Not only 4 levels 4 India is a country of diversity in all aspects: culture, religion, race, language… Hinduism is the largest religion in India (currently 966 million followers) and is the The world’s third largest religion (1.03 billion adherents) played a key role in shaping India’s social fabric. From this religion arose the caste system in Indian society, and it dominates, has a profound, lasting impact with many consequences in society to this day. Dharavi slum in Mumbai. Dharavi is one of the most densely populated places in the world. The blue roofs are actually plastic cloth to keep out the rain. Photo: Daily Mail The structure of Indian society according to writer and cultural researcher Geetesh Sharma is “a collection of irregular elements, but strangely, it is arranged into a clear layer system”. Looking from the outside in, the overlapping Indian society is caste, class, religion, language, region… But if the caste system is positioned as the backbone of the whole Indian social structure, all things will become orderly and clear. This system was formed thousands of years ago, and to this day, it remains the root cause of social unrest. Most Indian and Western scholars agree that the caste system is a feature of Hinduism. However, along with the birth and introduction of other religions, the caste system also had a certain influence on Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Jainism. The English word caste is caste, which is not a single Indian word. According to the Oxford dictionary, caste is derived from the Portuguese word casta, meaning “race, lineage, breed” and primitive meaning “pure and unadulterated”. There is no concept in the Indian language that fully represents the word, but only two approximate terms, varna and jati. Varna means color, and was the first framework of social demarcation in the Vedic period. The four castes in the varna are the Brahmins (the priestly caste, also known as the Brahmin castes), the Kshatriyas (also known as the Rajanyas, the castes of noble princes and warriors), the Vaishyas (the craftsmen) , merchants, farmers) and Shudras (class of slaves, people who did the hard work). However, there is still a fifth caste in the varna system that is not officially recognized in the scriptures, the Dalit (untouchable) caste. People of this caste are considered “outside of society” and have to do jobs that are considered despicable such as dumping feces, picking up trash, etc. Whereas, jati means birth, origin. This concept is less mentioned in the scriptures than in varna. There are thousands of jati, and currently there is no exact definition for this concept. Where is the origin? From the West’s pro-racist theory… There are many explanations from anthropologists, archaeologists and both Indian and world historians as to the origin of this particular caste system over the past century. However, it is possible to temporarily group the hypotheses of Indian caste origin into three large theoretical groups: racial theory, contingency theory, and genetic proofs. Race theory started from a debate between two British researchers and managers in India JC Nesfield and HH Risley. According to Risley, the caste system was formed from racial clash. He suggested that the “light-skinned” Aryans had entered the Indian subcontinent from the northwest and conquered the native “black” Dravidian race. Risley’s explanation is that the Aryans, after conquest, conquered the weaker race, captured women according to their needs and created hybrid offspring, thereby becoming a higher caste. Meanwhile, Nesfield commented that “the issue of caste origin is not only about race, but also about culture”. The racial theory of caste formation encouraged racist ideas, which were originally developed to enhance the status of Europeans in the subcontinent. A family in the slums of Mumbai on April 3. Photo: AP To the objection of the Indian scholar himself học Indian scholars have countered Risley’s racial theory. Researcher Ketkar argues that castes are more a result of tribal conflicts than between Aryans and Dravidians. Ketkar’s view was that all Indians, with limited exceptions from the east, belonged to a single race, and expressed concern that racial theories could cause division in society. The reactions of the Indian scientific community led to the creation of the so-called random theory. In this view, caste regimes are the product of specific historical events, which may be limited to a particular time and place. This theory has an important contribution Dr. Ambedkar (who comes from the Dalit caste, and also drafted the Constitution of India). Ambedkar rejected the racial theory and attacked those who had “used biology to protect the caste system”. He emphasized on Nesfield’s research with the conclusion that there is no racial difference between different castes in the same area, and at the same time concluded that “the caste system is the distinction in society between different castes”. people of the same race”. End of the hundred year debate In the mid-1990s, scientists began to use genetics as a tool to examine the origin of caste systems as well as the extent to which castes were related. Since then, a series of genetic studies on the caste system have been produced. The first genetic studies reached conclusions consistent with the randomization theory. Accordingly, there is no corresponding relationship between genetic relationships and socio-cultural structure. Subsequent studies, however, yielded very mixed results, with some supporting the race theory. To date, studies using genetics to understand the origin of the caste system continue to be carried out. Liberate class, liberate people Although the debate has not yet led to a final result, it has at least contributed much differently, from the rejection of the “divine” about the origin of the castes, when the Rig-Veda (Vedas) that castes were born from different parts of the primitive man, in which the upper caste was born from the upper body, and the lowest caste was born from the heart. This is extremely important, because it will lead to the destruction of the concept of “class is inherently natural, is immutable”. This was the premise to liberate the lower castes from the strict caste system, and was an important step towards human liberation. Medical staff check people’s health in a slum in Mumbai. Photo: Guardian Second, studies have shown that caste originates from socio-political factors rather than from religion. And without exception, the caste system is a tool created by rulers to establish a stable, orderly and favorable social structure for them to easily rule. The current caste system is a huge barrier affecting India’s development. Recent surveys show that caste discrimination still shows no signs of abating, but on the contrary, tends to be more serious. The 2014 census shows that the percentage of people from the lower castes, especially those belonging to the Dalit caste, are facing severe discrimination with the lowest percentage in the following criteria: access to education, health care, employment… Social injustices related to the lower castes persist, whether in urban or rural areas, demonstrating the tension in modern Indian society. Although the Indian government has constitutionally prohibited the practice of any discrimination against the lower castes, the fact that there are separate laws on “reservation” for the lower castes shows that The situation is not optimistic. Specifically, India has compiled a list of vulnerable castes, and calls it “Nominal Castes”. Accordingly, all state agencies (including the National Assembly), universities, military, police… must reserve a certain percentage of their “seats” for these identified classes. This, while having a positive effect on the lower castes, clearly demonstrates India’s inability to prevent discriminatory practices. Luu Duy Tran (Doctoral student at Jeonbuk National University, Korea)

But these days, traffic is sparse, with only occasional trucks or motorbikes passing by. The once noisy atmosphere no longer appeared. Unpleasant silence crept across India as the COVID-19 crisis erupted, partly due to local closures of factories, and partly because many people here fear infection. Contrary to that quiet, fighting activities are increasingly explosive: ambulances race to the next patient, ordinary people frantically criss-crossing the city in search of medicine, oxygen, and beds sick. After a year of relative calm, the country of nearly 1.4 billion people is grappling with a powerful last-minute storm. With the number of new cases still exceeding 300,000 per day, India regularly accounts for around 50% of all new cases worldwide. Vijayawada International Airport was bustling with only a handful of passengers, and flights were also few. (Photo: ST) Problems from tests At the end of April, in the corner of the Artemis hospital compound in Gurgaon, a man repeatedly fell and had to be helped by those around him as he stood in line waiting for an RT-PCR test. The man was seated in a chair but collapsed. He was brought to the front of the queue but was too weak to last long. As hospital staff led the man toward the main building, he resisted, pointing to an elderly man sitting in the corner. Turns out this person came here not to do an RT-PCR test for himself but for his father. Meanwhile, at the front, the doctor in charge, overwhelmed by the number of samples to be taken, shouted at a patient for breaking in. Most people in line will wait at least two hours to be checked in. And it takes at least 48 hours to get results. Crowds of testing people create congestion at facilities. (Photo: ST) Unlike the first wave that affected the elderly, the second wave made many young people sick. Middle-aged parents have to bring children with coughs and fevers to testing centers. Prolonged delays have unfortunate consequences. Without quick and reliable test results, people won’t be able to get the care they need and could end up passing the virus on to many others. Mr. Claudien Jacob understood the situation all too well. He lost his 71-year-old mother on April 29 at home in Bangalore, when she was bedridden. She was hot with fever and her oxygen saturation level gradually decreased. By the time they were able to have a lab technician come to their home to collect an RT-PCR sample, other household members had also developed typical symptoms of COVID-19. But without the test, she wouldn’t have a hospital bed. On April 29, at 7 a.m., she took her last breath. At 7:30 a.m., Mr. Jacob’s phone beeped with her test result: positive. He has yet to receive his test results. “I’m dead tired, but no one else is doing this, so I went to the cemetery. I still haven’t had time to feel that my mother is dead.” A grieving family sends off a loved one who died of COVID-19 while keeping their distance. (Photo: ST) In March 2020, during the first pandemic outbreak, India instituted a strict 21-day lockdown. While bad for the economy, this also helps expand infrastructure from hospital beds to testing facilities. The number of tests has been increased from less than 100 to more than 1.4 million per day. The number of labs doing testing has also increased from 14 at the beginning of last year to more than 2,400 this year. But that’s still not enough. Survival battle Now, it’s common for Indians to see people rushing to find the basic necessities that were always assumed hospitals would have. Never before have citizens had to hunt for oxygen as often as they do now. Looking out the window, it’s not difficult to see someone rushing with an oxygen tank on the car to bring to the patient. Hospitalization – is a matter of will, wealth, relationships and of course luck. Indians now joke that before the pandemic, people panicked when a loved one was taken to the hospital’s intensive care unit, but now they’re happy. The journey to getting a bed is like a competitive sport. Common scene on Indian streets. (Photo: ST) Survival is not easy either. People safe from COVID-19 and their families talk about loneliness and stress. Families are not allowed to see patients in COVID-19 wards or intensive care units. In absolute isolation, all one could hear was the single, heavy breathing. But anyway, they are still considered “lucky” people. Coping with trauma Outside the Old Seemapuri crematorium in Delhi, Jitender Singh Shunty, founder of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal – a non-profit organization – drinks his first tea at 2pm. He said he felt like fainting and had to rest despite having very little time. Mr. Shunty helped cremate unclaimed bodies and dispose of the ashes in the Hindu tradition, receiving many calls. “Yes, we will come and prepare for the funeral. Don’t worry”, he told a desperate person on the phone. He received more than 400 calls a day, and lived in the car for days. He has a fleet of 18 ambulances and has lost one driver, Arif Khan, to the pandemic. These two were rejected by 4 hospitals in one day. (Photo: ST) Ordinary men and women have become superheroes during the pandemic. A driver in Bhopal sells his wife’s jewelry to convert the car into a makeshift ambulance. Another person in Mumbai sells his SUV for 2.2 million rupees to buy oxygen tanks for everyone. In Kerala, an elderly man donated almost all of his savings of Rs 200,000 to COVID-19 relief efforts. A nursing mother in Bangalore donates breast milk to a premature baby whose mother has died from the epidemic. And it is these moments that are a temporary respite from the horror that is unfolding. A nurse cares for a child who has recently recovered from COVID-19. (Photo: ST)

Many states in southern India are warning to stop sharing medical oxygen with each other, protecting all that is available as their hospitals increasingly “swell” because of the increased number of COVID-19 cases. leap. At an Andhra Pradesh hospital, the family of COVID-19 patients went into a rage when the hospital treating their loved ones suddenly had their oxygen supply interrupted. These are the best evidences of the recurring tragedy in India itself. Despair that enveloped New Delhi – the capital of India, over the past few weeks has now spread across the country. Rural areas with poor health infrastructure are slowly feeling the devastation caused by the COVID-19 tsunami. According to the New York Times , it seems that the COVID-19 crisis in India is entering a new phase. Workers deliver oxygen tanks to a hospital in the states of Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: AP) The number of COVID-19 cases in New Delhi and Mumbai is slowing down. But elsewhere are now really taking the COVID-19 blow. People questioned New Delhi, home to many of India’s top hospitals and packed with the country’s elite that can’t even handle the massive surge in cases, what will happen in the regions. poor countryside. On the night of May 10, a government hospital in Andhra Pradesh fell into a state of oxygen depletion. Doctors frantically call the providers to ask for help. But when the source could not be found, 11 patients died. The families of the patients, after learning of the news, entered the intensive care unit, screaming and smashing the equipment. TV images show the women holding their heads in despair. Doctors and nurses had to flee and wait for the police to arrive. Despite the aid of other countries, India still has a serious shortage of medical oxygen. More than 20 hospitals were depleted of oxygen, nearly 200 patients died from lack of oxygen. Vaccine campaign is being accelerated, but supply is not enough demand. Many vaccination sites in the states have run out of vaccines and people are still unable to schedule vaccinations. When the COVID-19 tsunami shows no signs of cooling down, the wave of criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has intensified. Many people thought that he declared the victory of the epidemic too soon, causing the country to fall off guard. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains India’s most powerful political organization by far. But the solid wall the party has maintained over the years is showing some cracks. When the second wave of COVID-19s began to strike India, the country almost split into two extremes. New Delhi, Mumbai – the two largest cities in India warned that the number of new infections increased continuously with the infection rate up to 36%. In rural areas, the epidemic has also spread but has not yet strongly exploded, leaving many people leisurely. Currently, the situation in New Delhi and Mumbai is improving. On May 11, New Delhi reported 12,481 new infections, half the number of cases recorded on April 30. The positive rate for COVID-19 decreased to 19%. A mass cremation site on the banks of the Ganges River in Allahabad city, Uttar Pradesh. (Image: Getty Images) In Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, the incidence of infection decreased from 25% to 7%. People began to believe that the epidemic was about to end – something they didn’t dare to think about a few weeks ago. Last month, many hospitals in New Delhi were closed due to lack of oxygen. People are not allowed to be hospitalized to die right in front of the emergency room, in front of the hospital gate, or even on the street. When the situation was less stressful, these hospitals accepted the patients again. At the beginning of April, the infection rate in many rural India was only one digit. But now, this number is skyrocketing. “It’s hard to imagine what’s going on in the rural areas, where infection rates rose from 8% in early April to almost 27% on May 11. “, Professor Rijo M John went to the Indian Institute of Management in Kerala state. According to Mr. John, rural India does not carry out testing much and many patients may be dying because they do not receive treatment. On May 11, Modi’s government dispatched an “oxygen express train” to bring liquid oxygen to COVID-19 hotspots in the southern region. But states need more than that. A few weeks ago, several southern Indian states agreed to share oxygen supplies with each other. This week, some started mentioning ceasing to cooperate. The state government of Kerala says it cannot supply oxygen to neighboring states as it needs to retain the entire supply for the state’s growing demand. Tamil Nadu also made a similar statement, claiming he could not be shared with his poorer neighbor, Andhra Pradesh. Earlier this week in the village of Chausa, Bihar state, people panicked when they found dozens of bodies floating mysteriously on the banks of the Ganges River. No one knows who these people are or how their bodies got there. Even on the evening of May 10, images of decomposing bodies in colorful, bulging and floating bodies floating on the river shook the Indian media. Suspected bodies of COVID-19 have been washed ashore in the Ganges river in the past few days. (Photo: PTI) About 30 bodies have been found, most likely, of patients with COVID-19, officials say. Meanwhile local people said they saw about 100 bodies. “I’ve never seen so many bodies,” Arun Kumar Srivastava, a doctor in Chausa said. When the uneasiness of the villagers of Chausa had not passed, their neighbor witnessed the same scene. Villagers in Gahmar village, Uttar Pradesh state found more than 50 bodies of patients with COVID-19 washed up on the banks of the Ganges River as they passed their villages. Krishna Dutt Mishra, an ambulance driver in Chausa, said many poor people were throwing their loved ones into the river when the cremation price increased from $ 27 (more than 600,000 dong) to 200 dollars (more than 4.6 million dong). At many cremation sites, staff in some places charge five or even 10 times more than the usual price. For many families, this is too much for them.

The house, named Gulita, is the wedding gift of the groom’s parents for the couple. Anand Piramal (35 years old), husband of Isha, is a second generation heir to the Piramal, the second most powerful family in India. The residence of the daughter of the richest billionaire in Asia from the outside. Photo: Time Now News. Isha Ambani’s husband’s family owns many valuable real estate across the country. According to the Reuters They bought the Worli mansion for $ 61.2 million in 2012. Overlooking the Arabian Sea, the area offers beautiful ocean views, making it one of the most sought-after places in Mumbai. Before the grand wedding, the house underwent a complete remodel. This mansion is located near the road and is easy to see. From a distance, three large palm tree-shaped pillars made of 3D-enameled steel can be observed on the main facade of the building. Isha’s husband Anand Piramal is also in the second generation of the second most powerful family in India. The house is 11 m high, includes 5 floors and 3 basements, in which the second and third floors are used for entertainment rooms and parking. The first basement has a lawn and an open-air fountain, and many other small rooms. The ground floor is a lobby, with a high dome and transparent diamond-shaped windows overlooking the street in front of you. In addition, the temple area is also designed inside the house. According to the Times Now, the furniture in Gulita is custom made. Reuters reports Eckersley O’Callaghan, a London-based engineering firm, was involved in the redesign of the house. The mansion worth at least $ 61 million is a wedding gift that the parents-in-law give to the couple Isha Ambani. Photo: India Times. Before her marriage, the daughter of Asia’s richest billionaire lived in Antilia, a 27-storey building built by her father, Mukesh Ambani. This is known as one of the most expensive homes in the world with 6 basements for parking, 4 helipads and is served by a team of 600 employees. Currently, Isha Ambani’s two brothers still live with their parents in Antilia. In the interview with Femina A year after her daughter’s wedding, Nita Ambani said she felt strange after Isha got married and moved out of her parents’ home. “Although bittersweet, I understand that Isha now needs to take care of her own family,” said his wife, Mukesh Ambani. Pictures inside the house. Photo: BCCL. In December 2018, Isha Ambani’s wedding was compared to a “royal wedding” with a week-long period, with many lavish ceremonies and famous guests. The amount paid by the Ambani family to the organization is up to $ 100 million. Before the official wedding, the couple held a celebration party in downtown Udaipur with guests including powerful figures such as music superstar Beyonce, Mrs. Hilary Clinton. According to the Bloomberg The guest list was so long that the Ambani and Piramal families had to use at least five nearby 5-star hotels and a powerful logistics team to manage these guests.

The morgue and crematorium are operating at full capacity, but still not enough to meet demand when the epidemic storm swept the country. Air fares and demand for private jets abroad have skyrocketed in India over the past few days. Photo: Reuters On April 26, the Worldometers page reported that the number of new infections in India in the past 24 hours reached 354,531 people, the 5th consecutive day setting a world record for the number of cases per day. The total number of deaths due to the epidemic is currently 195,116, an increase of 2,806 from a day earlier. In New Delhi alone, it is estimated that one person per 4 minutes from the virus dies. Many countries vowed to impose travel restrictions on tourists from India. Negative developments have caused wealthy people in the world’s second-most populous country to rush to find a way to catch the last flight or take a private jet to leave the country, before “banning” orders. effective. According to Gulf News, one of their favorite destinations is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is only a short distance from India and often has hundreds of flights to and from each day. The UAE has announced a ban on visitors originating from India for 10 days from April 25. The price list listed on the websites shows that the fare for one-way commercial flights from Mumbai to Dubai on April 23-24 is about 80,000 rupees (over $ 1,000), 10 times more than normal . Fares for the New Delhi – Dubai route are more than 50,000 rupees (approximately 700 USD), 5 times more than a week ago. The Economic Times newspaper on April 23 quoted a spokesperson for the Indian aircraft rental service company, revealed that the need to rent a private jet was “terribly escalating”. Only on April 24, the company has 12 flights to Dubai and all flights are full. Another private jet carrier, Enthral Aviation, said the company was also overwhelmed by hundreds of bookings in recent days. That forced the airline to hire more planes from abroad to meet demand. The cost of renting a 13-seater aircraft from Mumbai to Dubai is US $ 38,000 and a 6-seater aircraft for the same itinerary is US $ 31,000. To save money, some people team up to rent planes together. Enthral Aviation also received a few requests to Thailand, but the most booked destination is still Dubai. According to the Sunday Times, at least eight private jets from India arrived in the UK on April 24 before London imposed a ban on entry to the South Asian country. The day before, fares for one-way commercial flights from Mumbai or New Delhi to the UK capital were around 100,000 – 150,000 rupees ($ 1,337 to 2,007), double the normal price, but also ran out of space. . Seats on commercial flights from India to the US over the weekend are still available, but prices are generally double as usual.

The body of the patient Covid-19 is piled up in a crematory in New Delhi, where every four minutes, someone dies from a pandemic. Someone brought the body and left it. At the Ghazipur village crematory in eastern New Delhi, bodies were brought, one after the other. The amount of bodies was so great that ambulances and trucks transporting the dead blocked an entire road, Guardian described on April 30. Before the pandemic happened, in Ghazipur crematory staff’s memory, there was only one time that it was filled with space in a day. But now, sometime early in the morning, this place has received 150 bodies, while the maximum capacity is 38 bodies. Crematorial staff have to expand the scope of operations to parking lots but also cannot meet all demand. In the Indian capital, the second wave of Covid-19 infections is still raging with no sign of slowing down. On April 30, Delhi recorded a record number of 395 deaths and 24,235 new infections. Across India, the total number of new infections during the day was unprecedentedly high with 386,693 cases. Someone brought the body and left it Cremators in India are rushing to increase their capacity to handle 1,000 cremations a day. It is at these cremations that the destruction of Covid-19 in Delhi is being most evident. In 30 years of helping cremate the dead, Sunil Kumar Sharma, head of the Ghazipur village crematorium, said she had never thought of such a scene. “Too many people died. I have a feeling if this situation continues, there will be no one in Delhi, ”Sharma said. Normally, the body of a Covid-19 patient must be handled according to a rigorous procedure. But according to Sharma, corpses from hospitals are often not covered with protective cloths, putting cremators at risk of exposure. Some families even try to hide the death of a loved one from Covid-19. “The situation here is terrible and terrible,” said Mr. Sharma. “We have to work 20 hours a day, very tiring. My spirit seemed to have broken at the surroundings. Now there are people who bring the body and leave it, so we have to perform the ceremony to save some face for the deceased. According to the Hindu and Sikh beliefs of the Indians, a person cannot enter the door of heaven if their body is cremated without the watcher’s presence and keeping the fire on the pyre. Every day, Sharma’s crematorium consumes 60 tons of wood. “Every night, I worry about how to dispose of the body delivered tomorrow,” Mr. Sharma said. “What if it is beyond our capabilities?”. Suffering covers everywhere With thousands of recently cremated bodies, the air around Ghazipur crematorium was thick black smoke. Scattered around the ash-gray crematoriums left the day before were some offerings: mangoes, pomegranates, and orange flowers. On a nearby ambulance, a woman in a dark green sari was mumbling her prayers. In the car with her was the body of her husband, who had just died that morning because of Covid-19. The widow tried to place a red handshake on her husband’s body but was gently pushed away by a man in a protective suit to transport the body. The air around Ghazipur crematorium was thick black smoke from thousands of recent cremations. Photo: Shutterstock. Another man, Ajay Gupta, cried bitterly while the body of his brother, Ram, was placed on the crematorium. Just last week, Ram received treatment from the hospital for breathing problems. Ram’s illness had been in remission at first. I can even video call you from the hospital bed. But when the hospital ran out of oxygen, Ram did not survive. “Just a few days ago the nurse told us he would be fine,” Gupta said. Gupta is also a victim of the emerging black market in Delhi. It sells oxygen and drugs like Remdesivir to desperate families like Gupta at exorbitant prices. According to Gupta, after listening to the doctor, he used the last coin to buy Remdesivir for his brother at the black market for 630,000 rupees (about 8,500 USD), 10 times higher than normal. However, the effectiveness of Remdesivir Covid-19 is still questionable. “I felt like everything had collapsed,” Gupta said. Relatives wearing medical protective clothing deliver the body of a patient recently lost from Covid-19 in the crematory village of Ghazipur, east of Delhi. Photo: Shutterstock. Krishnan Pal, 48, who sells snacks in Delhi, is also one of those who died after repeatedly being rejected by the hospital due to overload. Pal cousin Kai Charan Kashap said they knocked on the doors of every hospital in Delhi but were unable to find an empty bed. After that, Pal was transported by his family to Agra, a city in the adjacent state of Uttar Pradesh. The hospital here still has empty beds but there is no oxygen left. In the end, Pal died on his way to Bareilly, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. “People are dying in the middle of the street because they can’t breathe,” said Kashap in a choked sob while waiting for his brother’s body to be transported from the morgue. Vaccine is seen as the way out of the crisis Many believe that the vaccine is the only long-term way to help India get out of the corona virus crisis. But on April 30, authorities in some parts of Delhi said plans to vaccinate people aged 18 and over had been delayed indefinitely due to lack of supply. The announcement comes just a day before the expanded immunization program is scheduled to be rolled out in Indian courts. Shortages such as in the capital Delhi are also common across this South Asian country. An immunization center in Mumbai posted “no vaccinations for the next three days” on April 30. Photo: Reuters. Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal said authorities would inject the vaccine “as soon as possible”. But some private clinics in Delhi said the vaccine is not expected to arrive for at least another month or even two. During that time, the crematory and cemetery in Delhi will continue to suffer the deadly pressure that engulfs the city every day. At the Ghazipur crematory, after sunset, all crematoriums will be lit up at the same time. Flames flared in the screams of heat and pain. Tomb diggers work non-stop in India Tomb diggers work 24 hours a day to bury those who have died from Covid-19. Their shift did not stop amid the second wave of Covid-19 in India.

“Then, the nurse in charge told me that that day India did not have a new hospital stay due to Covid-19. A surge of relief,” said Mr. Udwadia. Financial Times . Indian people and hospitals struggled because of Covid-19. Photo: Reuters. The joy is short-lived After 245 days of continuously fighting the epidemic, that moment brought rare happiness to Mr. Udwadia. He and his colleagues smiled with relief that across India, the number of new cases per day had fallen below 15,000. This encouraging sign also corresponds to the declining Covid-19 observed at the hospital at that time. But the joy is short: Summer welcomes India with a terrible April. The worrying numbers are constantly inching up. On April 26, India set a global record with 352,991 new cases within 24 hours. “On the hospital beds, the scene seems to have been cut from the ‘Hell’ part of poet Dante’s Divine Song,” Udwadia said. With the meager source of oxygen, long lines of patients fought for life with death. Meanwhile, echoing in space are calls for help. The patient’s expectation seems hopeless amid the indifference of the medical staff, who are also strained by the great pressure of the mission to save lives. In the warehouse, oxygen gradually runs out, while many essential pharmaceuticals are in short supply. Even patients in hospitals will not be able to hold out for long once the oxygen supply is depleted. In the black markets, oxygen cylinders are for sale for $ 670, eight times the usual level. Even so, the patients still buy in stock, preparing for the worst possible scenario. India struggled in the second wave of infections. Photo: Reuters. Mistakes All positive signs disappear after three months. In January, the Indian Minister of Health proudly declared: “India has stabilized the Covid chart”. This confidence cannot help India obscure a painful reality: The corona virus is besieging a country of 1.4 billion people. Instead of capitalizing on that precious time in January to ramp up vaccine deployment, secure oxygen supplies and tighten social gaps, India has allowed more localities to campaign for elections and 3, 5 million followers crowded along the banks of the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival. “The virus is forgotten because we declare ourselves the winners,” Udwadia said. Then, as a matter of course, the second Covid-19 wave hit like a fierce tidal wave, making its own impact in 2020 just like a ripple of water. Many believe this wave is caused by the Indian variant B.1.617. This variant has two frightening mutations, the E484Q and the L452R. The lethality of the new variant causes nations to race to close their borders with India. The corona virus pushed the nation of billions of people into turmoil. Photo: Reuters. “As a doctor, I guarantee that the virus appears to be more contagious, has more serious fatalities and affects young people more often than before,” Udwadia said. Currently, patients between the ages of 26 and 44 account for about 40% of cases and nearly 10% of deaths in India. Meanwhile, the story of the vaccine still has its own questions. Instead of calling for 1.7 billion doses of vaccine stockpiling from trusted manufacturers, India has left it all for its “vaccine superpower” label. Early miscalculation now gives way to despair. Waiting for vaccinations crowded in Mumbai had only received an answer that most of the distribution sites were out of stock. Given the current situation (about 5% of India’s population is vaccinated), the coveted prospect of public immunity (when 70% of the population has viral antigens) will take at least another 700 days to be successful. realistic. ‘I lost my wife and children on the same day because of Covid-19’ Most hospitals in India are overcrowded, relatives miserable begging for beds and oxygen cylinders for patients. The furnaces were incinerated, many trucks carrying corpses lined up in long queues.

Last week, India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan affirmed that the Covid-19 death rate in this country is “at the lowest in the world”. The statement of the head of the medical industry is in stark contrast to the series of shocking images and stories of cremations burned day and night due to overloaded bodies, patients dying on the road due to lack of breathing. gas, according Guardian . Question of concealing data of the dead? Official records of the Indian authorities show that the number of people infected and fatal has increased continuously. On May 1, the South Asian country experienced another record-breaking day with 401,993 new cases and 3,523 deaths from Covid-19. But health experts have the same view that the official number does not fully reflect the size of the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 in India. At this time, because medical facilities are overloaded and lack medical supplies, many patients cannot be hospitalized and die at home, even without adequate testing. Meanwhile, the local authorities were accused of not making accurate statistics, even hiding the actual death toll in the area where they were responsible. Relatives stand by when the dead body is cremated. Photo: Reuters. In the past month, in the city of Karnataka, Bangalore – where the number of infections has been among the fastest growing in the country – the number of corpses registered for cremation with Covid-19 is twice as high as the number of deaths recorded by the authorities. The information concealment charge is particularly notable in Uttar Pradesh, where the state government is governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party. Adityanath, governor of Uttar Pradesh, insisted that the state had no shortage of oxygen, and threatened to prosecute anyone who spread panic information. Authorities Uttar Pradesh denied allegations of information hiding. The truss burned day and night In the Muzaffarnagar city of Uttar Pradesh state, data are available from the weekly newspaper Observer The collection revealed the discrepancy between the local authorities’ death statistics and the number of bodies cremated at city cremation facilities and cemeteries. Official data recorded only 10 deaths from Covid-19 in the last four days of April. But according to Ajay Kumar Agarwal, owner of a city cremation facility, that is only an odd number compared to the bodies burned. burned at this facility every day. “Normally we cremate 3 bodies per day. But in the past 10 days, the number of cremated bodies has increased many times. There are days 18, some days 20, then 22 and 25. In the past 10 days, not yet.” we have less than 12 bodies every day, 90% of which are corona deaths, “said Agarwal. Mr. Agarwal’s cremation facility only had seven crematoriums, so the staff had to cremate the body on the ground. Some of the bodies were sent to another facility 35 kilometers from the city. The pyre burned day and night in India. Photo: Reuters. Mr. Agarwal accused local authorities of publishing “inaccurate” data, denying the possibility that the city has experienced no days, or that only one or two people died of Covid-19 in the past week. . “The authorities have not released the exact death figures. I don’t understand why they are hiding it. Maybe they don’t want people to panic,” Agarwal said. Similar comments were made by Sanjay Mittal, an employee at another cremation facility in Muzaffarnagar. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. We set the crematorium on fire from dawn to dusk,” Mittal said. Before the pandemic, Mittal’s cremation facility handled about 5 bodies a day. But on April 27, they received 21 bodies. On April 28, the number of bodies decreased to 15, before once again increasing to 19 on April 29. “It is noon now, and we have already got 12 bodies. I don’t know how much more will it be by the end of the day,” Mittal said on April 30. The number of bodies taken for burial has also increased sharply in the Muslim cemetery in Muzaffarnagar. “Before the corona virus, we buried 2-3 bodies a week, but now it is 6-7 bodies a day. Only three of them come from the hospital, the rest are either dead at home or not tested,” Mr. Abdul Quadir, curator, said. Government data show that Muzaffarnagar has a very low rate of testing. On April 27, the whole city did not conduct tests. On April 29, only 561 people were tested, all positive for corona virus. The actual number of deaths could be 3 times higher An unnamed doctor from the Medical Association in Uttar Pradesh state said that many people die from pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis – typical symptoms of severe form Covid-19. “We have to accept that the death toll from corona virus is much higher than the official statistics. The bodies we see at the crematorium are mostly self-medicating at home, and they die.” The number of deaths like this is very high, but most of them have not been recorded. The rate of testing here is much lower than the need, “the doctor said. Murad Banaji, the mathematician who modeled the plague in India, said the numerous streams of evidence suggest that the understatement of deaths from disease is a serious problem. This expert believes that the number of deaths in India is at least 3 times higher than the official statistics. The conclusion is based on calculations from major cities like Mumbai, where during the first outbreak of the epidemic he calculated the number of “excess deaths” compared to the annual number of deaths. Mass cremation area in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters. This calculation could put the number of Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai from 13,000 to about 21,000. Banaji stressed that in less developed rural areas, such as in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with limited medical facilities, Covid-19 deaths are not recorded “perhaps much larger than in cities like Mumbai “. The consequences of inaccurate statistics on the number of deaths can be very serious. It will affect the effective allocation of resources, limiting the ability to develop a suitable immunization strategy to help prevent future outbreaks. “If we don’t have data to understand what’s going on in the current pandemic, how can India prepare for the future?” Mr. Banaji said. The chaplain’s account of the funeral for 150 Covid-19 patients before cremation Every day, Hindu cleric RamKaran Mishra performs a funeral for about 150 people who have died from Covid-19 at the Ghazipur crematory facility east of New Delhi, India.

India is facing the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the world in recent weeks. An ambulance carrying patients queued for admission to the state Covid-19 hospital in Ahmedabad City, Gujarat state, April 22. (Photo: AP) Medical staff assist in bringing patients of Covid-19 into hospital in Ahmedabad City. (Photo: AP) Last Friday, hospitals in the capital New Delhi signaled for help to the government when the supply of oxygen was only enough to use for a few hours. (Photo: AP) India’s hospital system falls into a shortage of hospital beds and medical oxygen when there are hundreds of thousands of new infections every day. This South Asian country can produce at least 7,100 tons of oxygen / day, including the amount of oxygen for industry. In theory, with the above mentioned output, India could meet the current oxygen demand. The main problem is that medical oxygen is not delivered in time to the hospital to save the patient. This delay stemmed from the location of the production units and distribution systems. (Photo: AP) Medical staff removed the patient from the scene of the fire at Vijay Vallabh Hospital for Covid-19 treatment in Virar, near Mumbai, April 23. Thirteen patients died from the incident. (Photo: AP) People queue for medical oxygen refills in New Delhi. On April 21, at least 24 people with Covid-19 disease in western India died after running out of oxygen supplies supplied to their breathing apparatus. (Photo: AP) To address the serious shortage of medical oxygen, the Indian government has mobilized the country’s railway industry to organize high-speed trains that carry oxygen from steel mills to areas where the epidemiology is most critical. Over the past 24 hours, these special trains have transported nearly 150 tons of oxygen. (Photo: AP) The government also uses Indian Air Force cargo planes to transport empty containers to production centers. After being filled with oxygen, the tank will be transported to localities by road. The Indian armed forces are importing 23 German oxygen-producing mobile devices. In addition, the government has ordered the conversion of argon and nitrogen storage tanks into oxygen tanks. According to experts, in the coming days, the number of cases in India will continue to increase strongly, the country will have to solve two problems of oxygen production and distribution simultaneously. (Photo: Xinhua) According to the latest statistics, the state of Maharashtra accounts for 27% of India’s 2.5 million Covid-19 cases that have not been cured and 33% of India’s more than 190,000 deaths. Mumbai City plans to build 16 facilities in 12 hospitals in the area to produce oxygen from the air. It is estimated that this plan will require a cost of 12 million USD. (Photo: AP) Residents wait for the Covid-19 vaccine at an immunization center in Mumbai, April 24. According to experts, along with increasing supplies of medical oxygen, drugs and other medical supplies, boosting Covid-19 vaccination will help India get out of the current dangerous wave. India has the strength of one of the most vaccine-producing countries in the world. According to the ANI news agency, India will start the third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign on May 1, with all 18 years of age and older. Residents can register for the vaccination from April 28. According to India’s Health Ministry data released yesterday, the country has injected 138,379,832 million doses of vaccine since the start of vaccination on January 16. (Photo: AP)

Bodies piled up in cremators and mass burial sites across India are raising fears that the number of deaths caused by the second Covid-19 wave in the country is many times higher than figures are officially published. Relatives mourn a patient who has just died of Covid-19 in New Delhi, India. Photo: Reuters Medical services and other essential services across India nearly collapsed when the second wave of Covid-19 swept through the country at frightening speeds in mid-March. The cemeteries ran out of space. The hospital refused to accept patients because of being overloaded, and the families desperately asked for help on social networks On April 22, India broke the record for the number of new cases per day globally with 314,835 new cases. With nearly 16 million people infected with Covid-19, India is the second most severely affected country in the world, behind only the US. The outbreak of the 2nd Covid-19 wave in India not only risks its economic recovery, but also affects the global war against epidemics. “Things are out of control,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Research in New Delhi. There is no oxygen. It is very difficult to find a hospital bed. Can’t get tested. You have to wait more than a week. The health system almost collapsed. Earlier on April 21, at least 22 Covd-19 patients being treated with a ventilator died while waiting for oxygen supplies, a senior official in Nashik district in Maharashtra state, India said. Faced with a serious shortage of medical supplies in hospitals across the country, local and state governments have urged the federal government to provide more oxygen and medicine. On April 21, President Modi announced the plan to supply 100,000 oxygen cylinders nationwide, build a new oxygen production plant and set up hospitals exclusively for Covid-19 patients. But experts fear that the plan was launched too late and the number is too little in the context of virus-infected patients struggling every day with “death” and the continuation of mass gatherings. causing the virus to spread faster and more strongly. Urgent cries for help on social networks With so few options available, many families have been calling for help via social media. Anil Tiwari, 34, lost his beloved father in November 2020 due to the Covid-19 translation. Last week, his mother also tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. She has been admitted to hospital treatment but needs to be in a special care bed (ICU). Due to the lack of ICU beds in the hospital, Anil Tiwari pleaded for help on her Twitter page: “Please save my mother. I love her more than anything. After days of relentless efforts, including calling the city government to be placed on the waiting list, Tiwari’s mother was finally given an ICU bed. But what she needed right now was oxygen – something that the hospital was lacking. “She can still walk, but always find it hard to breathe,” said Tiwari. Demand for Remdesivir for Covid-19 and its medicinal ingredients skyrocketed in the second wave of Covid-19, forcing the Indian government to temporarily ban drug exports to increase supplies. market connection. The government has allowed hospitals to use the drug in emergencies, although the Health Organization (WHO) previously said, there is no evidence that Remdesivir reduces the risk of death in infected individuals. Covid-19 heavy. Abhijeet Kumar, a 20-year-old college student, used Twitter to donate medical bills for his 52-year-old uncle, who is hospitalized in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. “The injections are very expensive. They say it costs between 12,000 and 15,000 rupees (about 160 to 200 USD). He had two doses but needed a third and we could not afford it. My uncle works as a plumber, ”said Abhijeet Kumar. Some states in India said that high demand while limited supply has enabled the “black market” to scream high prices for Remdesivir and some similar drugs. Even nurses and doctors are working hard to find beds and treatment options for their loved ones, said Parkar, a pulmonologist in Mumbai. Indian Mistakes and A Warning to the World Although most attention has been on the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that appeared in India recently, experts believe that the cause of the new Covid-19 outbreak is It can stem from social behaviors, weaknesses in the health system and a number of policy mistakes in the country. Indian officials may have been too subjective to believe that the worst has fallen behind when the number of Covid-19 cases began to decline in September 2020. The number of cases fell for 30 weeks in a row before starting to increase in mid-February and breaking out in mid-March. According to some experts, India did not seize the opportunity to consolidate its infrastructure. health care and immunization campaign intensification. “The authorities have not provided a long-term overview of the pandemic,” said Dr. Vineeta Bal, an immune system researcher at the National Institute of Immunology in India. Suggestions to upgrade the health system, such as building the capacity of hospitals or hiring an epidemiologist to monitor virus growth, have been ignored, she said. Currently, the Indian authorities are trying to restore many emergency measures that were removed when the number of cases decreased. India could have avoided a shortage of oxygen – something Latin America and Africa experienced a year ago if it converted its industrial oxygen production system into a network of supplies. medical. However, many facilities have returned to provide oxygen to industries and hospitals in this country are facing severe hypoxia. Analysts said that India will face a great challenge in preventing the health system from collapsing until enough people are vaccinated to achieve community immunity. Although India halted vaccine exports in March to meet domestic needs, it is not clear whether the country’s vaccine makers will be able to speed up production. “Vaccination is one way to slow the spread of the virus, but it depends on production speed and availability of vaccine doses,” said Srinath Reddy, president of the Indian Community Health Foundation. . In addition, the Indian government has also received criticism for not pausing major religious festivals, such as the Kumbh Mela bleaching festival on the banks of the Ganges River or election events. Many experts believe that the activities of gathering people have caused the number of cases to explode more strongly./.

The fire at a hospital in the Virar area of ​​Mumbai suburbs occurred two days after 24 patients using the COVID-19 ventilator died from an oxygen leak at a hospital in Nashik, another city in the state Maharashtra. At the time of the fire, about 90 patients were being treated in the hospital, some patients needing oxygen were transferred to nearby hospitals. Dilip Shah, CEO of Vijay Vallabh Hospital, said the fire in the intensive care unit on the second floor had been extinguished. Cause of the fire is currently under investigation. The fire came as the state of Maharashtra, hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, is struggling with skyrocketing infections. 314,835 COVID-19 cases recorded in India on Thursday brought the total number of cases in the country since the pandemic began to 15.9 million, second only to the United States. This is also the 7th consecutive day that India has recorded a number of new cases above 200,000. The COVID-19 pandemic had gone badly and put the health system in this country at risk of collapse. Hospitals are overloaded with patients and a serious shortage of manpower. Many hospitals in the western and northern regions of India, including the capital New Delhi, announced that the supply of oxygen was about to be depleted. Sponsorship news

Even, Indian police officials believe that the number of deaths while taking selfies (selfie) is much higher, but the possibility is up to thousands of people because many cases are not reported and “died by selfie. ”Is not recognized as the official cause of death. Selfie has been called a “death game” in India after a series of deaths. (Image: Reuters) Around the world, the act of taking self-photos has long become a life-threatening activity that is sometimes referred to as “killfie” (a virtual life tantalizing game of death). Worth mentioning, the number of selfie deaths are largely concentrated in India. In recent years, India has been called the “selfie capital of the world”. According to the South China Morning Post Office (SCMP), earlier this month, two teenagers, unfortunately, fell into a pond and drowned while taking a selfie in the northern Indian city of Agra. In March, a video of a young man doing dangerous selfies on a local train in Mumbai sparked outrage in Indian public opinion. In the eastern Indian state of Orissa, a 27-year-old woman drowned in a river from a slip and fall while taking a selfie at the Kaanakund picnic area. Also in Orissa state, a 13-year-old student died of fire from being caught in high voltage wires while taking a selfie on top of a running train. In 2018, researchers from the All-India Institute of Health Sciences found that about half of the 259 selfie deaths around the world between 2011 and 2017 occurred in India. The study is titled “Selfies: A Boon or Bane?” shows that India, Russia, the US and Pakistan are the countries with the most selfie-related deaths. In most “killfie” cases, the victim drowned, was hit by a train or car, or fell from above. Why India has so many people dying of selfies? Experts say that the selfie addiction of Indians stems from cultural and social reasons and the miraculous development of the smartphone technology industry. Specifically, India is currently one of the countries with the highest rate of smartphone usage in the world with the number of users reaching more than 760 million this year, according to consumer data company Statista. Delhi University sociology professor Rita Joshi said that in a classy-minded society like India, selfie is seen as the only way for the middle class to express themselves. “Selfies make people feel the trend when they post photos on social networks and receive many likes (likes). This is also the simplest and easiest way for young people to connect with the outside world especially when they want to imitate trendy Westerners ”, Ms. Rita said. In addition, celebrities and politicians also play an important role in making selfie a trend in India. Typically, the selfies of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with world leaders or Bollywood stars have received great attention from the people of the country. However, irresponsible selfies or in other words self-endangerment are condemned by the people and activists in India. Professor Ponnurangam Kumaraguru at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi has launched an application called “Saftie” to coordinate with other researchers to warn people about selfie locations considered “dangerous”. . Even the Indian government has made efforts to prevent the dangers of selfie activities. The Indian Central Railroad shared #SelfieSafety tips to keep its residents safe. The Railroad Guard also announced strong sanctions against individuals who cause trouble taking selfies. The Mumbai and Goa city police have also created selfie-free zones around popular beaches. Indian Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has urged the young people in the 19-30 years old to avoid taking selfies on the railroads or taking on stunts because it is the group most prone to crashes. take a selfie.

Facebook logo at headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA. Photo: AFP / VNA According to a joint statement by Facebook and CleanMax, the 32 MW wind power plant will be located in the state of Karnataka in southern India, as part of a larger project on wind and solar power that the two companies are working with. to provide renewable energy to the Indian power grid. CleanMax will own and operate the above projects, while Facebook will buy electricity from the Indian grid. Facebook’s head of renewable energy, Urvi Parekh, said the tech company usually does not own the power plants, instead signing a “long term” power purchase agreement with the renewable energy company. According to her, this will help projects find the necessary capital. India is currently Facebook’s largest market in terms of users. Meanwhile, in Singapore, Facebook has also announced similar partnership arrangements with energy suppliers such as Sunseap Group, Terrenus Energy and Sembcorp Industries, which can generate 160 MW of solar power. Power from these plants will be supplied to Facebook’s first data center in Asia and located in Singapore, the facility expected to come online next year. Last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said data centers were causing technology companies like Facebook to consume about 1% of all global electricity. Tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft have pledged to move towards zero carbon emissions and achieve zero net emissions, amid demand for digital data and services. ants will increase steadily. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on April 15 announced that the company’s global operations are now run entirely on renewable energy and have reached zero net emissions.

Lavender plants do not need too much water. Photo: Guardian

The Guardian (UK) reported that at the end of June and the fields in the village of Lehrote in Doda in Jammu were filled with purple with a characteristic strong scent of lavender. More than 200 farmers here have turned to lavender, starting the local “purple revolution”.

Lavender plants can be grown and grown in nutrient-poor soil, do not need much water but love the sun.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute has presented the prestigious Bharat Bhushan farmer (43 years old) award in the village of Lehrote. Mr. Bharat Bhushan said: “Lavender is very easy to grow and does not require much watering. I also only use cow manure to fertilize the plants ”. In just 2 years, his income was 4 times higher than the previous time when growing corn.

“Seeing my success, many people followed and now there are over 500 farmers in the area growing lavender,” said Mr. Bhushan. He now has a machine to extract essential oils from lavender. One hectare of lavender land can help farmers get 30-45 liters of essential oil.

Mr. Bhushan also shared: “Domestic demand for lavender essential oil is still quite high. We sell distilled essential oils directly to industrial customers in cities in India such as Mumbai and New Delhi. We also sell lavender to the dried flower dealer or to soaps and room fragrances.

Mr. Bhushan was inspired to grow lavender from a video of a 2016 conference in which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) launched a program called “Mission Scents” to encourage Farmers affected by climate change cultivate crops such as lavender, lemongrass, rosemary and medicinal plants like ashwagandha …