#India@mohfw, @NITIAayog and analysts from @BrookingsIndia must not downplay the scale of the #Coronavirus epidemic in India. Even going by just the officially reported numbers - which we know are an UNDER-count: 1. At 3.3Million cases today, India is at World No 3.
"But India is a populous country and per million people our incidence is very low", I hear the apologists say. Firstly, these are reported figures, we really dont know what the true figure is. And even if others too are undercounting we dont know that India's undercount is worse.
Comparisons are always biased. Take a global view. 1 in every 6 persons on Planet Earth is an Indian. And if you take today's #Coronavirus figures. then again 1 in every 7 cases is an Indian. So India's reported incidence is almost spot on the global incidence.
India may be miles behind America, but if you consider recent cases - new infections reported in the last 14 days -the picture looks v different - India is the clear 'leader'. 1 in every 4 cases globally reported in last 14 days is from India! We're punching above our weight.
We need to wake up, and if we haven't already done so, we need to smell the #Coronavirus threat to India's. We must not hide behind the admittedly low deaths numbers and say #SabChangaS. Even @RBI has fallen for the "Rising #recovery rate" nonsense betraying a shocking ignorance.
The economy has been pole-axed in the solar plexus. The Govt's finances are precarious; it hasn't the wherewithal to pay the States their GST dues. far from not growing jobs are actually declining even after the massive job losses after #lockdown.
At the very least, India needs to officially acknowledge the scale of the problem. It does not help when Senior Ministers tweet about #Vishwaguru status or Ganesh Puja in Ghana, or when the PM shares a video montage of his peacocks and geese.
The Media have given up on the #Coronavirus problem. It's almost as if 75k cases in one day taking India to the tol of the leaderboard ios the new normal - Disucssing the life of and life choices of #RheaChakraborty is not going to deal with #Covid19
We need a clearly articulated strategy both to keep economic and social life going through a #Coronavirus dominated couple of years and to generate jobs and economic activity. We need to discuss now a strategy for a vaccine rollout. We need to end diversionary politics
Meanwhile, if anyone tells you how India has a low death rate tell them a) we are under-reporting deaths: See teets from @giridar100 and show them this chart
Comparisons with a few selected countries are misleading. Global averages tell a different story.
- 1 in every 6 persons in the world
- 1 in every 7 #coronavirus infected persons and
- 1 in every 4 persons infected in last 14 days
is an Indian
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So, we know that the Indian Rupee is rapidly losing vaue against the US dollar. It's not due to the Dollar gaining strength, because the dollar hasn't moved much against the Euro. It's clearly because the Indian economy is not doing well. What does that mean and how does it matter?
At its simplest level currency is the medium of exchange for commodities. But when currency is itself the commodity it behaves like one when supply goes down its price rises. In the INR-USD trade exah in turn acts like the medium of exchange for the other.
So when would the dollar be seen as a commodity? When you need to acquire dollars to pay for things that are priced in dollars. How do you pay for those dollars? With rupees.
So if everyone wants dollars and is paying for them with rupees and there isn't an equal trade in the opposite direction then the dollar strengthens and you have to shell out more rupees for a dollar.
Essentially the level of exchange between the 2 currencies depends on trade. We import stuff we want and to pay for it we need to earn through exports the currency with which to pay for those nice desirable imports. India exports less than it imports. That is the trade balance and it has for long been negative. This is the latest trade data from the Ministry of commerce.
India's foreign policy vis-a-vis the USA is in tatters. All the hype about Modi's address to Congress, #HowdyModi, #QUAD, and #G20 were just that Hype. Now reality stares us in the face. Firstly, TeamTrump has apparently invited leaders from 60 countries to his Inauguration but not our Dear Leader. He invited China's President Xi but not India's PM Modi.
And so our EAM goes off the America. Why? He cant possibly expect to do serious business with the US Govt in the last weeks of a lame duck Biden Administration. So there has to be something in the speculation on social media that he was despatched to wangle an invite for #ModiJi to the Jan 20 inauguration.
Now, here's the thing. If he comes back empty-handed, it'll be a slap in the face for India it'll show how little USA needs India, and how little Trump needs ModiJi.
OTOH if a last minute invite does materialise, it will a) look like a poor consolation prize, and b) reveal the fact that India needs America more than the other way round; and show how desperately our Dear Leader needs the validation of a Washington Photo-Op.
What a shambles!
Addendum.
Where did I get that figure of 60 countries? Someone asked.
Answer: I took it from a Twitter source of uncertain veracity and one that I cannot find again. And I did not seek independent verification because the exact number was not relevant to the argument I was putting forward. Since I could not verify the figure I said 'apparently'.
What we do know is that Team Trump used various vack channel means to reach out to several world leaders. See: google.com/url?sa=t&sourc…
That said, it is an absolutely arguable point - what possible official or diplomatic business could possibly have drawn our EAM to Washington at this time? 1. Between Christmas and the Ney Year work usually shuts down. No one has the time, the mood or the bandwidth for serious business. Hibernation and Partying, that's all that happens. 2. Between the US elections on Nov 20 and Inauguration Day on Jan 20 2025. the US Govt effectively is in 'keep routine stuff going' mode. The outgoing administration shuts down work on new decisions, policy discussions, planning and actions. All the senior and mid-level officials are busy finding alternative employment because the incoming administration will appoint their own people. So no one is in the mood for serious discussions of any kind. 3. For both these obvious reasons, one has to ask what purpose could @DrSJaishankar's visit have possibly served? As the Indian Ambassador to the US during Manmohan Singh's time as PM, he would very well know that a visit by the country's External Affairs at this time would only cause a headache and embarrassment for the Embassy. 4. Clearly, his own inclination would have been not to go to America at this time. Nothing that he sought to achieve could not have been achieved through our Ambassador in DC. 5. And yet he agreed to go on what is widely being treated on social media memes as a fool's errand. Why?
An imprtant 🧵Communal harmony may have been put at risk by mischievous elements in India
There's a rumour circulating on @X which claims that beef and pig fat may have been used in the making of the famous Tirupati Temple Prasad Laddus.
There is a Twitter Spaces run by @IntConfused where speakers are starting from the position that this is absolutely proven (that Tirupati Laddus contain beef fat, prok fat and fish oils) and that Hindus have been betrayed and must rise up. See this
Unsurpisingly BJP handles have gotten in on the act.
@ncbn made a statement that animal fat was used in these laddus during the reign of @ysjagan, BUT a 'recent' test report showed the presence of beef and pig fat and fish oil in the making of these Laddus
I.N.D.I. Alliance or INDIA alliance? Why is India's R/W ecosystem going insance over the @RahulGandhi clip where allegedly he was caught out when he said that the term "INDI Alliance was a BJP framing" that it was INDIA. So what's the truth?
A 🧵
1st there is a difference between an abbreviation (as in DNA = stands for de-xyribose nucelic acid) where you speak out D, N, and A; and an acronym (OPEC the word substitutes for Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries), where you make a word out of the letters.
So it sounds odd to say "DNA acid" but its fine to say, "Kuwait is an OPEC country". the fact that the C in opec 'stands' for "country" does not make it wrong to say OPEC country.
What is the dumbing down force that makes even people of some eminence put out stupid posts on social media. Posts that mislead, misinform and pander to a prejudice? Like this one from @sanjeevsanyal ? Mr Sanyal is not some cheap troll. He served as India's Prin Econ Adv 6 yrs
And is now on the PM's Econ Adv Council. He is a published author and commentator and has a huge @X. So why do I take issue with that tweet of his about Sweden's support for migrant's who want to go back elsewhere?
Read on to see why I am so disappointed at the level of public discourse on social media even from people who should know better. 1. The substance of the tweet suggests that Sweden is rethinking its policy on taking in refugees and migants, and is seeking to send them back.
Of all the claims that @palkisu made in her fanciful @OxfordUnion debate on India under Modi, the most egregious was the claim about how, in the much dreaded queue at the UK Border Agency at Heathrow she observed throngs of Indians proudly presenting their INDIAN passports.
No longer did they have to shamefully and hesitantly reveal their Indian-ness. The implication was that before Modi arrived on the scene (and forced us to defend Indian democracy), all of us did precisely that - hide our passports as we slipped in shamefaced and embarrassed.
what utter bollocks! what balderdash!
If at all any Indian traveller arriving at Heathrow is not so knackered and bushed after a 9 hour flight that he presentes his Indian passport with a proud flourish its because of pride that he has obtained a Visitor Visa