DailyOh! Why Trump won’t give WHO cotton and linen, to who is Vinay Dubey, the man held for Mumbai migrant trouble
Hey,
How are you holding up? The scenes from Mumbai’s Bandra sure would have gotten you worried about India’s preparedness to deal with the coronavirus. You know similar scenes were witnessed today from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat? Migrant workers gathered on the streets in Surat demanding that government make arrangements for them to return home.
In some more worrying news from Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has gone into self-quarantine. Wondering why? He attended a meeting with Congress MLA Imran Khedawala. If there was any euphoria about BJP and Congress working together in the times of coronavirus, this news just made it all fizzle out. Modi reached every nook and corner of the world through 3D imaging in 2014. In 2020, his men can’t reach out to each other over video calls. Okay, it’s tedious but isn’t it more difficult to deal with Covid-19? Rupani was tested today, we believe, his results are awaited, though no one has clarified that.
But POTUS Donald Trump has clarified he would be putting a halt on US aid that goes to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Many are saying Trump’s decision is ill-timed, but so was WHO’s decision to back China’s efforts to hide the danger of travel to and from the country. If WHO had issued a travel advisory against free travel in and out of China in time, we wouldn’t be sitting at home, migrant labourers, away from home and Trump announcing big cuts to the big bucks it gives to WHO.
Now, America contributes over 22 per cent of all the contribution WHO gets, China about 12.5 per cent. In 2017, the US gave US$ 10 billion (Rs 76,44,00,00,000) to WHO. That is a lot of money you might say. But do you know what the US paper currency is made of? Well, cotton and linen. It is 75 per cent cotton and 25 per cent linen. Now, think of Rs 76,44,00,00,000 again – just cotton and linen. Someday when you feel spiritual use that with your friends, on other days remember it’s a hell lot of money and WHO, if it had acted responsibly, would not have lost out on it.
Talking of responsible action, let’s go back to the story from Bandra. The police have arrested a man named Vinay Dubey for spreading rumours. The man calls himself an activist. And it is your problem if you thought that activists do only positive work. See, the dictionary tells us an activist is a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change. We think change is always good. That is why we welcome the New Year and that is why as each year draws to a close, we want to quickly move to the next.
But the point here is not philosophical; the point is factual. And the point is that the police have arrested Mr Dubey, the activist, for spreading rumours. The man is accused of giving a call for protest on April 18 against migrant workers not being allowed to go home. The man was running a campaign called ‘Chalo Ghar Ki Aur Chalen’. Ghar may be far away, but Dubey for now, is in jail. According to his Facebook account, Dubey is a resident of Navi Mumbai, and claims to have arranged 40 buses to send migrants back home. Now, with borders sealed, and the city under lockdown, we wonder where exactly Dubey’s buses were headed. Also, there is no mention of where the 40 buses are.
You might say how does it matter what a person like Dubey says on Facebook? But one such video from him has got over 15,000 shares. We hope this arrest deters others from turning into ‘activists’.
Before you start to blame social media for what people like Dubey do, do remind yourself that technology is a two-edged sword. Brings you the best and the worst of the world. If you have a penchant for the worst, that's your problem. Also, the police’s problem. Like Dubey was.
But talking of technology, you can now chat straight with WHO, through Facebook messenger. No, no official is free to talk to you, but chatbots are. So chatbots will help you with information and break the myths around this novel coronavirus. Do you know how many people are on Facebook at any given time? On any given second, 20,000 people are active on Facebook. They could just be scrolling, or waiting for someone to reply to their message, but they are there. Will they overwhelm the bot? No, the bot is smart. It has a set set of questions and answers. But that covers pretty much all you want or need to know about the virus. What does the WHO feel about the aid cut from US? Don’t ask. It won’t tell.
Dubey misused Facebook; you don’t. Spread awareness, save lives. You can also save lives by not sharing fake news.
A lot of people are behaving extremely irresponsibly amid the crisis. Do you know of this man who shot at another man over a fight that started over coughing? We will tell you what happened.
So, four people were playing ludo in a village in Greater Noida. While this game was on, a fifth man named Gullu arrived at the village temple where the game was being played, a scuffle broke out between Gullu and Prashant over the latter having coughed. An enraged Gullu pulled out a countrymade pistol and shot at Prashant. Prashant is recovering in hospital, and Gullu has been arrested. If only Gullu had known he can walk away from a troubled spot, but not run away from jail. We mean one can flee prison but that just adds to the charges you are already facing, when you are caught. Remember, kanoon ke haath lambe hote hain. Gullu is our Covidiot Of The Day for preparing the road to land in jail when he should have been safe at home.
Forget Gullu, let’s talk ludo. If you have people to play it with, play ludo. Will help you kill time. If you are alone, playing alone will help kill more time. Also, it may keep your brain active. Imagine playing for all four colours – red, blue, green and yellow. You win and you lose. What an absolutely peaceful world. Nobody to fight with, nobody to accuse of cheating. If you have a favourite colour, allow it to win. You never cheated against anyone, if you only played against yourself.
But as you relax, do not forget that the virus outside is dangerous. The number of positive cases has crossed 11,000 in India and over 350 have died. The authorities are working hard to get this under control. Over 16,000 tests are being conducted every day. But this is too low compared to the number of tests other countries are conducting. India’s tests per million figure stands at 66, as opposed to 11,448 for Italy. Do not panic. While these numbers are low, reports suggest for the tests being conducted in India, fewer numbers are testing positive. Now, this doesn’t mean India should not ramp up testing.
There has been so much discussion around testing, but have you wondered what does the word actually mean? Why we want more tests but no testing times?
Test is our Word Of The Day. Test comes from Middle English ‘teste’, which was used to describe an earthen vessel, especially a pot in which metals were tried for various purposes. It also finds its origin in Latin ‘tersa’, which meant dry land. Dry land means thirst and other testing troubles.
According to the Oxford dictionary, test is an examination of somebody’s knowledge or ability, consisting of questions for them to answer or activities for them to perform. Now, it also means assessing a body or a bodily sample for fitness.
So, do not go out. Stay home. Stay fit.
From coronavirus, we will now like to take you straight to US elections. Yes, the US is scheduled to go for elections in November. But what do we say of schedules in times of corona. Whether elections will be held in time or not, we do not know. What we know is former President Barack Obama has endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
We guess Obama’s backing would boost winning chances for Biden.
You do know that Biden has been a senator from Delaware, but did you know that Biden once had a dog named Senator?
This was before Biden actually became a senator. This was the time when Biden was studying law at Syracuse University. By naming a dog Senator, we believe, Biden really honoured senators.
Leave dogs, also senators, for now. We have something to tell you about bats. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found coronaviruses in two species of bats in India. Not the one that has torn our lives apart, but a different coronavirus.
The bat coronavirus (BtCoV) has been found in two bat species from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. Do not panic. ICMR says there is no evidence or research to claim that these bat coronaviruses can cause disease in humans (as of now, and we hope it stays that way).
So, relax and listen to this bat song:
Somewhere out in the dark warm or cold
There are creatures hanging around I’m told
Not right side up, but upside down
And they might live in your town
Hope you enjoyed it.
Stay safe.
We will see you tomorrow.