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The indie-music scene is India booming and the direct result of that are the music festivals that have been cropping up, not just in the metros but tier-2 and tier-3 cities too. The music is varied; from integrating regional languages to mainstream pop music, to experiments with Indian folk music with western languages and genres, the audience has a lot of options, for every musical palate. 
 
With gigs happening with such fervor, the artists are benefiting; it’s no longer taboo to be a singer-songwriter as young bands from schools and colleges score an opportunity to showcase their talent. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/vh1-supersonic-2017-is-the-multi-genre-music-festival-you-should-be-attending/articleshow/57006545.cms">ALSO READ: Vh1 Supersonic 2017 is the multi-genre music fest you should be attending</a> 
 One such <keyword id="1244359" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indie">indie</keyword> singer-songwriter from Mumbai raised two lakhs in under six hours of his <keyword id="990338" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="crowdfunding">crowdfunding</keyword> campaign, a feat that could’ve only been dreamt of in a country like ours where while the <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> industry thrives, the independent <keyword id="6367711" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Musicians">musicians</keyword> still struggle to get the limelight. 
 <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> caught up with <keyword id="1355290" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tejas-Menon">Tejas Menon</keyword>, the man of the ‘music’ hour to chat about how crowdfunding an album makes sense for the musicians who want to ‘Make it happen’. 
 <keyword id="17256" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Menon">Menon</keyword> defines his music as ‘A range of influences including 80’s pop-rock, musical theater and adult-contemporary songwriters, developed into his unique style of lyric-heavy pop-rock.’ 
 The singer has played in popular music festivals like <keyword id="15277" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="bacardi">Bacardi</keyword> NH7 Weekender, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, and Mahindra Blues Festival and he is comfortable both with playing in a band and just by himself and his acoustic guitar. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-you-could-become-a-filmmaker-at-kala-ghoda-festival-2017-with-snapdeal/articleshow/56998397.cms">ALSO READ: Here’s how you could become a filmmaker at Kala Ghoda Festival 2017 with Snapdeal</a> 
 
''For someone who released his first EP(Extended Play) ‘Small Victories’ in late 2014, I’m finally ready to do a full-length album called ‘Make it happen’ which will feature 10 songs. In the past two years, I did try to get a label on board for this but I felt that after performing all over the country, I’ll let the people who like my music help me out to do this by myself’’ he says, in an optimistic fervor. 
 
Taking the independent part to the next level literally, Menon believes that is easier than it has ever been to make a good album these days, however, good studios and album production still cost a great deal, wherein comes the crowd funding. 
 
 
 
The Campaign 
 Menon had started a campaign on the crowdfunding platform <keyword id="1927134" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wishberry">Wishberry</keyword>, which had an initial goal of Rs. 2 lakhs to be completed in 30 days, to fulfill costs like Studio Cost (Rs. 90000), Admin fees(Rs. 20000), Mixing (Rs. 50000), Mastering (Rs. 30000) and <keyword id="2426054" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="misc">Misc</keyword>. (Rs. 10000). As he’s hit the goal in under a day, the bigger goal has been set to Rs. 4 lakhs. 
 If he hits the new goal, <keyword id="6373601" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vishal-Dadlani">Vishal Dadlani</keyword>, the frontman of one of the first indie bands, Pentagram will feature on his album for a song called ‘Kindness’. 
 
For the fans, by the fans 
 
The incentive for the fans here is multifold, as Menon has decided to use the funds to give out rewards in forms of a copy of an album, an artsy signed poster, a songbook with all the lyrics, a deluxe edition of the album due to release later in the year, free passes to his gigs and much more. 
 
The rewards increase with the contribution as the campaign allows you to fund the project either in categories, or you can also be the rogue one and contribute any amount without any expectation of a reward. 
 
Menon has already started working on the album and expects it to release by May, this year by when all the contributors can expect to start reaping the rewards that they’ve sown. 
 
Crowdfunding for the win 
 Menon isn’t the first artist to have crowdfunded his album, with artists like <keyword id="1144733" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Parvaaz">Parvaaz</keyword> with their album ‘<keyword id="226613" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Baran">Baran</keyword>’ already doing it in 2014 and <keyword id="33360" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vasudha-Sharma">Vasudha Sharma</keyword>, another indie musician, did it for her album ‘Attuned spirits’ in 2013. 
 
''Crowdfunding is great as it reinstates the fact that they’re people who’re willing to back you up not just with compliments but with real investment, how big or small that might be,’’ says Menon about why he thinks it’s a great idea not just for social causes or businesses but also for creative geniuses to the likes of him. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/kfc-gives-customers-a-chance-to-taste-nashville-chicken-using-their-minds/articleshow/56952524.cms">ALSO READ: KFC gives customers a chance to taste ‘Nashville Chicken’ using their minds</a> 
 
The bursting artist in Menon lights up when we asked him what next if he hits the new monetary goal as 28 days are left to the campaign with it garnering a support of 85 backers with Rs. 3,59,170 collected and counting. 
 The 27-year old says that he’d like to collaborate with more artists and diversify his album further with Pop, Rock, Blues, Funk, R'nB, <keyword id="856224" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="electronica">Electronica</keyword> and Soul elements that he has used to create ''a seamless musical experience that has pushed well past his creative limits.’’ 
 
May the force be with this independent movement that is edging to change the way Indians consume and view music, forever. 
 
Check out the crowdfunding campaign <a href="https://www.wishberry.in/campaign/make-it-happen/#/campaign-new">here.</a>

Exclusive: This Indie-musician raised more than Two Lakhs in Six Hours through crowdfunding for his upcoming album

<keyword id="6356755" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Madras">IIT Madras</keyword>' annual cultural fest '<keyword id="542908" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Saarang">Saarang</keyword>' themed 'enchanted forest' is back this year in a new avatar. In a bid to raise awareness about the government's drive to go digital, it has gone completely cashless in the fest season. 
 
That means, from food stalls to ticket sales, visitors are swiping their debit cards or using online wallets and other digital modes to make payments. Bank representatives on the campus are guiding visitors. 
 
In line with the fresh theme of the event, the organising team has focused on ambience so a walk through the campus can give visitors a feel of walking in the woods. 
 
To make up for the loss of green cover that took a hit during the December cyclone, the Saarang team will also be planting 100 saplings on the campus. 
 The fest will see 90 large scale competitive events, 200 informal shows, 14 lecture demonstrations, 6 professional shows and 7 world culture show acts, including graffiti, sand art and street dancing. Other than classical, choreo, EDM and rock shows, a feature is the spotlight lectures which in cludes a line-up of doyens like T M Krishna, Prachi Tehlan, Anirudh Ravichander, Shekhar Gupta, Siddharth and <keyword id="121606" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gautam-Menon">Gautam Menon</keyword>, among others. New additions this time include a comedy show by Biswa Kalyan Rath, a gaming zone and a food fest. 
 IIT-M director <keyword id="797116" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bhaskar-Ramamurthi">Bhaskar Ramamurthi</keyword> said the aim of the fest from the institute's perspective is two-fold wherein students learn skills outside the classroom through the process of conceiving and executing the fest along with being exposed to a wide variety of talent. "IITs can also become self-contained and having students from outside is an opportunity for them to learn," he said.

IIT Madras Cultural Fest: Here's what sets 'Saarang' apart from the rest

The government's <keyword id="20039960" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="One-Health-approach" source="keywords">One Health approach</keyword> is vital for both predicting as well as preventing any future <keyword id="21218421" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zoonotic-outbreaks" source="keywords">zoonotic outbreaks</keyword> (disease that jumps from animals to humans), health experts opined on Saturday, ahead of the <keyword id="135993" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-health-day" source="Orion">World Health Day</keyword> which is marked every year on April 7. This year's theme '<keyword id="21218422" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="my-health" source="Orion">My Health</keyword>, <keyword id="21218423" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="my-right" source="Orion">My Right</keyword>' focuses on equal access to quality health care. "The government's focus on the '<keyword id="6494932" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="one-health" source="Orion">One Health</keyword>' approach, recognising the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health, is vital for predicting and preventing future zoonotic disease outbreaks," Dr. Rohit Garg, consultant, infectious disease, Amrita Hospital Faridabad, told IANS. The experts noted that the country's response to recent outbreaks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Nipah virus demonstrates its evolving capacity to manage infectious diseases, adding that lessons from each event have helped the country improve its preparedness for future pandemics, including the hypothetical <keyword id="6328063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Disease-X" source="Orion">Disease X</keyword>. "India's response to recent disease outbreaks has been moulded by our experience with Covid-19. Recent moves to expand the existing network of biosafety-level 3 and 4 laboratories, to expand surveillance for respiratory viruses, invest in diagnostic infrastructure, and formulate a One Health approach towards emerging diseases are welcome and important steps towards tackling such challenges," Gautam Menon, Dean, Research and Professor of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University, told IANS. Besides ramping up testing facilities, expanding healthcare infrastructure, contact tracing during the pandemic and the vaccination drive were among India's significant measures. The latter was one of the largest globally, with India also developing an indigenous vaccine, Covaxin, alongside deploying other vaccines. "These actions highlighted the country's ability to mobilise vast resources and innovate under pressure," said Dr Rohit. Similarly, during the Nipah virus outbreaks, although more localised, India employed rapid response teams, enhanced surveillance and implemented containment measures. "India, post-pandemic, is very different in terms of capacity for pathogen surveillance and pandemic prevention or control when compared to pre-pandemic times. This is partly infrastructural, in terms of greater scientific and health capacity, but mostly structural in terms of better-defined roles for existing organisations, and creation of new multi-stakeholder institutions e.g. for OneHealth," Anurag Agrawal, Dean of Bio Sciences and Health Research at Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, told IANS.

Ahead of World Health Day, experts reiterate importance of govt's One Health approach in preventing future zoonotic outbreaks

By Shakoor Rather New Delhi, Jul 2 () Mathematical models predicting the trajectory of COVID-19 cases are only approximate guides to the truth and can, at best, be used for projections up to two weeks, say scientists, tempering excitement over the many 'forecasts' of the disease. The note of caution comes as various modelling studies have used mathematical tools to predict different scenarios – one, for instance, finding that the cases in India will peak in November and another saying in March that the country would have 13 lakh cases by May. However, these studies are to be treated with utmost scepticism given the many variables involved and the fact that knowledge on COVID-19 is still evolving, scientists said. "I think, if you want to use models for correctly predicting cases, two weeks into the future is the best one can do, and if one's lucky the trend will continue for longer, but you can't bank on that," Sitabhra Sinha, professor of Computational Biology and Theoretical Physics at Chennai's Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), told . He added that he is sceptical about specific long-term predictions such as "the peak will occur on so-and-so month". An editorial in ICMR's Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) earlier this month said mathematical models on severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in India carried a "strong element of bias" and used assumptions to predict cases and deaths which proved to be far from real. The editorial followed an unpublished study that found the peak stage of COVID-19 in India had been delayed by the eight-week lockdown and may now arrive around mid-November when a paucity of isolation and ICU beds and ventilators can arise. Sinha was unconvinced about the veracity of the claim. He told there are too many uncontrollable variables operating in modelling studies to say with any degree of accuracy about what's going to happen in November or for that matter in August. He also referred to a March prediction by an international team of scientists, including from the Johns Hopkins University, that India could face between 1 lakh to 13 lakh confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus by mid-May provided the trend in the growing number of COVID-19 cases continued. "However, it didn't come to pass fortunately -- because of the lockdown, which is something that the modellers of the study could never have foreseen," Sinha explained. "Given that the growth in the number of cases depends so sensitively on containment measures that are put in place from time to time, which we can't know beforehand, how are we going to make accurate long-term projections?" he asked. He added that even with knowledge of the containment measures, there is little information about the level of compliance of physical distancing and public hygiene norms in different places. "Without exact knowledge of these social variables that shape the epidemic trajectory, I think it's unfair to expect that modellers would be able to foretell the future," said Sinha. "This is true no matter how many bells and whistles you add to the model - in fact the more complicated a model, the more parameters you need to fit from empirical data which is noisy and error-prone. So at the end of the day, the fancier models may not be much of an improvement on the simpler models," he said. Gautam I. Menon, professor, Departments of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University in Haryana endorsed his scepticism. Models, he said, are only "approximate guides to the truth" and must be constantly benchmarked against data. "Our knowledge of COVID-19 itself has been evolving. For example, the importance of asymptomatic carriers has only come to be appreciated more recently. In addition, data useful for models are not transparently available," Menon told . He said one should also look into the quality of the data that goes into these models. "All models make approximations and also take in data that is often imperfect. The question is, do they give the right intuition about the progress of the disease and reasonable quantitative predictions regarding, say, the requirements for hospital beds etc. within these limitations," he said. "Given these caveats, I would say that models provide information to inform policy that is simply irreplaceable. The quality of models is improving, both as we know more about the disease as well as improve the quality of inputs to the model," Menon added. Adding his voice to the debate, Dibyendu Nandi, professor of physics at Kolkata's Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), noted that the classic approach seeks to model the progression of the disease based on rates of movement of susceptible individuals exposed to the infected, recovered or deceased people. The basic premise of these models, he said, is based on the theory of epidemiology that has been tested against past pandemics, and is proven to be sound. However, he added, model behaviour and in particular model predictions are strongly dependent on some parameters that are not very well known in the initial phase of a disease. "So instead of making exact predictions, in my opinion these models are more suitable for assessing various possible future scenarios," Nandi told . "For example, how would the disease progress if the containment measures are less efficient than planned? What would happen if we remove all containment measures, including testing and quarantining?" Nandi said his experience with physical models indicates that qualitative trends coming out of these models must be stressed more than exact numbers. Sinha added that the true utility of modelling is to test out various policies and ideas for controlling the epidemic in silico -- or perform them via computer simulation -- before you try them out in real life. "This is important because a wrong step in the latter can end up costing many lives," he said. "You'd prefer if you can get the answer from modelling rather than finding out through trial and error in real-life," Sinha said. Nandi reiterated a caveat about the application of mathematical models to infectious disease progression. "The dynamics of pandemics depend on human social behaviour and the efficiency of containment measures that are impossible to predict. This possibly explains why exact predictions do not work well," he said. However, that does not take away from the fact that these models are extremely useful in qualitatively assessing various plausible scenarios, he said. Well constrained models may also generate meaningful short-term forecasts, he added. India's COVID-19 tally on Thursday crossed the six lakh mark while the death toll rose to 17,834, according to the Union health ministry data. SAR MIN MIN MIN

Modelling studies may correctly predict COVID-19 cases only two weeks into future: scientists  

By Shakoor Rather New Delhi, Jul 4 () India's COVID-19 vaccine programme has gained sudden traction but it is imperative to strike a balance between giving it high priority and rushing into a process that takes months, even years, several scientists said on Saturday, a day after the ICMR announced it envisaged a preventive by next month. There was hope but caution too as the Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday said it aims to launch the world's first COVID-19 vaccine by August 15. The same day, Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila announced it has got the Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) nod for human clinical trials for a potential vaccine. "Fast tracking a vaccine trial in four weeks for safety, immunogenicity and efficacy is just not possible if things are to be done correctly," Shahid Jameel, virologist and CEO of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, a public charity that invests in building biomedical sciences and health research framework, told . Immunogenicity is the ability of a foreign substance, such as an antigen, to provoke an immune response in the body of a human or other animal, he explained. Virologist Upasana Ray added that an accelerated launch or promise for launch of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus deserves applause but it is important to ask whether "we are rushing too much". "We must rush albeit carefully. Giving this project high priority is absolutely important. However, excess pressure might not necessarily lead to a positive product for public use," the senior scientist at CSIR-IICB, Kolkata, told . India's premier medical body ICMR has said 12 clinical trial sites for the indigenous Covaxin, being developed in collaboration with the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), have been identified. It asked medical institutions and principal investigators to ensure that the subject enrolment is initiated no later than July 7. "It is envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by August 15 after completion of all clinical trials," ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said in his letter to the principal investigators of the 12 sites. The tone of the letter and the haste it indicated had some scientists worried. They questioned the timeline of the announcement mentioned in the letter, and advised against subverting the due vaccine development process. "The ICMR 'letter' is, to say the least, a deeply inappropriate letter, in tone and content, both in terms of the integrity of due processes of product development, and in terms of technically realistic estimates," immunologist Satyajit Rath told . Vaccine development is a multi-phase process. Phase 1 trials are small-scale, usually involving few participants, to assess whether the vaccine is safe for humans. Phase 2 trials often involve several hundred subjects, and mainly evaluate the efficacy. The final phase involves thousands of people to further assess the efficacy of the vaccine over a defined period of time, and can last several months. Ray added that a vaccine normally takes at least 12-18 months to pass all necessary clinical trial phases. "From now till August 15, the company has just over a months' time to wrap up everything that normally a vaccine development process requires for releasing a vaccine for clinical use," she said. "How can such a sharp timeline be even decided? Where does the evidence come from that by such a short time all the essential steps will be completed? What about the safety and efficacy, the fundamental steps of any drug development? Have even the pre-clinical studies been completed? Too much rush comes with possible risks," she said. Ray noted that there are some broad mandatory steps for developing a vaccine. Preclinical tests in small animals and mammals, she stressed, are essential to assess neutralising antibody titers and that itself can take at least a month or two. A titer is a laboratory test that measures the presence and amount of antibodies in blood. "Next, we check for safety. Then is the human trial. Even if we are in a deep rush we have to wait for some time for immunised individuals to start generating antibodies. After that a population needs to be monitored over time to investigate if people are still being infected," she explained. Skipping steps could either be dangerous or lead to poor product, Ray said. "We must not compromise with the standard, the quality. We don't need to be the first to launch a drug but what we need is a Made in India vaccine that the entire world can rely on," she added. The vaccine landscape in India has been also bolstered after the approval for Zydus Cadila's vaccine candidate. It was fast-tracked following a recommendation by the subject expert committee on COVID-19, considering the emergency and unmet medical need during the pandemic. "DCGI Dr V G Somani has given approval for the phase I and II clinical trials (on humans) of the potential novel coronavirus vaccine developed by Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd on Thursday after its animal studies were found to be successful," an official source said. Jameel, winner of the 2000 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, noted that it is a vaccine funded by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and the Department of Biotechnology. "Congratulations to Cadilla, BIRAC and DBT. We would look forward to properly conducted trials and good news in due course," he told . "I am glad that a locally made vaccine candidate is making the same progress that others elsewhere in the world are making, not just with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates but with DNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates, and I will look forward to the results," added Rath from Delhi's National Institute of Immunology (NII). Gautam I. Menon, professor from the Departments of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University, said Zydus Cadila's vaccine appears to have shown safety and efficacy in animal trials and so they have been allowed to go to the next step, to human trials. "This is the standard procedure. It is the human trials that are time-consuming and it is important to get this right," Menon told . In another development, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla told The Tribune newspaper that the Covid-19 vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford will hit the market by the year-end. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), which is a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees, and has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to reproduce in humans. "I think it is likely that the ChAdOx1-S vaccine candidate which has entered a phase 3 clinical trial in Brazil, will give at least somewhat promising results by late this calendar year," Rath said. "Whether this will lead to the 'vaccine' becoming available in the market, and in the public health system, more importantly, by the end of this calendar year in India is much more uncertain, Mr Poonawala's welcome optimism notwithstanding," he added. SAR MIN MIN MIN

Scientists strike note of caution as 'Made in India' vaccine programme gains momentum  

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A second <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> wave is devastating <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, where a new "double mutant" virus variant emerged.</li><li>Insider spoke with people on the ground and experts about the threat and ways to address it.</li><li>Politicians so far have largely been unwilling or unable to apply strict restrictions.</li></ul>Hospitals in India are overwhelmed as the country grapples with a second wave of COVID-19.There is a severe shortage of beds, the drug remdesivir, and medical oxygen. Desperate patients have been traveling hundreds of miles, searching helplines and social media, to find hospitals with enough capacity. The worsening situation forced British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week to cancel a visit to the country. The UK and the US have also issued strong travel advisories for India.On Saturday, when 261,394 new cases were reported in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://twitter.com/ndtv/status/1383419909128933377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1383419909128933377%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloombergquint.com%2Fcoronavirus-outbreak%2Fhope-and-heartbreak-on-indian-covid-twittertter">boasted</a> about the size of his election rally in West Bengal, where a huge crowd was crammed together.Rallies have taken place in West Bengal and three other states, with thousands attending, without much adherence to COVID-19 precautions.This reflects how dramatic India's turnaround has been with the coronavirus. Early this year, experts hypothesized that this country of 1.3 billion people had reached herd immunity as cases steadily fell. The government's own modeling study suggested the country's outbreak would be over by February. In January, a health minister <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/india-has-flattened-covid-19-curve-no-new-cases-in-one-fifth-of-country-govt-11611824857809.html">said</a> India had "successfully contained" COVID-19.Weddings, functions, and political rallies resumed as politicians encouraged a return to normal.Now, India has more than 2 million known active cases, compared with 200,000 in January. Daily reported cases are three times as high as the peak of the first wave in September, with 314,835 announced on Thursday.<div type="image" title="COVID Daily cases India graph" height="2400" width="3400" msid="82202329" hostid="261"></div>A "double mutant" variant - which contains notable mutations that had been separately identified in two previous variants of the original virus - has taken hold.Insider spoke with people on the ground about the extent of devastation this wave has caused as well as the constant challenge of enforcing restrictions at mass gatherings."Things have worsened this time around," said Dr. Sonali Vaid, who previously worked for the World Health Organization and is now helping patients find beds in New Delhi."Many patients with severely low oxygen-saturation levels have had to manage at home, some with dire consequences, due to lack of beds," Vaid added. "Things weren't as bad last year."Despite this, the country's largest religious gathering went ahead. The centuries-old Kumbh Mela sees tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims travel to bathe en masse in rivers in a ritual meant to cleanse them of their sins. It has brought millions this month to Haridwar, north of Delhi."The flow and blessings of Ma Ganga" - Mother River Ganges - "will ensure that coronavirus does not spread," said the chief minister of Uttarakhand, the northern state where the event is taking place for all of April.The <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/992233/kumbh-mela-cant-be-compared-to-nizamuddin-markaz-claims-uttarakhand-cm">government</a> shortened the event from four months to one and insisted it was following Health Ministry guidelines on containing the coronavirus - such as mandatory negative test results and discouraging older, more vulnerable people from taking part.But Deepak Rawat, a government official who runs the event on behalf of the state government, said these were impossible to enforce during the days of Shahi Snan, or royal bath, when devotees bathe in the Ganges.<div type="image" title="Shahi Snan April 12 2021 water bathing" height="2595" width="3900" msid="82202332" hostid="261"></div>On a single day, an estimated 2.1 million pilgrims were taking part, most of them neither wearing masks nor socially distancing."Enforcing COVID-19-appropriate behavior during these processions would be a folly, and we would be risking a stampede," Rawat told Insider.A senior official at the festival <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210416-top-seer-at-india-religious-mega-festival-dies-from-covid-19">told AFP</a> on Friday that they had "around 2,000 positive cases" in the previous four days. That week a senior priest was taken to a hospital from the site and died after a positive test.Facing a backlash, Modi later tweeted appealing for the Kumbh Mela to be scaled back.Dr. T. Sundararaman, the global coordinator for the health-activism network People's Health Movement, said the Kumbh Mela should have been restricted in line with religious ceremonies elsewhere like the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca."What you now have is a runaway celebration with a great potential to act as a superspreader event," he added.In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, which neighbors Uttarakhand to the south, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/video/rows-of-burning-pyres-in-lucknow-authorities-place-barricades-around-crematoriums-1791333-2021-04-15">videos</a> emerged of crematoriums full of rows of burning pyres, raising fears official figures were missing many who were dying without having been tested.The double-mutant variant of the virus that emerged in the country, B.1.617, may be behind the surge in cases.Authorities don't yet have the data to prove this, though the variant has mutations that were found in others to make them more transmissible and less likely to confer immunity on people who recover, said Gautam Menon, a physics and biology professor at Ashoka University."This wave is far more transmissible than the first one," said Dr. Lancelot Pinto, a consultant in respiratory medicine at P. D. Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, which was badly hit during both waves.During the first wave, it was common for only one or two members in a family to be infected, but Pinto said he was seeing entire families testing positive now."We are getting many younger patients - those in their 30s and 40s - with moderate to severe disease," he said, adding: "This could be because of the new strain or just because of the sheer numbers of infection this time."<div type="image" title="Public meeting" height="2656" width="3992" msid="82202334" hostid="261"></div>Vaccination has offered other countries a glimmer of hope, but while India has been able to vaccinate millions of people in a single day, only about 8% of its enormous population have had a first dose so far.<a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/covid19-at-current-vaccination-pace-india-won-t-reach-70-coverage-until-yearend-11618797627025.html">At its current pace</a>, India would not vaccinate 70% of its people until December. It has authorized Russia's Sputnik V for use, amid severe shortages of Covishield and Covaxin, which are made domestically.Two political parties campaigning in West Bengal have called off rallies, while Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/elections/west-bengal-assembly-election/bjp-limits-rallies-to-500-people-in-west-bengal-amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-101618844234707.html">decided </a>this week to limit its rallies to 500 people, two days after the prime minister boasted about the size of his crowds. The Kumbh Mela is continuing until the end of the month.In a Tuesday public address, <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-to-address-nation-on-covid-19-situation-at-8-45-pm-today-live-updates-101618929630164.html">Modi said lockdowns</a> should be only a "last resort" because of the damage they would do to workers' livelihoods. He said making everyone over 18 eligible for vaccination starting in May would ensure laborers were inoculated sooner.He asked states to focus instead on containing specific sites of outbreaks.Delhi began a weeklong lockdown on Monday - closing businesses and ordering people to travel only for essential reasons - saying the city's health system had reached a "tipping point." Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, is severely restricting travel until the end of the month.Dr. Srinath Reddy, the president of the Public Health Foundation of India, who sits on national committees on COVID-19 management, said that for six weeks the country should ban gatherings of more than five people and require masks to be worn outdoors - the type of measures the country eschewed when it thought it was all over.

Indian politicians encouraged a return to normal as COVID-19 cases fell. Now hospitals are overwhelmed as a 'double mutant' variant takes hold - but mass gatherings continue.

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