Responsibility and Non-Discrimination in Combating COVID-19 in Manipur

The mind of people across world is still filled in with the fear of death posed by the COVID- 19 pandemic despite having claim for inventing and testing of new medicine for combating the disease and claims for high recovery rate. The number of covid-19 positive case has exponentially been rising in Indian Sub-content ranking 3 in the list of most COVID- 19 affected countries of the world. Baring Assam, all the North- Eastern States of India including Manipur were covid-19 green zone state for a significant period of time. However, situation has drastically been changed after the decision and consequent act of states making all out effort for returning back a huge number of people stranded in other states to their home states.
Interestingly, first passenger train, after the controversial merger of erstwhile princely state of Manipur into Indian Union in 1949, carrying as many as 1200 Manipuris stranded in Chennai has touched the territory of Manipur at Jiribam in the month of May 2020. Subsequently, ten of thousand of stranded Manipuris have returned back in Manipur either by train or by road from Covid-19 highly infected states such as Tamil Nadu, Mumbai and Delhi. Some of them were found covid-19 positive when tested in during their stay at the quarantine centres opened and managed by the government and CBO in different districts of the state.
It seems that both the institutional community and quarantine centers supported by the local volunteers with selfless sacrificing spirit have been kept in vigil in preventing deadly disease outside the centre. As a result of which there were no transmission of the disease outside the centres. However, things seem to have been upside down when government and political parties shifted their interest in finding out strategy for winning lone Rajya Sabha seat for Manipur thereby creating political crisis of changing the guard that linger on till date. It is of the opinion that covid- 19 pandemic that takes in the form of humanitarian crisis could be effectively controlled by a stable and responsible government with the support of disciplined people. Government and political parties have political and moral obligation to remove trust deficit to the existing system as well, so as to avoid occurrence of unwanted incidents which may be in the form of mob violence.
There is nothing in the world which is more precious than human life. It is the core human right ever recognised from time immemorial. People of Manipur thoroughly know that there is no vaccine for curing Covid-19 save prevention. The current lockdown followed by curfew in view of local transmission in some part of Thoubal District creates panic in the mind of people living in the state. The degree of fear is so evident that some localities in Imphal have even closed road to prevent egress and ingress of outsiders. Besides, there were instances of discriminating positive people; even disinfected people form a particular family and locality which have not been declared as contentment zone, but suspected of having frontline workers have been ostracised as if they are sinner. Such attitude towards the infected persons and frontline workers such as doctors, nurse, chemists, volunteers, media persons, police and health workers would not only hamper in combating covid-19 but also create a culture of concealment which will be a disaster to the people of Manipur.