designed to snag sturgeon on the river bed. they since cut that semi look at 200 and we are in contact with each other over the phone. we pass on information. what is happening in our area? or if a boat goes by, i will tell the others where it went, in which direction, and we will react so that if something illegal is happening, we can stop it. the sturgeon ah, now better protected and better understood. but george is government once more, hydro power on this river, not less. their survival still hangs in the balance. roving 1st year walker al jazeera on the re only river in western georgia. ah, this is al jazeera elisa, top stories. the u. s. and french presidents have held their 1st in person meeting since their country's most serious diplomatic dispute. in years, joe biden acknowledged the handling of recent security agreement with australia and

u. k. was clumsy. we have your order for no more loyal. this is ally and franchise. it's been with us, the beginning reason part came before we did was quantity that was done with a lot of grace. i was under the impression certain things that happened that had done well. i made clear red, green fries. and joe biden is also met with the head of the roman catholic church, the vatican, the white house, as biden commended the pope's efforts to fight the climate crisis. and his efforts towards ending the current of ours pandemic, of earnest sons, economies on the brink of collapse and the you and humanitarian chief at martin griffiths, is calling on the world's most powerful countries to do something about it. during

this weekend's at g 20 summit, thousands of people are again walking through mexico, hoping to cross into united states. unlike previous migrant caravans. mexican authorities are not stopping them open. the walk becomes too much and they give up . the u. s. who'd and drug administration is authorized the pfizer by and take over 19 vaccine for young children. the decision means 21000000 children as young as 5 could be eligible for the vaccine. the charles for the age group began in july, the dr. vaccinate children were spurred by rise and infections of the delta variant and the reopening of schools. the u. k threatening gray checks on all you vessels fishing in its waters. if france goes ahead with a series of proposed sanctions. yes, collating dispute is linked to a post briggs fishing agreement. paris is threatening sanctions of the u. k. doesn't grant more licenses to french fishermen? the british government says if those actions are implemented, it would put the e u in breach of a trade agreement. those that headlines news continues, hey,

on our de 0 after context. india in the next episode of planetary swiss ahead of the upcoming un climate conference will be heading deep on the ground and up into the air. get a new perspective, the changing face of the coal mining industry in poland will report on illegal logging in romania and explore how catastrophic wise in greece is created. you problems that all feed into the destructive cycle of extreme weather joy monitor to us on al jazeera. hello and welcome to context india. i'm fetus. those are coming to you from the city of mom by on context india. our aim is to give you an in depth look into the world's most populous democracy. from the insight we're not chasing breaking stories. instead, we're taking the time to deliver a fuller, mo, 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 india has faced since independence. corporate devastated numerous countries. but in years experience, especially during the 2nd we've began in april 2021 was one of the most shocking pandemic ordeals the corporate 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. i will be speaking with priyanka chad to really member of parliament and a senior opposition politician and marines are at the need. a leader in the ruling vantage and our party bgp 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 panoramic art music created by indian artists in the many months of co, it was around this week was shedding a tune by a group of 4 crocker's suite after ah, understanding how and why hoover 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 number's account. she was getting back to business as usual. the

messaging from the mo, the government was that india was a beacon for a post cupboard future. 1.3000000000. so job argued that apply only actually miss ross zagata but back are all made. got some basically i got a guy are just 2 months after the speech by prime minister movie to the world economic forum. india was in the throes of a catastrophic 2nd wave with a new mutation of the corona virus. a delta variant spreading like wildfire at the peak of the 2nd wave in may 2021. india was reporting approximately 400000 daily cases and 4000 daily debts according to numerous statistical studies. however, these official figures was significant underestimates. but the delta variant alone doesn't explain the magnitude of what was unfolding. the actions of indian state require some scrutiny. first, the government. yes. governments both federal and regional levels. leg there got

down in march 2021 india then health minister doctor hush for the girl. had this to say about that if one of us today to go to the country and coach calling on just 3 days after the minister made this speech, a group of scientific adviser, all the boss of a government. 8 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 voluntary agenda parties, the b, g. p. the owners to respond to scientific data was on the regional or state governments in central government and in the bishop, by mister name would be 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 at a loss mirage drug took, discard that they can see research of the cases in the states and they should be on alert. but somehow they didn't do any heed 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 have a 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 up until, but our ability to detect it and to act on it was something that

we could have done if he had been better. and of course, there was no need for us to set up super trending events that wound up spreading the disease. every part of it wasn't just one super better event. they were multiple. it was the come male festival, a hindu pilgrimage that reached its most crucial. in march and april 2021. millions converged in the north indian state of more than 3000000 people taking a ritual. and 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 goals. esa, carola, and some will now do what i'm doing. and the prime minister movie and key members of his cabinet were headlining, massive political rallies, arch job,

many as the about a decade. any super spread event, any place there that he knowledge number of get the will be and if you look at the statistic he 18 times you do you in cases in the 2nd building for me and in the election, all of your screen, huge value to people and you know, here some have gone up in every single city, their 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 new delhi 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 the skyrocketing 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 the banks, territory and burial grounds will flow to capacity, and people were depositing bodies into the water. it was some predicts 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 you see the, all the pictures of dead bodies into but again, just order v c v cremation grounds. then i will say, this is a, on the, because we never saw any picture all shawn's bed just mostly graveyards on the hindu. why?

so because we have got along who is heading with the for these any analysis of india 2nd wave. and this off to mom has the fact. so the countries vaccination policy at the end of last 2021 in the representative to the united nations delivered to somebody the government's priority. as of today, we have supply move, act seems globally that have actually need to know when people 2021 had begun with vaccine guy rocket and india. one of the biggest vaccine producers globally calling itself was pharmacy index. 1466000000 doses of the code, 900 vaccine, the 95 countries until the end of me 2021. i didn't truly have a problem with the exports from the beginning. they closed the way exporting at the time when cases and then you know, and, and good global citizens. it made sense to look at that time. but i think

what was really needed was that we should have had a policy that was clearly out and took bands to react to the situation. domestic by the end of march 2021 in the halted export and ramped up the national campaign to an actually citizen. in july 2021 prime minister movie overhauls his cabinet. the headline change was in the ministry of health. the girl was replaced, i knew minister one to another key appointment was in the ministry of information and book costing the indian government determined to change the narrative and call it in the country. so what could have been avoided in india's pandemic experience? what has been learnt to prepare the country for future searches and outbreaks? i am speaking with miss bianca to really a member of parliament with the ships in our party, representing the opposition from the b j. p. which is the party that runs the

central government and several state governments. mr. that ended with manager was the lead over the 40 by opening question is to the both of you, but i'll start with you, mr. the nature. the pandemic 2nd we've 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 mostly responsible? mr. kanisha? this is all has been a challenge, not for the 2nd a union of sex and has a state subject. central government is very important role. but when you look at these days, some states might have an investor just for the challenge as well. but i think over going to look at the future and in some cases, some students then better than the others and sent to them, and also the welcome to 47 bites on the prior to send some official.

this saturday the i want to give you an opportunity, one 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 our 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 thought, a d sending guidelines to way the state whether it is in terms of medication, in terms of treatment protocols, in terms of vaccination now, what happened to the 2nd week, 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 t as in the face. 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 bands. 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. even again, this is 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 put jacob across 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 worker is trying to do this. once you central government takes the job done to the government mostly. but then again, on the ground, that is the responsibility of the states. but a lot of the government allowed to go and never did that. government actually moved to the election. that was the election commission,

which is an almost organization is not part of it. and in terms of it is going on 49 percent, it was kind of, you know, 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, most of 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 threat of the pandemic. to prioritize mr. moore, these political and i do respond to that. well, i just want to let you know this might be by good for you, not for me. now the point is that you might talk with a, i see him, are there any of the organizations? give it a little organization in the middle, the government,

west africa to where did you want to respond to that? come from the state of myra. it's our highest amount of caseload at one particular point in time. but he also realized the shortcomings in terms of where we could be lacking when the 2nd wave strikes. our task was led by scientists was led by medical experts and everybody continued to one 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 prepares you better for the future. don't deny what is coming in the new york times to deny what is being reported in get 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 hit save in the country home to move by, which is our major business city where the 2nd wave really mushroom. the 7th of april 2021 mister dr. ashford then going was the ben hill minister of the country said, and i quote, i have been a witness of the miss governance and i took casual approach of the marshal government in battling the vidas. the lackadaisical attitude of this state government has singularly bog down the entire country is efforts to fight the virus . what is your response to that? mara was the only state which was reporting transparently. and the health minister stepping down is the biggest response that would come from the prime minister about what his statements were about. mister, that 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 doctor hospital did a great job on this performance or was absolutely wanted to send to the city

of the steering compared to what it actually man is to can be the 2nd big you know, the mother country with the with southern 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? low good is a dynamic situation globally when you realize that actually mostly for,

you know, on people decided on next for a, you know, what, maybe switching to another student. i think it's remark, it would be let's, let's allow most of it opportunity to rebut, actually, unfortunately for mr. the nature, to make it political by saying a field to control. i thought that was extremely unfortunate because data will tell you variances line of 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 shouldn't matter. should government take responsibility for the fact that its 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 know, identifying gradients who are doing it 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 are doing it the 1st day to put a cap on the kind of pricing that the hospitals were 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 stockpile of 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, dave was also fixated on controlling the narrative and managing its image during the pandemic. in april, the chief minister for the petition, which is the beach, the stronghold 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 civilian is all the 1120 in our country. you see the point here is that government didn't have time for this b easy city. last we will be moving off season, doing 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 emergent those and i think 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 being the panoramic, even in parliament when parliamentary convened, the focus was not so much on accountability. over coven, why is that? as an opposition we have 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 who has a response this time around. when many political parties we have different says of opinions on various other issues. we're coming together under one umbrella to be able to hold the government accountable. government would 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 the scale, but making him the same boat and asking him to step down and take all the model. responsibility is another thing for the government to address. not for me to say, i have a question for both of you don't the citizens of into deserve accountability. will there be an independent inquiry order so that we learn from these mistakes on a certain a job? will the government continue to maintain that you did

a fantastic job in terms of accountability just for the democracy? so that's why you will election. ready a fish, if we have not done anything, as some people claim a lot of money, they're seen as working on the going to 4 by 7. do see that what you have done for the people, you know, a best when it comes to accountability when democracy people know the best. my point was that mazda 6 failed to control them. i'm going to put in my family. yes. my youngest sister differently. no, i want the money from my i'm sorry, i think if that is the basis of apology, then i think the minister was and apologies 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, like goods at odds with the british,

as far as citizens of the country are concerned, election is not the only mechanism of checking popularity and having so 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. of course, in a democracy election is not the only let from them any other than to see any, you know, me asking questions question so this is asking the 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 i wanted, the prime minister going to by the way, or by 7, or do you want to say,

but tell us, you can tell us how good you have to handle the situations. you know what happened on where to go. hi, melissa melissa. i completed it. and so i wanted to be, i actually gave an answer to how the call would, 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 boardwalks, so i would just see one thing you can listen from the point of not responding. you can sometimes listen to get more ideas or if miss anthony 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 shore, 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 compose and presented by split out a full crop, banned from the city of bengal, lou 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. one context in with oh

oh oh, i ah, with a 25 years ago in your ear, in television news, in the middle east begin a 2 part documentary series marking the 25th anniversary of al jazeera, telling the story of the channel launch. now it became

a recognized global brand. ah, the story of alger zebra. a unique path play an important role. protecting you at 9 o. 2 at your face. mm. mm. for we did was clumsy. you was done with a lot of grace. the u. s. and french presidents appeared to turn over a new page after the fallout from a security pact between washington, the u. k. and australia ah, regardless of their life. and i also.