At a time when everyone wants to be seen as a corona warrior, the central government’s own list of COVID warriors stands at 15.89 million-a number which does not include a single non-government organisation or sanitation worker.
The largest slice of COVID-19 warriors, that is 3,554,912, is made of up volunteers from the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, while the smallest comes from Port Hospitals (12). The first, billed as the world’s largest youth organisation with a membership of 8.5 million youth, is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Youth Affairs in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MOYAS).
Another youth organisation- the National Service Scheme, also under the MOYAS, with 2,581,744 volunteers is at the second spot on the list maintained online at covigwarriors.gov.in by the National Informatics Centre.
At 1,748,363, nurses are almost 1.8 times the number of doctors at 927,000. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers, together stand at 3,550,158 while Panchayat secretaries account for at 237,917 such warriors.
From March 25, when the first lockdown of 21 days was clamped on the country, the list of essential services to remain functional has included a combination of central, and state and municipal level facilities.
While at the central level, this list included defence, central armed police forces, treasury, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), disaster management, power generation and transmission units, post offices, National Informatics Centre, Early Warning Agencies and Police, home guards, civil defence, fire and emergency services, disaster management, prisons; at the state/district level, it included administration and treasury, electricity; and municipal level services such as sanitation, water supply etc.
In consonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Vocal for Local’ cry, volunteers from the urban and rural livelihood missions also find mention on the list. The rural livelihood mission scheme--the Deenbandhu Upadyaya Grameen Kaushlya Yojana (DDU-GKY)--has contributed 43,944 COVID warriors who have been manufacturing masks, sanitizers, protective clothing, face shields and running community kitchens. Its urban counterpart, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY NULM), has pitched in with 43,285 trained health workers. Health professionals trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) number 108,149. However, not a single private hospital or doctor from the private sector finds mention.
Not every state or Union territory has warriors under a given category. The rural livelihood mission for instance records no warrior in Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. There are no trained health workers under the urban livelihood mission in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Ladakh, Lashwadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim and the National Capital Territory (NCT of Delhi).
On the list of Grameen Dak Sewak Delivery Agents (69,840 as per the list), no data is available for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura which are bunched under the category of North Eastern states.
Other categories mentioned in the list include MBBS students, dentists, pharmacists, AYUSH organisations and individuals, hospitals under the Central Public Service Enterprises (CPSE), Employees State Insurance Commission (EPIC), Railway, Ordnance and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), laboratory volunteers, ex-servicemen, National Cadet Corps (NCC), psycho social care, Gram Rozgar Sewak, veterinary doctors and para vets, allied and health care professionals, home guard and fire service.
A reading of the list can also be a key to understanding state wise variations in health care services available to citizens. Thus, Uttar Pradesh which has three times the population of Tamil Nadu, has 1.7 times less doctors. This availability of the doctors is taken as 80 per cent of those registered with the Medical Council of India.
The list does not have a category for civil service or non-government organisations which have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 battle, supplying food and helping stranded people since the start of the lockdown, and before state governments stepped in. The Rashritya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), seen as the socio-cultural precursor of the BJP, thus finds no mention on the list.
