Generosity To The Fore During The Pandemic

With the govt machinery stretched, civil society across the country has stepped in to feed the hungry and the displaced

- Rasheeda Bhagat

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our inability to take care of millions of migrant labourers, daily wage workers and others left to fend for themselves during the lockdown. But it has also brought to the fore the generosity and passion of our civil society to do good.

The Central and State governments are doing their bit to mange the pandemic but expectedly falling short; they don’t have infinite resources. In step the good Samaritans, beginning with the lionhearted Sikhs. Thousands of citizens across the country are volunteering, and helping NGOs to aid the government steer the nation through this turbulence.

Heroes all

Our doctors and paramedics, police, corporation and local bodyworkers have been overstretched to treat the infected and ensure the country remains locked down. But managing a population of 1.3 billion during such a life-threatening pandemic is like sitting on a time bomb. A tiny spark can cause mayhem, and we did see trouble last week… thousands of agitated migrant workers protesting at Mumbai’s Bandra station on April 14. They had been misled that train service would resume; rightfully, the Maharashtra government acted against the journalist concerned. In Surat too agitated migrant workers protested on the streets, looted vegetable carts, and so on.