From Students’ Suicides To Plasma Bank Count, Centre Has Almost No Data On Several Public Interest Issues

New Delhi: Ever since the start of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the government has denied having any data on several issues that are of public interest.

It comes as an irony that the central government has no data on all the issues the country is currently facing when it wants to have every knowledge of your movement, transactions and many more.

It is given to understand that data is crucial to comprehend the depth of a problem and the information available already in the public domain highlights that the data is stark and the government is only stonewalling information.

Here is the “No Data” list of crucial issues which highlights the off-hand approach of the government:

Number Of Plasma Banks In Country

In a written reply, Minister of State for Health, Ashwini Choubey said states have taken initiative to establish such banks to provide plasma therapy to COVID-19 patients but no central database of such banks is maintained.

Convalescent plasma therapy has not been recommended by the Ministry of Health as a mainstay of COVID-19 therapy and there is no proposal under consideration to set up plasma banks, Rajya Sabha was informed.

He was responding to a question on the total number of plasma banks running at present to provide plasma therapy to the Corona/COVID-19 patients in the country state-wise and whether the government proposes to set up more plasma banks to cope with the disease in the country.

MSMEs That Shut During Lockdown

Centre claimed there’s no record of the number of medium and small businesses (MSME) that have closed during the pandemic.

Pratap Chandra Sarangi was asked about the number of small and medium businesses that closed shop from March to August 2020. The Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) replied in a statement to Rajya Sabha, ‘COVID-19 epidemic has temporarily affected various sectors including micro, small scale enterprises which also affected job scenario. No such record is available’.

In addition, he said, there was no data on the number of MSMEs closed down from FY 2014-15 to FY 2019-20 either.

Migrant Workers’ Deaths During Lockdown

On September 14, the Union Labour Ministry said there is no data on migrant deaths so the ‘question does not arise’ of compensation.

The ministry was replying to a question whether families of those who had lost their lives while trying to reach home in the coronavirus lockdown had been compensated.

The government’s response came on Day 1 of the monsoon session. With this, the government has once again ignored the plight of the masses when they were forced to set on thousands of kilometres long journey when the lockdown was announced earlier this year in March.

The long journey of days and weeks turned fatal for hundreds of migrant workers who were forced to go back to their villages after there was no employment and a means of survival left for them.

However, after a week, on Monday, in response to a question by Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien in the Rajya Sabha about the same in details, the Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply, “Data is being collected from the States/UTs,” reported news agency ANI.

Doctors’ Deaths During COVID

The government, while giving data on the number of doctors and healthcare workers who died during COVID, said as many as 155 healthcare staff, including 64 doctors, have died due to coronavirus till September 11.

The government quoted ’Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting Covid-19’ which provides relief in case of death of such workers.

Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey in response to a question in Rajya Sabha said that health is a state subject and such data is not maintained at the central level.

Centre’s claims were refuted by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and accused the government of “indifference”, “abdication” and “abandonment of heroes”. According to IMA, 382 doctors died in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students’ Suicides

On Saturday, the government also denied having any data on student suicides during the lockdown. DMK MP Kanimozhi had asked the government for details regarding student suicides during the lockdown due to lack of access to digital means. The Ministry of Education to whom the question was posed in the Lok Sabha claimed that they do not possess the data.