Should The Lockdown Continue?
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-05-16 14:14:27
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
What will Lockdown 4.0 be like? As the Centre studies the responses of various states on the way forward after May 17, it is now clear that the states are divided in their opinion. While some states, including some of the badly affected ones like Maharashtra and Punjab, want the lockdown to continue. The pro-lockdown group surprisingly also includes some states where the pandemic is relatively in control. But other states want huge relaxations as they want economic activity to resume in order to lessen the stress on the people. Delhi is a surprising member of this group and wants malls to reopen and resumption of Metro services. Even the badly affected Gujarat is batting for an almost complete doing away of the restrictions. There are still other states like West Bengal who want the lockdown to continue but with delegation of power to the states for them to decide on the restrictions in various areas based on the ground situation there.
It is also clear that since Prime Minister Modi said in his speech that the nation cannot allow the pandemic to hold it back and that Indians will have to learn to live with the virus, the Centre is also looking to make huge relaxations. In fact, the grapevine says that it might come out with a so-called negative list to disallow activities based on zones on a pan-India basis and leave the rest to the states. That would be a sensible approach and would allow the states to give priority to allowing resumption of such activities and in such areas as they deem fit. If the states can adhere to the heath advisory and various regulations for social distancing and preventing crowding, there is no reason why they should not be allowed to give their nod to resuming economic activity in areas that do not fall in containment zones. In any case, it looks very stupid to allow offices to function with 33 percent staff but keep public transport suspended. How will the staff reach their offices? The state governments are best placed to take this call and they should be allowed to do so.
Apart from known places with one-to-one or very close contact like schools, colleges, tutorial classes, barbershops, salons and spas, gyms, multiplexes and stand-alone theatres, religious places and gatherings, political and social gatherings, pubs, bars and restaurants and wholesale markets without entry restrictions, one feels that the lockdown should be done away with from all areas other than containment zones. Even the above places should be opened up gradually in the next two weeks. But care must be taken to ensure that the chaos witnessed after reopening liquor shops is not repeated. To restrict the flood of vehicles on roads, private vehicles should be allowed on the odd-even basis for a few weeks. But the restrictions like wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, sanitizing every public place at least once a day and sanitizing hands before entering a public place must remain for the next six months. We will have to learn to live with the virus by adopting the new rules. The rest will depend on the people. They will have to curb unnecessary travel and commute. They will have to learn to work from home and go out only if it is absolutely necessary. India has managed to avoid community transmission of the virus until now. If state governments remain vigilant and if people follow simple rules for the next six months, we can keep it that way.
