THE epidemic of Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the already putrefying socio-economic system in India. There has been heart rendering stories of pain, apathy of workers walking back to their homes immediately after the first lockdown was announced in the country. The massive unemployment with over 120 million job loss during the period of the lockdown has further accentuated the misery of the people. The much hullabaloo created in the beginning of the lockdown that it is quintessential and it is similar to fighting a war, with an euphoric call by the prime minister himself that Mahabharta was won in 18 days and the present war(against Covid-19; first lockdown period) will be won in 21 days. However, things further deteriorated and now we are in the fourth phase of the lock down with more than 60 days passed. The total infected are 1,45,000 and 4,167 deaths have occurred so far in the country. Even non-covid deaths i.e., those who died because of the lockdown due to starvations, exhaustion, accident, suicides, etc., are nearly 750 .

The government miserably failed even to ensure food to the Indian people during this period. In a few states, especially those governed by the BJP ; Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh etc., more than 74 per cent of the relief camps were organised by the civil society groups; the government was just missing. In an affidavit filed in the supreme court the central government explained that of the total relief camps run in the country, 65 per cent are run by the Kerala state. This in itself explains the situation!

The people, however contributed in large numbers and large volume to the government and also to the civil society groups to run relief camps, to provide them food, health equipments etc. But the worst that one could imagine in such a period and scenario is that somebody would use this precarious period as an opportunity to mint money and through corrupt deals amass wealth. It is inhuman to believe that in the supply of health equipments such deals would be stuck, but it did happen, and the beneficiaries are none else than some of the top BJP leaders in BJP ruled states. Two states, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where BJP is ruling, such deals were arranged and the leadership of the BJP is directly indicted.

THE VENTILATOR SCANDAL
A fake ventilator scandal was unearthed in Gujarat state. Nearly 900 ventilators were purchased by the Gujarat government and were installed across government hospitals in the state. Questions were raised at the procedure of procurement and the quality of the equipment. The procedure of purchase was done in a hush up manner bypassing all norms of quality check. These ventilators, which are termed as fake, do not even, have the mandatory license from the Drug Controller General of India. Quite astonishingly, without allowing a proper testing protocol of testing a ventilator on a large number of patients, the ventilator was tested on just one patient. Further the ethical committee that is required to monitor the ventilators was not formed as per medical rules 2017.

A Rajkot based company, Jyoti CNC had developed the ventilator termed ‘Dhaman - 1’ and fabricated the machine in a period of 10 days. According to a Gujarat government press release, it was considered a great achievement and a new feather to the prime minister’s dream of make in India. Parakramsinh Jadeja, the owner of the Jyoti CNC Company is believed to be a close friend of Gujarat chief minister, Rupani.

The machine is considered as a fake ventilator because it has not gone through the proper trial of testing. There are charges made by the people of Gujarat and also by the opposition leaders that nearly 300 plus deaths that took place in Ahmedabad civil hospital were due to this fake machine. It is beyond imagination that even in the period of crisis, the BJP government plays with the lives of the people.

PURCHASE OF PPES AND OTHER EQUIPMENTS
Another major scandal that has come to light in the lockdown period is with respect to a proposal to purchase PPEs(personal protective equipments) and other medical gear in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The director health services of the Himachal state government, Ajay Kumar Gupta is presently arrested by the vigilance and anti corruption bureau in Shimla. There are allegations of bribery against the accused Gupta. A voice message exposed a deal being stuck between the director health services and the supplier of the medical equipments. This message had gone viral in the social media. The other person, i.e., the dealer, is considered to be a close associate of a former minister and presently leader of the BJP. The deal was to buy equipments and other orthopaedic machines from a company from Solan, which is owned by a former OSD(officer on special duty) of the BJP leader.

A judicial probe into the incident was demanded by the opposition and the CPI(M). Shanta Kumar, a BJP leader and former union minister too ridiculed the BJP government. He said it is shameful that in this period of crisis the leaders of the BJP are indulging in money making. Though the director health service is under arrest but the dealer is still at large. There is a suspicion that the reason for not arresting him is his links to the BJP leadership.

In another incident in Himachal Pradesh capital city, Shimla, a BJP leader is indicted for supplying sanitizers without any license to the government. These sanitizers were supplied to the state secretariat. An FIR was registered by the secretariat alleging that the sanitizers that were supplied to them were of sub-standard quality. On investigation it was found that the supplier did not have a license to supply these sanitizers. According to the newspapers published from Shimla it was revealed that a good quantity of these sanitizers supplied to the secretariat were actually given in a charity and the supplier picked up that lot and supplied it to the secretariat. The supplier is a BJP leader and a former councillor in Shimla Municipal Corporation.

It is shocking to note that in this period of unprecedented crisis; on the one hand people are exhibiting exemplary interventions through their actions, on the other some of the BJP governments are allowing its leaders to mint money by supplying sub-standard health equipments and thus playing with the lives of the people.