The COVID-19 situation in the country is grave and opposition leaders should stop looking at things only through the political lens, because that restricts their vision and sometimes completely blinds them to reality. The single-day case tally in the country crossed the four-lakh mark again yesterday with the fatality figure close to 4,000. If this is not grave what else is?
And the pandemic has been affecting the country in several ways. It is not just a health crisis; it is also an economic crisis that will have long-term repercussions for India. The Indian Premier League (IPL), a huge money-spinner that used to not only fill the coffers of the BCCI but also provide economic opportunities to others, had to be suspended midway through its latest edition with several players and support staff of various teams testing COVID-positive. How the virus managed to breach the much-vaunted IPL bio-bubble is anyone’s guess.
The BCCI, nonetheless, continues to justify its decision of organizing the latest edition of the world’s most-watched limited-overs cricket tournament within the country despite the challenge that the pandemic posed. The Board’s big shots have maintained that a lot of thought had gone behind organizing the tournament with maximum possible precautions. Venues were chosen carefully and the Board, in all likelihood, will also compensate the Indian domestic players irrespective of the fate of the 2021 IPL season.
There is no denying that the IPL’s suspension will affect not only the Board and the players but also other stakeholders who had hoped to cash in on its success. It has been a blow to the game and, in some respects, to the economy as well. The economy has been suffering even otherwise with the NDA government having to spend not only on controlling the pandemic and strengthening the country’s health infrastructure but also on protecting livelihoods. COVID-19 has claimed lakhs of jobs in different sectors across the country. The worst-hit, of course, has been the poorest class that is comprised mainly of daily wagers. A majority of them form part of the unorganized sector and remain the most vulnerable.
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, has been doing its best to bring relief to them and to protect their livelihoods by launching fresh schemes and strengthening the existing job schemes for them. Efforts are also being made to extend economic support to small and medium-scale industries which have been badly hit by the pandemic.
The Prime Minister has been against lockdowns right from the beginning of this second phase of the pandemic because such measures trigger job losses and hit the poor the most. But sometimes resorting to such measures, even though for shorter durations, becomes inevitable in the larger interest of protecting public health. As the country faces an emergency-like situation the opposition parties instead of trying to finds faults with the government should extend their hand of cooperation. They should also stop gloating over TMC’s victory in West Bengal and Samajwadi Party’s performance in UP panchayat polls. This is not the time to talk politics.
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