REVERSAL: Instead of Russian tourism charters coming to Goa, now Goans who can afford it may enjoy a Russian holidays with two doses of the Sputnik vaccine thrown in.

BY RAJAN NARAYAN

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court turned down the fresh plea of the Goa government to lift the curbs on travellers to Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the international media including the most prestigious medical journal in the world, “The Lancet”, published from London slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For a Saturday following the week when the Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant has also been targeted for his irresponsible management of the second wave. For a Saturday following the week when the Russians who have been coming to Goa in large numbers have reversed the trend by organising Sputnik holidays to Russia.

NO LIFTING OF CURBS

AND a few stray thoughts on the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court refusing a fresh appeal filed by the government of Goa on May 18, seeking the withdrawal of the curbs imposed on outsiders entering the state of Goa without a Covid-19 negative certificate. In response to the earlier PILs filed by various parties, the Goa Bench had made it clear that there would be no exception and the negative Covid-19 certificate should not be more than 72 hours old. The State government, which delayed the imposition of curbs on tourists to Goa from November 2020, was more interested in the revenue from casinos and night clubs than the growing spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Goa.
It was only after the Public Interest Litigations (PILs) were filed that in response to the directives of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, the State government made Covid-19 negative certificate compulsory for everyone visiting Goa. Though an exception was made relating to persons travelling in goods vehicles making supplies of essential commodities to the State. In the petition that the State government filed Advocate General Devidas Pangam submitted that the restriction imposed by the orders dated May 5, 2021 was disproportionate and had caused serious prejudice to residents of Goa who wished to enter Goa as well as persons who wish to enter Goa for purposes of their daily work.
The AG tried to give the impression that a large number of people from the neighbouring state of Maharashtra and Karnataka come to Goa on a regular basis to work. As if Goa being a small state it does not have enough manpower for the smooth operation of business, including the various industries involved with fighting Covid-19. The AG also argued that the procedure for obtaining a Covid-19 negative certificate is quite difficult and that even the labs issuing them were over-burdened.
This is a reference to the fact that because of the huge demand for testing, the results take eight to ten days to be received. The AG pointed out that the Indian Counsel of Medical Research had issued advisory dated May 4, 2021 against insisting upon RT-PCR negative from healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel to reduce the load on the labs. The application made by the State for the removal of restrictions insisted that as on May 10, 2021 hardly 0.25% of the travellers entering Goa tested positive and availed medical facilities in the state. The AG also claimed that the RT-PCR tests were not fool-proof and therefore there is no guarantee that a person with a negative certificate will not infect others.

PRESSURE ON POLICE

THE State claimed that there was tremendous pressure on the enforcement agencies like the police and the RTO and that there were no restriction imposed by Maharashtra and Karnataka on the workforce entering the states from Goa. Those who have been following the media bulletin issued by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) may have noticed that there is a column for travellers coming by flight, road and rail, which shows very small numbers. We suspect that these numbers have been understated to mislead the court that very few people travel to Goa.
If the restrictions are removed as demanded by the government, the number of visitors will go up exponentially. The Goa bench had made it clear that even those are residents of Goa or those who want to come for work in Goa would have to produce a Covid-19 negative certificate in the public interest. It was pointed out by the court that on May 6, 2021, there were 3,869 positive cases in Goa and the number of Covid-19 related deaths were 58. The positivity rate was one of the highest if not the highest in the entire country as on May 17, 2021. Though the positivity rate has come down to 32.66%, it is premature to withdraw the restrictions. The Bench however, conceded that the State government could make a fresh appeal for removal of the curbs when the situation improved.

`LANCET’ TARGETS MODI

AND a few stray thoughts on the international media targeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for gross mismanagement of the second wave of Covid-19. The world’s leading medical bulletin `Lancet’ has commented, “the scenes of suffering in India are hard to understand.” As of May 4 more than 20.2 million cases of Covid-19 has been reported at a rolling average of 3,78,000 cases per day, together with 2,22,000 deaths, which experts believe are a substantial under estimate. Hospitals are overwhelmed and health workers are exhausted and have become infected. Social media is full of desperate people (doctors and the public) seeking drugs, medical oxygen, oxygen facilitated beds and other necessities.
“Yet, before the second wave of Covid-19 cases began to mount in early March, India’s Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan declared that India was at the endgame of the epidemic. The impression given by the government was that India had beaten Covid-19 after several months of low case counts, despite repeated warnings of the dangers of a second wave and the emergence of new strains. The announcements by the Indian Council of Medical Research falsely suggested that India had reached heard immunity. Encouraging complacency and insufficient preparation.
“A sero-survey in January suggested that only 21% of the population had anti-bodies. PM Modi’s government seemed to be more intent on removing criticism on Twitter than trying to control the pandemic.” It may be recalled that the Central government had filed a case against Twitter in the Supreme Court demanding that negative postings on Covid-19 should be deleted. The SC rejected the demand of the government.
“Despite warnings about the risks of super-spreader events the government allowed religious festivals (kumbh mela at Haridwar) to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies. Both these were conspicuous for their lack of Covid-19 protocol such as the wearing of mask and maintaining physical distance. The message that Covid-19 was over also marked the start of the India Covid-19 vaccine campaign. Which has vaccinated less than 2% of the population. Moreover the government abruptly shifted course without discussing the change in policy with the states, expanding vaccination to the 18-45 age group. This drained supplies and created mass confusion and a market for vaccine doses in which states and hospital systems started competing.”
What was worse that the vaccination was Centrally-controlled. It was not distributed equally among all states, as BJP-ruled states were given preference. There was also a problem of adequate medical oxygen and hospital beds as preparations had not been made for the huge number of cases during the second wave. It is like the story of a hare and the tortoise. PM Narendra Modi boasted around the world that India had conquered Covid-19. He also claimed that India had become self-sufficient in vaccines with two manufacturing units, namely, the private Serum Institute of India in Pune which made the AstraZeneca, and Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech, an Indian public sector company. In the meanwhile, other developed countries which were lagging behind overtook India.

TORTOISE FORGES AHEAD

WHILE Modi was still sleeping the developed countries in anticipation of the second wave stepped up their vaccination drive very quickly. Ironically, they got most of their stock from the Serum Institute in Pune, which is considered the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world. With the result that while people in the US and UK have been vaccinated 2/3rds of the population over 16 and even considering vaccinating the 12-16 age group, India has not even completed vaccination of senior citizens and Covid-19 warriors. To cite an example, Goa which was expecting to vaccinate more than five lakh people in the age group 18-45 has succeeded so far in vaccinating less than 50,000 of the people in this category.
The net result, as pointed out by the `New York Times’ is that Goa is the city with the highest positivity rate and the lowest vaccination.

GOA CM IRRESPONIBLE

AND a few stray thoughts on Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant acting even more irresponsibly than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indeed, there was a post doing the rounds on Facebook that the BJP High Command was planning to replace Pramod Sawant. However this proved to be a fake post and as of now the BJP at the Centre do not seems to have any plans to drop either the CM or Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
Part of the problem is that the bench strength of the BJP is very low. The BJP and the RSS are not likely to permit any of the Congress defectors to take over as CM. Within the ranks of the BJP even if you include those like Mauvin Godinho, who quit the Congress, and got themselves re-elected on BJP tickets, they may not be acceptable to the RSS. There is a general fear that if Vishwajit Rane is dropped, he may reveal the details of the Rafael aircraft scam to the media. It may be recalled that the French media had alleged that huge kickbacks were involved in the purchase of the Rafael aircraft which was a deal between Narendra Modi and President of France Emmanuel Macron. Even the then late Defence Minister of India Manohar Parrikar was not consulted. When the deal was being signed in Paris, Manoharbhai was enjoying his fish curry in Goa.
Just as Narendra Modi, presuming that Covid-19 is over, permitted the kumbh mela to take place and elections in five states, Pramod Sawant lifted all curbs on entry into Goa prematurely. Since November 2020 the Goa government spread the red carpet to whoever wanted to come to Goa. Even before Covid-19 thousands if not several lakh of tourists used to come to Goa every weekend to gamble in the casinos and dance in the night clubs. With the shut-down of mining and the cancellation of the charter tourism traffic, domestic tourism was the main source of revenue for the Goa government.
But as Covid-19 cases kept increasing Health Minister Vishwajit Rane repeatedly requested the CM to impose curbs on visitors to Goa, only to be ignored. This was all the more important because Maharashtra had been affected by the new double mutant variant virus which was very virulent and spread very rapidly. Since thousands of people from Maharashtra and Karnataka, which was also a Covid-19 hotspot, were visiting Goa by road, rail and flight, the second wave hit an unprepared State big-time. On an average there have been 3,000 cases every day, a large number for a State with a population of just 15 lakh. The cumulative cases are more than 1,30,000. Like India was not prepared for the second wave, Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was not prepared for the second wave and never imagined how much angry reprisals it would draw from citizens caught in the Covid-19 tragedy of mammoth proportion. With the number of cases going up steeply there were not enough hospital beds to treat patients properly.
A case in point is the GMC which till recently had 1,000 patients though only 700 beds allotted for Covid-19. The situation improved just recently with 350 patients shifted to the super speciality block. The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has even asked the State why all 550 beds in super-speciality block were not being used? Reportedly, the construction of the super-speciality block is so bad that patients complaint of leaking ceilings when the Cyclone Tauktae hit Goa, water entered wards and washrooms with patients’ relatives doubling around to manage the situation.
The biggest crises has been not just availability of oxygen but a daily fall in the pressure of their oxygen supply courtesy an antiquated basement storage facility in the GMC. Dean Shivanand Bandekar has submitted an affidavit which shows between April 30 and May 12 over 300 people died due to a fall in the pressure of oxygen supply in the piping. The crises is much more serious than it appears as over 90% of those who have tested positive have opted for home isolation. There would have been no beds even taking into account the government taking control of 50% of the beds in private hospitals if the majority had not chosen home isolation.
Even with respect to those who have chosen home isolation there is an acute shortage of oxymeters, other equipment and medicines, as also manpower to attend to them.

RANE-PROMOD FIGHTS

THE worst part of the Covid-19 crises in Goa is the on-going disagreements between Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and the Chief Minister Sawant. Though the recovery rates have improved and the positivity rate come down in the last few days, the death rate continues to be a cause of concern. In the case of Goa again it is the case of mismanagement, as the State was not organized for the second wave. Going by the fact that the State government on May 9 asked for the lifting of the curbs on entry into Goa, the CM is eager to restart tourist traffic to Goa. This at a the time when Maharashtra and Karnataka have further extended their own lockdowns.
RUSSIAN SPUTNIK CHARTER
AND last stray thoughts on Russia converting India’s misfortune into an economic opportunity. Russia has decided to take advantage of the acute shortage of vaccines in India. Instead of Russian charters coming to Goa, Goan and Indian charters will now be travelling to Russia on a Sputnik holiday. This Sputnik will not take Indian tourists to the moon as the first Russian Sputnik did more than five decades ago. The new charter offer from Russia is a three-week holiday in Russia to avail of a Rs 1.3 lakh package deal which includes two shots of the Russian vaccine Sputnik. The first batch of Indians left on May 15. In the coming months when travel curbs are relaxed wealthy Indians may be heading to Dubai and US to get their vaccines while enjoying a holiday.