And for a Friday as the citizens battle out of two cyclones and as COVID 2.0 starts receding, some thoughts….. some musings…..
Very little coverage or mention has been made in Global media of how India braced two huge cyclones, Cyclone Tauktae on Western coast, including Mumbai and landing in Gujarat and Cyclone Yaas on the Eastern coast, impacting Kolkata and landing in Orissa with wind speeds of 170 kms /hour with heavy rains and flooding. 2 million people were evacuated in each coast – including COVID Patients in Hospitals across the coastal towns – still with only single digit unfortunate casualties. What a massive operation by IMD and the National Disaster Management Teams and the local State Governments and ordinary citizens Groups. Phenomenal !!!. Salute all involved in this humongous operations 🙏🙏.
Be that as it may, COVID 2.0 has further exposed the soft underbelly of our oversized bureaucratic system and some of the corrupt politico-babudom nexus. The height of inefficiency is seen in the way Govt. Hospitals and the Vaccine supplies have been managed. Imagine some of the state Govt Babus undertaking a global tender for vaccines. Everyone knows the Globe is suffering Vaccine shortage and India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. Shows how ill informed these Babus are on global business practices. Most are interested in ordering equipment, procuring medicines, buying medical furniture and other infrastructure where quick kickbacks are available. As and when we come out of this Pandemic, the most important step for civil society is to explore IT as an enabler at every step to minimise Corruption, sleaze and underhand deals. Fight hard to expose the corrupt Politician-Babu nexus and reward the honest and hardworking to improve productivity and support nation building.
India is also blessed to have some outstanding bureaucrats and functionaries. It’s a proud moment that an officer of such an impressive and impeccable record as Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, IPS, is selected as the CBI chief. Let’s hope & pray this is the harbinger of change. Let’s support all good changes, the cooperative way, the ethical way, the SEEGOS way.