Image Source: indiatoday.in
INTRODUCTION
The battle with COVID is going in almost all parts of the world. The major focus of the world is on the havoc being created by the second wave of Corona in India. India is currently struggling to lower down the daily cases of COVID and to ramp up the medical facilities to give treatment to as many possible patients of COVID. The major impediment is the lack of oxygen (transportation) and the daily burgeoning cases. If we the daily cases then today, 10-05-2021, India reported 3.6 lakhs new cases and 3,754 deaths due to COVID in last 24 hours according to the official bulletins of Union Health Ministry.
India is going through a war-like situation with Corona and has started using its forces to down the Corona in this war. Corona has been declared a notified disaster last year when the death toll started to increase. The National Disaster Response Force is active since then, to control this pandemic. 50% of the Force has been declared COVI-19 Warriors. The controlled situation again slipped from our hands in March when the second wave of corona hit India which spread faster and more fatal. What India needs is again the active role of the Armed Forces. Efforts like Operation Samudra Setu, Vande Bharat Mission, and other works of Forces to enforce lockdown, aid in this battle are very much needed to tackle this second wave of Corona
.
FORCES AID: TO CURB THE SPREAD
When the lockdown was imposed last year then we see the police personnel risking their own health jumps in the battleground to enforce the lockdown. The brutality of police was also seen but that is overshadowed by the positive effects. The brutality was not the only medium through which the guidelines were monitored, use of drones, punishments, not corporeal, and many other ways were adopted to contain the spread of the Corona.
Now, the situation is different in many aspects. The first is the contagiousness and the fatality rate of the Corona in this second wave, which is very much lower than the earlier one, second, unachieved victory being celebrated, and, third, disrespect towards the current government somehow is responsible for this rise in the COVID cases. Police forces are felt incapable to enforce the lockdown and now the central forces are called for enforcing and ensuring that guidelines are being followed. Last year, CISF was employed to control the situation in Mumbai. The simple reason behind it is the wider resource availability to the central armed forces. The central forces are called when the situation goes out of control and this has arisen now.
FORCES: TO AID IN MEDICATION
This is the major field where the role of forces is extraordinary as this field is dealt with by the medical department. To curb the infection is mainly done by imposing the lockdown and that is done by the local administration with the help of police forces. Nowadays, the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Army, and the central armed forces have been in the news and eyes of the people for their works. The Operation Samudra Setu II by the Navy to bring Oxygen. Indian Air Force also doing the same work to bring the Oxygen plants and generators. Indian Army along with the Navy has opened its hospitals for the treatment of Covid patients. In many cities, these forces are maintaining temporary hospitals to treat the infected people and provide their staff to the state hospitals to effectively control this second wave.
EFFECT OF THE AID
What’s the effect of this aid? The Armed Forces are the last resort of the government to control these warlike situations. As this second wave is severe than the first wave and has reached villages where the medical facilities, especially for the COVID are nil, the need which the nation now requires is of full-fledged battle with Corona. The measures like lockdown to stop the infection, medical facilities for all parts of the country, and all the other needful things are required to defeat this pandemic. The Armed Forces are needed for this. There will be a two-way effect of it. The first is that people will also come in front to fight; the zeal is different when the armed forces are fighting and asking for the contribution. The other way is the strict implication of the rules. The second wave can be controlled better and fast with the help of the armed forces. The armed forces are helping in the treatment of the people but a more active role is needed in curbing the infection rate.