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Hello,
When everything around you fails, people look to the divine for deliverance. This is precisely what seems to be happening in Covid-hit rural India. The states’ inability to deliver a credible antidote to fight the pandemic has meant that, in desperation, people are looking to the gods and god-men for ’treatment’.
The Caravan reports from UP’s Varanasi on how village after village is conducting rituals and ceremonies to propitiate the ‘goddess of epidemics’ and local deities to rid them of the dreaded Covid. Not only the virus, even the spread of myths and rumours is rampant. Lack of access to hospital care or a vaccine has only fuelled faith in divine intervention.
In Andhra’s Nellore district, people have resorted to herbal remedies pedalled by a ‘miracle-worker’. The News Minute documents how patients with falling oxygen levels began thronging Bonigi Anandaiah, after news of his alleged miracle potion, touted as an ‘instant cure’ for Covid, spread through social media creating a super-spreader event. The Lokayukta had to step in and the district administration was forced to put a stop to the ‘treatment’.
In the earthly heaven that is Goa, blatant ignoring of early warnings and less than responsible behaviour by the State’s leaders has resulted in a catastrophe. Goa’s fatality rate and test positivity rate (TPR) are now India’s highest. The State now stares at a potentially vicious third wave. Article 14 reports.
Mojo Story reports from the cremation ghats of Varanasi, where ‘body washers’ wash, perform rituals and cremate bodies, even as the family members of the deceased are hesitant in handling the bodies of their loved ones.
And, Swarajya argues that the state governments’ policy of tendering for the vaccine is erroneous. It asserts that when global demand for the vaccine far outstrips supply by multiples, it is a real stretch to expect the global pharma companies to make a beeline for Indian tenders, especially with the tough and onerous conditionalities imposed on the vaccine supplier.
For a selection of this week’s stories from the Foundation’s grantees, please read on.
Warmly,
Sunil Rajshekhar
IPSMF
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