NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 22: Indian policemen push barricades to place them in the center of a a road leading to historic India Gate, during a one-day nationwide Janata (civil) curfew imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 on March 22, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Death toll due to coronavirus in India reached seven on Sunday with three more fatalities as the country observed a "janta curfew" or public lockdown on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendara Modi. Besides placing under lockdown till March 31st, 75 districts with confirmed coronavirus cases , the government also decided to shut down train, metro and inter-state services to curb the spread of the global pandemic in India. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)
Last week, Indians woke up to good news regarding the effectiveness of their government in terms of coronavirus. A few days later, the same news wasn’t good anymore, rather it was shared for mere point-scoring.
The ruling party, Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Twitter handle posted the news that India has secured 100 out of 100 marks on the COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index developed by Blavatnik School of Government at the Oxford University.
The ‘full marks’ underline Modi government’s proactiveness, seriousness, and swiftness in implementing effective lockdown.
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Here’s the tweet:
While it is a great achievement to score full marks, there were no “marks” as the index only states the strictness of the measures taken by a government. It doesn’t represent the ‘appropriateness or effectiveness of a country’s response’. The developers of the index, Blavatnik School of Government, were quick to respond to the tweet, saying the index should not be misinterpreted.
In its blog, the research institute wrote:
A higher position in the Stringency Index does not necessarily mean that a country’s response is ‘better’ than others lower on the index.
The tweet has triggered plenty of replies. Let’s have a look at a few:
What are your thoughts on the story? Let us know in the comments.
