Vaccination: Focus on hesitancy, the 12-18 age group, and booster shots Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe

Two weeks ago, I wrote in this space that the coronavirus disease in India could soon stop being a pandemic and become endemic, an opinion that has since been aired by experts far more qualified than me. This also means that India could either dodge the third wave of the disease altogether — this is an opinion I have consistently articulated, despite the scare being created by some around a wave that affects young people — or, at worst, see localised flare-ups. This, the pandemic-to-endemic transition, is a big and significant milestone, and it is coming soon.

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There is another significant milestone that’s coming too, perhaps as soon as the middle of October. This is the ceiling India will hit in terms of vaccine coverage. There are around 940 million people over the age of 18 in the country. The government has said it will vaccinate all of them by the end of the year — a stretch, but possible as long as supplies keep increasing as rapidly as they did in August.

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The problem is that not all of them want vaccines. And short of vaccine mandates — I am all for them, or creating some link between access to benefits such as grains under the public distribution system to vaccines, or even incentives — there is nothing that is likely to make them take the jab. I expect this ceiling at the 75-80% vaccination coverage level. That translates into 705-752 million people. The government, public health workers, employers, media, religious and charity organisations, influencers — all of us have a responsibility in making sure more people get vaccinated, but there are always those who will not.

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The experience of the United States (US), where many infections, most hospitalisations, and almost all deaths currently being seen, are among the unvaccinated is a cautionary tale, but there are those who will still not learn from it. This means that India needs to start planning for the next phase of its vaccine drive, which could (and should) start mid-October.

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The first will have to be vaccines for around 165 million people between the ages of 12 and 18; the Zydus vaccine, ZyCoV-D, which is thus far the only one approved for use in this age group, should be reserved exclusively for people in this age group, with jabs being prioritised for the most vulnerable and also for those in Classes X and XII. There is simply nothing to be achieved by making this vaccine another in India’s portfolio of vaccines being administered to those over the age of 18. That battle is won (or is in the process of being won).

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The second leg will have to be booster shots. It is now clear that people who have never been infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 will need a booster shot. These shots will, again, have to be prioritised for the most vulnerable, people over the age of 60, those over the age of 45, and others, pretty much in the same order in which vaccines were rolled out earlier this year.

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In ideal circumstances, those who have suffered a Covid-19 infection should come last, but this information isn’t available on Co-WIN, India’s vaccine platform, which, in turn, isn’t connected to the databases where the information is available. Given that there is no supply constraint, it makes sense to just give the booster shot to everyone.

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The two things the country has to watch out for now, as more activities are allowed, and schools open up for physical classes, are localised outbreaks (which have to be crushed through lockdowns; for instance, every district needs to have a school closure protocol ready) and the emergence of mutant strains of the original Sars-CoV-2 virus.

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The future of China’s engagement in Afghanistan Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

There has been much speculation about China gaining in the aftermath of the withdrawal of the United States (US) from Afghanistan. However, contrary to this perception, events of the past few weeks actually amplify the strategic challenges that Beijing faces. Yet, they also present the Chinese leadership with an opportunity to demonstrate China’s capacity as a great power to shape outcomes in the region.

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While China was never entirely comfortable with the US presence in Afghanistan, this did serve Beijing’s strategic interests. There were, of course, trade-offs such as having the US military along China’s western periphery and contending with prolonged instability in West Asia along with the spread of transnational terrorism. But, overall, China has benefited from the US war on terror. It kept the US distracted and embroiled in long-drawn-out anti-insurgency and State-building operations. It provided China with the opportunity to free-ride in a regional security environment underwritten by American military power. And it allowed China and the US to cooperate on tackling threats posed by terrorism, while also creating an enabling narrative for the Communist Party to crack down on minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet.

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Foreign minister Wang Yi’s comments to US secretary of state Antony Blinken earlier this week were indicative of Beijing’s discomfort with the US disengagement. Wang warned that a “hasty withdrawal... is likely to offer an opportunity to various terrorist groups in Afghanistan to resurge”. He called on the US to “help Afghanistan combat terrorism and violence, instead of practising double standards or fighting terrorism selectively”. Also, apart from asking for support to “guide” the Taliban, Wang called on the US to “work with the international community to provide Afghanistan with urgently needed economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance”, and “help the new Afghan political structure maintain normal operation of government institutions, maintain social security and stability, curb currency depreciation and inflation”.

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As evident from this, at one level, the US withdrawal amplifies Beijing’s challenges associated with terrorism. This is not only with regard to the threat, however limited, of infiltration into Xinjiang but also in the context of inspiration for and revitalisation of transnational terror outfits. These could impact China’s Belt and Road Initiative..

Then, there is a second school of thought which argues that the nature of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban have fundamentally eroded Washington’s credibility and legitimacy. This, the argument goes, will impinge on the thinking and decisions of partners in the Indo-Pacific too, which, in turn, benefits Beijing. Unsurprisingly, Chinese Party-state media has seized this opportunity to challenge the values-based foreign policy narrative of the Biden administration.

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A third strand of thought doing the rounds is about China swooping into Afghanistan after the departure of the US forces to capture the mineral bounty that the country has to offer. Former senior PLA colonel Zhou Bo’s recent article in The New York Times made this case. Unfortunately, the reality is that big Chinese investments in Afghanistan’s natural resources over the past two decades have not yet yielded any significant gains. It is unlikely that amid potentially greater instability in the near future, the Chinese leadership will suddenly begin viewing the country from an opportunity prism. This, of course, does not mean that Beijing will not use its substantial financial capacity as a carrot to try and shape the Taliban’s behaviour.

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However, even if Beijing does decide to throw caution to the wind and invest in major natural resource extraction projects in Afghanistan, this shouldn’t be entirely unwelcome. In fact, from an Indian interest perspective, all of the above provides opportunities for cooperation with China.

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.Hindutva is Hindu modernity the hindu

One of the most important developments of the last century is what Girilal Jain termed as “The Hindu Phenomenon”. It was a widely held belief that destiny of the Hindus was to fade away in the modern era and their homeland absorbed within the Islamic and Christian world. Yet, despite repeated attempts at ethnic cleansing over recent centuries, Hindus not only survived, but also created a powerful polity and State. While India had been invaded and colonised in the past, the challenge posed by British colonialism was unique. We often discount the traumatic and terrifying experience of the non-western world in its encounter with western colonialism, which was backed by modern industry, a new economic structure of capitalism, and a new political structure of nations and nation-States. Coupled with emerging modern academia, it also posed a formidable intellectual challenge.

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Hindu response to western imperialism emerged in the 19th century in the form of social and religious reform movements and political mobilisation seeking to draw inspiration from antiquity and Hindu philosophy. But reformers were not only imagining the future but also re-imagining the past. They argued that modern values such as social equality, political democracy, liberty, the idea of the nation are all rooted in Hindu tradition and philosophy. Hence, Hindu society and polity are naturally at home in the modern era.

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These views were propagated by Hindu thinkers, writers, poets, religious leaders, and social and political leaders throughout the Indian subcontinent. The fact that these views found rapid and widespread acceptance demonstrate that these ideas were not alien to the Hindu society and changing social and economic structures favoured them.

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The tantra movement in the medieval period and the Bhakti movement in the early modern period infused Hindu society with the ideas of social and gender equality. From the Nath Sampradaya and Vachana Sahitya to Ravidas and Kabir, Hindu society already had what could be called proto-modernity. Popular and highly symbolic oral epics such as Manteswamy Kavya even argued how technology must ultimately be liberated from its hereditary practitioners, i.e the practice of a birth-based caste system determining occupation needed to go for the progress of civilisation.

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It is striking that all segments of the Hindu polity, from the Left to the Right, argued for a modern nation despite rooting their positions in the civilisational antiquity of India. None of them wanted a return to the past, unlike their counterparts in the Muslim polity, but wanted to learn from the values of a past and reinterpret it in a modern image. If one side was looking towards the West or the Soviet Union, the other was looking towards Japan and Korea to create a modern Hindu nation.

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Hindutva was the Hindu response to western colonialism and resurgent Islamic imperialism in the Indian subcontinent, and emerged under the new economic order based on industry and capitalism. Hindutva inherited the legacy of the Hindu proto-modernity and contemporary social and religious reform movements to imagine a modern-industrial Hindu nation. It sought to dismantle the caste system, and create a democratic State with individual rights, freedom of expression and religion. Hindutva argued for a modern Hindu nation with primacy to science and technology. It imagined a centralised State with strong defence capabilities, yet part of the world commonwealth in pursuit of stability and peace. Hindutva always confined itself to the aim of a Hindu Rashtra (nation), and, at no point, did it argue for a Hindu Rajya (State). Even the Hindu Mahasabha proposed a secular State based on the principle of one-man, one-vote..

The main intellectual challenge for Hindus was to justify their existence as a society. Who were they? Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Jat, Brahmins, Ahirs, Pasi, Rajputs, Vokkaligas? The coming together of various pagan traditions under the umbrella of Hinduism is a centuries-old process. But Hindutva consolidated it by welding Hindus into a political community and as a nation by emphasising the commonalities of a highly diverse Hindu society.

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The process of being a specific spiritual person

My lord always follow and bow down to the Lord shiva

Amusement moment of life

CAA is inadequate and flawed. Devise a new refugee policy, set up a commission Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri.

Recent developments in Afghanistan, with the withdrawal of American troops and rise of the Taliban, have led to a grave humanitarian crisis. This has serious implications for India. True to its ancient maxim of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), India’s soil has historically been a home away from home for persecuted minorities. But India does not have a singular policy for dealing with refugees and crises of this nature.

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Hare Krishna hare Krishna 

Krishna Krishna hare .

Hare Ram hare Ram Ram Ram hare hare.

The June 2021 factsheet of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHCR) states that 208,065 refugees reside in Indian territory at present. Of these, 95,829 Sri Lankan refugees and 73,404 Tibetan refugees are registered and assisted by the Government of India. Meanwhile, refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar (22,459), Afghanistan (15,217) and other areas (3,639) are registered with UNHCR India. The agency plays a significant part in verification, registration and resettlement of refugees in India..

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The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 is the closest that India has come to enacting a policy on refugees and illegal immigrants. But the Act is highly inadequate for refugees and is severely flawed. It neither offers a definition for who is a refugee nor applies universally to refugees from all countries. In addition to being discriminatory on the basis of religion and country of origin, CAA also has a cut-off date of December 31, 2014. It offers no guidelines on how to deal with future refugee or immigration issues. The Act is also in clear violation of the right to equality and the right against discrimination, enshrined in Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Constitution.

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Meanwhile, India is not party to international best practices either. It is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Even though there are no official explanations as to why India has not signed the Convention, the country’s porous borders and resultant security concerns are cited as a major reason. There is also the conventional logic that India’s reputation of being open towards refugees negates the need for signing any formal international agreement.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

If existing international refugee laws do not cater to the particular needs of our country, it is necessary that we draft a refugee policy inspired by the best practices included in those laws. As a first step towards drafting India’s refugee policy, I recommend that the Union Government set up a National Commission for Refugees at the earliest.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

This commission should draft an inclusive policy on refugees with respect for the rule of law. It should grant refugees legal protection and should be based on the principles of non-refoulement and non-discrimination. The policy should also account for physical protection such as secure accommodation and access to food and sanitation, and ensure that family unity among refugees is prioritised. Provisions for durable solutions for refugees such as voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement in a third country must be incorporated into the policy.

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Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe Shri Radhe.

The people of Afghanistan have historically enjoyed a good relationship with India. Several Afghan students are enrolled in universities across the country. At a time of crisis, they must be treated with dignity. They shouldn’t have to wait at the mercy of an ad hoc policy that discriminates on the basis of religion. The Government of India should act promptly and come up with a refugee law that supports the people of Afghanistan and promotes India’s reputation as a champion of human rights. A policy that addresses Indian concerns and, at the same time, offers respite to refugees is, without doubt, the need of the hour.

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