Role of citizens in the war against corona

One of the core functions of any government is to protect its citizens from external aggressions as well as internal disturbances of all kinds.

In India, like many other democratic countries, the government is expected to shield the citizens from the present pandemic created by a nano-sized RNA virus Covid-19.

After creating havoc in many parts of the world, all eyes are now focused on India, where morbidity and mortality due to virus is so far, contained up to a large extent, in spite of the size and complexities of our country.

Thanks to our leadership both at the Centre and the States levels, and much-maligned public health delivery system, we are able to offer a formidable challenge to Covid-19. The committed frontline health warriors, despite challenging working conditions, have won the hearts of people.

As a supporting measure to break the chain of transmission, a nationwide lockdown is being enforced since March 24, 2020. Considering all related aspects, sooner than later, this lockdown has to be either partially or fully relaxed.

Again, such relaxation has to be on the basis of the zonal status of the area. Whether the same trend of infection or mortality will prevail after lifting the lockdown is the moot question.

During the lockdown, we in India have witnessed public responses ranging from the insanity to the most responsible one. It would be pertinent to mention that the Indian psyche barring the Opposition, considers their government omnipotent and next only to the omnipresent.

However, every government has its limitations. The bigger is the crisis, wider the gap between the expectations of the citizens and deliverables produced by the government. This leads to dissatisfaction among people.

There are busy bodies to further aggravate the situation and thus, hamper the relief work done by already overstretched public resources. During crisis time, scoring of few brownie points whether on political, religious or any other ground needs to be avoided.

Even the most powerful governments of the world are finding the going tough. So, we have to put all hands on the dock. Learning from the experiences, what is going to make the real difference?

It is the disciplined citizen who, as a force multiplier, shall determine the fate of India. Thus, there is imminent opportunity for citizens to become the part of the solution, enabling the country to effectively tie over the crisis.

In addition to scrupulously following the instructions, various groups of citizens can contribute their might in a number of ways to tackle the present pandemic. In addition to be a citizen, all of us perform different roles in society.

Some of us are professionals, scientists, traders, workers, and others involved in production of goods and services. If nothing else, all of us are consumers. Those of us working on the research, preventive measures and treatment methodologies etc. should keep abreast with latest developments.

In addition, those of us running facilities needs to plan and implement required medical infrastructure, human resources, drugs and other supplies especially, keeping in view surge capacity under different scenarios.

Many of us can get involved in providing relief and social security to needy. Following lockdown and other directions of the public authorities becomes very important in preventing further spread and containment of virus.

To have realistic optimism is the key to live in turbulent times. Before the pandemic, there were inequities, which got further accentuated in the society.

Depending on which strata one comes from, physical, emotional and economic capacity to withstand crisis varies from person to person.

Let us extend our helping hand to fellow human being by showing compassion, saying no to hoarding and profiteering; and following our dharma.

(The writer is former Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana)