In January-February of 2021, when the whole world, including the US, UK, and the other European nations were reeling under the influence of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, India was celebrating. It was a huge respite for millions of Indians and the governments alike as daily cases were at an all-time low. The daily new cases fell from 97,000 cases per day in September 2020 to just 10 000 cases per day in January 2021. The active cases had also fallen to an all-time low of just 2.2 lakh during the same period. The country was also celebrating the onset of the vaccines. India rolled out its national vaccination program, marshalled by the success of Covaxin and Covishield in the clinical trials. The government set an overambitious goal of inoculating 300 million people, particularly the frontline workers such as those in the healthcare industry, by the end of the summer. This sudden drop in daily cases and the arrival of the vaccines caused people and the government to turn complacent and negligent in their fight against the virus that reached its climax when the country was hit by a more lethal second wave at the end of February, devouring thousands of lives since its arrival. The daily new cases crossed 400,000, and according to the statistics released by the World Health Organization, India accounted for almost half of the cases reported worldwide in the month of May.
With more than 400,000 cases recorded daily in May 2021, India was the only country with such a big surge; however, it is also the only country with a big heart. In 2020, India exported tons of essential HCQ drugs and dispatched medical teams to various countries to assist them in their fight against the raging virus. Under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, India exported 65 million doses of vaccines to nearly 95 countries holding its commitment to form a united front against the pandemic. Vaccines have been sent to countries spanning from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and even the Pacific. Some of the countries that received India’s shipment include Brazil, Jamaica, UK, Morocco, Nigeria, UAE, Tajikistan, the Solomon Islands among others. India had also dispatched vaccines to its neighbours, in fact, they were among the first to receive the Indian made vaccines. This reiterated India’s commitment to shelve its neighbours under its hood by projecting itself as a responsible nation. This obviously gained points for its neighbourhood first policy.
There have been voices raised against the decision of exporting vaccines when the need for them domestically was at a record high, especially when several states were reporting a shortage of doses to vaccinate their population during the second wave. The government drabbed such arguments. Speaking at an event organized by the All-India Management Association, External affairs minister S. Jaishankar said that the second wave had exposed the vulnerabilities in the system and only "irresponsible people'' criticize the exports of the vaccines. He belaboured the government’s stance once again while addressing the Lok Sabha and posited that Indians are naturally internationalist by virtue of their culture and traditions and must never contradict between internationalism and nationalism. All said and done, the country however was in an acute shortage of vaccines and oxygen. Where did India go wrong?
The US and other European countries have taken proactive measures to the extent of invoking several domestic laws to prevent companies from exporting vaccines and injected money into pharma manufacturers to make vaccines available for their own population. This is what India failed to do. In a frantic effort to counter China's vaccine influence and gain political advantages abroad, the government started exporting millions of doses without even considering how many doses can be spared for domestic use. Gross underestimation, complacency, and bad planning by the government led to such a disaster. However, it is not the time to play the blame game, the government understood. It used the most decisive weapon in its arsenal, a plea for reciprocation from countries which it once assisted, and the erstwhile beneficiaries were more than willing to lend a helping hand.
President Joe Biden's tweet in late April assuring India of all possible help affirmed the success of the Vaccine Maitri programme. It can be said that 'Vaccine Maitri’ finally paid off. Despite a tiff initially, Washington has also lifted the ban on the export of raw materials for vaccine manufacturing in India. The US has also promised to export nearly 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine apart from funding from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to Indian vaccine manufacturers. The Biden administration also took the lead in waiving off the Covid vaccine patents despite stiff opposition from Europe. Russia's assistance arrived in the form of the Sputnik V vaccines, which hit the Indian markets as early as the end of May. This boosted India's vaccine drive. Other leading economies such as France, Germany and Australia lend assistance in the form of oxygen concentrators and ventilators. Countries such as the UAE, Italy, Thailand, and Singapore have done their part by contributing to India’s fight. Even smaller nations such as Romania, Ireland, Uzbekistan, and Mauritius have reciprocated by vowing to extend support in any form required.
The other side of the coin:
India's vaccine diplomacy and its after-effects had given rise to differing arguments across the country. Some say that India's initiative of exporting vaccines certainly strengthened India's diplomatic relations while another faction is criticizing the government for its lack of foresightedness. Although it is true that the world has responded rather proactively in extending support to India, it also becomes inevitable to look at the other side of the coin: the caveats that the diplomacy brought with it. An important question on the table was 'Why is the government being criticized for its diplomacy?’ It is argued that the government has utterly failed to anticipate the future course of the crisis and also for sending out a wrong message internationally that India has conquered the virus. In January this year, speaking at the WEF's Davos forum, Prime Minister Modi said that India's vaccines would ramp up the world's vaccination efforts. It is an irony now that India does not have enough vaccines to inoculate its own population. Secondly, the government was criticized for its lethargic efforts to jack up the production of pharmaceutical products and increasing the oxygen supply in the country. The government was so drowned in its diplomatic manoeuvres that it only put a ban on the export of medical supplies and oxygen days into the second wave.
In the wake of India’s efforts to concretize the relations by sending vaccine aid, it becomes interesting to see if it would reap any benefits. Countries usually tend to act on their selfish interests and forget the support rendered by another country. India has been a victim of that, and this has resulted in several implications. India must ensure that its vaccine diplomacy actually works. For instance, India tried to affiliate its vaccine diplomacy with its neighbourhood policy by sending nearly 80 lakhs of vaccines to its neighbours. India must not wrap up its bag now. It has the upper hand in resolving the existing issues and differences with its neighbours. It thus has to grasp the opportunity to do so, failing which would result in a miscarriage of both its vaccine diplomacy and its neighbourhood policy.
Conclusion:
Although there have been several strategic blunders made by the government, one aspect of the crisis gave us a glimmer of hope: the world has responded. The voluntary dispatching of tons of equipment and other medical essentials from across the world proves a point that India's diplomacy did not fail completely, and, certainly, India was not in the fight alone. The global outpouring of support was a payback to India's outsourcing of assistance even before the pandemic broke out. During the pre-pandemic period, India actively engaged in what political pundits call 'rescue diplomacy' wherein India was the first responder to various natural and human-made calamities. Shouldering such global responsibilities despite facing financial limitations had worked in its favour. India was a beneficiary of what is called the 'politics of compassion' - goodwill overflowing to India's rescue as a result of its far-sighted foreign policy choices.
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