Coronavirus Part 46, Reflections on Work Towards Unity

 

                 I would like to resume the tracking of the weekly covid-19 scenario in the country through this medium. Yes, there has been a lot of improvement over the time since the second wave in the country. The wave for daily infections is slowly dying down and touching the ground after flying high few months back. The 7 day average of the daily cases in the country is 13 thousand. The active cases have also reduced to 1.6 lakh. From the update in this space a month ago, both the daily infections and active cases in the country have reduced by half. In the same manner, after the next one month, the numbers may hopefully reduce by another half.

                 Once the virus is negligible, it can be nullified very easily. The number of active cases should reach zero to achieve the goal and the country should turn around this time of past few years. Once again, the virus is restricted to very few states in the country. Kerala has more than 50% of daily infections and active cases. This is the case since the past many months and the contribution % hasn’t reduced much. The resources should be diverted to that state to focus on improvement in the situation. Kerala is India as far as the covid-19 in the country is concerned. Treat Kerala and you will treat India. It is also hoped that some of the variants rampant in the world do not catch up to the country. This is a delicate issue and all the stakeholders must put their efforts to curb the spread.

                Traversing to vaccination front, the nation once again reached yet another tough milestone of 1 billion shots. India undoubtedly leads the world through its mammoth vaccination drive and served as a model to follow. So far, more than 1.06 billion doses were given, mostly produced in home by ramping up manufacturing capabilities at a very short time. The country reacted to the first wave very well and the most recent second wave commendably. The covid-fighters deserve all the praise for the rapid response to these waves. Everyone remembers the deadly oxygen-shortage experienced and how quick all of us reacted to mitigate it in future. There has been covid-discipline of highest order in the country which enabled the densely populated nation with 1.38 billion to prevent from getting things out of hand.

                The diverse nation with differences every 10 kilometers has been unified in its fight with covid-19. 10 Indians have 10 different thoughts and ideas and goes in 10 different directions. The covid-19 response and fight in the country went against this premise by mirroring the unified approach of the nation by bringing them in a single line against a common enemy. The divided nation could have fallen apart but the billion-plus people acted in sync together to reach the present state. If this is the picture projected by country in the first, second wave; let us be rest assured that any number of future waves cannot dither the nation by an inch.

                  Let me touch upon a fabric of the nation which comes forth whenever I travel out of the state. I recently went to Kerala on a pilgrimage for a few days and one of the outcomes which I felt is the tremendous unifying power. There is a thread running along me from the start of the journey till the return which tied the states with a knot. The people divided by differences have been brought closer by a common thread. The effort can be seen as minute step in the direction to bond together, share the commonalities, bridge the distance and bring together people. The fabric of the nation which has been strengthened is the ‘Unity in Diversity’. Let us live with this virtue enshrined in all of us. I would like to reflect on this perspective on this National Unity day this year which has been observed on Oct 31^st. Unity has always been an ideal to me from the beginning. The trade, movement of people between places and the multicultural aspect adds a lot of value to this ideal to further open up the borders.

                  To further contribute to this ideal, let me say that after every generation the thoughts of the people changes which reflect the work and results on the ground. Before independence, there are 565 princely states in the country which believed in independent governance. This is the biggest obstacle in building a strong India. This is the thought process of that generation. Post independence this problem was rectified to a large extent by amalgamating the separate entities into a few large states by the Iron man Sardar Patel. Once again, over a period of next few decades there came the creation of new states. This cannot continue forever till the time comes when a lot of regions are divided for self-rule or administration purposes.

                    Unity shall supersede all other reasons for division and a law has to be made to that extent to bar demarcations. Not only there shall be no demarcations but also there has to be acts of merging back. To propose for this cause, the state of Madras has to be carved out again by re-joining the present Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana states. While there are demands for division which have been realised, I demand for unification or erasing of borders. This combined state should have the Chennai as the capital to take the ideal of unity ahead. It is the thought process of this generation and if there is any significance to the Ekta Divas being celebrated every year this day, this merger has to be accepted to encourage reverse divisions.

                    The thought in the mind germinating from an ideal has to become righteous demand from neighbours of three states to form one large unified state. This is not entirely new as this arrangement has been there few decades back with the present Chennai serving as capital of entire region. Remember, when the situation comes, time goes in full circle and history repeats. This is the practical significance of the Unity day and the tallest Statue of Unity of modern day erected in memory of Sardar Patel. When there is a common thread working to tie the people, it has to be represented on the ground by eliminating physical boundaries. This is the feeling of brotherhood among the natural neighbours which has to be cultivated in the future generations. In doing so, a time-tested national heritage is created by the work of this generation which will be proudly inherited by the future in the many years to come.

                 To mention about another topic which has come as a shock and pain, the son of the legendary Kannada actor Rajkumar, Punith Rajkumar died due to the cardiac arrest at the small age of 46. Punith is himself an actor of 29 films with many good deeds to his credit as well. We are living in some tough times to see and be able to absorb these kind of incidents. No one should go with these kind of sudden cardiac arrests and caution should be exercised to avert these occurrences. A state is at loss and no one can be held accountable than the lifestyle in prevalence and mode of dangerous operation, living. It is not the single incident and I come across many of these during these tough times.