We Indians love to outrage. And this week, the target of outrage was the European Union. It began when reports emerged that vaccines being administered in India, the home made Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, and Covishield which is produced by Pune’s Serum Institute and is the exact same formula as Oxford’s AstraZeneca vaccine, are not recognised by the EU for a “green pass” to travel seamlessly within the bloc.
What is this “green pass”? It is a digital certificate that is meant essentially to help EU citizens and residents move within the EU without any problems.
Before details could emerge, several voices on Twitter were quick to fire the racism gun. On the face of it, the anger was justified. After all, why does the EU recognise a vaccine which is made in the UK but NOT recognise the same formula which is made in India?
Is India ready for a third wave of COVID? The second wave still hasn’t ended but worries about a new variant, called Delta plus along with the end of most restrictions across states, has sent experts into overdrive warning us to brace ourselves. But are we really ready? Have we learnt any lessons from the devastating second wave that hit large parts of the country?
Health experts have repeatedly said the key to mitigating the effects of another wave lies in fully vaccinating people as fast as possible. But while the pace of vaccination has stepped up in recent days, it is still far from what is required to meet the government’s ambitious target of inoculating all adults by the end of this year. So far, only about 5.6 per cent of the adult population of the country has received two doses of the vaccine.
Another one bites the dust. Jitin Prasada’s decision to leave the Congress party and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is another sign of the deep problems that plague the grand old party, problems it is inexplicably refusing to address head on.
The Congress party and its supporters jeered when Jitin Prasada crossed over, calling out his “lack of ideological principles” and pointing out (correctly) that he was hardly a political “heavyweight” having lost the last three elections he had contested from his home state, Uttar Pradesh. All of this is true.
Political opportunism is being sought to be normalised by those who see hopping from one party to another as a perfectly legitimate exercise to further their own interests. In an ideal world, this must be and should be called out because it completely undermines ideology in politics.
As the country battles a raging pandemic, a new political confrontation is brewing in the beautiful islands of Lakshadweep, which is an Indian union territory governed by the centre’s appointed Administrator, Praful Khoda Patel.
Patel is a senior BJP leader from Gujarat and arrived in the archipelago just a few months ago. Anger and unease has grown over the unilateral decisions taken by Patel in recent months in the Muslim majority region in the name of “development”.
Among other things, Patel has moved to ban the sale and consumption of beef, which locals see as an affront to their culture and eating habits.