Social Distance: When Violators Preach Compliance
The specter of lockdown is looming large over the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on television and warned people that ‘stringent measures must be followed.’ Partial lockdown has been imposed in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and other cities. With shops and hotels on the verge of opening, the government issued an order to shut them down. In Mumbai, the condition of hoteliers from coastal Karnataka is worrying. The government that demanded and made the hoteliers pay for new licenses before March 31 is now imposing restrictions on opening hotels. Hoteliers who have paid up for licenses have no business now. These hoteliers who are reeling under losses are now on the verge of selling their hotels. Hotel workers are unable to return to Mumbai and not able to stay in their hometowns. Those who were on their way to Mumbai are now in a quandary of returning home with the new restrictions in place.
The plight of migrant workers who had left their villages to return to cities is also pathetic. The statement of Maharashtra Chief Minister that migrant labourers are responsible for spreading the Coronavirus in the state has scared workers. Migrant labourers take refuge in cities leaving behind their villages for three main reasons. One, most of these labourers are agricultural workers. Having failed in agriculture due to drought and other adversities , they inevitably take the route to the cities. And most of these people belong to lower castes. Besides, farmers who were employed by zamindars and paid low wages leave for cities for a higher pay. The third group of people are those who are frustrated at the caste discrimination in rural areas. These people go to work as construction labourers in cities. Roads, bridges, and buildings that the government claims is development are constructed with the blood and sweat of these workers.
During the previous lockdown, thousands of migrant labourers who were without food and water had to inevitably return to their villages and towns. The financial loss, destruction of lives, and deaths are still fresh in people’s minds. The problems of these migrant labourers did not get resolved when they reached their native. Villages that were also facing the brunt of the Coronavirus considered these migrant labourers untouchables. As villages were not willing to welcome them, they had to be in quarantine on trees and open spaces. The media however has not published any details about those who fell sick and died in villages. Very few of those who went back to villages stayed rooted there. Those who had agricultural land did not take the risk of going back to the cities but those who depended on daily wages had to return to the cities within a few days. As thousands of labourers reached their villages and towns at the same time, there were no opportunities for work there and villages treated them with cruelty. When lockdown was relaxed, these labourers returned to the cities. But now that rumours of an impending lockdown in cities like Ahmedabad and Mumbai are floating, these labourers are scared and are packing their bags to return to their native before transportation is completely stopped.
Prime Minister Modi has called on states to ‘impose stringent restrictions.’ But people are asking why were these ‘stringent restrictions’ not imposed in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states during electioneering? Gathering lakhs of people, Modi had conducted electioneering in states that were going for elections. How were these ‘stringent regulations’ discounted then? If the Coronavirus does not spread when lakhs of people gather, how does it spread when people go about doing their daily work in urban areas? People are raising questions whether Modi has the morality to order ‘stringent regulations’ when he is guilty of convening large-scale programmes with lakhs of people by throwing to the wind all regulations.
How appropriate is it for the common man to pay a heavy price with the lockdown when politicians convene election meetings and spread the Coronavirus? The biggest irony is that the same government that is concerned about people and imposes restrictions and threatens a lockdown has permitted Kumbh Mela where crores of people from various parts of the country gather. How does the coronavirus that does not spread in the Kumbh mela spread when people engage in everyday business or when malls open and buses and vehicles ply on the roads? Without clarifying these issues, it would become difficult for people to take the Coronavirus regulations seriously.
Even as the Chief Minister was announcing restrictions in Karnataka, a massive religious programme has been organized in the house of BJP state unit President in Dakshina Kannada district. Leaders of all political parties are arriving in droves to participate in this religious programme. When there are no restrictions around these people, the common man is bound to raise questions whether the government is deliberately trying to make life difficult for ordinary people. It is therefore imperative for politicians to comply with regulations before issuing orders to people.
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Gopi Thotakura becomes 1st Indian space tourist on Blue Origin's private astronaut launch
Washington, May 19: Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, on Sunday became the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission.
Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
Blue Origin's seventh human flight, NS-25, lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday morning, the company announced on social media.
This mission was the seventh human flight for the New Shepard programme and the 25th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin.
According to Blue Origin, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive."
He co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In addition to flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot.
A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Andhra Pradesh-born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Other crew members of the flight include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.
The rocket booster landed safely a couple minutes prior to the capsule, CNN reported.
During the mission, the crew soared to more than three times the speed of sound. The rocket vaulted the capsule past the Kármán line, an area 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of gray area, the channel said.
At the peak of the flight, passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and striking views of Earth through the cabin windows, it added.
During the flight, each astronaut carried a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.
This programme gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets, including an all-digital method to create and send postcards. The Club’s mission is to inspire and mobilise future generations to pursue careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) for the benefit of Earth.
From an environmental standpoint, nearly 99 per cent of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes.
New Shepard’s engine is fuelled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During the flight, the only byproduct is water vapour with no carbon emissions, the company earlier said.
Blue Origin released the NS-25 mission patch. A few of the symbols embedded include: The Gemini spacecraft represents Dwight’s aerospace training era. The hand lifting of the crew capsule is a nod to his extensive artwork.
The sunrise represents Angel and Schaller’s desire to experience the overview effect. The mountains symbolise Schaller, Thotakura, and Chiron’s passion for climbing and skiing.
Jeff Bezos’ space company had paused its suborbital tourism programme following a liftoff malfunction of the New Shepard rocket. In September 2022, an uncrewed flight of New Shepard ended in flames around a minute after liftoff.
