Act on the lessons taught by Covid-19: Sooner is the better.

India is seeing a sudden rise in the number of Covid cases after the lock down was lifted in the month of May. More than a million people are affected making India the third most affected country of the world after USA and Brazil. The causes of this surge in numbers are many- the lifting of the lock down created an impression of “End of the Pandemic” in people’s minds which saw a rise in unnecessary movement on roads and market places, not wearing masks, not maintaining social distance etc. If the data says the truth, then the cities are more affected than the rural places. That may be due to the high population density of the Indian cities- be it Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore or Kolkata. India’s population is on a relentless rise – an increase of nearly 350% when compared with the population of 1950. The rise in population generates wastes of all kinds and it is quandary for municipal authorities to maintain the cleanliness thereby checking the spread of Covid virus. A United Nation’s report said that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country by 2027!! The boom in population will not only affect the environment but also will create a health threats to the country as a whole.

The rise in the Covid cases has also proved that India does not have adequate healthcare facilities; the number of doctors, nurses, paramedical staff are too less to tackle the crisis. The incidents of Covid deaths when the patients could not be admitted to hospitals due to shortage of beds. The treatment is expensive which could not be afforded by poor people. There are lack of medical equipment too. There is a plenty of scope to grow in the healthcare sector and the sooner the process starts is the better for the citizens as well as for the authorities.

The crisis has taught us to be self dependent as far as own healthcare is concerned. The alert behavior and maintaining cleanliness can help us to be at a safer distance from the virus. The population growth must be checked aggressively by educating women and empowering women. Women must be encouraged to adopt family planning which is key to their empowerment. The birth of a girl child must not be look down upon and in this regard the parents must be counseled by good psychologists/counselors. The girl children must be given all kinds of facilities like free education up to higher secondary level. For poorer girls vocational training course also can be aggressively introduced in all the government higher secondary schools so that these girls can start their own business while studying. Educating women is the key for overall growth of the nation- all of us know this truth. Educated women can be taught about the maintenance of health and hygiene very easily. We, the educated class must spent little more time on developing a thought process in this direction. There are plenty of scope where we can do work with the right will to develop the society. Covid 19 has taught us many lessons and it is time that we analyse all these teachings to implement new ideas to combat this kind of crisis in future as this virus or this pandemic is not the last of its kind. We do not know what the future is holding for us, we do not know about all the secrets of the nature . Hence, we must act now- sooner is the better!!