The lockdown extension up to May 17 was not unexpected. What was uncharacteristic was that this time it was the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that announced this on Friday evening. Lockdown 3.0 as it is called will however not be as restrictive as its previous versions. As per the MHA statement, the strictness of the extended lockdown will depend on the level of Covid-19 outbreak in the respective districts. Accordingly districts are colour-coded according to the severity of the Covid19 outbreak. Green Zones are districts with zero confirmed cases till date or no confirmed case in the last 21 days. Red Zones are classified on the basis of the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, and the extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts. Those districts not classified as Red nor Green fall under the Orange zone.
The list of economic activities allowed in each zone is clearly spelt out by the MHA. These are largely agricultural activities and small and medium enterprises. Apart from zone-wise restriction, there is a limited number of activities that will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of zones. These include travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by the road. Running of school, college, institutions, hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants, place of large gathering, such as cinema halls, malls, gym, sports complex, social, political, cultural and all kind of gathering, religious place/ place of worship for public will continue to remain banned during the lockdown.
Undoubtedly, the lockdown extension comes at a great political cost since a large number of Indians have lost their jobs and their means of income during the lockdown period. Subsidies offered by the Government are by no means adequate. Money in hand is what even the poorest would want to have as it gives them some amount of purchasing power and the choice to buy what is needed rather than to survive on what is dished out to them as food dole.
However, the Covid19 pandemic has created a universal crisis and India has ostensibly been able to contain the number of infected and deaths because of the lockdown and strict observance of social distancing. It’s a difficult choice for a country with a large population of have-nots but the other option is to open up and face the risk of a full-blown Covid19 spread. That would overwhelm our healthcare system and ruin our economy completely apart from resulting in more deaths. This clearly is a Hobson’s choice for Prime Minister Modi.