The global community has been overawed with Odisha’s corona prevention measures. The State was the first one to clamp lockdown. It also organised bulk tests to determine exact status of prevalence of the infection quite early in time. Naveen Patnaik’s handpicked bureaucratic aides have been guiding him perfectly. The infection percentage is still under one per cent. The recent surge in infection is only an ordinary phenomenon due to influx of migrants returning home, most of them being unruly.
As is universally recognised, social distancing is the best method of keeping the highly infective virus at bay. This simple behaviour is ensured by avoiding big-crowd events of any kind, social, religious or economic. The world-famous Car Festival at Puri is one where social distancing as a safety measure can never be maintained. Rightly therefore, the Naveen administration cancelled all popular, crowd-attracting festivals of Lord Jagannath. Despite logs of wood having arrived at Puri, chariot construction has been put on hold to keep common folks away from infection.
The Puri Shankaracharya would only harp on religious rituals as sacrosanct and unavoidable. He does not possess the divine wisdom of the Adi Shankara. So, consulting him on issues involving public order and human safety would be a most futile exercise. Big religious festivals like the Kumbh Mela and Car Festival are public events where huge numbers of people are bound to bump into one another. And the coronavirus is only looking for that bodily contact to set up habitat and replicate at high speed. The Car Festival actually begins with the construction of cars; and all related chores are bound to put individuals brushing one against the other. People are keen that the festival be observed only symbolically, which has been done several times in the past as per historical records.
The Gajapati king, despite known for his fair legal knowledge and commonsense, has brazenly said publicly that car construction is not a religious activity. He has strangely failed to figure out that the carpentry work is only incidental to the critically religious Car Festival event. The temple committee, which Gajapati heads symbolically, would have done better by consulting sharp-minded bureaucrats and legal experts who guide the State machinery on all contentious issues. The religion-illiterate Daita servitor community has foolishly demanded the Car Festival to happen as usual. They need to be fixed for good, thereby sending a strong message that life enjoys primacy over every other thing. Hence, the festival has to be observed symbolically and not with pomp and show. The horrifically infective corona will have a heyday in case there is a routine Car Festival happening. Puri town, with at least a hundred thousand locals, would then turn the most terrible hotspot in the world. The State Government has sought permission from the Central Government for car construction on the Grand Road, which is a public place and where no big-crowd event can take place as per the national rule. The Centre is least likely to grant permission as it has banned all big-gathering religious activities all over India.
The Naveen administration has been hailed as incredibly efficient in management of disasters, natural and pandemics alike. It has firsts in many domains, including the highest number of Covid-19 hospital beds with sophisticated facilities, all free of cost. It also has shown great respect for all Covid warriors comprising doctors, police personnel and sanitation workers. However unfortunately, low-wrung public utilities workers, electricity and water supply functionaries delivering services in the fields, have been ignored.
It is true that the lockdown has brought economic activities to a long-time halt. But as people have become more and more disciplined and conscious of right and wrong, economic activities should commence on a guarded, regulated mode. Or else, the exercise of keeping corona warded off would result in acute starvation which may take more lives than the killer virus can ever claim. Hunger can trigger dangerous anarchy and violent public disorder. Right at the moment, the most important sector to focus on is the specific, relevant skill development in Covid times. The Odisha skill development advisor, a renowned professional, is seen wasting himself as a ‘virus spokesperson'. He better is persuaded to get back to his domain and help youngsters waiting eagerly to pick skills to ensure a dignified livelihood.
Agriculture should be now given utmost priority, without which food materials will vanish soon. This is a rare occasion for Governments to realise and gauge the invaluable food stuffs that only agriculture produces. No spacecraft, bullet trains or the most sophisticated information technology gadgets can sustain life as agro-based economic activities can guarantee.
It is important to recognise the fact that the poor from far and wide pour into cities to make construction, transport and innumerable service delivery activities happen, without which life gets crippled. The household help, the lorry loader, the plumber, the electrician, the neighbourhood carpenter, the barber and the street-eatery errand runner make big economic activities possible. One link getting broken means doomsday as everything comes to a grinding halt. Let these hitherto-invisible communities be specifically brought in place.
The Government may erroneously put back liquor in the marketplace believing it would generate the critically required revenue. But during the pandemic situation, liquor in any form can cause unprecedented disaster especially when disciplined behaviour and public order are a must to protect people from a deadly disease. No matter how vigilantly the police keep watch, alcohol in the human system can make heads go haywire. Study shows 60% of alcohol consumers are likely to go so much out of control as ‘social distancing' and ‘mask wearing' discipline will break. Since there is no substantial report of alcoholic creatures having died because of the dry spell, let alcohol sale be kept on hold for some more time. If it is a must, regulated, let systematic home delivery be the only mode. Alcohol worshippers will not hesitate to cough up a little more slightly fattening the State exchequer!
Naveen Patnaik is a global hero already. But a normal Car Festival and free flow of alcohol may cause irreparable damage to the great statesman's impeccable image.