Covid-19 Crisis Impact in India

The COVID-19 health crisis is like an ever-rising tide, testing patience and forcing people to distance themselves even from their loved ones.

As of now, we have crossed 20 million confirmed covid cases in India and the situation is completely out of control in 2021. The devastating magnitude of the second wave of coronavirus can be gauged from the fact that a quarter of the total cases in the country since the start of the pandemic were reported in the last 16 days.  

All of you might be very well aware of our national capital region, Delhi, famous for its overcrowded population, where people are suffering extremely from the COVID-19 crisis outbreak. Our country is fighting with a lot of problems like:

• Shortage of supply of oxygen cylinders.  
• Shortage of supply of Remdesivir in different parts of the state. 
• Cases at a peak with more than 3 lakh cases every day.
• Covid-19 led to the lockdown in the first phase, which was challenging and did show some severe consequences.
• It raised the unemployment rates in our country from 6.7% to 26%.
• According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, Indian is 62nd among 107 countries.
• According to the Global Hunger Index, India ranked 14th out of 107 countries.
• Food, the basic need of human existence, was a luxury in lockdown for a lot of people as they were not able to afford it. It drastically affected the lives of poor people. 

People have suffered tremendously due to COVID-19, but the first phase was not this horrendous. During the initial phase of COVID-19, we came across different stages of a pandemic. The novel coronavirus, which was unaware of the long-existing national borders, had the power to destroy the respiratory organs of all communities, irrespective of the castes, races, genders, classes, and nationals alike, and each and every man on the planet was on the same grounds, the virus left everyone on the equal position without disparities. 

India was constantly propelling the philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” which inculcates that the whole world is one family. We came across countless stories of volunteers distributing free meals, medicines, blankets, and protective equipment to unprivileged ones. People were supporting each other to a great extent, and we successfully moved on from I to US.

We also saw a phase where people were more concerned about their health and hygiene. People stopped ordering food from outside and started washing their hands multiple times a day. We started making and trying out different recipes from Youtube to satisfy our savoury cravings. 

We saw a phase where everything was gender-neutral, from washing utensils, mopping or cleaning, to cooking, the workload was equally divided, and the rules of patriarchy were broken as men learnt to distinguish between salt and sugar. 

The pandemic locked us in our homes as we were the destroyers of our motherland, ‘Earth’. The plants were breathing again, animals revived, birds were back to their home, and water bodies flushed out domestic waste. This was a beautiful phase, indeed, till the COVID-19 started showing its disruption. 

Negative Impact: The Disruption

• This devastating pandemic has left the elderly and aged population across the world vulnerable. Nearly 4000 people are dying every day in our country, and the situation is out of hand. 
• Due to the shortage of Remdesivir and oxygen cylinders, people are dying on the roads, and there are no records for the people that died. There are long queues in front of the hospitals to get their family members admitted. People are mourning the death of their loved ones and waiting to collect their dead bodies; the situation is horrific. 
• More than 1.5 billion students and youth across the globe are affected by the school and university closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as per the data released by UNESCO. 
• India was a developing country, but its economy is drastically affected due to the COVID-19 crisis. The GDP has contracted by as much as 15% in the first half of the last financial year.

But our politicians and so-called leaders are busy conducting rallies, contesting elections and allowing the Kumbh Mela to happen in this severe situation where people are crying to death. The West Bengal elections were conducted amid the covid crises in the state. It clearly states that the politicians are more concerned about the vote banks and winning the elections. The big question is for us to ask, “Is this what we call democracy?”

Manya Gurnani