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'Fix a Broken System'

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdTCYPX2vaI ( 19mins) In an exclusive interview with The Quint’s Editorial Director Sanjay Pugalia,

Growing Centralisation of Revenue and control.: https://youtube.com/embed/HdTCYPX2vaI?start=70&end=132  (1 min) Why this global economic advisory group? This is following a state planning group set up for a State perspective. . Collective should reflect our Economic and POlitical Philosophy.  (ref: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/tn-sets-up-economic-advisory-council-with-duflo-rajan-7369708/ While the new advisory council is likely to function as a superpower, above the existing planning board, State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan told The Indian Express that it would not operate “in a conventional way”. “First of all, these are not paid positions but honorary positions. Their functioning also will not be in a traditional way as many would expect… This is not for a one-time meeting to submit a report, but will be an ongoing process.)

State of States Finances:  https://youtube.com/embed/HdTCYPX2vaI?start=132&end=611 ( 8 mins) Five CAG reports were not tabled. The state finances are much worst that we thought when we made the manifesto promise to reduce fuel prices He talked about how the DMK-led government intends to reduce the petrol price, the need for states to safeguard their rights and the BJP's poor performance in Tamil Nadu politics. Chosen to  pick priority segment like bottom of the pyramid. One time restructuring needed because debt to GDP has gone up is such a way that we cannot service debt. But we need to fix the broken system. The Union wants to take over everything..

COVID Data System https://youtube.com/embed/HdTCYPX2vaI?start=704&end=855 (< 3 mins)   the state will soon be the first to have a transparent data system for coronavirus deaths and infections..

Who will challenge this dominant BJP? in 2024?  https://youtube.com/embed/HdTCYPX2vaI?start=852&end=1016 (< 3 mins)  Either we are going into a more regional party led coalition, or the BJP will continue.  

https://youtube.com/embed/HdTCYPX2vaI?start=611&end=704 (2 mins) Religion is democratised in Tamil Nadu. BJP notion of Hinduism is directly opposed to the TN notion of hinduism..

The Covid Mortuary

The Covid Mortuary

We emptied our COVID ward two days ago.

Trusting the world’s incompetence at learning and planning, I am fully aware we will have to reopen it in some time. Still, an empty ward is a sight I never imagined could be this pacifying.

The Covid Ward in Shaheed Hospital, Dalli Rajhara, Chhattisgarh saw an overwhelming  number of stories with all possible outcomes during the last two and a half months. The stories are not different from what you saw on TV and  lived too  because I am sure someone from your family also struggled for breaths. Their scripts though, have more content than stories elsewhere.

The number of patients we lost in April-May exceeded twice of what we lose in an entire year. The number of people we had to turn away exceeded the numbers we treated.  What made it worse was knowing that the person I am denying admission was not going to get admission elsewhere too. The injustice that laughed at a patient dying inside the ward due to delayed admission and no vaccination, laughed harder at the patient who was turned away from the hospital’s gate.

There was less time to treat, even lesser to mourn and literally no time to let it all sink in.

In a short period of time, I have moved from being terrified to be numbed by the flow of patients in and out of the mortuary.
On one such night of numbness, standing outside the mortuary and gazing at the corpses through a narrow window, I happened to realize there were few additional chambers.

The lowermost chamber was for the corpse of Humanitarian Politics. She had died well before the pandemic set in but I saw her ready for the last rites for the first time. She  was all bones and no skin and it looked  like vultures have had their fun with her. She  had a heart which was cut open from the middle and eyes that were left untouched.

The chamber adjacent to it was for Global Solidarity. He  was kept suited up in Armani, for his last wish was  to look good at the outset even after death. A thousand pages of conspiracy theories kept bundled near his head, he had shoes brought from UN’s office. The suit covered the cracks he had in his skin, the shoes covered gangrenous feets. People whisper it was a suicide.

The chamber above had Scientific Temperament lying in a rugged coat. He lived a secret life in India, kept working silently and the moment he tried to come out, he was lynched to death. Witnesses say he screamed a lot. But no one came to help. Sad.

The chamber next to it had Social Solidarity. She  had clothes of all colors. All blood stained. She  was stabbed multiple times on news channels for days and ultimately died of shock. No method of resuscitation worked.

The smallest chamber in the corner had no corpse but a hefty bunch of papers. They were the political commitments of health. They were very neat and beautiful. I hope they get mummified and discovered later sometime in future.

Above that, was Privilege. He helped people reach faster than anyone else to the ERs, move to multiple ERs too. He did his best to cover political goof ups and inequities. But he died too, for he was very fragile in his making and  there is a limit to stealing someone else’s oxygen. To be honest I wasn’t much sad about this chamber.

One of the chambers at the top had Trust. He  gave a long fight. A tough fight. But succumbed to internal injuries. He tried to keep the doctors and patients together. He tried to make people believe that healing is a process of equal participation. But he suffered progressive ischaemia and gave up.

Besides these, there is a heap of corpses lying behind the mortuary. Difficult to identify, it has all the dreams of equities in healthcare lying dead. Poisoned, perhaps. Not sure whether they will find a space inside the mortuary or not. Will see in sometime.

Do these corpses let other ones lie peacefully even in a mortuary? This whole sight, will surely take some time to settle in my head and heart.  

In a rural-tribal area like ours, mortuaries do always have these extra chambers. Its just that they almost never make it to a national register. The moment a patient is received in the ER or OPD, his/her chances of survival become a function of all the factors that contributed to the death of above deceased entities. Every step of the treatment then, becomes a fight with injustice that has been done and being done to the patient. In a privileged urban setting where all the demigods of healthcare and politics visit so often, these fights find no space.

The struggle to provide quality care in difficult areas goes on in its traditional way, only this time the pandemic catalyzed the rate at which it consumes it participants.

This makes me mention another chamber in the mortuary. The topmost one. Its still empty. It is reserved for my Faith and few other silly things. My faith that all this, is meant for something better in future. My faith, that those who died were not all sinners and the people who lost someone have something good coming there way. That universe will compensate for this in some way. My belief that all the efforts, regardless of the outcomes will make society learn something.

A hope that this last chamber remains empty just like our Covid Ward.

Vidit Panchal

Pushing a particular narrative of Coalition

Mainstream Media tends to impose some of it polarities on politics. An example of it, is the assumption that if the Congress decides to go it alone in the next election it means the disintegration of the Mahrashtra government Alliance. All parties should in fact continue to spread its own ideology and programme and canvass for it. They should then join hands to form coalitions based on acceptance of the election results, and make attempts to change it in the next. This is political maturity.

There is not reason for political players to fall prey to media hype and respond like the current chief minister.

One India Hindi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sgNmK2mk08 Nana Patole Maharashtra में भी सियासी तूफान अपने चरम पर है. Nana Patole का कहना है कि Congress पार्टी Maharashtra में अकेले assembly elections लड़ेगी. इतना ही नहीं, उन्होंने कहा कि अगर हाईकमान फैसला करता है, तो वो मुख्यमंत्री का चेहरा बनने के लिए तैयार हैं.

Shiv Sena, NCP to think together about future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CmSnO02b9Q 17th June Sanjay Raut on Congress remarks on Maharashtra polls  Jun 17, 2021.  Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut Thursday said his party and NCP may think of its future together if Congress decides to contest Maharashtra polls alone, even while remaining in the government. So be it. 

HT: Congress to go solo in Maharashtra Assembly polls 2024? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnfHAAwfZX4 Shiv Sena responds  Congress to go solo in Maharashtra Assembly polls 2024? Shiv Sena responds  What S Raut said was : . “A friend in Maha Vikas Aghadi, Nana Patole said Congress will contest polls alone. They will be a part of the Maharashtra govt but contest polls alone. Then the remaining two parties will think about what they would do together in future,”  But what the graphics said was "Raut slammed Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole" 

Mahua Moitra in her interview with Shoma ChaudhuryL https://youtube.com/embed/qgTN5tShwGA?start=2589&end=2705 says that  to take on the BJP, the idea that you need a national party to take them on,  gone. You can have a conglomeration of regional parties, where in each state the local party takes on the BJP. The Congress will be in four states.

Please also see:

http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/development-in-india/86-toward-2024-through-2022/851-both-gop-regional-parties-will-have-to-tango