His action speaks louder than his words
Amid growing concerns about the coronavirus epidemic, one officer walked the talk and his work has emerged as a template to other districts in Telangana.
Swiftly identifying the fast enveloping coronavirus in the minority-dominated area in Karimnagar town, Collector K. Shashanka, nipped it in the bud. His target approach with identification, classification, testing and quarantine has become a ‘war manual’ in the fight against the COVID-19.
This has earned him encomiums from no less a person than Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other senior bureaucrats in the matrix of power.
Mr. Shashanka had shown how every person in the wheel of administration can be galvanised to address the disasters efficiently without losing any time. Right from supervising distribution of vegetables, groceries and other necessities to the households in the containment area, the IAS officer of 2013 batch has ensured that there was no need for the people in the affected area to leave their homes. Public representatives were conspicuous by their absence when the Collector was moving in the designated ‘Red Zone’ leaving the administration unfettered to enforce a lockdown when there was none across the nation.
However, Mr. Shashanka modestly acknowledges the right inputs and well-calibrated exhibition by the district administration helped contain the spread of the pandemic.
Publicity in times of pandemic!
As a saying in Telugu goes nothing that cannot inspire poetry (‘ kadedi kavitaku anarham ’), some sections in society never miss an opportunity to garner publicity no matter what the situation is. The coronavirus pandemic has every section being put to hardship in some measure or the other. Irrespective of whether one belong to the sections in power or opposition, everybody is showing their largesse and large heartedness by distributing the essentials to the needy sections. Irrespective of whether their gesture is genuine or not, one common feature among all such compassion for the have nots in the present times of crisis is their craving for publicity. Except those engaged in such humane activity for long, all others are flooding the media organisations, particularly the print ones, with their daily routine now (distributing essentials) with a request for allocating some space for their work — publicity!
Far reaching impact of ‘innocuous’ definitions
The Central government drew flak from the state governments and other stakeholders for a recent circular issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
There is a strong reason behind the criticism. The circular said the contributions made to the PM-CARES for the fight against coronavirus came under the ambit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending. But the same was not applicable to the contributions made to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund of the States. The Ministry has not explained the reasons as to why the CMRF contributions have not been brought under the CSR spending.
The notification comes as a time when the Centre’s relations with some States at least are said to be not well. Hopefully, the Ministries will henceforth give adequate clarifications for their notifications, those pertaining to sensitive issues like relief funds.
(Abhinay Deshpande, B. Chandrashekhar and M. Rajeev)
