In an unprecedented move aimed at fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Indian railways has begun the work of converting 5,000 of its coaches in more than 120 selected areas across the country into isolation wards for providing COVID 19 quarantine facilities. The task has already reached the halfway mark with 2,500 coaches already completed. The isolation centres are being prepared as a contingency measure to supplement the government’s efforts to fight COVID 19.
India has displayed a great degree of innovativeness in its strategy to fight and defeat COVID19. While the naysayers consistently spell doomsday scenario for india saying a developing country with weak healthcare infrastructure cannot fight such a pandemic effectively, the government and people are quietly and innovatively utilizing the existing resources to their fullest potential in order to fight the pandemic. The move by Indian railways to convert its coaches into isolation wards is a far sighted and smart one. Other initiatives have also been taken by the government such as the 30 percent reduction in salaries of Members of Parliament as well as the utilization of money allotted to a Member of Parliament for developing their constituencies towards fighting COVID19.
India is a country of entrepreneurs and this entrepreneurship reaches its zenith when there is a critical situation, like that of the coronavirus pandemic. Citizens across the country are taking unique initiatives to raise awareness on the pandemic and motivate people to stay indoors. A sweet shop in Kolkata has come out with sweets in the shape of corona virus! These sweets known as ‘corona sandesh’ are creating quite a debate on the internet. The point is, at a time when the left liberal media is busy doing its propaganda about Indian government being inefficient and all that, the government is leaving no stone unturned in tackling the crisis and citizens are also coming up with their own coping and survival strategies.