Govt slams NYT for its article on India's Covid-19 response, terms it as ‘provocative, attention seeking’

New Delhi, September 18:Slamming the New York Times for publishing a “provocative” and “attention-seeking” article on India’s Covid response, the Central government said all the issues raised by the publishing house are dead ones and probably do not merit any attention.

 

 

During the press conference, when the panel was asked about their response to the NYT's report, ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said, that this provocative, attention-seeking article was published at a time when India is doing good and our vaccination is excellent and it is diverting attention."

 

He added, "All the issues raised are dead ones and probably do not merit any attention." Besides ICMR director, NITI Aayog Member (Health), VK Paul condemned the reports and hit out the NYT over its ‘distorted and out of context reporting.' He said, “We condemn such distorted and out-of-context reporting. This is not desirable.”

 

 

Moreover, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also accursed The New York Times’ prejudiced reportage stoking skepticism over India’s Covid response. He said, “We greatly value journalistic and editorial freedom and at the same time we must also realise that all of us – Union government as well as the state governments are fully engaged in fighting a pandemic and all our energies and time is devoted to that."

 

“We cannot afford to be diverted by things that can be addressed at a later day which are not a priority from the public health point of view,” he added.

 

 

On 14 September, New York Times's author Karan Deep Singh published an article titled “As India’s Lethal Covid Wave Neared, Politics Overrode Science”, in which he has pour scorn over India’s effort to tackle the Covid crisis.

 

 

 

In his article, Karna Deep Singh claimed that the "ICMR tailored its findings to fit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's optimistic narrative despite a looming crisis."

He said, " In September 2020, eight months before a deadly Covid-19 second wave struck India, government-appointed scientists downplayed the possibility of a new outbreak. Previous infections and early lockdown efforts had tamed the spread, the scientists wrote in a study that was widely covered by the Indian news media after it was released last year. The results dovetailed neatly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two main goals: restart India’s stricken economy and kick off campaigning for his party in state elections that coming spring."

 

He further continued that the "senior officials forced scientists at elite institutions to downplay the threat to prioritize Mr. Modi’s political goals."

 

This is not the first time NYT has published anti India article.  

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