After pandemic, India should aim for self-reliance in public health

Covid situation in India is horrific with shortages, death and panic. In Such times, global support counts for a lot. India demonstrated this last year. Hospitals in the West were swamped. They had no PPE kits, no masks and no medicines. It was India that came to their rescue.

This year, we are seeing a role reversal. India's caseload is steadily rising. But on the other side of the world, things are improving.

Europe and America are emerging from the pandemic. So naturally, you would expect them to repay the favour. Instead, we got snarky remarks and delays.

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The US was the most curious case. Washington kept talking about the importance of US-India ties. At the same time, they were withholding critical raw materials. This action had consequences. Without raw materials from the US, Indian vaccine makers could not expand output. But the State Department saw things differently. They came up with the most bizarre defence when asked about the embargo.

The State Department believes getting Americans vaccinated is a global priority.

The US may be a superpower, but its people are not a superspecies. So there is no reason why Americans deserve the jab more than people in Asia or Africa or Latin America. But that's exactly what the US was doing until this weekend: hoarding vaccines, blocking raw materials, and telling the world it's in their best interest. Criticism followed, America changed track.

Countries like America play to the gallery. And in the last few days, the world's attention has turned to India. Every major newspaper was carrying the story.

People started talking about America's embargo. And its selfishness. So the tone changed. Suddenly, Joe Biden remembered how india had helped his country last year.

This is what the president tweeted on Monday:"Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need."

America has finally relented. It is poised to send ventilators, PPE kits and vaccine raw materials to India. But it shouldn't have been this hard.

Since Biden imposed the embargo, India has added 6 million new infections and nearly 40,000 deaths. The fact is, when India needed the US, it vanished.Now that the world is watching, it is eager to help. Hardly the actions of an ally, let alone a friend.

So what's the lesson here? Was India wrong in depending on other countries? Has the spirit of globalisation failed the test of tragedy?

The biggest takeaway is this. There is no substitute for self-reliance. Even the champions of globalisation are dabbling in vaccine nationalism. They are shutting borders and stocking vaccines.

But India did the exact opposite. It gifted millions of doses to neighbours, took on the mission of vaccinating Africa and Europe. In hindsight, critics may question the wisdom. But hindsight is a dangerous place to dwell.

India can be proud of its vaccine diplomacy.The rest of the world is responding in kind. At the same time, the lesson is clear. India must build its own arsenal. Because when the next tragedy strikes, things won't be any different.The US And Europe will still put their citizens first.Many Indian firms are supplying raw materials for Pfizer and Moderna. New Delhi could have leveraged this. It chose not to. This is the language America understands. The language of power and arm-twisting.

And quite frankly, we shouldn't be surprised. The US has repeatedly failed, when India has sought help. And this wasn't a handout. India was buying raw materials for a vaccine. American companies were being paid.

Look at some instances in history.

In the 1990s, Americans refused to share the cryogenic technology for space missions. So India got down to building its own. It wasn't easy work. There were multiple setbacks on the way. But in 2017, India's home-grown cryogenic engine was tested successfully.

Here is another instance. This is from 1999, during the Kargil war.

Pakistani troops had taken up strategic positions. So India requested GPS data from the region.GPS could have been a gamechanger in Kargil.

But we'll never know, because the US government denied India's request. Two decades later, India has its own GPS. It's called the Navic system. Experts say Navic is even more accurate than GPS in the Indian sub-continent.

India has thrived in adversities. Some of our finest moments have come amid hardships. The Wuhan virus pandemic should be no different. A post-pandemic India must target self-reliance in public health.