India

‘Duty ko to aage rakhna hi padega’: Mothers Day in times of COVID-19

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) This Mothers Day, while most mothers in India did have the privilege of being with their family, thanks to the lockdown, sharing some warm moments with their sons and daughters, there are a whole array of mothers out there for whom the call of duty, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, supersedes their maternal instincts.

A mother to be, police sub-inspector (SI) Mamata Mishra in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha prefers to devote herself to duty in times of this crucial need than stay home, even though she is eight months pregnant. Something that drew attention and accolades from top cops.

“This braveheart in the eighth month of pregnancy insists on working. In view of her health, she is given duty at Betnoti police station and not on the road or checkpoints. My compliments to her,” the Odisha state DGP had tweeted last April when he met Mamata.

But in this fight against COVID-19, there are many Mamatas, even in the national capital. Gracia Raina Foundation in association with Delhi Police organised an event in DCP South office complex to acknowledge their contribution, on the occasion of Mothers Day.

Joint Commissioner of Police Devesh Srivastava felicitated 20 policewomen who have gone a step ahead in performing their duties while balancing their personal life responsibilities, whether it has been stitching masks during COVID-19, or going out of the way to help a woman in labour reach the hospital in time and deliver safely.

“Not only humanitarian help, these women have also excelled in regular policing duties – investigation skills, leadership during law and order arrangements, round the clock duties during Delhi Assembly election and COVID-19 lockdown enforcement,” South District of Delhi Police said in a statement.

Last April, a group of Tablighi Jamaat members, admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital with corona infection may have had allegedly misbehaved with women doctors, but that didn’t stop other women doctors many of whom are mothers to brush it aside and respond to their call of duty this Sunday, as others observed the day that celebrates motherhood.

The story isn’t any different for thousands of nursing staff across India, many of them mothers. Wearing PPE kits and masks, many of the government nurses happily prefer to send another recovered COVID-19 patient back home because the time is extraordinary.

“Mothers Day apni jagah hai, par duty ko to aage rakhna hi padega (Mother’s Day is all good. But we have to give primacy to the call of duty),” G.K. Khurana, Secretary General of the All India Government Nurses Federation tells IANS.

As children cook for their mothers and they in return embrace them in their arms, there is a silent battalion of mothers for whom the real purpose of the Mothers Day is to do their bit in this war against coronavirus.

–IANS

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