Came across two imp articles explaining in detail how Modi & his cronies have completely messed up the best chance Indian people had against Covid - vaccination.
Ppl still seem to not realize how big & serious this f*ck-up is, but when they do, hope they also realize this:
When Congress proposed the idea of the welfarist NYAY, ppl mercilessly mocked them. But it was a bold political move. Clearly if UPA wer in power today, vaccines wudv been centrally procured, free, & walk-ins allowed
Boldness needs to b in d direction of welfare, not destruction
When we talk about BJP & modi's obsession with perceptions & the accompanying propaganda, let's also remember that this propaganda works in the reverse way too: muddying the perception of opposition parties, esp Congress. Many hav fallen prey to that, & it's high time we realized
One of those articles indicates how a huge lot of Indian ppl's money transacted betw chaiwala & poonawala, but still Indians hav been made to beg for vaccines. An exasperating read
One expert called the govt’s attitude "ignorance combined with arrogance.” qz.com/2004650/why-do…
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The venerable @OmairTAhmad, in a recent thread, perfectly analyzd differential attitudes of privileged Indians to Covid in 2020 & 21
To his point that India mishandled d first, but it was largely d poor who paid d price, "so u didn't care," here's some some public health history
Ppl seem to think that now that the problematic situation of our healthcare is out ther for every1 to see, the elites & ruling classes will take health reform seriously.
However, there rarely is a “trickle-up” of activist sentiments and intellectual rationale into elite circles.
Most privileged Indians indeed r furious wit whats happening. But for many, this anger springs from the individually-oriented PEEVE that healthcare is too pricey &/or inaccessible for them, & not the universally oriented PRINCIPLE tht everyone deserves quality and affordable care
Ther hav been a lot of tweets on this in the past few days. Wheth we call it Indian Medical Service #IMS or All India Health cadre #AIHC etc, looks like ppl think that having doctors in charge of medical decisions is the need of the hour.
I even came across a little meme showing Anthony Fauci on one side, with his plethora of medical degrees, & the dull Lav Agarwal on the other, with (the meme said) a B. Tech degree. This obv makes for a compelling argument, esp for young medicos.
There's a lot to be unpacked here, and I think will be in the coming days by many others. Here r my two cents:
A 'Harvard study' says that "Yogi's UP" was "heaven on earth" for migrants.
Over d last few days, we have been seeing such headlines all over Indian media.
But there's a catch: None of these reports mentions the authors' names, the study's title, & where to find d actual study
Harvard Univ already has a lot of baggage, recently in terms of many graduates workin for d Trump admin.. I m sure they do not want to extend this baggage to hateful, divisive, violent regimes elsewher. The content of d news reports makes it clear that if such a Harvard study..
.. exists, it wasn't primarily done for academic reasons.
Or maybe it was, in which case it would be really great if @Harvard or @HarvardChanSPH make sure that the study is made publicly available so that other experts can assess how valid its observations & conclusions are.
A while back I saw a v good article on healthcare in India mention that Ayurveda goes back to "more than 5000 years." Like so many origin stories around the world, those of Ayurveda have also acquired many mythical elements (like the above) over the centuries. Hence this PSA...
When it comes to Indian history, we tragically lack what's called "critical thinking skills" (or in common parlance, "logic and common sense"). In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Sanskritist Ramakrishna Bhandarkar urged us to work on such mental skills: thewire.in/history/grand-…
Keeping that in mind, let me intro u to an awesome 2005 article by historian Projit Mukharji. He explains well why claims over ancientness became more imp than any other characteristics (like therapeutic efficacy) for Ayurvedic publicists in the 1800s. academia.edu/761638/Bengali…
Some intriguing headlines regarding d President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) appeard on Indian RW media yday. As usual OpIndia's took the (cowdung)cake: "IMA President wants to use hospitals to convert Hindus." For someone interestd in IMA's history, this was imp stuff
I read the "incriminating" interviews of Dr Jayalal. And also d OpIndia etc content thru cached pages (in the hope that my clicks don't boost the views of what is the most hate-filled media platform in our country). Unsurprisingly, it was d usual Hindutva paranoia on display..
Here are those interviews of Dr Jayalal. These interviews paint a picture of a publicly religious biomedical doctor, which is not uncommon (tho something I personally dont appreciate)
Some ppl, for good reasons, believe that vaccines should not be made available free for all but only for the 'poor'. It's very noble when ppl volunteer to pay for services. If u wanna pay for vaccines, go ahead!
But still, let vaccination be 'free' for all...
Privileged ppl who wish to pay have multiple ways to contribute even if vaccines are free at the point of service. One cud, eg, go to a govt hospital or an NGO and donate there. Besides, EVERY person in India pays taxes, direct &/or indirect, thus also 'paying' for their vaccines
We need to get rid of d flawed notion that when govts make a service free, they are doing us a favor, or that they are encouraging free-loading. (It is in fact ministers, MPs, MLAs, with som exceptions, who perhaps do the most free-loading in India, but that's a diff discussion.)