Civil rights group plans online homage to Corona spate every Friday starting May 7

Counterview Desk 
A civil rights organisation, Rashtra Seva Dal (RSD), which claims to work to promote democracy, secularism, Constitutional values, equality and scientific thinking, has decided to offer collective homage for victims of the corona spate, which it says is both “biological and ideological.”
Titled "Friday Flame: For a Fear Free India", and proposed as anon-line homage and tribute, the on-line shraddhanjali, says an email alert to Counterview by well-known linguist Ganesh Devy, president, RSD, “will include lighting five candles or diyas, symbolising Courage, Unity, and Hope, Freedom and Equality, and two-three minutes short speeches in memory of the the departed.”
The homage is proposed to be paid in five successive weekly on-line meetings held on Fridays at 6.00 pm beginning May 7, and will be held on all successive Fridays, May 14, May 21, May 28, and June 4). On the June 4.
Says an RSD announcement, “Hundreds of Rashtra Seva Dal members and like minded citizens will observe a day's fast to symbolically reaffirm their commitment to Courage, Unity, and Hope, Freedom and Equality. Many eminent thinkers, scientists, doctors, artists, writers, activists, cultural figures, community leaders and citizens from all part of the country will join in...”

Text:

The Corona Pandemic has been among the most devastating tragedies in the remembered history of India. It has so far affected nearly 2 crore persons. Nearly 4 lakh new cases are reported coming up daily. One likes to hope that this number does not rise to 7 to 8 lakh daily by mid-May as is being predicted by experts. We are not thinking of the 3rd Phase as yet though there is a near certainty that another deadly phase may affect India.
The figures are larger or at par with the figures of victims in other remembered natural or man made calamities in modern India's history. The Spanish Flue in 1918-19 affected 1 crore and 70 lakh persons. The Partition of India and Pakistan resulted in the death of more than 10 lakh. The Bangladesh war saw 2,69,000 persons killed in the subcontinent -- Pakistani, Indians and Bangladeshis.
The Killari Earthquake killed over 30,000 and the Kutch earthquake took the lives of 18,600 persons. The figure of the dead due to the Corona Virus illness has crossed 2, 30,000 today.
It is going to increase as the days and weeks pass, and one simply does not know how large it will be if the dreaded 3rd Phase hits us. The tribal and rural districts which had so far remained relatively unaffected have started showing a high incidence of Covid from the last week.
How do we as a society respond to this hydra-headed calamity?

Ganesh Devy

One way is, of course, to enhance the country's healthcare infra-structure, to add to the human resource in the sector and to accelerate manufacture of vaccine and oxygen. Millions of families have already been devastated by the Corona impact.
They have lost their dear ones, lost jobs, lost opportunities, lost hope. And the biological Corona epidemic is, sadly, coupled with an ideological corona. What we are facing is not just an individual's tragedy. It is a large, unprecedented and universal catastrophe.
The least we can do in this situation is to remember and pay homage to the victims of all kinds of Corona.
Our prayer for them should be a prayer and also a tribute for the courageous Indians who lost their lives fighting hatred, contempt and injustice.
Rashtra Seva Dal works to promote Democracy, Secularism, Constitutional Values, Equality and Scientific Thinking. Therefore, the RSD is convening an on-line homage and tribute. The on-line Shraddhanjali will include lighting five candles or a diyas, symbolising Courage, Unity, and Hope, Freedom and Equality, and two-three minutes short speeches in memory of the the departed. Homage will be paid in five successive weekly on-line meetings held on Fridays at 6.00 PM beginning Friday, the May 7 till Friday, June 4. (May 7, May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4). 

On the June 4, hundreds of Rashtra Seva Dal members and like minded citizens will observe a day's fast to symbolically reaffirm their commitment to Courage, Unity, and Hope, Freedom and Equality. Many eminent thinkers, scientists, doctors, artists, writers, activists, cultural figures, community leaders and citizens from all part of the country will join in these meetings.
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