[egghese]

Opinion columns are not scientific sources. To the article's credit recklessness from people are is the reason for the spike. But doesn't absolves a leadership that claimed to have concurred Covid-19 and have no clue about disaster management. Indians deserved better.

[Xplune13]

The response from the government for this wave is pretty bad and they took way too much time to act for sure. But, what you are saying is polar opposite from the article that OP posted. The reason isn't one or the another, it is the combination of both. Yes, Indians deserved better but the people's recklessness is so out of bounds in large cities (speaking from my own experience) that many knew this type of wave can happen and it did happen. The worst part is people ignored all the self-precautions and acted like everything is back to normal. So in the end, it is the combination of both, people's recklessness and delayed (unplanned as well) response from the government.

[qart]

There have been more than enough scientific sources published for the effectiveness of masks. I hope you still don't doubt that part. I will not cite them. People have been crowding and not wearing masks across the country. Do you want a scientific source for that? There may never be one. The Indians who step out of their homes are aware of this already.

No government or healthcare system can keep up with people flouting the scientific recommendations on such a scale.

[egghese]

I was not disagreeing with the articles claim people flouting rules caused a spike. But the people or the country isn't by itself responsible. Rather a callous government that was indifferent to this pandemic is. It had an year to prepare. It did nothing more than PR works

- If the health infrastructure could not take it, what was the reason for this narrative ? https://www.thequint.com/news/india/in-january-pm-modi-had-e...

- Did they not know about vaccine demand ? https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/world/2021-01-20-india-phar...

- Why did they take away the states ability to prepare ? https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/apr/09/as-per-n...

[qart]

> It did nothing more than PR works

What's with the hyperbole? To disprove your point, I just have to point to one thing that the government did that was not PR?

- What narrative, specifically?

- At the time, I too was in support of supplying vaccines to countries who were in desperate need of it. I still don't mind waiting a few months if the vaccines that should have come to me go to a healthcare worker in some other country instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26346021

- There is no reason to take anything Shiv Sena says at face value. This is the single worst party in India. If law and order had worked in India, these people would have been declared terrorists long before most of us were born. They continue to mistreat doctors (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vUUQEpJEG4) and threaten hospitals (https://twitter.com/amitsurg/status/1299352826636722176) across the state. Also, while all other states had the pandemic somewhat under control at one time or another, MH consistently stayed at #1 or #2 among the worst affected states.

[indian1947]

Shiv Sena is for sure known for their thuggery and being a party of regionalistic goons. They're hardly very different from their erstwhile allies the BJP though.

[qart]

Any thoughts on their current allies? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXtH0NQFqZI