Coronavirus Lockdown in India | Coronavirus latest update India | By Dailyvani

Hello friends,

The government has enforced a 21-days lockdown in the entire country.

It is a very harsh step but it is extremely necessary.

Like I had explained in the last article, the experts and doctors worldwide are of the opinion that we will have to enforce such lockdowns and practice social distancing if we want to slow down the spread of the virus.

What effect will this lockdown have on the people, the society and the economy?

I wish to talk about it in today's article.

Do not misunderstand me.

I am not criticizing the decision. Lockdown was necessary. But whenever such a drastic decision is taken, there are bound to be side effects.

It is essential to discuss these side effects so that the negative side effects are minimized and the people face as little difficulty as possible. And I am not just talking about India, I am talking about the entire world.

What decisions and actions are the governments across the globe taking to minimize the negative side effects?

We will talk about this too, in today's article.
Come, let us see.

Right in the beginning when the lockdown was announced, a critical communication failure on the part of the government was visible.

When the Prime Minister delivered his speech, the did not specify which establishments would remain open and which ones would be shut down.

This caused the people to panic and this was the scene outside grocery stores and shops the night when the lockdown was announced.

Although, later, the government did clarify that essential services would remain open.

For example, food stores, groceries, ration shops, dairy, milk, fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, banks, ATMs, insurance offices.

Now, here the people should also have understood that when the lockdown is being announced so it wouldn't be that the government would not even let you buy food if you go out.

There would have been no shortage of food, so doing this was not necessary.

Similar incidents were witnessed in the other countries as well that when the lockdowns were announced then the people rushed to buy food and rations almost as if the world was about to end after tomorrow and as if no food would be available after that.

Such panicked situations backfire because the original purpose was that of social distancing, that is, the people stay away from one another and interact less so that the spread of the virus can be contained.

But if everyone queues outside shops and such crowds would congregate, then it would cause the virus to spread more.

Talking specifically about India, another erroneous decision by the government was that the central government gave no clear cut instructions and left a lot of things upon the state governments.

For example, what would be the timings when the grocery stores and other essentials would remain open.

The state governments of the states like Delhi and Karnataka said that they would remain open 24x7
so that people face no problems.

States like Uttarakhand said that they would remain open for only three hours. This is another incorrect decision because if a shop stays open for only three hours, then crowds would gather again.

And the gathering of crowds would mean that the spread of the virus would increase.

So it is better for the essential services to remain open for as long as possible.

Guidelines For Everyone Regarding Coronavirus

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra has given some guidelines for the people that I'd like to share with you because they would be extremely beneficial for you as well during this lockdown, whenever you step out of your homes to go to any essential services shop, to buy food or medicines, try and touch as few things as possible.

Designate a separate bag in which you would get the supplies and when you reach home, keep the bag aside and do not forget to wash your hands.

If you are a shop owner, then you can practice social distancing in somewhat this manner.

In order to ensure that the people in queues stand apart, you can draw lines with chalk on the ground
so that the people maintain social distancing with one another.

If you are a shop owner, then another recommendation of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra
is that you accept orders on WhatsApp and tell the customers to come to your shop at a specific time so that the people coming to your shop are distributed over the entire day and not a lot of people come at the same time.

If your order for delivery, then do not forget to wash your hands after receiving it.

Delivery Crisis during Coronovirus Spread

Talking about the deliveries, the food and grocery delivery companies are facing a lot of problems.

For example, Big Basket, Big Bazaar, Swiggy, Amazon, Flipkart- they're all complaining
that their warehouses are being shut down.

The local governments are not giving them permission to keep these things open because there are no clear cut instructions from above and there is a communications failure that the onground Police officer and the local government employees do not know which establishments to keep open and which establishments to shut down.

Their supply chain is getting interrupted.

Media reports tell us that lakhs of trucks remain stranded at the state borders because the truck drivers complain that all the restaurants and dhabas along the way have shut down so they do not have options to eat.

They can only eat where they load their trucks but all along the way, they would not get food and so they have stopped driving trucks.  And the essential supplies like food, groceries are delivered through these trucks.

Moreover, delivery companies are complaining that their delivery boys are being attacked by police officers. They're being hit with sticks because the police officers feel that they are normal people going out of their homes.

A lockdown has been announced- Modiji has directed total lockdown and so nobody should go out and so they're being hit with sticks.

This is again a communication failure that the common police officer does not know whom to stop and whom to not.

Although the Gurgaon and Noida police tweeted that the police officers are allowing delivery boys and doctors- all the people that are delivering essential services and have ventured out for the same
should be allowed and should not be hit.

But despite that, a lot of cases like that were seen at the ground level, where people were hit.

In order to avoid this, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that all the people who are out to deliver essential services should carry their employment IDs along so that they can show it to the police and reason why they're out in lockdown.

But what happens with the people that have no IDs?

At least in Delhi, there is a solution to this. The Chief Minister of Delhi has said that all the people that are out for the manufacturing, transport, storage or delivery of the essential items during the lockdown and those that do not have any IDs- neither government-issued nor private ID. They can call a helpline number-1031.

And the government will issue you an E-pass on WhatsApp which would state that you're allowed to be out because you are involved in either manufacturing, transport or storage of essential items.

But despite all of this, several cases are being seen where the common public has gone out to buy food or doctors have stepped out to attend their patients and the police officials have hit them.

On one hand, the police should also understand that the public should not be viewed with suspicion.

But looking at things from the perspective of the police, then it is difficult for them too, to figure out
who is out for a stroll and who is out for essential services.

France Lockdown Permission Form

Here, I'd like to entertain the example of France- when France announced a lockdown, then the government there issued a one-page form on the internet. This is how the form looks.

You have to write down your name and the reason why you want to get out of your home in this form
and whenever you step out of your homes, print this form out and carry it along with yourself. Whenever you encounter a police officer, they will look at this form and they will inquire whether you're out for the mentioned purpose and if someone does not have this form, or they have the form but the reason mentioned does not seem legitimate, then the police can fine you up to 135 Euros.

Everyone has been asked to work from home during the lockdown.

Work From Home during Coronavirus Spread

Working from home is extremely easy for the people working in financial sectors or corporate jobs
but the people working in production, transportation, construction or the maintenance industry,
it is not possible for them to work from home.

If these people do not turn up for work for 20-21 days or a month, then their companies would not be able to generate profit and if the companies do not make profits, they would not be able to pay their employees and these people would lose their jobs.

This is happening and will happen not only in India but also worldwide.

This is especially applicable for the people working in textile shops, restaurants, or are employed in the aviation sector or the tourism industry in some way or the other.

They will lose their jobs and they will not have money.

For this reason, countries across the globe have decided to transfer cash directly to such people.

For example, the UK government has said that it will provide up to 80% of the salaries of the employees. If any employee has had an effect on his job due to the lockdown due to the Corona Virus.

There are talks of cash transfers in the US, that below a certain income every American adult will be provided with 1,200 American dollars so that they can run their businesses during this time.

But talking about India, the unorganized sector is going to get affected even more adversely.

Daily Wage Labours

Almost 80% of the workforce of India belongs to the unorganized sector which has no social security cover. Most of the labor laws are not applicable to them. And most of these are the workers that are daily wage earners. That is they sustain themselves on the basis of day to day earnings.

If they do not get any earnings for 20-21 days, then they will not have money for even food.

And this is what is being witnessed.

These are very trying situations for daily wage workers.

What will the people do that do not have money to eat? They cannot eat stones. We should get (food) somewhere... How do we eat?.

We can harvest wheat in the villages and eat. Nobody supports each other in the village.

The police are hitting us.... Have you been hit by the police?

No, they are scaring us that they will hit us.

Okay, what are they saying?

Nobody is letting us sit.

The laborers across the country are going back to their villages in huge numbers because they neither have work nor do they have a means of earning, nor do they have food or shelter.

Some governments like the Delhi government and the Kerala government have made provisions for food.

They provided free food in their shelters.

Furthermore, these people have no place to stay at night.

And so I'd like to make a suggestion here if a government official is reading this article.

The existing schools in our country are already shut because of the lockdown. These schools can be converted into temporary night shelters so that these people can go stay in these schools and they get a place to stay at night.

Also, I'd like to tell the people reading this article that if you have any driver employed in your house
or a household staff- who is not living with you at your homes.

Please send them on a paid leave because the more they interact with people outside and then come to work in your homes, the more chances of the virus spread increase.

Not only is it dangerous for you, but it is also dangerous for them too.

And I'm mentioning paid leave because they have no other means of earning money. So please keep paying them their salaries irrespective of whether they come to work or not.

Economic Packages during Coronavirus Spread

Governments across the world, as well as the Indian government and state governments, have announced various packages and schemes to help the people and to sustain the economy.

I cannot tell all of them in this article
But I'd like to mention some.

For example, in Uttar Pradesh, free ration would be provided to 1.65 crore people.
Rs 1000 would be given to 15 lakh daily wage laborers.

In Delhi, free ration would be provided with a 50% extra quantity to 72 lakh people.
The double pension would be provided.

Rs 3,000 would be provided in Punjab.

In Haryana, there is special assistance for the below poverty line people worth 1,200 crore rupees per month in the package that has been provided.

Various schemes have been announced in Kerala.

A special package of 20,000 crores has been announced by the Kerala government to help the people.

The Himachal government has announced a relief package of 500 crores.

The central Indian government has announced an economic package of 1.7 lakh crores.

It has been said that every farmer would be given Rs 2,000 in the month of April.

The women would be given Rs 500 per month for the next 3 months, the ones that are account holders under PMJDY.

Free gas cylinders would be provided for poor families.

The wage earners that earn less than 15,000 rupees per month will be given 24% of their monthly wages in their PF accounts.

Double food grains would be provided for 80 crore individuals for the next three months MNREGA wages would be hiked by RS 20.

After this, Gadkari Ji has said that toll tax on Highways has been suspended for some time so that the emergency services need not pay toll tax.

GST filing has been delayed until 30th June 2020.

These are very good steps that governments have taken to minimize the negative effects of the lockdown.

But more such steps need to be taken in the coming times.

We can see that economic packages on an even larger scale have been rolled out across the world.

For example, in the UK, an economic package worth 15% of their GDP has been provided
by the government for their people.

The USA has readied an economic package of 2 trillion dollars.

But we shall compare with these countries in some future articles. This is all for today.
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