Dhilai Not By Choice, Dear PM
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-09-12 20:47:17
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
As is his wont, Prime Modi has coined an apt line to warn the countrymen that there can be no carelessness until a vaccine or medicine is developed for coronavirus. Jab tak dawai nahin, tab tak dhilai nahi (No lowering of guard till a medicine is out), said the Prime Minister while addressing the virtual house warming ceremony of 1.75 lakh houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural Madhya Pradesh.
But are the people listening? Or better still, given the population density and the crowded streets, public transport and markets, can they strictly follow his sane advice? Take a look around you. Even if one discounts the utter disregard for health discipline among a part of the population that refuses to wear masks in public places and goes about its daily life as if nothing has happened, the other, major part of the population that wants to be safe is having to make do with situations that have the potential of harming them.
Be it the morning market to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, fish and meat or the queue to catch a bus and then inside the bus, the ordinary citizen is unable to maintain physical distance of even one feet, let alone two metres. With fresh cases showing a daily jump and asymptomatic carriers said to be more dangerous, ordinary people are risking their lives daily in just trying to do their jobs or live their lives. There is no way they can keep up their guard and their jobs too. The government has to increase the fleet and enforce rules so that people can maintain discipline.
Particularly dangerous is the situation in the wholesale markets in cities and towns. These are the markets where goods come from all over the state or the country. People who go there to make purchases are from the retail markets in the cities or town or their peripheral areas. There is no discipline in these wholesale markets. The police are conspicuous by their absence. The free for all always witnessed in such markets is back with a vengeance. They are the hotspots from where coronavirus is still spreading fast.
The government must look into the matter and regulate the wholesale markets. As shopkeepers from most retail markets come there for their purchases, they can carry the virus far and wide if they get infected there. Proper distance between stalls and disciplined queues will ensure that the risk is minimized. Otherwise, despite not wanting to, people will be forced into dhilai. After all, paapi pet ka sawaal hai. If one can twist the PMs line then one will say jab tak nahi kadai. tab tak rahegi dhilai.
