INDIA’s COVID-19 Battle
— A Fantasy Strategy for Combat — Part I —
India’s fight with COVID-19 has taken a grim turn. Our social media, newspapers, TV channels are buzzing with stories of desperation, cries for help, struggle and death.
General discussions are now around fear and hopelessness. And of course, can’t leave out the political blame games on who failed.
Amid this chaos, I decided to focus on the strategic initiatives which can be implemented to combat the situation on ground.
Inline are my thoughts —
Stage I — Acceptance
First and foremost, all constitutional entities have to declare a national health emergency and make sure that their chain of command understands this. Starting from The President, The Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, Armed Forces, MPs, MLAs, Gram Panchyats, Bureaucracy, Center & State Ministries, Judiciary and so forth.
This is no longer a battle for bed or oxygen cylinders. This is a war and what we need is a War Cry.
ETA — 3 Days
Stage II — Divide & Conquer
The way our system is set up, accountability and execution has been a major challenge for decades. Looking at the current ground situation, if we continue relying on of the same old, we are bound to fail.
Instead of shaking the system, we need to work around the system.
The President should divide India in 3 Major Battlegrounds, call it as the three front war.
I — All State Capitals & Metropolitan Cities — Maximum Urban Population
II — All Tier I & II Upcoming Cities — Mix of Urban & Rural Population
III — Rural Villages — Mainly Rural Population
Stage III — Execution
One institution which has the discipline and execution effectiveness to combat the current situation is our Armed Forces. First priority should be to integrate them into the line of action.
Battle Ground Top Level Schematics -
I — State Capitals & Metropolitan
A core task force should take over these cities headed by the President, Supreme Court, Assigned Armed Forces Units, Respective Local MLAs / MPs.
Every institutional entity including state police should directly report to them along with private essential service providers like hospitals, pharmacy, drug distributors, oxygen plants etc.
This is not the President’s rule. We are allocating leadership, decision-making and execution resources in a tiered manner.
ETA — 5 Days
II — Tier I & II Upcoming Cities
These cities will also be taken over by a task force headed by The Prime Minister, State Chief Ministers, Armed Forces Unit, Respective Local MLAs/ MPs & State High Courts.
Institutional and Private Essential Services Entities directly report to this task group.
ETA — 15 Days
III — Rural Villages
Rural Villages will be taken over by a task force headed by The Chief Minister, Armed Forces, Local MLAs/MPs & District Courts.
All Institutional and Private Essential Services Entities directly report to this task group.
ETA — 30 Days
With Strategic Command Structure in place, I am concluding Part I. Will come up with Part 2 shortly — oriented towards on ground execution of above 3 Tiers with more focus on supply distribution, testing, economic survival and implementation technology.
Note* — To my fellow Indians reading this. This is not a political post. It’s not meant to critique any political or bureaucratic section of our society. My Chachha is also not a Vidhayak.
I am penning my views as a citizen and hoping for better days to come.
Stay Safe!
