As there are stories of human trials and tribulations, sufferings and devastations, there are also inspiring stories coming from various places across the country. One such story is about a friend who carried oxygen to save his friend. Devendra, a 38-year-old teacher in the rural state of Jharkhand, became a tabloid hero when, after receiving a distress call from a friend in Delhi, 1,400km away, he scoured his state to find an oxygen cylinder and then drove for 24 hours straight to deliver the life-saving gift.
Another is how a man , Vishal Singh who owns a chain of private schools , , after seeing how hard it was to get his own 80-year-old father admitted to hospital, , , set up a free, fully equipped covid-19 care centre for other residents of his own posh gated community. Pascal and Rozy Saldanha, a middle-class couple in Mumbai, sold their jewellery to buy oxygen cylinders to give to needy neighbours. Residents of south Delhi speak of a mystery Food Man who roams the streets, stopping hungry-looking people and feeding them.[1]
Then there are stories of organised groups from Gurudwara to temples, private hotels and restaurants to Indian business tycoons joining the race voluntarily to help our people and patients. There are also stories about how two District collectors too upon themselves to do whatever they could to fight coronavirus. One of them is from Nandurbar The district collector of a small tribal-inhabited district in Maharashtra saw the deadly second wave of coronavirus disease coming and prepared a series of contingency plan, at a time when the country, including the western state, struggled to meet the logistical challenges that a gasping healthcare system posed.
A doctor-turned-bureaucrat, Dr Rajendra Bharud, the collector of Maharashtra’s Nandurbar has managed to keep the district running with an adequate supply of medical oxygen, hospital beds, isolation wards for Covid-19 patients and a well-planned vaccination drive. Today, the district has 150 vacant beds and two oxygen plants that have a combined capacity to produce 2,400 litres per minute. Not only did the district manage to control the positivity rate of the infection but it also slashed it by around 30%. Its robust healthcare system has led many from the neighbouring region in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to seek admission in Nandurbar.[2].
There are also stories of volunteers getting scared but were relieved when the supreme court made such posts on social media to be citizens right. This engineering student from Delhi , who formed a group by the name ,Young volunteers, and part of groups such as Citizens’ Aid Collective and Covid Fighters India, are helping hundreds of coronavirus patients and their family members find hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines in this time of crisis was scared today that officials might come after him. Kaushik and his fellow team members at Citizens’ Aid Collective built two spreadsheets for their volunteers. The first spreadsheet contained the various SOS pleas that needed to be catered to. This also included the responses that came in through an SOS Google form that they had made and circulated.The other spreadsheet had a constantly-updated list of leads about resources such as oxygen cylinders, hospital beds and medicine availability. The team would only post leads on this sheet after verifying it themselves.Volunteers would then match the requirement mentioned in the SOS sheet with the verified leads available on the resource sheet.
Aanya, a third-year student at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi, began a Covid aid initiative called Covid Fighters India, which has actively provided assistance to hundreds of patients’ families over the past several days. Their team is also leveraging technological aids such as a Twitter bot to help them in their efforts. “We’ve started a Twitter bot which we’ve got approved by Twitter. We have a Google form for people who need plasma, so what happens is that the moment someone fills up the form, the bot automatically tweets out the request and tags many of the organisations working on plasma.” [3]
Companies like Map my India have also put up portals that provide testing centers, vaccination centers and many other critical information on their b portal [4]. There are also many spreadsheets by IITians that are providing real time live situations.
It is obvious that the government alone cannot tide over such a crisis where disease and panic and politics all three are running in parallel. Add media and social media to it and the situation becomes really horrible. The need of the hour is that sane voices and help groups come and take charge. The examples and cases mentioned above are just a few among the many who have taken the challenge. Almost every city in the country is running some sort of free food and other facilities. People have formed small groups to help others.
Role of Sangh and NGOs:-
AS usual such crises are also best exemplified by the self less work of NGOs and organizations like the Sangh parivar who all have an immense network of people and resources to help the needy. WE are of the opinion that the Sangh must form a HELPLINE that is accessible to coordinate developments across the country. This HELPLINE can be managed by its volunteers across each district and states. There is no shortage of anything in the country but management. The sangh can fill this role in an excellent manner and can save the country from going into further chaos. WE are willing on our behalf to be part f any such initiative. WE hope and expect the Sangh parivar along with other NGOs to take the lead and supplement the efforts of the government. If small time people can do it why can’t big organizations and powerful people in the government can’t do it out of way just like the nandurbar collector has shown us.
On its part the government can acknowledge the efforts of all such people and organizations and inspire others to do.
References:
- https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/05/01/volunteers-are-filling-the-gaps-in-indias-fight-against-covid-19
- https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/how-a-ias-officer-made-a-maharashtra-tribal-district-oxygensufficient-101619599643512.html
- https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/story/corona-wave-covid-volunteers-sos-shortage-oxygen-remdesivir-hospital-bed-help-1796702-2021-04-30
- https://maps.mapmyindia.com/corona?corona_testing_centre,covid19_vaccination_centre
Asheesh Shah
Samanvaya.
