The UP model, or how not to face a pandemic – By Ali Khan Mahmudabad, Gilles Verniers
Among the states affected by the second wave of Covid-19, Uttar Pradesh exemplifies the mix of incompetence and callousness that has characterised the Indian state response to the crisis the most. UP is witnessing some of the most brutal effects: No oxygen, no ventilators, no hospital beds, shortage of medicines, overcrowded crematoriums and cemeteries, and black marketeers.
The crisis is compounded by a government that insists that there are no shortages, and points to relatively low “official” numbers of positive cases and deaths….
Beyond denialism, the then Covid-positive chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, announced that citizens reporting shortages would be detained under the National Security Act for “spreading rumours” and “spoiling the atmosphere” and that their property would be seized….
