The International media has systematically targeted India ever since the Modi government took over to please their communist masters. Be it the abrogation of Article 370 or the CAA or the Delhi riots, the coverage has been extremely one-sided and biased.
This time, TIME Magazine has hit a new low in journalism as it has been unable to digest that India is in control of the virus and has published an article which is sprinkled with massive amounts of misinformation and fear-mongering and unsurprisingly, the so-called ‘fact-checker’ Alt news is also slithering in to defame India’s image on the global level.
In her article titled ‘How prepared is India for the Coronavirus outbreak?’, Sanya Mansoor tries to insinuate that India is underreporting the figures. In this first sentence itself, Mansoor levels a serious allegation without any proof. She writes, “As the world grapples with COVID-19 pandemic, some experts say that India — a country of more than 1.3 billion people likely has many more cases than the conservative numbers currently being reported.”
A true journalist will never level such a grave allegation without substance or proof. Mansoor who has amply displayed her hatred and disdain for the Modi government on Twitter claims that she relied on AltNews founder Pratik Sinha’s fact-checkers as she claimed that experts are worried about “government-sponsored misinformation” and predict there are more cases than reported. Unsurprisingly, who exactly are the ‘experts’ hasn’t been revealed by Mansoor.
I spoke to @ashishkjha and @AltNews fact-checkers @Neurophysik + @free_thinker about India's ability to handle the coronavirus outbreak.
Experts are worried about "government-sponsored misinformation" and predict there are more cases than reported.https://t.co/EuCWmZ7zut
— Sanya Mansoor (@sanya_mansoor) March 12, 2020
An expert at Harvard and a fact checker. How are they credible resources to arrive at the conclusion that India is underreporting #CoronaVirusUpdate?
How is this credible journalism by @TIME? pic.twitter.com/ZZPdtQuey2— Soumyadipta (@Soumyadipta) March 13, 2020
The burning question is how AltNews even managed to confirm that the Indian government is not giving out correct figures of the coronavirus patients. Mansoor has also relied on the opinion of Ashish Jha who is an expert at Harvard University. Now how did Jha sitting thousands of miles away know that the Indian government is underreporting the figures? It also seems that the notorious and politically motivated Alt News which ‘fact-checked’ a stone as a wallet in the hand of a Jamia protester is now officially involved in defaming India abroad.
Community transmission has remarkably not been taking place in India which means that India is largely in control of the disease. Most Coronavirus cases in India have been of those who arrived from affected countries across the world, and in some cases, their family members, who have been quarantined. However, Mansoor’s biased article is basically a prayer for community transmission of COVID19 to take place in India.
Mansoor in her article quotes Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute that count is “just not right.” She further adds that Dr Jha believes there must be many more cases, but they have just not been identified. “I’m deeply worried that there’s a lot of community transmission and we are just not aware of it because there is not widespread testing,” he says.
Dr Jha’s claims haven’t been backed by an iota of proof in Mansoor’s article. It was the Chinese government which is suspected to have underreported the true casualties of the deadly viral epidemic.
China being a Communist country with no little place for democracy or free media, can get away by underreporting the numbers. However, India, with a rich and vibrant democracy cannot. Unlike China, there are no curbs on social media and there is ample presence of a plethora of independent media houses. There is no way that TIME Magazine’s theory about India can hold water.
On the other hand, the Chinese government has effectively kidnapped the local journalists who threatened to expose their absolute incompetence of handling the virus and has acted vindictively against any international media houses who dared to criticise China. There has been no muzzling of voices in India and to even think that the Indian government can get away by underreporting the numbers is preposterous.
It seems that the US media houses are unable to digest that India is much better prepared for Coronavirus than others, and much less affected despite being densely populated. The United States, which has less than 330 million people, has around 1,300 infections, with more than 30 deaths while India with 1.3 billion people has only 74 infections with one death — that too of a 76-year-old man who had recently travelled to Saudi and was forced out of isolation by his family members and shifted to a private hospital.
India has largely resisted the virus thanks to the government’s quick thinking. India evacuated over 700 of its citizens from China. All evacuated citizens from China were screened, and any positive cases were quarantined and cured.
The first few cases of the virus in India resulted due to the influx of tourists from Italy who brought the virus to India and then patients from America caused some issues too. India has also evacuated 58 Indians from Iran has sent a medical team to Italy to screen its citizens post which they will be evacuated.
India has quarantined itself from the world by cancelling all unofficial visas for a month and curbing outgoing travel as well. India’s screening systems have performed relatively well that’s why no real outbreak could take place despite the millions that arrive in India monthly.
One needs to give credit where it is due. India is handling the coronavirus issue with far greater sagacity and firmness than ALMOST all countries. Our airports are better equipped and far more efficient than most. Kudos to @narendramodi @drharshvardhan and @HardeepSPuri
— SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) March 12, 2020
India has done a good job so far to fight Coronavirus: @peterlee197499, Associate Professor of East Asian Politics, Social Sciences Department, University of Houston-Downtown tells Navika Kumar on @thenewshour. | #IndiaQuarantinesCoronahttps://t.co/YwECz0zJBo pic.twitter.com/kHItGrCDlu
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 12, 2020
To put things into perspective, Indian airports check-in 80,000 international arrivals daily. India’s busiest airport, Delhi’s IGI Airport, witnesses anywhere from 850 to 2,100 international passengers flying every hour during lean and peak hours. “The maximum rush is from 11 pm to 3 am when IGI Airport sees about 6,000 international arrivals from 35 flights in these four hours,” said Delhi airport sources.
Despite the mountainous task that India faces currently, the government has done well in containing the virus. It is appalling that TIMES would be so bigoted to do such a report.
It is bewildering to know that the editor didn’t even looked out or cared for the reporter’s bias? Mansoor’s social posts have ample indication of where political inclinations lie. These days, International Media houses seem to be persuading more biased articles which portray India in a bad light to the journalists who have absolute hatred for the Modi government or are available for sale. Perhaps that’s why Mansoor was given the go-ahead to do a hit job on India. With this ridiculous hitjob, TIME magazine has effectively shown one more time why it is a rag.
