Namrata Sharma

As the pandemic is progressing, the theory of the French philosopher Michel Foucault's primarily addressing the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions, has been coming to my mind repeatedly. Bio-politics is Foucault’s term for attempts made by governments to rationalise the problems posed by the physical existence of a population, including health, hygiene, birth rates, longevity, and race. During an interaction organised by the Human Rights Journalists Association (HURJA) between Nepali and Indian journalists in the Birgunj border area in the first week of July 2021 while presenting a paper, I realised that biopolitics could be very well reflected in Nepal-India cross border pandemic issues.
During the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Birgunj emerged as a hotspot of the coronavirus infection in Nepal when the industrial workers and the migrants who returned from India were tested positive. The alarm bells were raised then as the pandemic was spreading rapidly. However, the local Authority in the leadership of the Mayor of the Birgunj Municipality took quick steps and the containment of the virus has been done remarkably well. The COVID-19 cases fell down significantly almost to non-existent.

Challenges
“We have worked hard to prevent the virus from spreading, but it has been a big challenge as India stopped the delivery of the second doses of the vaccine. We tried to purchase vaccines on our own but the Nepal Government policies prevented us from doing so,” said Vijay Kumar Sarawagi, the Mayor of Birgunj, during the interaction organised by HURJA. The Mayor has been accredited to having tightened the strings in the Birgunj administration and worked with the authorities to contain the virus in his town.
As the Zonal Narayani Hospital falls in Birgunj, the patients from the entire region go there for treatment. One or two cases of deaths occurred intermittently, but mainly these were reported fatalities among the people who had returned back from India, informed Sushma Sharma, a journalist based in Birgunj. The data received from the Narayani hospital via Sharma shows that the total COVID-19 patients reported in Birgunj is 772, comprising 470 male and 302 female. There are 553 discharged patients and the total number of deaths so far is 182, comprising 117 male and 65 female. The medical people involved in curbing the pandemic mention that the Birgunj model is an exemplary one to stop the spread of the virus.
“The second wave has been comparatively lower than the first wave in Birgunj because the border was strictly controlled, the government hospital facilities were enhanced with the availability of oxygen cylinders and good food supply and also because of the fact that the private hospitals also treated the COVID 19 patients,” said Professor Birendra Prasad Shah who teaches at Thakur Ram Multiple Campus in Birgunj. He further added that the lockdown had been strictly followed as the awareness level among the public had increased. The death of the people who came from India had raised the alarm and when strict measures were taken by the Mayor with support from the government officials in different line agencies, people followed the safety measures.
Professor Shah commented that the Birgunj Municipality, the Narayani Hospital and the security forces worked very hard and in good coordination to curb the impacts of the second wave. Although this localised effort has worked well, I was reflecting on the biopolitics in play related to COVID-19 pandemic in our border area. Power is always controlled by the big, the wealthy and those who control the resources. As the pandemic is progressing, it can be seen clearly that the wealthy western countries have control over the vaccines. People all over the world definitely do not have access to the vaccines that they need. Due to geopolitics, different countries are announcing that vaccines made by countries that they are not in good terms are not acceptable.
So one major biopolitics that is overarching the world at the moment is prevention of free movement of people based on condition that whether they are vaccinated or vaccinated with injections made in countries not favourable. They are also putting restrictions based on the fear of transmission by stopping workers from entering areas where they don’t want them to be in. Nepal’s neighbour down south has not been able to provide the committed number of vaccines, even though they have the largest vaccine producing factory.

Discrimination
On one hand, the virus is creating a lot of social, economic and political challenges and on the other hand, the power play over the underprivileged countries by the bigger and more powerful countries in terms of resources and nuclear power are not equitable. Not only that, even within the nation, citizens are falling prey to biopolitics as governments are imposing policies that one needs to get PCR done for medical check-up, entrance to work places or other places. Those who cannot afford cannot get their PCR done and those who are not vaccinated cannot get access to work.
The migrant workers and those who come from the most underprivileged backgrounds are the ones who get stopped from migrating to foreign countries for work. The provincial states within the nation could suddenly stop people from travelling from one place to another if they want to put some barriers on certain population. Similarly, neighbours like Nepal and India which have open borders can suddenly start demanding and imposing various restrictions based on the ongoing biopolitics. Therefore, a strong cross-border collaboration and gate keeping by journalists is the requirement of the day to observe and report on discrimination done based on this subtle ongoing biopolitics.

(Namrata Sharma is a senior journalist and women rights activist. namrata1964@yahoo.comTwitter handle: NamrataSharmaP)