This is how it ends when you vote for hate: Author Sonia Faleiro on India's COVID situation
New Delhi: Critically acclaimed Indian writer and Journalist Sonia Faleiro on Sunday took to her official Twitter account to express anguish over the situation of COVID-19 in India as the country is facing a major second wave outbreak of the deadly virus.
Sonia, whose critically acclaimed first novel The Girl was published by Viking in 2006, said she was gutted to see the situation of the virus in India and that it need not be this way in the first place. “The country literally produces vaccines!” she wrote in the tweet adding “This is how it ends when you vote for hate”.
Absolutely gutted to see the situation in India. It didn’t have to be this way at all. The country literally produces vaccines! This is how it ends when you vote for hate” her tweet read.
In another tweet, Sonia added, “Almost every day I find myself sending someone in India a condolence message. So sad, sorry and frankly heartbroken by the situation”.
Sonia’s writing and photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Granta, The California Sunday Magazine, The Guardian, and Smithsonian. She is a co-founder of Deca, a global journalism cooperative that creates long-form stories to read on mobile devices.
She was awarded the 2011 Karmaveer Puraskaar for Social Justice for "drawing attention to India's most vulnerable and writing about them with sensitivity, humanity, and integrity". She is the recipient of a runners-up award in the CNN Young Journalist Award of 2006[4] as well as of awards from the Ratan Tata Trust, the Oxford Cambridge Society of India, and the British Council's de Souza Trust.
Absolutely gutted to see the situation in India. It didn’t have to be this way at all. The country literally produces vaccines! This is how it ends when you vote for hate.
— Sonia Faleiro (@soniafaleiro) April 18, 2021
Almost every day I find myself sending someone in India a condolence message. So sad, sorry and frankly heartbroken by the situation.
— Sonia Faleiro (@soniafaleiro) April 18, 2021
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Separate nodal officer in all districts to prevent female foeticides in Karnataka: Minister
Belagavi (PTI): Accepting that the female foeticide has not stopped in the state, Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Tuesday said that the government is taking strict measures to prevent it.
The minister said the government is appointing separate nodal officers in all districts and tightening measures to prevent foeticide, which he called a "social evil".
He also assured that the government will consider strengthening legislation to control such activities.
The minister was responding to a question by BJP MLC C T Ravi in the Legislative Council.
"Female foeticides have certainly not stopped. If you look at the sex ratio, there is a lot of difference. I accept that this is happening," Rao said.
"Foeticides are not happening under pressure; voluntarily, it is happening, for not wanting a girl child. These things are happening based on the sex determination of the foetus at some hospitals. Sex determination is illegal, but with the advancement in technology, portable ultrasound machines have been developed, which can be easily carried anywhere, and scans and tests can be done. This needs to be controlled. We will bring it to the notice of the central government," he said.
In some districts and in a few hospitals, a higher number of male child births is happening. It is found with the help of intelligence input, the minister said.
"Information is being gathered on the taluk in which the male-female ratio is worsening, what is happening in which hospital, and appropriate action is being taken to crack down on such a network, after proper evaluation."
Decoy operations have been done at seven places in the last two years, to identify those involved in illegal activities linked to female foeticides, and actions have been taken against officials and hospitals involved, he said, adding that more needs to be done on priority.
Responding to a question by Ravi about whether any stringent legislation is being brought, Rao said, the government will consider strengthening the legislation and making it stricter to control this.
"Some amendments have been made to the existing laws in the last two years....advanced technology and the internet is being used to carry out such things, also oral medicines for abortions are available over the counter.
We need to look into bringing legislation to control them. The Food and Drug Administration has issued instructions to pharmacists that the sale of such drugs should be documented."
The minister also said that measures are also being taken for the effective implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC & PNDT) Act, and awareness is being created against the identification of female foetuses and female foeticide.
