Modi brings peace hopes; Covid-19 deaths understated; India cheers Cheetah
Opinion Watch
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit global headlines with his peace talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin during bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit (SC) in Samarkand.
Most of the newspapers have sought to size up the significance of the SCO Summit, with an Indian perspective.
The Times of India in its Editorial went to the extent to claim that Modi has a global heft, while invoking Mahatma Gandhi to establish India’s peace credentials to calm down nerves in Moscow for cessation of Russian-Ukraine war.
The Indian Express dug deeper to weigh complexities, for the Central Asian nations are wary of Putin doing a Ukraine on them, and their eagerness to align with China and Turkey, while India faces connectivity disadvantage.
The Economic Times is more realistic, noting that SCO and BRICS have more influence of China, as Beijing seeks to pack two groupings with nations who are its close allies.
“India’s pitch to the SCO for connectivity with the Eurasian region hinges on its development of Chabahar Port through Iran and traversing the US sanctions, while still competing with the China-Pakistan backed transit routes through Gwadar,” the Hindu commented.
Incidentally, dailies didn’t explore lackluster appearance of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and implications of the growing isolation of Putin in his immediate neighbourhood.
Focus on the Indian heft is also being hyped, for Putin has no ears for peace talks, while he’s being chased around by the brave Ukrainians all around. The SCO is essentially a Russia-China playground that has least relevance in global geopolitics.
Covid-19 deaths understated
The second wave of Covid-19 and its deathly trails would be remembered for ages for the monumental failure of the government to provide for the basic healthcare facilities.
The report of the Parliamentary committee on health strikes the commonly held views on the Covid-19.
Deccan Herald in its Editorial stated that the committee has said that many lives could have been saved if the government had put in place the right containment strategies at the right time.
“The second wave was marred by a high number of cases and deaths, shortage of oxygen and beds in hospitals, reduced supplies of drugs and other medical supplies, disruption of essential healthcare services, hoarding and black-marketing of cylinders and medicines, etc,” the daily quoted from the report.
The Bengaluru-based newspaper also said that the panel pulled up the government for not anticipating the gravity of the situation and for its failure to monitor the pandemic’s course.
While the daily quoted the panel to state that deaths and cases were grossly understated, it’s key to recall that India’s response to the second wave of Covid-19 was first of denial, knee jerk and afterwards waking up with rude shocks when the virus had already unleashed deathly trails.
India cheers Cheetah
After killing Cheetahs for sports and making them go extinct, India cheered import of eight spotted wild animal cubs at the Kuno National park in Madhya Pradesh.
The Indian Express and The Pioneer have commented on the occasion.
The Indian Express reminded that 750 sq kms areas of the Kuno National Park would be not large enough for Cheetahs, while also stating that it was essentially meant for the relocation of the Asiatic Lions from Gujarat.
The Pioneer gives space to the Congress’ media head Jairam Ramesh making claims that he had initiated the Cheetah Project. The daily advised Congress not always react to the Bharatiya Janata Party, while underlining that the opposition party is in the habit of being easily distracted by the media blitzkrieg of the ruling dispensation.
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