New book highlights India’s successful battle against COVID-19 crisis

Sajjad Ahmad, Deputy Business Editor
 
India emerged victorious during the COVID-19 pandemic despite all constraints and turned the crisis into an opportunity of economic growth by entering into partnerships with local manufacturers for producing the required vaccines and other amenities within months, said Priyam Gandhi-Mody during an interview with Gulf Today.

She made these remarks during the release of her book “A Nation to Protect: Leading India Through the COVID Crisis” at the Indian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai on Friday.

Her book describes India’s battle with the pandemic and its emergence from the deadly crisis under the stellar leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She said, “Indian healthcare infrastructure was struggling to handle such an abrupt and large scale crisis at the beginning but the wise leadership took some great initiatives of lockdown and production of vaccines, which minimised the loss of human lives and strengthened the economy by exporting the vaccines.”

Sunjay Sudhir, Indian Ambassador to the UAE, while unveiling the book said, “This book is of immense significance, and it is the story of India that the world ought to know.”

“India has done pretty well despite many challenges as there was a very clearheaded leadership which really worked its way and found solutions relevant to the socio-economic context,” he added.

Talking about India’s efforts to fight the pandemic, he said, “India’s vaccination drive has been the fastest in the world to achieve 1 billion doses and that too within mere 279 days. We have also undertaken very successful vaccination diplomacy. Despite all constraints, India also remained very steadfast in its commitments to the world by becoming a credible and responsible alternative for global supply chain and responding to the requests of other counties in terms of medicines, vaccines and other amenities.”

Sharing her inspiration behind the book, Priyam Gandhi-Mody said, “The Prime Minister led the country so strongly that people followed his directives by placing trust in his decision which strengthened India’s position in the world. The Prime Minister streamlined his communications backed by science with the people of the country. India managed to turn this Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity of growth.”

A discussion with Sunjay Sudhir and Priyam Gandhi-Mody moderated by senior journalist Vicky Kapur followed the book launch.

Gandhi-Mody explained in the discussion, “At the onset of Covid-19, the timeliness of the lockdown in India was very crucial in our fight against the pandemic. This story is particularly intriguing as India not only survived but also has become one of the leaders in dealing with this pandemic. Indians overcame the issue and adopted the perspective of Atmanirbharta i.e., self-sufficient in the true sense.”

In his closing remarks, Sudhir said, “COVID-19 has taught us how the goodness of human beings come together as against the cynicism and gives each one hope that is overwhelming. I hope the worst is behind us, but this is for sure that now we can deal with any situation and cope with it.”