FRAMING COVID-19 IN INDIA:

A CASE OF NECROPOLITICS
AND TRUST DEFICIT
VIVEK NEELAKANTAN, MEDICAL HISTORIAN
PAPER PRESENTED AT THE LSHTM SYMPOSIUM , “ CORONAVIRUS YEARS:
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON COVID-19 AND ITS AFTERMATH.”
EPIDEMIC AS A DRAMATURGICAL EVENT

Four stages in the trajectory of COVID-19 across India:

(a) Progressive revelation
(b) Managing randomness;
(c) Negotiation of public response
(d) Multiple crisis points in COVID 19’s trajectory across India such as lockdown (March to May 2020), first peak of the
pandemic (September 2020), steady decline of new infections ( October to January 2021), followed by recrudescence

What constitutes end of the pandemic?

(See also Rosenberg 1989).

CORONAVIRUS IN WIDER
POLITICAL CONTEXT
Courtesy: https://reliefweb.int/report/india/covid-19-disorder-
tracker-spotlight-continuing-conflicts-india-26-apr-2-may-2020
TIMELINE OF COVID-19 IN INDIA: EARLY 2020

1) January 2020: First case of COVID-19 in Kerala state detected in a medical student returning from
Wuhan
2) March 17, 2020, as WHO declares evidence of local transmission in India, central government makes
home quarantine of incoming travellers from overseas
3) As number of COVID-positive cases in India cross 500, India imposes an initial three-week lockdown,
beginning March 24, 2020.
INDIAN MIGRANT WORKERS DURING
LOCKDOWN: LIVES VS LIVELIHOODS
LOCKDOWN EXODUS
Migrant workers from India’s capital Delhi, trying
to get back to their hometown in the
neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, 2020.

Courtesy: https://theprint.in/opinion/india-didnt-
create-covid-19-problem-but-a-better-system-
wouldve-helped-us-cope-better/390143/
LOCKDOWN: A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION

1) Biopolitical function of the state, i.e. sustaining life and economic activity came to a standstill during the
lockdown.
2) Lockdown was able to prevent spread of contagion to a certain degree, such a containment measure
caused tension within the basic biopolitical logic of the cultivation of human life which is to make live
rather than to let die.
3) Privileging of capital vs labour dilemma
MIGRANT WORKERS SPRAYED
WITH DETERGENT IN UTTAR
PRADESH
Source:
https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/superhero-
show-shaktimaan-to-return-on-doordarshan-amid-lockdown-
confirms-mukesh-khanna/articleshow/74888139.cms
MUNICIPAL WORKERS FUMIGATE A
LOCALITY IN KOLKATA CITY OVER
CONCERNS OF COVID-19 (MAY
2020)
Source:
https://www.bloombergquint.com/coronavirus-
outbreak/coronavirus-india-updates-covid-19-cases-in-india-to-
reach-30000-as-lockdown-end-nears
SHRAMIK SPECIAL (TRAINS TO REPATRIATE MIGRANT LABOUR HOME).

SOURCE:
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA IMAGE
DID INDIA REALLY FLATTEN THE CURVE?

• Despite a stringent lockdown, India had the world’s largest growing coronavirus outbreak as of
September 2020.
• Poor testing, or increased herd immunity caused an apparent flattening of the curve by October 2020?
VACCINATION AND TRUST DEFICIT IN INDIA

• January 2021, India greenlights two coronavirus vaccines developed by private enterprise: COVISHIELD
(manufactured by Astra Zeneca in collaboration with Serum Institute of India and COVAXIN (developed
by Bharat Biotech).
• Transparency-related blind spots in securing approval of Bharat Biotech vaccine (third phase clinical
trials results not available).
• Vaccine hesitancy related to safety, efficacy of vaccine
• Political opposition to COVAXIN from the Congress party
• Akhilesh Yadav from the opposition Samajwadi Party alleged he would not take the “ BJP Vaccine.”
THE SECOND COVID-19 WAVE: FEB 2020-

• Speculations that India had attained herd immunity dashed in Feb 2021
• Surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra
• Relaxation of international travel restrictions in India
• Discovery of double-mutant strain
•
MAHARASHTRA LEADS THE SECOND WAVE