I dont see why it is wrong to be deported if you illegally entered the country. Some may argue that it specifically deports muslims instead of Hindus. However, Hindus are liteally being lynched in each of the neighboring muslim majority countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh). It makes sense that India serves as the primary country to accept hindu refugees. The Indian refugee program also protects blaspheming muslims who have fatwas against them due ot pointing out backwards atiitutes in the religion.
On the contrary, average Bangladeshi muslims have neither economic (Bangladesh is marginally richer) nor societal (Bangladesh is a religious ethnostate for bengalis) reason to immigrate or seek refuge. Thus, India aims to correctly deport them back to their nation.
It is incredibly irritating to see people signal, as if the moral worth of immigration is determined and as if immigration is a good in and of itself.
Bengal is among Indias most deteriorated states since its golden years as the british center of operations. Statistically, the influx of immigrats certainly has not helped.
They didn't enter illegally, please read up on the issue and this article as the countries didn't have borders until after independence so this has and many times this is because they don't have paperwork or proof even if they are from the region. It is an attempt by the government to remove poor Muslim populations from India and blatant religious persecution.
The current government in India is going from a democracy to a Hindu nationalist state.
I think you may find that when illegal migrants get deported, the security of the nation improves...
I live in Hyderabad, the place where the Dilsukhnagar blasts happened. Don't remember hearing of any major jihadist attacks on the past seven years or so... Success of a government no?
They are not illegal migrants, they are people who live there and don't have paperwork and are being pushed out by a Hindu nationalist led government.
If your definition of government success is a lack of terrorist attacks which are already insanely rare I fear for democracy wherever you live. People often trade security for freedom and find out the result of that decision far too late in the process.
In India specifically they are a religious minority so there are some very troubling things happening by what looks to be a growing Hindu nationalist state that is tearing down a multi-religious and multi-cultural democracy.
Cult of personality is central to any kind of politics in India. Modi is relatively tame compared to the complete deification of members of the Gandhi family and certain state leaders.
The reason Modi is highlighted is because he is perceived to be on the wrong side of center, does not know how to do it in a "classy" way and that his predecessor (Manmohan) was specifically installed as a quiet face with no power, personality or political support.
This gov literally needed the former Prime Minsters letter to start acting even when the mess was as clear as day for everyone else. The gov was too lost in their lust for even more power. Making things way worse than they needed to be. To get to that "decisiveness" we needed fires burning constantly in Delhi, the Ganges flooding with bodies. Plus foreign media covering how big a mess it was.
A coalition gov would have been faster to act just because they have to take care of the people or face a major backlash. We paid a heavy price for this "decisive" leader!
I am not going into how the supporters of the gov behaved with people who lost family...all because they wanted to protect the image of the government!
Credit where due? The man shows up only when he has credit. He literally inaugurated a stadium in his own name. He is the most silent PM I’ve ever seen, doesn’t ever take interviews.
I would rather attribute health officials doing their job for this success.
Willing to take credit sure, but what about the millions of deaths, where were the politicians when the 2nd wave hit and millions lost their lives (election duties and rallies right before).
Not even a single press conference was given when people needed some empathy, leadership or assurance. Imagine, the scenario in USA or Germany where thousands are dying every day, and the top brass of the country has nothing to say.
Absolutely not. 90% of these doses were provided by Serum Institute, a private company, that wholly managed the relationship with AstraZeneca since the early days of the pandemic, even when the government was asking citizens to perform rituals to ward off the pandemic.
The government not only played a largely passive role, but they did not even assist where they could. Before the second wave, Serum Institute was appealing for financial help to boost production capacity. But the government completely neglected that, choosing to prop up covaxin, their homegrown vaccine instead.
Even as the government was petitioning WHO to open up vaccine IPs, they refused to open up the IP for their own covaxin to domestic manufacturers, instead ensuring exclusive access to a company that is very "close" to the party.
What saved India in the end was a strong pharma/health industry enabling local manufacturing and ready distribution network for the vaccine. Serum Institute was already the world's largest vaccine manufacturer and was in an amazing position to take up the Oxford vaccine. They jumped at it with all hands and today account for 90% of all doses administered. It's a shame that the rest of the industry doesn't have a bigger share, they certainly have the capability. India is like top 3 in the world in pharma manufacturing. Many companies were ready and willing to switch to vaccine manufacturing but were tied up in bureaucracy with no support from the government.
Political will was the need of the hour, the government had none and it certainly shows in the outcome. Bad leaders always seem to enjoy something of a stockholm syndrome where they are forgiven and admired for everything once the dust settles. People forget how bad the second wave was, and how bad the decisions of the government leading into it. If not for Serum Institute and the strength of the pharma industry, India would have easily gone down the path of Brazil for the kind of shithousery the government pulled.
> Serum Institute was appealing for financial help to boost production capacity. But the government completely neglected that,
This is not true - the govt gave Rs. 3000 crore (the asked-for amount) in aid to SII.
> They jumped at it with all hands and today account for 90% of all doses administered.
True, but it's likely that the government's commitment to buy 100s of millions of vaccines played no small part in giving them the confidence to scale up the way they did.
> India is like top 3 in the world in pharma manufacturing
True, but SII is the big daddy of vaccines. Even before Covid, they were making 60% of the entire world's supply of vaccines.
> Many companies were ready and willing to switch to vaccine manufacturing but were tied up in bureaucracy with no support from the government.
SII had the capability and capacity, and committed to deliver the quantity as well. They had started manufacturing Covishield in the millions as early as November 2020 or so. Bharat (Covaxin) had a fully developed vaccine. Under the circumstances, why would the government (or any other buyer) risk spreading itself thin over many different suppliers instead of going with those which already had a product in hand?
> This is not true - the govt gave Rs. 3000 crore (the asked-for amount) in aid to SII.
The government gave SII and advace towards the end of April. This was not aid. What was the government doing until?
> True, but it's likely that the government's commitment to buy 100s of millions of vaccines played no small part in giving them the confidence to scale up the way they did.
Instead of ordering doses in bulk, the government went with piecemeal orders. The scaling up would have happened much earlier if we had actually seen decisiveness on part of the government.
Sarcasm aside, look at the economy: >-20% dip in pandemic. Heck even Pakistan manages to keep its haad above the water. And Bangladesh has more per capita income.
Keeping the voters alive and dealing with a public health emergency is a basic job of the government. I am not going to praise a leader for doing their job. I would have praised if they did exceptionally well, and rapidly set up a way to manufacture vaccines in a war-time urgency and made the vaccines available much earlier than they did.
I have family in India, and they have no hesitation to get the vaccines. It just wasn't available for very long. India insisted on a seaparate Indian trial from Pfizer which almost eliminated access to those for Indians. Only to embarrassingly withdraw such requirement and allow them back as cases spiked.
The dear leader refused to fund free vaccines for people under 40. Instead, states were pitted against each other to procure doses It wasn't until the Supreme Court got involved that the government backtracked. So much for being decisive.
And everyone from the Central Board of Secondary Education to state owned enterprises were made to put up posters thanking Modiji for the vaccines. Because you, know he's funding them personally, not us taxpayers. Even the goddamn vaccination certificate has his smug face plastered on it. So, let's not pretend he's not taking credit for it.
> The dear leader refused to fund free vaccines for people under 40.
My wife and I are under 40 and we got the vaccine for free at a government health centre.
> Instead, states were pitted against each other to procure doses
Initially all vaccine supply was routed through the centre. Then some states like Delhi and Maharashtra asked to be allowed to procure vaccines on their own. This was in the early days when the vaccine supply was less. When they didn't get any interest from sellers they again asked the centre to procure it for them [1][2]. By then SII (Covishield) in particular had scaled up sufficiently to be able to supply enough vaccines.
> My wife and I are under 40 and we got the vaccine for free at a government health centre.
Like I said, the government reversed its stance after the Supreme Court intervened[0].
> Then some states like Delhi and Maharashtra asked to be allowed to procure vaccines on their own.
Some rich states tried to procure vaccines on their own. How does that preclude the Union from extending vaccine coverage to all? And the second link is dated May 8th. The so called Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy was announced in April and came into effect from May 1st[1]. And I find the notion of the policy being shaped by the demands from opposition ruled states to be farfetched.
> This was in the early days when the vaccine supply was less.
Why was the supply less? Could it be because in its infinite wisdom, the government did not place orders with SII until January 2021? And then placed an order for a grand total of 11 million doses when SII had already stockpiled 50 million doses[2][3]?
> Some rich states tried to procure vaccines on their own.
My point was that the states themselves asked to be allowed to procure the vaccines, so blaming the Union for asking them to "compete" is incorrect. As your link to the Liberalized policy states, 50% of the supply was being purchased by the Union, presumably to supply to the "poor" states.
> How does that preclude the Union from extending vaccine coverage to all?
You're right - it doesn't. However I think the (only) Rs. 35000 crore budget should have made it clear that the government was not planning to inoculate everyone for free. Some, like me, got lucky; but I know plenty of people who had to pay for their vaccines.
> And then placed an order for a grand total of 11 million doses
From Jan 16-Feb 28, India was inoculating only frontline workers and healthcare staff. For these AFAICT, the Union ordered 11 million vaccines in Jan[1], as you mentioned, and 14.5 million in Feb[2].
India started inoculating senior citizens and people with co-morbidities from March 1, and in March the Union had ordered 120 million vaccines[3].
The Union claimed, in May, that they were purchasing the entire supply of both SII and Bharat Biologicals, so if there was any shortage it was due to the lack of manufacturing and not lack of purchase. I'm not blaming the manufacturers of course - obviously they took time to scale, and they (especially SII) have done well now.
> As your link to the Liberalized policy states, 50% of the supply was being purchased by the Union, presumably to supply to the "poor" states.
No, that was meant for those above 45. At no point before the reversal did the Union government supply vaccines to states for vaccinating those under 45.
> I think the (only) Rs. 35000 crore budget should have made it clear that the government was not planning to inoculate everyone for free.
Government procures Covishield at Rs. 205 a dose. The adult population in India is about 100 crores. The budget is enough to cover the majority. Like the Supreme Court observed, the decision to exclude those under 45 was arbitrary and irrational.
> From Jan 16-Feb 28, India was inoculating only frontline workers and healthcare staff. For these AFAICT, the Union ordered 11 million vaccines in Jan[1], as you mentioned, and 14.5 million in Feb[2].
Again, SII was sitting on 50 million doses in January. Why did the government not procure them? Why did the government resort to piece-meal purchase orders? The US on the contrary ordered 300 million vaccines at once. This gave the manufacturers enough working capital to scale up production. SII did not get 3000 crore advance for the government till end of April. The shortage could have been mitigated if the government had done that in January.
Say clearly what’s in your head. You’re saying a brilliant and intelligent person like Manmohan Singh couldn’t have done this? Because he was the last Indian leader leading a coalition who saw us through 2008 International economic crisis and was an architect of 1991 Indian Industrialization push.
Covid was an event of unimaginable proportions which affected every Indian and I believe any Indian leader would have done same or even more than what Modi’s government did provided India was already a leader in vaccination logistics and vaccine production even before Modi came to power. For all the good said about current vaccination numbers, they are well below than what could have been achieved had Modi govt. acted in a more timely manner and played the international vaccine politics better. Over committing Vaccine production to the outside world, delaying the immunization drive because of unnecessary red-tape and toxic nationalism, delaying the deployment of well tested Moderna and Pfizer vaccines forever but approving locally designed vaccine Covaxin even before its phase three trials were over, overblowing the vaccination numbers on some designated dates to create “single day vaccination records” while creating shortage on other dates at the same are all blots on this vaccination drive.
Credit for what? India already had one of the largest vaccination programs in the world. Despite tried and tested innovative strategies of immunization available, Narendra Modi's BJP government still botched up the covid vaccination drive horribly and both indian and international media has covered this extensively:
- Modi Backtracks on India Vaccine Drive After Intense Criticism: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-07/india-to-vaccinate-citizens-above-18-in-covid-fight-modi-says
I would be surprised if India didn't set a record. The fact that it took India so long to reach this milestone is almost embarrassing. India has in fact a very sophisticated network of trained vaccinators, cold chain equipment, surveillance of disease even at semi-rural level combined with being home to largest vaccine manufacturer.
It took Supreme Court of India's criticism for this government to finally get their act in order on Covid Vaccination Program.
They do actually adjust the height at fixed breakpoints to keep the aspect ratio somewhat stable - not a perfect solution, but they tried. To be fair, browser designers really dragged their feet on adding a proper CSS solution for full-width content with a fixed aspect ratio. And even now, what we have is hardly as simple as it could be.
At this point, I believe everyone knows this.
> The more accurate number is 290 million
Why this is the only ‘accurate’ number? Both doses and people are perfectly accurate numbers. Maybe you meant more ‘relevant’ or ‘important’ number.
And every dose, be it the first or the second, has to be produced, bought, shipped and administered to a Human being who has been convinced to take it...
You are right. But the article is still purposefully misleading. Ask yourself why they chose to lead with the big number of doses rather than the number of people vaccinated.
The answer is that it looks better, and gives the casual reader the impression that more has been done.
It requires extra brainwork to remember that for j&j 1 dose=1 complete vaccination; for pfizer 2 doses=1 complete vaccination; and so on.
Assuming you mean 1b have had at least 1 dose, I don't think that's true. If 1b doses have been given, and ~300m people have had 2 doses (i.e. consumed 600m doses), that surely means ~400m doses were left. So a total of 700m people have had one or more doses.
It would be nice if every Indian managed to get vaccinated. And it's easy to get distracted by the observation that 290 million is smaller than a billion. But the important thing is that those 290 million are concentrated around urban areas. That goes a long way in breaking the chain. It's okay if logistics makes it very difficult to reach every remote rural place for now. We'll get there eventually.
3rd doses are coming, and seem to give a good and needed additional boost to immunity (this is true for many other vaccines as well). 2 doses won't be "fully vaccinated" after one more year.
The union government claims here and elsewhere that it is administering ‘the world’s largest vaccination drive’. I wish it were true. But China is far ahead.⁰ The website also remarks on a ‘world record of 2.5 Cr+ Vaccinations in a day’: China has reached nearly 3 crore (=30 million) as a weekly mean.¹ Vaccination was an opportunity to shine in comparison to China, but the union government seems to have moved rather slowly (not a fault unique to it):
> India’s daily vaccinations surpassed 10 million doses on Friday, with national vaccine production more than doubling since April and set to rise again in the coming weeks.²
That's not an especially useful comparison, though. Cuba and the UAE combined are about the same population as Wuhan, which is a city nobody had even heard of 2 years ago.
Not to discount their success but small countries will always have an easier job than larger ones, since geographic and population scales make everything harder.
I'm pretty sure you can find municipalities of 10-20 million people in China that are more vaccinated that UAE or Cuba.
It's a vastly more useful comparison than simply going by absolute numbers, though. A larger country will have more people to vaccinate, but also more infrastructure to get this done.
If you want to compare countries by how well they are able to vaccinate their population, doses-per-capita is exactly the measure you want.
1B is very impressive but more than twice that in the same time really puts the capacity, scale and reach of the Chinese State at a different level. Still I am curious why China is not opening up the borders to visitors?
As far as I have read China heavily locks down regions if covid flares emerge, tests everyone in the region within a few days, then opens everything up less than a week later. This doesn't fit to the way more laissez-faire approach in the West.
"A large multi-country Phase 3 trial has shown that 2 doses, administered at an interval of 21 days, have an efficacy of 79% against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection 14 or more days after the second dose. Vaccine efficacy against hospitalization was 79%."
And, I know a few people who were vaccinated, but the dose did not get registered. In some cases, this was purposefully done - so that they could get the dose while they were below the age floor (at that time). In other cases, this was accidental - the hospital staff simply neglected to put it into the system, and no one cared.
The words for the orders of magnitude don't group by thousand like in English (*thousand, million, billion, and so on) but by thousand (hazaar), hundred thousand (lakh), ten million (crore), and I don't know what next.
So the comma separation reflects the words, as in English.
> 38,625
38 hazaar ... Vs. 38 thousand ...
> 13,38,625 vs. 1,338,625
13 lakh ... Vs. 1.3 million ...
> 1,00,13,38,625 vs. 1,001,338,625
100 crore Vs. 1.0 billion
This would no doubt be an entry in a hypothetical 'falsehoods programmers believe about numbers'! I.e. use things like Intl.NumberFormat in the browser, rather than home-grown 'group 3 digits and insert a comma then join again'.
(* yes, I'm going to conveniently ignore 'hundred' and its occasional/domain use like 'twelve hundred'.)
> The words for the orders of magnitude don't group by thousand like in English
It's not only in English, as far as I know it's almost everywhere else, the entire Western world plus its former colonies and I think even places like China.
Yes, Indian Numeral System is different. Thousand is Thousand. Hundred Thousand is 1 Lakh. 1 Million is 10 Lakhs. 10 Million is 1 Crore. 1 Billion is 100 Crores.
Proponents of vaccines claim that we have to vaccinate most people and then we can 'go back to normal'. Is there any country with high vaccination rate that has gone back to normal? By normal I'd assume no mask mandates, outdoor or indoor, no vaccine passports of any kind. It seems that even the countries that are over 90% vaccinated are still struggling just as much as the other countries.
I was in the Uae for 5 days last week and travelling again tomorrow. For me it looks like pre-covid times - everything is open. Cricket matches in stadiums to dubai expo. They report < 100 cases per day but no one really believes those numbers to be true.
Mask wearing( atleast properly ) was maybe 40-50%. Countries like Oman with lower vaccination rates felt much safer because everyone seemed to take mask wearing much more seriously.
In my country (France) only +12yo are eligible for the vaccination and we are currently at 86.1% fully vaccinated in this population (88.3% with at least one dose).
Are we talking about the whole population or only eligible people?
As per the serology report that comes out once in a while that uses random sampling, most cities/towns/places have 60-70% people already having anti bodies. It is assumed that almost everyone acquired immunity due to infection at this point in India. However, there is almost no antivax moment as such in India so vaccination will continue throttled only by the availability (with 3 more companies nearing approvals for their new vaccines). Vaccines at this point are serving the same purpose as a booster shot (with the long duration between the shots probably helping).