How should countries combat Covid-19?

IMO the best way is:

• Everyone should wear a mask in public. No entry in any public transport or office, without a mask. People using trains/airplanes/buses should also be encouraged to wear protective eye glasses.
• Ban all social/religious/political/cultural/sports gatherings with certain exceptions e.g. Up to 20 people at a funeral. Up to 30 people at the marriage ceremony provided no food/drinks is served.
• Every organization itself plans to minimize the spread of the virus at their premises e.g. Corporates may close down the canteen and serve food at cubicles. No food at railway stations/airports and within trains/airplanes. Cinema halls will operate at lower occupancy. Restaurants will stop eat-ins and only have delivery.
• Students will learn from home. They will attend school/college only for activities that cannot be taught remotely.
• No crowding e.g. Malls will allow only a limited number of customers. Buses will not allow more than 10 people to stand.

Countries that closing down businesses and imposing curfew are unnecessarily damaging their economy. These countries are either stupid or have some secret agenda to hurt their citizens.

How to fight Covid-19?

The following acts are some long term measures:

• Wear a mask outside your home i.e. while walking on the road, while using public transport, while working amongst other people, etc. No need to wear a mask at home, while traveling with family in an AC car, etc; unless you are infected.
• All visitors to your home should wear a mask. They should wash their hand when they come into your house.
• Wash hands after returning home, after touching anything possibly infected, etc.
• Use hand-kerchief or elbow while sneezing, when not wearing a mask.
• Avoid touching other people outside your home e.g. Use Namaste instead of a handshake.

Lockdown of non-essential activities is a short term measure that can be used if the infection rate is very high in that area. It is not a long term measure.
India is currently under lock-down, even though the infection rate is unknown in India because very few tests have been conducted. India needs to

1. End the lockdown soon.
2. Conduct large scale testing.
3. Enforce mandatory masks in public transport, on roads, in offices, etc. People violating this rule should be punished.
4. Make face mask mandatory for people in gatherings e.g. Wedding ceremony, religious activities, construction activities, etc.

Convid-19 control in India

"Janata Curfew" of one day on 22-Mar-2020 will not be enough to slowdown the spread Covid-19 in India.
India needs

1. Mandatory use of mask or handkerchief
   • in crowded areas e.g. railway/airplane travelers, shopkeepers, mall employees, etc.
   • for employees working in public space e.g. railway ticket clerks, postmen, bank clerks, cleaners, etc.
2. Closure of non-essential gatherings malls, cinema halls, swimming pools, schools, colleges, temples, mosques, churches, gardens, playgrounds, restaurants, etc.
3. Reduction in GST for all equipment used to work from home e.g mobiles, data packs, broadband service, routers, etc.
4. Subsidized tests in government hospitals.
5. Criminal charge for any infected person traveling in public, without taking appropriate precautions.

Thappad movie is flawed

The priority of parents should be the child. The heroine of the movie wants a divorce when she is pregnant. She is selfish and a bad mother. Yet the movie portrays her as an ideal woman.

The movie places the entire blame on the man for slapping his wife. Violent acts don't normally occur in public suddenly. Verbal abuse and isolation of the victim occur earlier. So the couple has an opportunity to seek help or terminate the relationship. In the movie, the man shows no sign of any wrongdoing and then suddenly slaps his wife. The film presents an unrealistic picture to make the man look bad and the woman good.

The movie encourages women to seek a divorce, even if it harms the children. The movie doesn't lay any blame on the woman for choosing a violent man. The entire blame is of the man if he is violent. The movie is false propaganda, under the guise of entertainment.

CAA, NRC and NPR in India.

CAA determines the rules of citizenship in India. NRC is the list of Indian citizens. NPR is the list of people residing in India.

India intends to create a through NPR in the near future. In this exercise, a government official will ask you

• Name
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Parent citizenship
• PAN number
• Aadhar number
• Mobile number
• Place of stay
• etc.

NPR will track the population of India. The government can decide whether the person is a citizen of India, based on the rules in CAA. Thus NPR will lead to NRC.

This exercise has some benefits. Many nations keep track of its citizens e.g. the USA, Canada, etc. So India keeping track of its citizens is nothing new. Government benefits are normally only for citizens. Also, people from nearby countries should not be able to just enter India. Many governments try to restrict illegal immigration.

So then why are people opposed to this exercise?
People opposed to CAA say that it is not secular. That is correct. Hindu immigrants from Muslim countries will get citizenship in India more easily than a Muslim immigrant from a Muslim country. But, in my opinion, this is not a major problem. Muslim countries give preference to Muslims. So a Hindu majority country can give preference to Hindus.

The actual problems with this exercise are:

• Showing your documents to a government official is problematic in India. Most Indian bureaucrats demand a bribe to do their work. So genuine citizens, who have all documents, will face harassment.
• People who have lost their documents will have to stand in lines, bribe officials, etc to first get their documents in order. Only then can they become citizens of India. These people will face additional harassment.
• Lakhs of people in India are illiterate. They have minimal or no documents. Do they even have the capability to get the documents and show them to a government official?

NPR (which will lead to NRC based on CAA) will cause problems for everyone in the country. The middle-class and rich will face little harassment because they will arrange documents and pay bribes. The suffering of poor will increase in NPR. So, we have many people, across religions, opposing NPR. Opposition political parties are fanning this unrest to gain votes.

In this environment, the Indian government needs to make the registration process bribe-free and hassle-free e.g.

• The government can ask the people of India to register electronically. If there is no human interaction, then bribes are minimized.
• Instead of asking multiple documents, the government should only ask for one document e.g. PAN card or Aadhar card or birth certificate or school/college leaving certificate or employment certificate or bank account passbook or any document that shows that you are residing in India for many years. Fewer the documents, lesser the hassle.

Then, more people will likely comply with NPR.

Four shocks of Modi

Modi has given the Indian economy four big shocks; thus causing a slowdown.

1. Demonetization: It was supposed to eliminate black money. In India, black money is held mostly in real estate, gold, and dollars. Only a small percentage of black money is held in cash.
2. GST: No other country has GST of this complex nature with such high taxes. The overheads are huge. It benefits accountants, at the cost of legitimate businesses.
3. IBC: It was supposed to clear NPAs of banks, but the process was clogged with delays and lawsuits. So no creditor wants to use it.
4. RERA for real estate was supposed to safeguard the buyer, but instead, it caused a slow down of the entire sector. Now lawsuits take years to resolve.

The Indian economy cannot be revived in the short run. By taking appropriate measures, the Indian economy can be put on a growth path, in the long run.

Cause of Rapes

Nitish Kumar says that porn sites are responsible for rapes in India. By the same logic:

• Crime serials are responsible for thefts.
• Violent movies are responsible for murders.
• Playgrounds are responsible for a lack of education.
• Shops responsible for credit card debts
• Share market responsible for suicides due to financial loss.
• Banks responsible for the poor economy; people save instead of spending.

If porn sites are responsible for rapes, then why are rapes so few in countries like Singapore? Even in Singapore, people have access to porn sites!

The key question is, whether a rapist is born or society makes someone a rapist. In most criminal cases:

1. The criminal had a bad childhood e.g. The parent/care-giver of the child used to beat the child ruthlessly.
2. The criminal started with small crimes e.g. stealing from a store. He got away with these crimes. In fact, he received praise for his daring. There was no one to correct the behavior of the child.
3. The criminal saw/hear others getting away with big crimes. So the size of his crime increased.

Politicians are trying to pass the blame to porn sites. If rape (and in general crime) has to be reduced, then

1. It should be a criminal offense to shout or hit a child of less than 5 year
2. A child of less than 15 years can only be hit for the purpose of self-defense; Any other cause, should be a criminal offence.
3. Justice should not take years. In a few months, punishment should be meted out for crimes taken.

Politicians don't want to punish parents, because children don't vote. Politicians don't want swift justice, because most politicians are criminals.