Lab Virus; Facing Heatwave; Punjab Puzzle
Opinion Watch
Lab Virus
In the backdrop of the fresh claims made by FBI Director Christopher Ray, The Pioneer in an Editorial has said that former US President Doland Trump was right on claims of the origin of the Cornonavirus. The top claim made in the US now is that it was a lab leak that killed millions of people all around the world. The Pioneer has bashed up ‘liberals’ who had earlier trashed the doubts of a lab leak of the virus with labels of ‘racism and xenophobia’. The Noida-based daily has warned that the “liberal establishment is now getting infected by the doctrinal pathogens generated by postmodern or New Left Academics that maligns anyone they hate”. The daily stated that China had been hysterical in condemnation of any suggestion of its complicity in the pandemic, lampooning even Nobel laureate of Peru Mario Vargas Llosa. The daily accused the ‘Left liberals’ of peddling the Chinese lies.
On pandemic, China’s behavior was that of a rogue nation. Its influence in the World Health Organisation wreaked havoc. Chinese President Xi Jinping indeed has blood on his hands for millions of Covid deaths worldwide, for he hid the outbreak in Wuhan first and then misguided the world about the extent of pathogen even while he by all accounts is estimated to have known the consequences.
Facing Heatwave
The Hindu has quoted the statement of the Indian Metrological Department that February 2023 had been warmest since 1901 and also that the trend may spillover to summer months. The Chennai-based daily also quoted a Lancet study to state that there had been a 52 per cent rise in deaths due to heatwave, besides loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours in India in 2021 when wheat production also dipped from 109.59 mt to 106.84 mt. The daily has called for a responsive healthcare system and also adaptive agrarian practices.
The climate change appears to have stolen spring. This should be scary. Climate change mitigation efforts need urgency. Ecological havoc in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh demand a national response.
Punjab Puzzle
The Asian Age in an Editorial has said that there are as many as 70-odd arms gangs in Punjab on loose. Pakistan is “exporting arms” to Punjab through drones. The daily has given the backdrop of high unemployment in youth and drug menace to warn of rise of terrorism in the border state. The daily has also said that the worries of the revival of terrorism in Punjab have intensified since the arrival of the Aam Aadmi Party in power in the state. “We cannot countenance a destablised situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, both bordering regions, especially when Chinese soldiers are already sitting inside our territories in Ladakh,” opined the Asian Age.
Evidently, the Punjab government is timid in dealing with armed gangs. Silence of the Centre is equally baffling. A Dubai-returned youth Amritpal Singh can so easily hold a state to ransom!
About The Author
