Is this not a war too?

The one and only Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler of Germany, would be proud of all us Indians today. Or who knows, he could be laughing his guts off from wherever he is tossing about, six-or-more-feet-under. That's because we, as Indians, completely-non-Aryans, have exhibited an absurd alienation and are embracing a complete hibernation from reality. As a polity and a nation, we are behaving like Don Quixote, brandishing our swords and rushing towards the proverbial windmill, spurring our steeds to a gallop. Facing the worst phase of a pandemic, we don't even seem to care about our very own, as we continue to bicker over modern-day economic endemics like IPR, licenses and royalty issues.

Around 80 years back, something similar happened, World War II. The world acquiesced and recapitulated quickly, saving a large section of mankind. Today, the world fights a war just as bad as it did in the 1940s—actually, today is worse, for we battle an enemy that remains unseen. Trenches, bullets, aircraft and tanks cannot work. Only science and a strategic approach can succeed.

Yet, we continue to bury our heads in the sand. Corporate honchos and visceral politicians bicker, complain, snigger, retort and engage in a wicked blame-game. People manned with saving the country point fingers and other body parts in every direction, only not the right one. Corporates and cuckolds cackle as they flee the country to celebrate their bank balances in other lands, even as a million Indians gasp for breath each day. These people enjoy the Cote d' Azure and beach-front properties around in the world and share celebratory pictures on social media sites, while 135 crore less-empowered Indians bid adieu to an increasing number of dead family members and friends.

Hitler wasn't alone

Let me clarify the introductory paragraph, lest you feel I am fascinated by the Fuhrer. I also know all about Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Hannibal, Julius Caesar and other plunderers. Sure, they all deserve their due in posterity and history in the bloody hall of fame, for their murderous conquests and dreams of a global rule. A few of them came close to it too, but still, Adolf Hitler stands out. He was as violent as any of the others, but he did catalyze the most expensive war in the world, both in terms of lives lost and expenses incurred. Unwittingly, he also managed to bring a struggling America out of the Great Depression. How so?

Let's rewind 80-85 years. The world was at war. Europe burned. Japan too joined in on the blood-fest, as hundreds of Zeros led by a 'Kamikaze' squad of flyers zoomed in on Pearl Harbor and sank a large part of the US fleet, which was caught completely unawares. The attack happened on December 7, 1941, a date that changed the course of the war, as the US was forced to announce its official entrance into WW-II.

Of some decisions are...

It is momentous decisions taken at times of extreme anarchy or extenuating circumstances that history is made of. For instance, how did the United States utilize a development as bleak as a World War to turn around its economy and drag itself out of a depression that had been gnawing away at its innards for over a decade? Well, quite simply, by pooling resources and putting the war machinery into action, bringing about an industrial revolution and saving most of Europe in the process.

The US produced much more than its own military forces required and armed itself and its allies for the most industrialized war in the history of the planet. In 1940 itself, before Pearl Harbor, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for the production of 185,000 aircraft, 120,000 tanks, 55,000 anti-aircraft guns and 18 million tons of merchant shipping in two years. Hitler was told by his advisors that this was mere American propaganda, nothing more. Well, you decide for yourself. By the end of the war, US factories had produced 300,000 planes and over two-thirds of the Allied military equipment used in the war, bringing armed forces into play in North and South America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Western Europe and the Pacific Rim.

How did it happen?

How did the US pull off this incredible world-saving feat? Well, by getting anyone and everyone who could participate in the war effort, to well… Participate. For instance, Ford Motor Company was made to shut down civilian vehicle production and dedicate all resources to Allied war efforts. It repurposed assembly lines and began military manufacturing… Thus was built a mile-long plant that produced B-24 Liberator bombers, which produced its first bomber in May, 1942 and made several hundred aircraft a month from then on, till the end of the war in 1945.

Hence, the toughest Fords you have ever seen is not some fancy SUV, but the M4 tank and the M10 tank destroyer.

Ford is but one name—numerous others were used as the entire country was made to chip in. To name a few, the Lionel Toy Train Company started producing items for warships, including compasses. Alcoa, the aluminum company, produced airplanes. The Mattatuck Manufacturing Company, which had made upholstery nails, switched to making cartridge clips for Springfield rifles. Most US shipyards were made to churn out fleets of aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, submarines and other vessels.

Ironically, it took a war to bring about change and remarkable social gains were made. War production plants are manned by humans, right, so attempts to boost morale such as holding more softball games and building canteens and health clubs to foster a sense of community. Paradoxically, the illogic of mobilization produced the logic of social advance.

What is my point?

Well, it is simple, even earthy. While seemingly Inconceivable, the blunt truth in India now is that even as we struggle to battle a deadly virus that is only manifesting itself in deathlier and circuitously more morbid ways, we continue to engage in inane debates, arguments and blame-games over licenses, royalties and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). For God's sake, wake up and share this miracle of a vaccine and put an end to the suffering. My country and my people are at stake. I myself have seen more than my fair share of deaths over the last few months. India is at stake.

I understand that we do not have enough doses of the vaccine for all; but the blame can be dished out later. Today, we do have the formula to make the vaccine; we have been doing so for months. Bharat Biotech and the Indian Serum Institute have produced enough vials of the vaccine and tested it on scores of people to know that both variants perform as per the given task. If ever this country was faced with a 'national disaster' (as many our designated and 'acronymed' agencies involved in the fight are titled), it is today. This is a 'once-in-a-century' pandemic—inflicting lakhs and killing thousands every day and lately even leaving people sightless and speechless.

What are we waiting for? Is this not a war too? A war of the worst kind possible, where the enemy remains unheard, unseen and unnoticed, till it stealthily eats away into our human capital and society. The time to act is now. Or is it that the Indian pharmaceutical lobby is as much of a predator as the tobacco and gun lobbies in the United States? Having been all gushy, gooey and 'donutty' about the US (in its war efforts in WW-II), it is time to change the narrative.

Change is required

Yes, let's please change the narrative and approach in India too. We have the formula, the wherewithal to replicate it, and we do happen to be the largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical products in the world. When, if not now, will we utilize this capability? I fully appreciate and understand that there are overseas laboratories, partners and licensors involved in the play here. They want their pound of flesh. Then give it to them—royalties alone will work easily.

The international Coronavirus vaccines that our State Governments are now issuing global tenders for are priced three-to-four times what India-made vaccines cost. Split the difference, whichever way the equation pleases everyone, and move on to save a nation and her people. As a friend mentioned in a recent article, there is a marked difference between those who 'speak' and those who 'do'. And history will never be kind to those who brandish mere words and brazen brouhaha, especially those who have the power and authority to make a difference. Could I have spoken thus about Adolf Hitler 80 years ago, or lived to write this tale? Let's make a difference.

Please. The author is a communications consultant and a clinical analyst. [email protected]

Views expressed are personal