55,000 people, mostly maskless, came to cheer India play against England for the pink-ball Test.Modi’s main campaign financiers/handlers, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were also honored with their names emblazoned on the new Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, where overs are bowled alternatively from the Adani and Ambani ends! By having a sports stadium named after himself within his lifetime, Modi has put himself in the worst possible company, including Kim Il Sung and Saddam Hussein. Moreover,Modi’s desire to look taller than one of the founding fathersof India, Iron ManSardar Patel,the unifier of Princely states under Modern India, isdisgusting, repulsive and an insult to the great Sardar Patel.
Modi invites pilgrims to Kumbh.,
In the wake of the pandemic, a “Covid task force” of scientific experts had been constituted, yet there was no meeting of the body through February and March 2021. But 5 State Assembly Elections involving 150 million voters with totally unnecessary eight rounds of polling in West Bengal were declared on Feb 27, starting on March 27 and finishing on April 29, 2021. UP Panchayat Polls were also announced in 4 phases, April 15 to April 29 involving 85 million voters.
Every election was to be held around preponed Kumbh Mela that was estimated to attract over 150million Hindupilgrims, to influence Hindu voters in state and panchayat elections. There were 4 main days of Kumbh Mela (March 11-April 27) called Shahi Snan (Royal bath) on 11 March April 12,14, and 27. On these auspicious days it is believed that a dip in the holy water of Ganga will acquit the person of all sins.As many as 5 million visitors came to Haridwar on April 12 and went to the banks of river Ganga to take the holy dip (Shahi Snan). According to a Senior Police Officer Mukesh Thakur, throughout the day, there was an estimated 11,000 to 18,000 people in the water at any time, spread across the 15 main riverbanks.
Thousands thronged to take a dip in the river Ganga at Haridwar. No masks. No social distancing. Result. Thousands got infected with Covid
Uttarkhand’s CM Rawat (BJP), an RSS stalwart, like PM Modi, when asked on Covid concerns by Media, said that, “Kumbh is at the bank of the River Ganga. Maa (Mother) Ganga’s blessings are there in the flow. So, there should be no corona.” Haridwar where the Mela was being organized is in the state of Uttrakhand.
In contrast to all the above, the decision to postpone the crucial Class XII exams is beyond any sane person’s comprehension. The outcome is that millions of children, parents and teachers have been plunged into emotional, mental and financial turmoil.
On April 04, 2021 the Covid task force finally met, after it was clear that a second wave had hit India. Modi regime still remained focused on the state elections, mainly WB. In one of the rallies Modi told the cheering crowd that by taking Cow Urine, Corona will not touch them!On April 17, Modiproclaimed at a rally in his favorite language Hindi, in Asansol (WB), “Maine aisi sabha pehli baar dekhi hai” (“I have never seen such big crowds at a rally”).That day India was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis for recording more than 261,000 new Covid cases and 1,501 deaths. In response, state minister Moloy Ghatak tweeted, “When dead bodies were burning, Nero was busy doing election rallies.” Ghatak’s tweet was censored by Twitter.
The holding of the Kumbh Mela, Election Rallies, Holi celebrations & IPL matches involving over 390 million people, despite the arrival of the second wave was a criminalnegligence by Modi regime. Knowingly they put the lives of millions of people in harm’s way in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Modi regime is responsible for turning this pandemic into a humanitarian crisis. This is a decision that will also cripple the already wounded economy to an unknown degree and increase poverty and unemployment.The mishandling of first Covid waveresulted in GDP contractingby 23.9 per cent in the 2ndquarter of 2020.By some estimates, more than 100 million l people lost their jobs. These are “official figures”, issued by a regime notorious for fudging figures to hide the truth, and spread lies.
Modi has been good only for a few businessmen since 2014. During the pandemic, even as tens of millions of Indians lost their jobs, a handful of billionaires made windfall gains. Top on the list are Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, with Ambani’s net worth zooming to $84 Billion from $23.6 Billion in 2014. Modi’s mentor, Gautam Adani’s net worth zoomed to over $55.7 Billion from $1.9 Billion in May 2014. In fact, it has grown from under $200 million when Adani installed Modi as CM of Gujarat.
INDIA BECAME A NET EXPORTER OF COVID VACCINES
India without vaccinating its own people, became a net exporter of Covid vaccines by exporting more than 66.4 million doses to 95 countries under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ or Friendship Program” from Jan 21, 2021 to April 16, 2021. In this list one can find practically all the dictatorships, oppressive regimes and states that sponsor terrorism. It became a global PR campaign for Modi’s leadership—in March, an Indo-Canadian group sponsored billboards erected in Canada to counter Canadian support for Indian farmers; thanking Modi for exporting Indian-made vaccines. They were tools to promote Modi’s image as a “Global Vaccine Leader’ and a ‘Vishwa Guru,’ or Global Leader with a Visionary Humanitarianism.” This when since March rate of infections were surging in India & Modi regime was exporting vaccines! On April 14, 2021 for the first time infections crossed 200,000 mark and on April 16, 2021 it was 235,000 but 257,000 vaccines were sent to Syria. On the other hand USA has put a condition on its vaccine manufacturers that they can not export Covid vaccines unless every American has been vaccinated.
MODI REGIME IS DIRECTLY REPONSIBLE FOR CURRENT HUMANATARIAN CRISIS IN INDIA
Dr Navjot Dahiya, the national VP of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called PM Modi a ‘super spreader’ and blamed him for the second wave of Covid-19.“While the medical fraternity is trying hard to make people understand mandatory Covid norms, PM Modi did not hesitate to address big political rallies tossing all Covid norms in the air.”
Election rallies.300,000 plus covid positive cases; 2,000 plus deaths. Meanwhile, in West Bengal, on April 22, 21, Amit Shah continued his election campaign.
Despite the severity of the health crisis, election rallies and religious congregations like the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar continued, raising questions over the seriousness of Modi-led Union government to tackle the spread of the deadly virus. “The scarcity of medical oxygen has become the reason for the death of many patients in every part of the country against the fact that several projects for installing the oxygen are still pending with the Union government for clearance, but no heed was given to such an important need by the Modi government.”Hitting out at the prime minister for passing the buck of its failure on the private medical sector and state governments, Dr Dahiya told the daily: “Even on the issue of farmers’ agitation against farm laws, PM Modi did not act in a responsible manner and let the presence of huge gathering of farmers allowed without solving their issues, causing a serious threat of COVID spread.(The Tribune April 27, 2021)
The Australian reported on 25 April. “Arrogance, hyper-nationalism and bureaucratic incompetence have combined to create a crisis of epic proportions in India, with its crowd-loving PM basking while citizens suffocate.”
Madras HC Chief Justice Banerjee on April 26, 2021, said, “You [the Election Commission] are the only institution that is responsible for the situation today. No action against political parties taking rallies… Your election commission should be put up on murder charges probably!”
Kapil Komireddi, the author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India, wrote on April 30, 2021 in Foreign Policy Journal “Modi Fiddles While India Burns” “India might have been spared this humanitarian crisis had Modi not neglected his duties and vilified those who offered him constructive counsel. He had the time, means, and access to expertise to proof the country against this inferno. It is no longer tenable to measure Modi against the performance of previous prime ministers: He has broken into the malign ranks of India’s British colonial overlords who went hunting while Indians starved in mass famines.
Lt Gen Prakash Menon (retd), Decan Herald, APR 30, 2021,“The blind faith of Indians in God is now accompanied by blind faith in India’s most popular leader of contemporary times “Narendra Modi” has pushed India into Humanitarian Crises.”
A two judges-benchof UP HC, comprising justices Siddharth Verma and Justice Ajit Kumar on May 4, 2021, observed that the death of COVID-19 patients just for non-supply of oxygen to hospitals is “a criminal act, not less than a genocide” by state authorities’failure to supply adequate oxygen to hospitals.The bench asked an advocate, Anuj Singh, to call up the Covid helpline number. “Singh dialed the number again and again and the line was showing busy. However, ultimately, he was able to connect, and the reply was that there was no Level-2 (or) Level-3 bed available, whereas the online portal, was showing that there were vacant positions of beds in both Level-2 and Level-3 category.” Level 2 beds are for moderately symptomatic Covid patients; Level 3 beds are for serious patients. “Similarly, King George’s M U Hospital where portal showed 3 ICU beds to be vacant (on Sunday) and when the hospital was contacted, it informed that there were no vacant ICU beds. The high court observed, according to records of the proceedingshas shredded the CM Yogi’s steadfast denial of any oxygen and hospital bed crisis in UP.The bench also sought a clarification on allegations that a sitting high court judge, Justice V.K. Srivastava, who had died last week in Lucknow, had not received proper treatment.
Probably Justice Banerjee, Sidharth Verma and Ajit Kumar were afraid to name PM Modi aka his regime that has forced EC to be an extension of their regime, and that also failed to prepare for second Covid wave. According to Constitutional Scholars, “institutions that speak the language of the executive, and have become indistinguishable from the executive, can never protect democracy.
Supreme Court has badly let down India in recent times, through a combination of avoidance, mendacity, and a lack of zeal on behalf of political liberty. Yet it has not uttered a word against Modi regime’s appalling criminal mishandling of the pandemic and turning it into Humanitarian Crisis of epic proportions.
Once upon a time this very SC, aired harsh criticisms of Modi. In 2004, the Court labelled Modi a modern-day Nero.The Court observed that Modiwas “looking elsewhere when… innocent children and helpless women were burning” in the carnage that erupted days after Modi was appointed CM of Gujarat in 2002.His own State MinisterHaren Pandya gave sworn testimony about the riots, that Modi sanctioned the three days of anti-Muslim violence which is today known to many as the 2002 Gujarat Pogrom.In 2003, Pandya was assassinated,his wife and father both termed it “a political murder.”
As India gasps for air, however, countless innocent lives are paying a price forced upon them by a Modi regime that values its iron grip on power and its image over the lives of the people and basic human rights.
Despite the pandemic turning into humanitarian crises, Modi’s image builders are still desperately trying to present the current situation as an example of positive Indian exceptionalism. They accuse anyone critical of the Modi regime of “spreading negativity and being anti-National.” Anyone daring to point out the murderous and criminal mishandling of the pandemic is called a “vulture” conspiring to defame India on the world stage–and as Hinduphobic, self-hating Indians.
Modi is the only world leader to use Vaccination Certificate to push cult of personality (The Wire 01-03-21) India’s vaccine program will be unique in one respect- each certificate of vaccination carries a portrait of Modi. Citizen Tweet:“Just as there is a photo of Modi on the vaccine certificate, there should also be a photo of Modi on the death certificate of those killed by Covid.” Grim and even ghoulish, this tweet may yet serve as an appropriate epitaph for the reign of Narendra Modi.
Not to be left behind, RSS’s 2ndin Command Dattatreya Hosabale said as India suffers the world’s worst Covid-19 crisis. “Destructive and anti-Bharat (India) forces in the society can take advantage of these circumstances to create an atmosphere of negativity and mistrust in the country.”He should have, instead pulled the Modi regime for its intentional unpreparedness, incompetence and criminal neglect.
UP CM Yogi (BJP), a known communalist and criminalcondemned people who report shortages of oxygen as “anti-social elementswho spoil the atmosphere.”Yogi declared that there was no shortage of oxygen or beds or doctors in any hospital. He threatened to use the National Security Act to seize the property of the individuals who try to “spoil the atmosphere.”
Haryana CM Khattar (BJP), another RSS stalwart and roommate of PM Modi, when he was accused of under reporting Covid deaths, said, “it was useless to debate Covid toll as the dead won’t come back to life.”
Union Minister Prahlad Patel (BJP) when approached by a supplicant citizen, begging for oxygen, threatened to slap him.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat while visiting a hospital in Jodhpur told a Covid patient’s family, “You offer coconut to Balaji, everything will be alright”.
Karnataka’ BJP government Instead of arranging Oxygen, medicines & hospital beds Tweeted that they have allocated 230 acres of land on the outskirts of Bangaluru for a temporary crematorium.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar had instructed Indian Diplomats around the world to counter “one sided” world media narrative on government’s pandemic response failure. Back home, his own colleague, Ambassador to 5 countries; Ashok Amrohi died a very painful death in the parking lot of Medanta Hospital after waiting for 5 hours to be admitted in a Gurgaon hospital on April 27, 2021.
Modi regime’s ever-tightening hold on the Internet puts the social media companies against their own foundational values of free expression. It looks like they don’t want to risk a lucrative market like India with a 350 million middle class by not removing post that is critical of Modi regime’s functioning and its response to the pandemic that has turned into humanitarian crisis. These companies by towing the line of Modi, are doing a great harm to India by restricting the free flow of information, when India is teetering toward authoritarianism and religious majoritarianism under Modi and is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
What the Modi regime calls “misusing social media to create panic” in society, to an impartial observer, looks more like criticizing those in power. The content in question included indictments from the opposition, activists, experts and general public as well as calls for Modi to resign. More than 400,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths every day, although grossly under reported, is a harrowing situation and should cause alarm. Modi regime appears to be using the pretext of public health, not to protect its citizens from harm, but to protect itself from embarrassment and exposures.
Every major economy as well as small countries of the world, big corporations, organizations and celebrities are donating funds or sending critical medical supplies, Oxygen Plants, Oxygen cylinders, ventilators & vaccines to India. India’s crisis has become a global crisis.
As usual India’s world famous rich and celebrities are in MIA list or giving token donations to insult the Indians. At the same time, work done by Sikh Gurudwaras & organizations, various Hindu Temples and organizations, Muslim Organizations, Christian Organizations and individuals have lifted the human spirits of India. They are the shining light in these hours of darkness. If India survives at all, it will be due entirely to the civic commitment of its front-line workers, religious organizationsand ordinary citizens, who have stepped in to do the duties of a government that has abandoned its people.
Don’t know what the worthy Prime Minister of India means
MODI REGIME & ACCOMPLICES MUST BE TRIED IN A NUREMBURG STYLE TRIAL
THIS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS is a direct result of the Modi regime’s, arrogance, complacency, lack of preparation, bureaucratic incompetence, fake nationalism and the criminal neglect of its constitutional duties. In every direction, the criminal negligence of this regime is more apparent. The writing is on the wall, India’s Covid crisis is the direct result of criminal neglect and misgovernance. It will go down in the history as a case study of how to fail, disastrously, in handling a pandemic and how to cause mass death, rather human genocide by criminal negligence.
As per Indian Parliamentary system, Prime Minister is notionally the Minister for all departments, and the Cabinet Secretary is the Secretary to all departments. There are instances in the past where Prime Minister has overruled the minister concerned. Why was such a practice not resorted to by Modi to supervise various Ministers responsible for proper planning & resource mobilization to stop the Covid pandemic from turning into a human crisis? Modi’s failure to supervise his own Ministers, Bureaucrats and to devise a plan for Army help, cannot be termed ignorance; it is deliberate and criminal, and needs to be punished.
PM Modi, Ministers, Bureaucrats, the rich & famous celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra and Mukesh Ambani etc. that supported Modi’s superstitions, quackery and mythology for Covid treatment, must be tried in a Nuremburg style Trial to uphold the Justice System of India and India’s image as a viable Democracy.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Three Indian American siblings raised more than USD 2,80,000 to send essential oxygen supplies for Covid-19 patients in India. Founders of a non-profit organization, ‘Little Mentors’, they reached out to their school friends and families for funds so that they could arrange life-saving equipment like oxygen concentrators and ventilators for needy patients and hospitals in and around Delhi. “Our only request is to return it (the equipment) when it’s not further needed as the next patient can use it,” said 15-year-old triplets Gia, Karina and Armaan Gupta. “This is important as supply of this equipment is very scarce and the affected population is enormous,” they said. The triplets said they also planned to keep a database of the needy population so that supply could be properly directed. “We need everybody’s help in this as such an enormous task can only be accomplished by teamwork. We are very fortunate to work with an excellent team of physicians, both in the US and India. We are further working on getting vaccine supplies,” they said. Previously, the triplets worked to reach out to senators and congressmen, requesting to lift the critical supply embargo. “Although we hope and pray that this second wave of the coronavirus will go away soon, we are getting ready for the worst and asking people to be careful and help each other in this major crisis,” they said. Besides, the group plans to open distribution centers in major cities.
DES MOINES (TIP): The Des Moines, Iowa, -based Sehgal Foundation said it was shipping out 200 oxygen concentrators to seven Indian states on May 6, 2021. The shipment of the medical equipment was made possible through donations from its individual supporters across the United States, the foundation said in a press release.
“Working in close coordination with local partners and government officials, the Sehgal Foundation team on the ground in India is ensuring that the equipment is directly reaching those who need it the most in public hospitals in villages across 7 states,” the release said. It added, “In the coming week, more oxygen cylinders, ventilators, personal protective equipment, rapid diagnostic tests, and therapeutics will be sent.”
Sehgal Foundation teams are working with district administrators and local partners in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh, the release said. “To respond quickly during this catastrophic surge in Covid-19 cases in India, Sehgal Foundation has taken immediate action to reach the people in the greatest need,” the release said.
S.M. Sehgal Foundation, a Gurgaon, India, -based sister organization of the Sehgal Foundation operates in more than 1,000 villages, across 10 states, serving more than 2.5 million people. Areas it focuses on include food and water security, and good rural governance. Since a devastating second wave of Covid-19 surged in India, dozens of US-based organizations have sent medical equipment to India. Last week, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), which represents the 80,000-strong Indian American physician community in the US, airlifted the first batch of 1,000 of oxygen concentrators.
On May 3, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it will donate more than $70 million worth of medicines to India.
Indiaspora, a nonprofit, raised $1 million raised through its private donor network of members.
WASHINGTON (TIP): Sikhs in the US state of Indiana have held a memorial service to honor the eight people, including four community members, who were killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility last month.
Brandon Scott Hole, 19, a former worker at the Indianapolis FedEx facility, killed eight people on April 15 before killing himself. Four of those killed were Sikhs, including three women.
The memorial service on Saturday was opened with ardaas, a Sikh prayer.
“We are so thankful to everyone who came together to attend and help put on this important event,” said Balwinder Singh, an Indianapolis Sikh community leader.
“What happened on April 15 is a tragedy that forever altered too many lives, and only by coming together to grieve, honor, and call for action can we move forward,” he said.
The event, held at a city stadium, featured city, state and federal representatives, Indianapolis-area interfaith leaders and Sikh community members.
“As your governor, I stand with you in support of the Sikh community, with each of the families of the victims, with the hundreds of others who are feeling the impact of this tragedy, and with our law enforcement and first responders who face it daily so most of us don’t have to,” Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said.
“And we stand with this city and the entire community, still reeling from the impact of that terrible day. I’m grateful for each person here today to honor lives so tragically lost, to show support for survivors and to extend a comforting hand to the families and friends who were taken from us far too soon,” he said.
Several of Indiana’s congressional representatives sent letters of support that were read aloud at the event.
President Joe Biden also wrote a letter of support, media reported.
The letter was read by Erika Moritsugu, deputy assistant to the president and Asian American and Pacific Islander senior liaison.
“To the people of Indiana, I share the heartbreak you are experiencing after such senseless violence pierced your community and our nation’s soul once again,” Biden wrote.
“They were our friends and neighbors. They were immigrants and fellow Americans, seeking their piece of the American dream.” Komal Chohan, whose grandmother was killed during the shooting, said: “It makes us feel like we’re not alone.” “We don’t know if this was bias-related. It feels good to know that not everybody views us in that manner and not everybody sees us as outsiders,” Chohan said.
There are an estimated 8,000-10,000 Sikhs in Indiana. Though Sikhs began settling in the state more than 50 years ago, the first gurdwara was not established until 1999. There are 10 gurdwaras in the state now.
Police have not identified a motive for the shooting, yet. It is unclear if the shooter was targeting Sikhs.
The memorial service was jointly organized by the Sikh community in Indianapolis, with the support of national Sikh organizations including the Sikh Coalition, United Sikhs, and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF).
HOUSTON (TIP): Indian American billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla pledged USD 10 million for the supply of medical oxygen to hospitals in India. This is in continuation with the Sun Microsystems co-founder’s efforts to fund hospitals for oxygen supplies amid a surge in COVID cases in the country. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, he said there was a need to save lives as further delay may end up in more deaths.
“For @GiveIndia this isn’t enough. They’ve received requests for 20,000 oxygen concentrators, 15,000 cylinders, 500 ICU beds, 100 ventilators, 10,000-beds COVID centers with requests coming from non-profits & hospitals all across India every day. We need to do a lot more urgently,” Mr. Khosla said.
For @GiveIndia this isn’t enough. They’ve received requests for 20000 oxygen concentrators, 15000 cylinders, 500 ICU beds, 100 ventilators, 10000-beds Covid-19 centers with requests coming from non-profits & hospitals all across India every day. We need to do a lot more urgently
“The Khosla Family is adding USD 10 million to @GiveIndia to its previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need,” Mr. Khosla said.
The Khosla Family is adding $10m to @GiveIndia to its previous commitment as a match and hoping others will join in this urgent need. There is large and very urgent needs & a day’s delay costs lives. One day at one hospital without oxygen had 8 people die gasping for breath!
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 new coronavirus cases being reported daily and hospitals in several states reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
My mother is a god given gift to me. I cannot imagine my life without my mom. In every child’s life both parents are very important, but a mother carries a baby in her womb for nine months, and the bond that is created during those nine months makes her more special than anyone else in the world. She is child’s first seen God, and she is the one called first for any help. My mom is a Stage 3 cancer survivor of 45 years. I never thought my mom will make it out with cancer in those days, but she is a fighter. She fought with cancer like a warrior, and sure that she is a God given gift to me. My mom is a housewife. Like all other mothers, she is a hardworking, loving, and caring person. But she is very strong-minded and determined. I am grateful for how she molded me into a fine, young, talented, and independent lady. I am who I am today because of my mom.
My mom taught me how to be rock solid during any rough time and melt like butter when seeing a less fortunate person. I owe my mom for instilling good values and passing on her looks to me. She taught me the importance of education and the courage to fight for what is right.
My mom is my hero, my teacher and my leader. I look to her for guidance on any of my problems. My mother has seen and experienced many tragedies in her life, including losing her husband, only brother, and only son at a very young age. She faced all that hardship and unexpected turns in her life as a challenge without any complaint. My mom has the art of putting a smile on anyone’s face with her sweet and soothing words.
My mom is 86+years and I thank God for having her in my life, and I truly am blessed. I pray to God if there is a life after death, I would love to take birth again and again as daughter to my mother. On this Mother’s Day, I wish my mom nothing but happiness and a long healthy life. To all the Mothers, Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers and soon-to-be Mothers—wish you a very Happy, Magical and Safe Mother’s Day.
NJSO musicians and founding Youth Orchestras coaches
Martin Andersen and Robert Wagner
VIP Pre-Show: May 12 @ 7 PM, Concert @ 7:30 PM
Online auction (May 3–12): Items from
Restaurant gift cards to Vacation getaways
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) celebrates the 30th anniversary of the NJSO Youth Orchestras and highlights the program’s talented students at the virtual “Spring into Music” Gala on May 12. The event features a free NJSO concert available to the public and a VIP pre-show party for gala supporters.
Hannah Lee, winner, plays flute (Photo / Courtesy NJSO)
In the 7:30 pm concert, the Orchestra gives the world premiere of “The Enchanted Forest” – a piece composed by Youth Orchestras students through a creative composition project – and showcases concerto competition winner Hannah Lee, an East Brunswick 12th grader, in the Allegro maestoso from Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G Major, K. 313. NJSO Youth Orchestras Artistic Director José Luis Domínguez conducts.
The program also includes chamber performances by the Youth Orchestras’ Anne Lieberson Ensemble (with NJSO Music Director Xian Zhang on piano) and Curtland E. Fields Ensemble, plus special guest appearances and a signature cocktail demonstration from Newark’s All Points West Distillery.
The concert will be available on demand at njsymphony.org/springintomusic and on the NJSO’s YouTube channel beginning at 7:30 pm.
“The Enchanted Forest” grew out of a season long NJSO Youth Orchestras creative composition project in which all students collaborated in small groups to explore their own musical voices and compose new works drawing from all the genres that inspire them. NJSO musician coaches guided each group, and Domínguez orchestrated and arranged the works.
José Luis Domínguez conducts the NJSO (Photo / Courtesy NJSO)
Domínguez says: “The professional orchestra, the hall, the scores, the lights, the cameras – so many people dedicated so much work to these students’ ideas. That is touching beyond description. That is unforgettable.”
Self-dubbed the ‘Chromatic Creators,’ the young composers who teamed up to pen “The Enchanted Forest” include Ameya Srinivasan (seventh grade, Edison), Amy Zarebczan (11th grade, Passaic), Ashita Birla (10th grade, Jersey City), Kevin Yang (sixth grade, Edison), Natalie Sokolov (ninth grade, Holmdel), Samantha Huerta (10th grade, Wayne). NJSO flutist and piccolo player Kathleen Nester coached the group.
Ashita Birla says: “Composing an original piece by collaborating with my peers in the Chromatic Creators was an experience of a lifetime. When I heard that the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra would be playing ‘The Enchanted Forest,’ it felt surreal. I was amazed and honored to hear that our piece would come to life at the hands of accomplished musicians. It inspires me to continue composing and playing violin to express my voice through music.”
The winner of the annual NJSO Youth Orchestras’ Henry Lewis Concerto Competition traditionally gives a solo performance with the Youth Orchestras’ most advanced orchestra at its annual spring concert. Hannah Lee won the 2020 competition, but the Youth Orchestras’ spring concert was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the NJSO invited her to perform with the professional orchestra for this year’s gala.
“I am so thankful that in spite of the pandemic I had a chance to perform with the NJSO. It was such an honor,” Lee says. “It still feels like a dream that I performed, and I’ll definitely feel that way watching the performance as well!”
“Hannah gave such a professional, musical performance. She has a brilliant future with the flute,” Domínguez says. “I can only imagine how encouraged she must feel as she embarks on her path towards a professional future.”
A 7 pm VIP pre-show party offers opportunities for gala supporters to virtually mingle with NJSO musicians and special guests. Iachetti’s Kitchen in Glen Rock will demonstrate how to make a delicious appetizer to savor.
The Spring into Music Gala online auction, open from May 3–12, offers items from restaurant gift cards to vacation getaways.
The gala honorees are BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a longtime NJSO Youth Orchestras funder, as well as NJSO musicians and founding Youth Orchestras coaches Martin Andersen and Robert Wagner. Michelle Merchant, an NJSO supporter and NJSO Youth Orchestras parent, and Dr. Philip Neches, an NJSO trustee and Amadeus Circle leader, co-chair the event.
GALA SUPPORT
Opportunities to support the gala can be accessed by visiting njsymphony.org/springintomusic
NJSO President & CEO Gabriel van Aalst says: “The students’ triumphs in the past year—from virtual learning and performances to the impressive new works they have composed—are an incredible testament to their talent and perseverance, and we are proud to showcase the students at this gala.”
NJSO Music Director Xian Zhang says: “This gala concert is a true showcase for the incredible achievements of the NJSO Youth Orchestras students. Our musicians have a deep love for coaching and working with students, and the program has reached new heights under the leadership of José Luis Domínguez. I am thrilled to see these young musicians blossoming and sharing their own musical voices.” Spring into Music is part of NJSO Virtual 20–21, the Orchestra’s digital season. For more information, visit njsymphony.org/virtual.
PROGRAM: SPRING INTO MUSIC GALA
Virtual VIP Pre-Show Party | Exclusive to Gala Supporters
Wed, May 12, at 7 pm on Zoom
Gala Concert | Free to the Public
Wed, May 12, at 7:30 pm
José Luis Domínguez, conductor
Hannah Lee, flute
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
MOZART Allegro maestoso from Flute Concerto in G Major, K. 313
CHROMATIC CREATORS OF THE NJSO YOUTH ORCHESTRAS “The Enchanted Forest”
Anne Lieberson Ensemble
Xian Zhang, piano
DVOŘÁK Allegretto scherzando from Bagatelles, Op. 47
Curtland E. Fields Ensemble
DAY “Tango D’amour”
ONLINE AUCTION | Open to the Public
May 3–12
The online auction offers fabulous items for everyone—from restaurant gift cards to vacation getaways.
To learn more, visit njsymphony.org/springintomusic
The Orchestra’s online hub for free musical content is njsymphony.org/virtual
The NJSO Youth Orchestras
The NJSO Youth Orchestras have not only continued virtual instruction but have introduced an entirely new dimension to the program. Students are working together on a yearlong creative composition project—a uniquely engaging opportunity for students to explore their own musical voices and shape new works that draw from all the genres that inspire them.
LONDON (TIP): Indian-origin doctors in the UK on Sunday, May 2, said they are in the process of rapidly expanding their telemedicine project through collaborations with Indian hospitals as part of a wider Covid-19 India Appeal.
The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) has raised nearly 108,000 pounds within days of setting up a Go Fund Me online appeal and said the initial amount of released funds are making their way to India to help provide immediate assistance such a food supplies for the needy through the Akhshaya Patra charity, with procurement of equipment next in line. Meanwhile, the BAPIO Telemedicine project has received support and clarification from the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) and has already started teleconsulting with hospitals in Nagpur, with expansion plans in the next few days.
“The effort is aimed at offering help to our exhausted and over-stretched colleagues in India,” said BAPIO Secretary Dr Parag Singhal.
“The telemedicine virtual hub project is going very well. We have hundreds of volunteers who have expressed their support for this, and the aim is to get 1,000 doctors on board to help across three fronts — reporting on CT scans, help for less serious cases through virtual ward rounds, and help for patients in a home setting,” he explained.
BAPIO is working in collaboration with Doctors Association UK (DAUK), Apna NHS and Akshaya Patra with a target to raise around 500,000 pounds towards the telemedicine and advice helplines as well as acquiring and coordinating the distribution of vital oxygen generating and distribution equipment for hospitals and healthcare facilities in India and providing free food to all in need.
The association said it will be working closely with the High Commission of India in London and various National Health Service (NHS) organizations to ensure a wide reach of its efforts.
“We are pleased to say that we now have support from the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Pathologists and the British Indian Nurses Association amongst many others and are making very good progress towards our goal,” BAPIO said in its update on the fundraising efforts.
The British International Doctors Association (BIDA), which also includes many Indian-origin doctors and medics, are also taking part in the virtual telemedicine efforts to help ease the burden on doctors and healthcare professionals coping with India’s massive surge of coronavirus cases.
BIDA has joined hands with the Oxygen for India appeal by British Asian Trust, recently backed by Prince Charles, to crowdfund through Just Giving towards the cause and raised 35,000 pounds within days.
“Every member knows somebody who has died. In my own family my mum had COVID-19 a week ago — luckily, she pulled through. Now my sister and my brother-in-law are also struggling with it,” Dr Chandra Kanneganti, Indian-origin general practitioner and BIDA chair, told ‘GP Online’.
“We are very lucky to have the NHS [National Health Service], and people recognize that when you hear stories from other countries that don’t have enough oxygen supplies, medicines or ventilators,” he said.
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