This Bothers Me
By Krishnan Chittur
NEW YORK, June 15, 2021 – The whole world is crippled with a devastating COVID-19 pandemic. But the Western media seems to be on a piranha-like feeding frenzy on India PM Modi, with eviscerating criticism on his government’s allegedly ignoring scientists’ warnings about a potential catastrophe.
But in fact, the Modi Government completely followed the recommendations of its scientific advisors as well as those from the private consortium it had set up; it never – not once – “ignored’ scientific advice.
As seen below, the media grabbed on a misleading headline, and exaggerated that headline to convert the controversial Modi into a much-needed villain for an emotionally exhausted world.
Modi’s Principal Scientific Advisor – an official GOI post – is Dr. Vijay Raghavan. Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan is not a political flunky; his colorful career includes advanced degrees from top-notch institutions and successful record in various responsible positions; indeed, his appointment by Modi (2018) was universally acclaimed as “a relief to have a real man of science” in that post.
So also, Dr. D.V.K. Paul, the public face of India’s COVID-response today, is a Pediatrics Professor at the renowned All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), heads 4 Covid-19 panels, and is part of an empowered group.
Neither of these highly-qualified official scientific advisors has criticized Modi. Neither has complained that Modi Aignored@ his/their advice at any time. Neither has resigned. Quite the contrary, both are active in office – in fact, Dr. Vijay Raghavan’s term was recently extended; both are routinely explaining the Modi Government’s COVID-19 directives. Indeed, Dr. Vijay Raghavan publicly admitted the truth: everyone had been caught by surprise at the intensity of second COVID-19 wave.
So what’s the basis for these new attacks? The genesis is ostensibly a Reuters report of April 30 under the explosive headline, “Exclusive: Scientists say India government ignored warnings amid coronavirus surge.” This headline was contradicted by facts in that report itself, making the headline grossly misleading and utterly irresponsible.
Let’s analyze that report for all it’s worth: Essentially, that 4 unidentified scientists, members of the Indian SARS‑CoV‑2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), allegedly told a a top official about a new COVID-19 variant being of a high concern.
INSACOG is a private consortium of 21 representatives from 10 national laboratories. The Modi Government appointed this advisory consortium in December 2020 to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS‑CoV‑2 for genomic, epidemiological, and clinical correlation to assist public health response to the pandemic.
On March 10, 2021, INSACOG officially reported to the Modi Government about a potent new COVID-19 variant; on March 24 – two weeks later – the Government issued a media release summarizing that report. No suggestion that the Government’s release materially modified or altered INSACOG’s report. Quite the contrary: the Government specifically confirmed that “more problematic variants required following measures already underway – increased testing and quarantine.”
Most important, even Reuters conceded that testing “has since nearly doubled to 1.9 million tests a day,” quarantine rules presumably already being in place.
So what exactly did the Modi Government “ignore?” Reuters’ only complaint was that the Government release removed the word Ahigh from Ahigh concern used in INSACOG’s report. Seriously. That’s it. Reuters’ new-found unidentified scientists merely confirmed what INSACOG and the Modi Government had already reported and acted upon.
In other words, the Modi Government followed the recommendations of its scientific advisors, as well as those of the private consortium, INSACOG. But the incendiary headline gave the grieving world a ready scapegoat. And like snowballs gaining speed and size rolling downhill in snow, that headline gained speed and circulation, i.e., exaggeration, with every re-reporting.
Even the venerated Washington Post published the outrageous allegation that the Modi government entirely ignore[d] warnings of a second wave and ma[d]e a series of fatal errors. Remember the story of how one little feather became five big hens? Stunningly irresponsible.
Anyone can charge, with 20-20 hindsight, that Modi should have done something else. But the disaster here was unprecedented: a new, highly infectious and virulent COVID-19 variant. That could happen anywhere even today – even in the United States. This disaster occurred on Modi’s watch. But so did the recent cyclone. And catastrophic floods.
In fact, Modi Government’s COVID-19 performance cannot be seriously faulted. In terms of COVID-19 casualties as of now, India is below the middle of the list: 78th out of 155 countries (as of June 10, 2021), with an average of 247.35 deaths per 1 million population. That’s much better than Canada (686.79 deaths/mil), Israel (708.91 deaths/mil), and even the U.S.A (1815.96 deaths/mil).
Further, when we consider population density, which is critical in the spread of COVID-19, India’s casualty numbers are plain incredible. The United States has less than quarter of India’s population – 331 million versus 1.38 billion. And while the U.S. has 9.37 million sq. kms of land, India has 3.28 million sq. kms.
In other words, India carries four times the U.S. population in one-third of land – but suffered only 13% of the U.S. casualties.
True, the Modi government’s casualty numbers have been disputed, but so has every government’s. While reports abound that the Modi government lied, that is – once again – cavalier and baseless. No responsible basis exists for asserting that Modi, a la Trump, directed his government to avoid testing, and/or to avoid attributing deaths to COVID-19. Heart-wrenching videos and photographs (which would be inevitable in any calamity) can enliven, but converting Modi into the central villain responsible for the calamity with exaggerations and inaccuracies is inexcusable.
The reality is, as usual, more complicated (i.e., un-newsworthy). A concatenation of factors, beyond any government’s control or prescience, led to this perfect storm all over the world. Shortages of serious staff and supplies, along with disruption of all transportation, led to every medical necessity – PPEs, oxygen cylinders, you name it – falling short.
Would any government, anywhere in the world, have been able to prevent this disaster? The record shows that none did. Then why is Modi the whipping boy?
Further, an incredible 28.7% of the Indian population is hesitant to take the vaccine, actively resisting the Modi government’ s entreaties. That’s about 396 million people! Facebook’s Covid‑19 Symptom Survey (CSS) in India, reported rates of vaccine hesitancy as high as 42% in Tamil Nadu and 41% in Punjab. And the Facebook survey itself under-reported these rates heavily, since it reflected only urban areas where internet access was not a major issue.
The vaccine hesitancy rates in areas with no easy internet access – i.e., where the bulk of India’s population resides – are quite likely much higher. Indeed, a survey by the prestigious AIIMS reported that even highly‑informed groups such as Indian medical students reflected a 10.6 per cent vaccine hesitancy in 22 states! And that does not include others in hospitals, from physicians to janitors. Clearly, each of them was in touch with scores of patients every day, infected and uninfected. In other words, over a tenth of the medical service providers were potential super-spreaders themselves.
Considering this explosive mix of devastating factors, what we need to understand is the overwhelming challenge faced by the Modi Government (and every other government in the world), and the desperate nature of the situation. What we need is support for the COVID-19 relief efforts.
And what we don’t need is irresponsible reporters fanning anti-government anger with reckless allegations. Let’s bring some responsibility back into reporting. Reporters’ rush to beat the deadline should not trump their responsibility: after all, that’s why we trust them.
(Krishnan Chittur is a New York-based attorney, working for international peace and justice)