swear, civilization ah, basically started and now it's a rebirth because of covert. we been separated for a year and a half and humanity starting to come together again. and it just goes to prove that when we worked together, we couldn't achieve anything. so an international selection of artists including a mechanical humanoid where they do risk being upstaged by nature's own display. the diem barber al jazeera. ah, look at the main stories now to ethiopia is military is carried out more as strikes . integrity is fighting intensifies and the year long conflict of federal air force as it hip facilities run by the tick white people's liberation front in the town of outdoor, as well as a training site in the west of the region. but local force to say an area hit was actually hit near a hospital. in the past few days,

the u. m has been forced to stop a flight, the regional capital mckelly samuel get a she has more on this. the chilton government is assisting that there are targeting military sites and places where they think they're cheap enough as training their troops. so they're saying the targets are not every day. if your parents who reside in the to grow region again, it's to destroy that element. so for the t p, i love that they're declared as a terrorist organization. the if you open government has been accusing the un of providing weapons. even resources are and, you know, giving some kind of explanation of their success or the success they've been having since mid june. god men have killed at least 10 people and marley and the northern gow region in an attack on the base of a pi military group known as the gander e. so the group was formed in 2009 and is backed by the army. it's not clear who

was behind the attack protest as backing the military of briefly blocked major roads in a bridge in sedans, capitalist, tensions grow between the generals and pro democracy movement tear gas was 5 to clear for chassis and har tune. when asians of sound between the military and civilian sharing power in a fragile government and columbia as most wanted drug trafficker has been captured by the army. president says the arrest of data antonio su, go also known as antonio is the biggest hit to the drug trade. this century he is the leader of columbia's biggest drug cartel, which has been blame some of the worst violence the country has seen in the past few years. as it for myself and the team here in london. come out next that we look at the cove at crisis in india. leaders from the world's biggest economies will convene in rome this month to discuss the deteriorating economic situation in afghanistan. but all ice will also

be on the g twenty's response to the climate emergency. can they find a way to prioritize the planets health? oh, good gdp, special coverage on out yourself. hello and welcome to contact cynthia. i am feta sosa coming to you from the city of mon by on context india. our aim is to give you an in depth look into the world's most populous democracy. from the inside. we're not chasing breaking stories. instead of taking the time to deliver a fuller o considered analysis of india, it's politics and it's people. in each of the 4 episodes in this series, we'll be taking a closer look at a specific facet of what has perhaps been the biggest crisis in there has faced since independence. coven devastated numerous countries. but india's experience,

especially during the 2nd wave, began in april 2021 was one of the most shocking pandemic ordeals the cove at impact. both in the short and the long term will be significant. and that is why it is the focus of this series. in this 1st episode will be analyzing the role of government and i will be speaking with priyanka chad to really member of parliament and a senior opposition politician and marine that the need a leader in the ruling vantage and our party bgp will be discussing issues of accountability, crisis management, and why india has suffered so many avoidable debts during the pandemic will be closing each week's episode with a piece of premier art music created by indian artist in the many months co. it was around this week was sharing a tune by a group of 4 crocker's suite after ah,

understanding how and why covert reeked such have walk in india. understanding what steps were taken and not taken by the government. and understanding the lessons from the indian pandemic experienced requires us to step back in time. at the beginning of 2021, india looked like it had beaten cove. it a stringent national lockdown during the 1st wave was followed by a fall in case numbers. the country was getting back to business as usual. the messaging from the mo, the government was that india was a beacon for a post covered future. 1.3000000000, so job argued that apply bernoulli re swat. zagata was back on me, got some this guy just 2 months after the speech by prime minister movie to the

world economic forum. india was in the trolls of a catastrophic 2nd with a new mutation of the crew and the delta of air and spreading like wildfire. at the peak of the 2nd wave in me 2021. india was reporting approximately 400000 daily cases and 4000 daily debt. according to numerous statistical studies. however, these official figure was significant underestimate. the delta of it into law doesn't explain the magnitude of what was unfolding the actions that the indian state require some scrutiny. first, the government. yes. governments both federal and regional levels like that got done in march 2021 india ben, health minister doctor hush for the girl, had this to say about that if one of us today to go to and i think the approach

not to be mailed just 3 days after the minister made this speech, a group of scientific advisor, all pos, a government organized consortium, shed data, the ministry of health, indicating that new more contagious mutations. corona virus spreading in india, according to our lasting spokesperson of the volunteer agenda. parties to be gp, be honest to respond to scientific data with the regional or state governments in central government and in the leadership of our prime minister, not in the g. we have got more than 70 commit to monitor the trend of this virus. and in february 2021, the committees had 113 states like get a lot. mirage draws to discard that they can see research of the keys in the states and they should be on alert. but somehow they didn't do any he to these warning and

it spread in all of the country. the prime minister did have official meetings related to corporate 19 leading up to the 2nd wave of ever significantly reduced between generally in march 2021. in fact, in march, the prime minister had only one meeting with the chief minister. so whenever we think about this training, they all these factors that time for building wasn't really then not control, but our ability to detect it. and to act on it was something that we could have done if we had been better. and of course there was no need for us to set up some training events that wound up spreading the disease to every part. it wasn't just one super better event. they were multiple. it was the camilla

festival. a hindu pilgrimage that reached its most crucial. in march and april 2021 . millions converged in the north indian state of a truck and more than 3000000 people. taking a ritual. in again, just river on the 12th of april. on that same day, india recorded more than 160000 daily cases at the same time as all of this campaigning for regional elections in western gold, canada. and some of what i'm doing and the prime minister movie and key members of his cabinet were headlining, massive political rallies, arch job, many as about a decade. any super spread event, any place there, letting knowledge number of people get that will be a problem. and if you look at those 50, that's 18 times you can you, in cases in the 2nd building for me and in the elections,

also the huge value to people. and you know, kids have gone up in every single state elections as case number sold and more people required. hospitalization, in their health care system was utterly overwhelmed by early april 2021 major cities like bengal m about and even the capital usually were facing massive shortages of ice you beds and oxygen. by april 22nd, the supreme court of india instructed the government to quote, beg, borrow steel or import, and good to meet with high rocketing demand for oxygen. that was the same day, april 22nd, and the government finally hit the breaks on big public events. but things had already gotten out of hand by the middle of me. scores of bodies was seen floating

in box of the gun just river. washing up along its banks, territory and burial grounds will flow to capacity, and people were depositing bodies into the water. it was some critics to said that the media coverage of all of this was part of a conspiracy against the chief minister of the state of the physician to which much of again just flows when we see the, all the pictures of dead bodies. and again, just order v c v cremation grounds. then i will say this is a on the because we never saw any picture all chum chanst that does lucy graveyards on the hindus. why so? because we have got a mo who is heading with any analysis of india 2nd wave, and its aftermath has to factor the countries vaccination policy. at the end of march 2021 in the us representative to the united nations delivered to 1350 a summary of the government's priority. as of today we have supplied, move back,

seems globally them have vaccinated out on people. 2021 had begun with vaccine exports, skyrocketing and india. one of the biggest vaccine producers globally calling itself the was pharmacy. index 1466000000 doses of the coven, 19 vaccines to 95 countries. until the end of me 2021. i didn't really have a problem with the exports in the beginning because we were exporting that time when cases in india, very deal. and as good global citizens, it made sense to export at that time. but i think what was really needed was that we should have had a policy that was clearly spent out and through banks to react to the situation domestic by the end of march 2021 in the haunted exports and ramped up the national campaign to inoculate citizens in july 2021 prime minister mo,

the overhauled his cabinet. the headline change was in the ministry of health. asked them girl was replaced by a new minister months who mandavi's. another key appointment was in the ministry of information and broadcasting. the indian government was determined to change the narrative uncovered in the country. so what could have been avoided in india's pandemic experience? what has been learned to prepare the country for future searches and outbreaks? i am speaking with miss priyanka to really a member of parliament with the ship seen our party, representing the opposition and from the b j. p, which is the party that runs the central government and several state governments. mr. named nathan asia was the lead over the potty by opening question is to the both of you, but i'll start with you. mr. denisia. the pandemic 2nd wave in india exposed the fragility of india's institutions and its health care infrastructure. several critics are calling it an,

an mitigated disaster. why did this happen and who was most viewed responsible, mr. kanisha? well, the, as of all, has been a challenge, not for the, for the or she's a 2nd. it was a challenge, but as a union of states and has a state subject central government, very important role. but when you look at these, some states might have a little bigger investor just with the challenge as well. but i think over when you look at the future and in some cases, some students then better than the others and sent to them and also the work 247 bites on the private, a sense of using a necessity. i want to give you an option on to the same question, was the 2nd wave in your opinion and unmitigated disaster. and who do you think was most responsible for as far as the secondary was concerned, there were some failures on that part. and just to put this in context, i must say once the indian epidemic act was put into place,

the central government becomes solar, total d sending guidelines to radio state. whether it is in terms of medication in terms of treatment protocols, in terms of vaccination. now, what happened to the 2nd wave, we had a election campaigns going on and voted this regard to a 2nd wave which was, you know, happening across the world was getting a dozen the fees, but there was no capacity building happening. we had started fighting ourselves on the back about having a, you know, one over a, as far as india, as a populous nation is concerned, there were shortage of bits. they were shortage of oxygen. they were shocked to do medicines, those shortage of vaccines. and how do we plan ourselves better? is something that me as a state and as a country would need to look at our resources to ensure that we do not pay something like this ever again. was that the nature we know now that in early 2021 there was scientists who had submitted reports to government warning off

a very infectious variant that would have a call the country. nevertheless, the government allowed large scale events to take place. do you say now the central government would take responsibility for those a way to win debts? first of all, you see who is a global crisis and the other is trying to be destroyed. once you central government takes the job down to what the government does weight, but then again on the ground. that is the responsibility of the states. but to say that the government, a government allowed a government actually moved to election. that was the election commission, which is an organization is not part of it. and in terms of a b, 149 percent century, it wasn't, you know, was in the country. it was kind of an informal consensus in the country that

actually we are kind of coming out of it is in fact the 2nd being all of us. but as of right now, the mind is that the needs are the new york times put out an article saying senior officials at the indian council for medical research. the i, c. m, are forced scientists of a lead institutions to downplay the type of the pandemic. to prioritize mr. moore, these political goals, i do respond to that. well, i just read 1st of all in new york times might be by good for you, not for me. now the point is that the might talk with some doctors and other government book by the i c. m. are there any of the organizations give it a with the organization in the middle, the government, myself, i'm getting ready to want to respond to that. come from the state of my rush. it's our highest amount of caseload at one particular point in time. but he also denies the shortcomings in terms of where we could be lacking when the 2nd wave strikes. our task force is led by scientists,

was led by medical experts and everybody continue to want that there is a 2nd wave coming. and if you don't take that is if you're going to base capacities, you're going to have a problem. what unfortunately happened at the center was a clear declaration of we have will, will come to plus 3, that is going to be no 2nd wave and we went and gave over all right, scenes as well. so these are challenges and i think acceptance of those mistakes only makes you stronger and prepays you better for the future. don't deny what is coming in the new york times to deny what is being reported in in good newspapers to even deny in your parliament. the question that nobody died of oxygen shorted, i think is an unfortunate way of preparing yourself for the future and the capacity building that is needed for the country. you represent the ships in our party which runs marsh trucks. was his state in the country home to mom by which is our major business city, where the 2nd wave really mushrooms, the 7th of april 2021 mister dr. hash for them going was the dental minister of the country said, and i court, i have been

a witness of the mist governance and i took casual approach of the marshal government in battling the vidas. the lackadaisical attitude of the state government has singularly bog down the entire country efforts to fight the virus. what is your response to that model? show was the only state which was reporting transparently, and the health minister stepping down as the biggest response that would come from the payment is about what his statements were about. mrs. and he said, you agreed that the cabinetry shuffle in the removal of the health minister in the middle of a health crisis was an acknowledgment of mismanagement on the part of the central government. evidently, shipment was a long overdue and the household did. a good job on this before missouri was wanting to send the city a state. okay, actually ma'am, is still going be the 2nd. do you know a, if it was certain asia at the beginning of 2021,

the indian government was justifiably proud that india was supplying vaccines to the world. but on the domestic side, by mid january, the government had only ordered 16500000 doses. for the population of over 1300000000. when the 2nd wave hit, producers had to break their export deal so that indian citizens could be vaccinated yet at the start of june, only 3 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated. why was the domestic vaccinations so poorly planned? lou, it is a dynamic situation globally with the realize that actually mostly for you know, for our own people to decided on next for a student to another student. i think it's remark, it would be less, less a set of idiot oppertunity to 3, but actually,

unfortunately for mr. the nature to make it political by saying a failed to control. i thought that was extremely unfortunate because data will tell you variances line with the problems like talk about transparency so that, that is a challenge where i think india as a nation feel under the governance of the central don't miss out of it is easy to criticize the central government, but if we look at marcia with one of the largest state budgets and also some of the worst inequality when it comes to health care, should the marshal government take responsibility for the fact that it's health care infrastructure is inadequate? i will accept all judges about higher numbers about reporting numbers, etc, but i will not accept then what i show is not prepared for the 2nd. in terms of you and identifying radians, you are doing good in terms of ensuring that capacity will legal vaccine happens. you're doing it in terms of creating field hospitals besides the hospitals, ritual government, hospitals. we were doing it the 1st day trish what, a cap on the kind of pricing that the hospitals are charging us. i must remind you

. one fact that nowhere in the world did the central government wash off its responsibilities, or ensuring the vaccine to wal eligible population. and ensuring that were adequate stop by low vaccines. so that states are not left on their own. and so now will find your vaccines on your own, mr. the nature would you agree that the b g during the 2nd day was also fixated on controlling the narrative and managing its image during the pandemic in april, the chief and stuff with which is a be to be strong, told officials to clamp down on hospitals that were complaining to the media about oxygen shortages, the state even pressed criminal charges against one civilian individual who had used twitter to request for oxygen for a loved one. well, the one studio is on the $1120.00 in our country. you see the point here is that government didn't have time for this b, c city. last, we will be moving off season,

visiting whatever the and the kind of support we can mobilize with government. and whenever possible, our so busy we didn't have time for managing. imagine those and that was not a saturday. the one of the frequent criticisms of the opposition that you represent in parliament is that there's no cohesive voice that they haven't really been very vocal advocates of the citizens of this country during the 2nd. be able to find me even in parliament when parliamentary convened, the focus was not so much on accountability, over coven. why as that, as an opposition? we had come together for the 1st time? in fact, i would say during this particular session, $17.00 to $18.00 political parties came together to ask for answers from the government of india. and it was about call when it was about rising fuel prices. it was about biggest isn't it has to do with national security. so i would say there has been more of who has a response this time around. when many political parties, we have different sets of opinions on various other issues. but coming together

under one umbrella to be able to hold a government accountable or government could not, i have answers. and by having the health minister step done just before the session began, speaks what it says that government also gave a vote of no confidence, especially the prime minister to the health ministers response to the pandemic. and obviously that you could call it be holding him this cable, making him this cable and asking him to step down and take all the model. responsibility is another thing for the government to address noncommittally. to say, i have a question for both of you don't, the citizens of india deserve accountability. will there be an independent in quality order so that we learn from these mistakes almost of any job? will the government continue to maintain that you did a fantastic job dumps of accountability just for the democracy? so that's why you. ready mention a fish, if we have not done anything, as some people play a lot with us, they're seen as working on the going to 4 by 7. do see that what we have done for

the people, you know, a best when it comes to accountability when democracy people know the best. my point was that a yes, i guess that was to defend it. no, i want from you was my friend. yeah. i'm sorry, i think if that is the basis of apology, then i think the feminist was an apology to the entire nation. it's not just of interest. your family. there are many families that suffered so many bodies are found floating and the gun when even dead when time departed from states like my life. my depredation language dodge to petition as far as citizens of the country are concerned, election is not the only mechanism of checking popularity and having some of the people of the country. democracy is also seen in the parliament. democracy also comes when you allow the opposition to be able to hold you accountable and seek answers from you. democracy also tells you that when the government has been given

a chance to govern opposition has been given the authority to question. that's how democracy works. it does not work on election to election basis. a democracy election is not the only like from the many others there to see. you know me asking questions. question so jesus asking question opposition. just asking the question when it comes to democracy is important. we have a strong opposition in the country. we want that was not what they only the prime minister going to by the way or by 7. or do you want to say it's like all of us. you can tell us how good you handle the situation. you know what happened on where to go? hi, melissa. melissa. i completed it as a book i wanted to be. i actually gave an answer to how the call would have been managed better by telling you that in the state of but i thought it was led by scientists. it was led by medical exports. we created field hospitals, we

d centralized pub will. so i would just say one thing you can listen from the point of not responding. you can sometimes listen to get more ideas or it bethany child was shot to really thank you for joining us here on a context and going on to see her. i appreciate your time. and finally, on the show, we want to share our space with indian voices outside of government, academics and the mainstream media. india abounds with artists who create work in multiple languages. every week will be bringing you music, created during the pandemic. today we're presenting an except for song in the bush can be gina, meaning living through tough times composed and presented by a full prop band from the city of bingo noodle in south india. it's a gentle reminder that even in grim times, you must choose to live. i hope you enjoy the music. i'll see you next week on

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the corona virus has been indiscriminate in selecting its victims. it's devastating effects of plague, every corner of the globe, transcending class creed and color. but in britain, a disproportionately high percentage of the fallen have been black or brown skins. the big picture traces the economic disparities and institutional racism that a scene united kingdom fail, it citizens, britain's true colors coming soon on out just sarah, assassination of dissidence destabilizing the democratic process. if we lose it, it will be the last for all little a documentary explores how autocratic leaders undermine democracy to consolidate their power through the eyes of those who dare to stand and defy it. our country deserves so much better than being ruled by a cleft. aquatic dictatorship,

opposing autocracy, democracy maybe on al jazeera, we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home will be, you can use in current affairs that matter to years, ah, more ethiopian government air strikes, all the trouble, t gray region as it's new offensive enters a 2nd week. ah, i'm how am i hitting this is otis iraq life and o ha. also coming up with a big breakthrough in columbus war against drugs. we will be live in the campus of boca tell for reactions a day after the arrest of drug lords atanya.