By Wonah Martin Odey, Commonwealth Scholar and Postgraduate student on the MSc International Conflict and Cooperation
India, a country with the second-largest population in the world is teaching us the role government plays in the lives of its citizens, especially when either religion or scientific advice must be followed. Humans may be free to practice their religion but sometimes the scientific advice for their safety in times of crisis can threaten their right to do so. When you must choose between religion and science and when that choice is to be done at the risk of Covid-19, then the situation can be likened to sitting on the sharpest edge of a knife. Any careless move will have grave consequences. In shocking defiance of global health precautions, pilgrims in India went ahead with one of their biggest religious festivals – the Kumbh Mela fete. The religious exercise happens every 12 years and pilgrims get to take a dip in the Ganges River, an action that is believed to cleanse from sins. This makes things both complicated and interesting. Complicated because we are talking about real life situations with consequences of deaths, but also interesting because it shows us how people react when they are caught between religion and science. One respondent who was interviewed by NTV Houston, maintained that “there is fear of Covid-19 but faith is at its peak”. The fact that infection rates from March 2020 to April 2021 stood above 25,300,565 did not ring a bell. Records show that there was over 500% spike in deaths and infection in the same month of April when the Kumbh Festival held.
The big question is; what will save India now? Before passing judgment, let us be reminded that India has an unshakable reputation in medical advancements. As early as 500 BC, the Indians had perfected the practice of herbal medicine and much of the medical exploits from herbs can be traced back to the Atharvaveda, an ancient text that prescribes medicines for various forms of ailments. Even the pseudoscientific Ayurveda is being used by over 80% of India’s population till today. Most of these discoveries have roots in Hinduism. We can still go on to mention Gregor Mendel, the Augustinian monk who invented the science of crossbreeding. All these point to the fact that science and religion can live and breathe in one space, but must be given their due places to thrive.
Neither religion nor science can save humanity in themselves as they soon drift to the extreme, having no tolerance for the other. The right question to be asking is: what will save India – religion, science or government? Without government action, neither science nor religion can be good for humanity. It is like having scientific prowess to develop nuclear weapons with no regulations or giving religion the power to judge science. In parts of the world where this is the case, scientists may not even live long enough to discover anything. The persecution of Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) by the early church comes to mind. Galileo already reminded us long before now that “the Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” Finding a balance between religion and science is where prosperity lies and the umpire that does this is the government.
There were warning signs which should have as well been considered a buildup to the catastrophe. In January, the Central Bank of India painted a glamorous picture of what the future held for India and was quoted to be expecting a “glorious summer” after a very challenging winter. In the same month, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared all public places opened and crowds were seen gathering without Covid precautions. His actions were informed by the sharp decline of cases from 90,0000 in September to less than 20,000 in January 2021. When the second wave eventually struck in mid-April 2021, it proved that India was celebrating too early. Reports started coming in from hospitals concerning shortages of oxygen and rising patient arrival. The Indian government dispelled that claim, telling people to stay calm as the issue was only caused by hiccups of transporting oxygen to these hospitals.
But it was not up to two months from April before Hospitals were overwhelmed and the entire health system went wobbling in the face of the disaster. Just before the Kumbh Festival, scientists warned that the religious exercise may end up as a super-spreader event if nothing was done to avert it. Shahid Jameel, a virologist and director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences points out that there are three major causes of the surge India experiences: complacency; super spreader events and; new variants. When the cases escalated between April and May, it became clear that the country celebrated too early and was caught off guard. But this did not stop India from fighting back. Currently, India has had to suspend exportation of its Covax vaccine due to the in-country surge. More calls have also been made for the G7 to accelerate vaccine distribution to destinations like India. Experts have particularly called on the UK to lead others in speeding up shipments of vaccines to India. These calls are hinged upon the assumption that hoarded vaccines may be ineffective if distribution is delayed and the Indian variant finally makes its way to the UK – which has already happened. Without any surprise, the international community has taken quick steps to guard against importing this variant and not less than 22 countries have either totally banned or issued strict guidelines on travelling to India. The government of India has also sped up its vaccination programme and over 230 million citizens have received their first jab. But this is still below 30% of its entire population. These actions, joined with the newly imposed lockdown have resulted in a sharp fall of reported cases between mid-June and early July 2021. No doubt there is clearly more work to be done but the latest development proves that government plays the role of an umpire in times of crisis and its action/inaction can either save of take lives.
UK government was among the first to restrict religious gatherings and put a halt on any such festivals in the country. It may have appeared like a “sanctuary to sofa” experience but see how these policies have landed the country in relative success. At the moment, over 35,245,004 Brits have received their first doses of vaccines and 17,199,495 have already returned for their second shots. According to latest scientific evidence, the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduces the risk of infection and death by over 70%. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has said the new variant from India has already been found in the UK and could pose a serious threat to the planned easing of restrictions in June.
How did Saudi Arabia respond? The Saudi government teaches us how quick action from the government could avert impending doom. In June 2020, International pilgrims were told to forget about travelling for the Hajj and in 2021, all travelers have been required to vaccinate. No better proactive measure could have been asked of Saudi Arabia. The important lesson here is that governments have the responsibility to regulate scientific and religious adventures, especially when they pose a threat to human life.
But all actions to contain the situation in India may now be regarded as reactionary. The government could have moved first and fast to stop the “super-spreader event”. Painfully, we have learned that between religion and science, government plays the proactive role of regulator. At every step of the way, the UK and Saudi governments were there to give decisive policies that saved millions of lives. If anything, the takeaway has been a painful reminder that government stands between religion and science and has the responsibility to ensure continuous harmony so that one does not override the other at the expense of human lives.