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Editorial Today (English)

In this section, we are presenting our readers/aspirants compilation of selected editorials of national daily viz. The Hindu, The live mint,The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, PIB etc. This section caters the requirement of Civil Services Mains (GS + Essay) , PCS, HAS Mains (GS + Essay) & others essay writing competition.

1.For vaccine costs, tap health insurance

Even after making a budget allocation of ?34,000 crore for vaccination, the Centre seems keen to get the states and the private sector to cross-subsidise its procurement of vaccines — there is no other rationale for multi-tiered vaccine pricing. A legitimate source of funding vaccine purchase is health insurance. All health insurance companies, including those providing State-sponsored Ayushman Bharat, can legitimately be asked to pony up the tab for procuring vaccines for everyone who is insured with them. After all, it makes sense for insurance companies to pre-empt having to pay for the hospitalised care for Covid of those insured with them.

All pre-funded insurance schemes should pay for the inoculation. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) is a good example to follow. It plans to vaccinate nearly 13 crore people — 3.5 crore registered workers and their dependents — free of cost. The ESIC offers full medical care to an insured person and her family members from the day she enters insurable employment. There is no cap on expenditure on the treatment of the insured person. Rightly, eligible beneficiaries below 45 years of age will also be vaccinated free of cost. States should also use the proceeds of the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess to vaccinate about 3.5 crore construction workers. While every individual getting vaccinated has to pre-register and every vaccinated person gets a certificate after the jab, it is far from obvious that insurance companies or governments at the Centre and the states have any reliable way of managing their databases to match the insured with the vaccinated. It would be simpler for insurance companies to pay the Centre for their insured population, and for the Centre to procure and supply the vaccines.

Companies are right to want to count their Covid-relief expenses as corporate social responsibility (CSR) spends. Some do splendid work. Their contributions to relief funds set up by chief ministers should qualify as CSR, just as their contribution to the PM Cares Fund does.

2.Sensible suggestion from Dr Devi Shetty

In India’s fight against Covid-19, the focus has been on equipment, oxygen, medication and vaccines. The state of medical personnel — doctors, nurses and aides — has escaped focus, except for individual experts such as Dr Devi Prasad Shetty. Medical manpower is likely to be the next big crisis point in India’s fight against Covid-19. The government must put augmenting healthcare manpower on the priority list as it addresses issues such as oxygen supply, availability of drugs, and beds with critical care facilities.

India need more doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical technicians to deal with the rising number of Covid cases. As more patients require critical care, there will be a need to augment the ranks of doctors and nurses. Deploying final-year student nurses and fifth-year medical students will help alleviate the pressure and augment the ranks of medical personnel. In March last year, Harsh Vardhan has suggested deploying fifth-year medical students to treat Covid patients. This requires amending regulations of the Medical Council of India. The fate of that proposal is not clear. Perhaps there were concerns about asking students to put themselves in harm’s way. The situation has changed considerably. There is no longer a shortage of protective gear and equipment; vaccines are available, nursing and medical students who volunteer to work with Covid patients can be given the first dose before being deployed.

Dr Devi Shetty, who made this suggestion last year, says India will need 2,00,000 nurses and 1,50,000 doctors to deal with the pandemic over the next year, and points out that these numbers can be found from final-year students as well as those graduates who are preparing for admission to postgraduate programmes.

3.Silence no option: Don’t criminalise distress, it speaks the larger truth

If struggling with sickness wasn’t enough, criminalisation of SOS calls through social media for oxygen, beds etc and the seizure of oxygen cylinders and drugs like remdesivir from patients have shaken us all. This is akin to demanding from citizens a passive acceptance of their destinies. Thankfully, Supreme Court and Delhi high court have called out this frittering away of the state’s energies in policing cries for help and attempts at self-help. Instead, the state must train all its attention on expanding healthcare capacity.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has said that adequate oxygen is available and people don’t need to rush to hospitals in panic. But then make this oxygen available for patients in home-care and at hospitals. Citizens are panicked precisely because there is a struggle to secure oxygen. Venting one’s frustration is natural under these trying circumstances. For the government worried about a “one-sided” narrative, it must reassure itself that the narrative will change when the ground situation improves. An Indian diplomat’s rejoinder to an Australian newspaper criticising PM Modi boomeranged badly; desist from more such misadventures.

News media reports allow domestic and foreign governments to grasp the big picture of the devastation and respond appropriately, as world nations are now doing with help beginning to pour in. Newspapers are publishing fact-checked information and images of crematoriums and hospitals are the harsh reality to be recognised, accepted and remedied. Hiding reality may or may not mitigate the public pressure but would definitely deny help to lakhs of families. Recognise too that many not adept at using social media and amplifying their voices are being missed. Valuing every cry for help sends the right signals to society at large. UP CM Adityanath, who threatened the draconian NSA on those spreading ‘rumours’ of oxygen shortages, should also heed SC’s directions.

4. Call of the heart: All credit to judges open to being woke

In a rare case, a judge has declared himself unable to issue a judgment without empathising with the experience of the petitioners. Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras HC has been hearing the plea of two women for protection from their respective families. Admitting that he knew little about same-sex relationships, he has decided to learn more to “pave the way for my evolution”, so that the judgment could come from “the heart”.

In the constitutional frame, it is clear that two consenting adults have the right to live together free from social or familial harassment. But wanting to get past received prejudice, to enlist support to be “fully woke” on the subject, is praiseworthy. Our perspectives are expanded by encountering the reality of others – we can then see the structures of injustice we were once blind to. Waking up is a learning process for everyone, especially those with no direct experience of that social unfairness.

Remember, our higher courts do not represent the diversity of our society in terms of gender or caste; there is only one woman chief justice across 25 high courts, and very few SC, ST or OBC judges, though these groups make up most of the population. This has real repercussions for justice delivery – in the way testimonies are heard and judgments made. Until the judiciary broadens to accommodate all these perspectives, we can only appreciate those who hold out hope that hearts can change, and change the world too.

5. Call of the heart: All credit to judges open to being woke

In a rare case, a judge has declared himself unable to issue a judgment without empathising with the experience of the petitioners. Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras HC has been hearing the plea of two women for protection from their respective families. Admitting that he knew little about same-sex relationships, he has decided to learn more to “pave the way for my evolution”, so that the judgment could come from “the heart”.

In the constitutional frame, it is clear that two consenting adults have the right to live together free from social or familial harassment. But wanting to get past received prejudice, to enlist support to be “fully woke” on the subject, is praiseworthy. Our perspectives are expanded by encountering the reality of others – we can then see the structures of injustice we were once blind to. Waking up is a learning process for everyone, especially those with no direct experience of that social unfairness.

Remember, our higher courts do not represent the diversity of our society in terms of gender or caste; there is only one woman chief justice across 25 high courts, and very few SC, ST or OBC judges, though these groups make up most of the population. This has real repercussions for justice delivery – in the way testimonies are heard and judgments made. Until the judiciary broadens to accommodate all these perspectives, we can only appreciate those who hold out hope that hearts can change, and change the world too.

 

 

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