Author: TOI Editorials
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 26, 2018
URL:      https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/come-clean-political-parties-should-emulate-salman-khurshids-candour-on-riots/

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s comment that Congress has blood on its hands for past communal riots has stirred a controversy and seen his party distance itself from the remark. But Khurshid’s comment is a statement of fact. Unfortunately, communal riots in India have a long history. And many horrific incidents of communal clashes did take place under Congress rule. As with anti-Sikh riots in 1984 and Hashimpura and Maliana in 1987, Congress governments repeatedly failed to curb communal violence. The excuse trotted out was that these riots were spontaneous and overwhelming, catching the state’s law and order machinery completely unawares.

But the notion of the spontaneous communal riot is a myth. Sans political interference and given a free hand, police forces can easily identify, isolate and arrest the instigators of riots. The problem then is the politicisation of police where deputations, transfers and posting are the prerogative of political masters. This compels law enforcers to wait for political signals or even in some cases assist violent mobs instead of immediately taking action against them. Taken together, a quasi-anarchist position has taken root in Indian politics where parties feign inability and project riots as unfortunate occurrences no one could stop. Riots, thus, have become convenient tools to serve political agendas.

While Khurshid’s statement put the spotlight on Congress, no big party is blameless here. All of them have blood on their hands. Congress may find Khurshid’s comment tactically embarrassing in the current polarised and hyper partisan political atmosphere. But all parties, including BJP, would do well to emulate him and come clean on their responsibility for communal violence. Acknowledging one’s mistakes is the first step towards preventing their recurrence. Political parties’ habit of blaming others and absolving oneself will, on the other hand, perpetuate the violence. Only the truth can set us free.

Title: The real world superheroes: Vaccinators and health workers save three million children every year
Author: Amitabh Bachchan
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 26, 2018
URL:      https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/the-real-world-superheroes-vaccinators-and-health-workers-save-three-million-children-every-year/

There was a time, not that long ago, when eradicating polio from my country seemed like pure fiction. Not even 10 years ago, India was home to nearly half of the world’s polio cases. And when I was but a boy, the idea that polio could be defeated was an impossibility, an endless fight, an actual war against infinity.

So the sense of pride I felt four years ago, on the day we could finally announce the eradication of polio from India, was outstripped only by my sense of awe at the true legends of this fight – the polio vaccinators and social mobilisers who went from door to door, village to village to give every child those precious drops. With the launch this week of the latest comic book Hollywood blockbuster, I want to speak of real-world superheroes: vaccinators and health workers.

I still remember the summer day in 2014 when I met over a thousand polio workers from across India. The energy in New Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium was pulsating. I could feel the enthusiasm of every one of those health workers. I know now that it is this very passion that got us till the end of the battle against polio in India.

The only way to eradicate polio is to ensure that immunisation coverage reaches practically all children and remains high. Knowing this, these health workers set about finding every last child. They often left their own families behind for long periods of time and travelled to the most remote places.

And that’s not just the case in India – it’s a story that rings true all around the world, and not just for polio but other life-threatening diseases, including pneumonia, measles, tetanus, hepatitis B or diphtheria.

Behind the phenomenal success of polio and other vaccines globally lies the hard work of millions of frontline health workers who walk for hundreds of miles, navigating the dense jungles and rivers of Brazil’s Amazonia, or travel to the remote islands of the South Pacific to vaccinate every child. These journeys can be arduous, but these volunteers stay the course to protect their communities.

Often, they encounter fear, suspicion, and in many cases violence. And they have to combat the myths and convince parents who believe that vaccines are toxic or cause infertility.

Despite the challenges, they carry on with the same energy I saw in that stadium. As part of the largest vaccination campaigns against measles and rubella, health workers are currently vaccinating more than 35 million children across India despite great resistance. Globally in 2016, an estimated 119 million children were vaccinated against measles, a global total more than the entire population of Ethiopia.

The result: vaccines protect more children than ever before. As of 2016, an estimated 86% of children less than one year of age were fully vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, compared to 52% some 30 years ago. The world is almost polio free, with only two countries recording polio cases last year.

Since 2000, an estimated 20 million children’s lives have been saved through measles immunisation alone. In total, these vaccine superheroes save up to an estimated three million children’s lives every year with routine vaccination.

But they need our help. Absent continuing investment in vaccinators, health workers, doctors, transporters, scientists, warehouses, vaccines, cold chain facilities and mass media campaigns, these successes can quickly unravel. Conflict, weak health systems, and poverty all mean that approximately one in ten children under one year of age is still not being reached with routine, life-saving vaccines.

So, I want to ask you to join us to make a difference.

You can get your child vaccinated. You can fight rumours and fears with facts, use social media to spread the word and let the world know that vaccines can save lives.

In doing so, you can help the world’s vaccine superheroes to continue the fight to make sure everyone, everywhere can reap the benefits of immunisation.