The period after March 2020 has been a time of tremendous upheaval in almost all aspects of our lives. The COVID pandemic not only emerged as a national crisis, but as a global one. The virus has made many attempts to take over our lives and destroy economic progress. But I am deeply inspired by the unwavering will and resilience shown by the human spirit in these turbulent times. Indeed, we have fought the good fight, and we continue to do so for the love of our land and the safety of our fellow brothers and sisters.
I agree with what the Nobel Prize committee said this year: “The simplest ideas are often the hardest to imagine.” Looking back, I see the power of this statement. While the whole world has gone out in search of a complex solution to this health threat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi quietly came up with a simple solution. He called for a nationwide lockdown, recommending the use of face masks, maintaining social distancing and proper hand washing at regular intervals, to help India tackle the first wave. coronavirus outbreak.
I am grateful to the Prime Minister for setting a shining example of compassionate leadership and providing free vaccines to all eligible beneficiaries in India and sharing these vaccines with the world. After offering the world a glimpse of the ancient Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam as a family, Modi helped the world and India saved countless precious lives.
Under Modi’s leadership, India reached the golden number of 1 billion vaccinations last week. This achievement is also a symbol of the tireless efforts of our frontline workers who laid down their lives for the security of the nation.
The Prime Minister’s ability to come up with simple solutions and the courage to implement them has been my guiding light. As the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (MP), India’s second largest state in terms of area, I took the responsibility of contributing to the goal of complete immunization and immunization of all eligible beneficiaries of MP. The population of MP is around 85 million out of which about 50 million are eligible beneficiaries. The task was difficult not only because we had to vaccinate a large number of people, but also because we had to allay people’s fears and assure good health post-vaccination.
We immersed ourselves in the operation and made our vaccination campaign a campaign. I called for people’s participation, as I learned from the Prime Minister that if people believe in a cause, they will take ownership of it; And if people own it, everyone will win. We have seen the impact of popular participation on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, whose success has been acknowledged by leaders across the world.
We set up Crisis Management Groups (CMGs) at all levels of governance and empowered them to take appropriate measures for COVID control and arrange for treatment and free ration distribution to encourage public participation. The CMG was also given the responsibility of preparing people for vaccination by engaging grassroots government employees such as ASHA and Anganwadi workers, auxiliary nurse-midwives and many others.
Our partnerships with religious leaders, local businesses and social activists, including prominent figures in the fields of cinema, theatre, music and writing, helped us bring citizens closer together. We increased the number of vaccination centers to ensure wider coverage and deputed more staff to these camps to make the process seamless. Modi’s assurance of vaccine adequacy allowed us to execute this project with confidence.
We decided to plot out a series of vaccination high points and plan to give them a festival-like tenure by naming them Vaccination Maha Abhiyan. The first of these was launched on 21 June on the occasion of International Yoga Day.
Our call for Jan Bhagidari or active participation of the people was supported by the political will to benefit the people and the desire to bring efficiency at all levels of administration. In fact, all the officials associated with the promotion of the Kovid vaccination program in the state appealed to the citizens on social media to come forward and get vaccinated. We also sought the support of community influencers such as teachers, patwaris (local record-keepers) and heads of self-help groups to ensure the success of Jan Bhagidari as a model of social change.
In meetings with my cabinet ministers and officials, I had set a target of giving a dose of COVID vaccination to one lakh eligible beneficiaries on the first day of the June Vaccination Maha Abhiyan. Though the goal was beyond our reach, we went ahead with our firm belief and our belief in the power of public participation.
We were also delighted to see people participating with such enthusiasm, and set a benchmark in the country when we reached the magic number of 1.695 million doses. During the latest phase of the Vaccination Maha Abhiyan, we were able to vaccinate 2.644 million people in a day. MP’s efforts to help India achieve the achievement of 1 billion Covid doses cannot go unnoticed, as we relentlessly pursue the model of public participation to contribute to the Prime Minister’s dream of a Covid-secure India .
As we focus our efforts on taking Madhya Pradesh to the path of Prerna and Pragati, or Prerna and Pragati, my heart goes towards Prime Minister Modi’s leadership and the way the people of the state have participated in the vaccination programme. , is filled with gratitude towards him. It is now clear that public participation has paved the way for India’s victory against the COVID pandemic.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
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