What the Prime Minister will announce in his broadcast to the nation on Tuesday morning is not clear yet, but a partial exit from the 21-lockdown seems to be on the cards. Livelihood concerns of the people cannot be ignored for an indefinite period.
The pandemic is running its course in old and new hotspots with respective state governments isolating them from the rest of the populations in a bid to contain the spread of the Chinese virus while taking first halting steps to restore a semblance of normalcy.
It seems a colour-coding scheme has been devised to distinguish between districts which are severely hit and those which have fewer cases and then those which are free from any victims of the virus.
On Monday, the states with the most cases were Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Even these States had select areas where the contagion was spread.
More than one-third of the overall cases concerned members of the Tablighi Jamaat. Indeed, the relatively few cases in UP, by far the most populous State, essentially were on account of the Tablighi conference attendees. In the national capital too most cases were connected with the members of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Delhi has declared as many as 43 places as hotspots and sealed them off from the rest of the population. Extending the lockdown by two more weeks with major relaxations for the movement of goods, both essential and inessential, is to be allowed.
A number of industries are now allowed to resume work with necessary precautions. Indeed, the central government offices once again came alive on Monday, albeit with a much reduced staff presence.
Officers of joint secretaries and above were back on their desks without the usual complement of junior employees who are expected to resume work on a rotational basis till at least the end of the month. The immediate task for the senior officers is to chalk up a detailed exit plan from the lockdown. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has come out with its blueprint, recommending to the Home Ministry as to which sectors of industry and business ought to be permitted to resume work.
The Union Home Ministry in a letter to the State governments has detailed the steps needed to keep the economic wheel moving, even if at a snail’s pace. For instance, it is vital that the movement of trucks whether carrying essential or non-essential goods is allowed unhindered. A national body of truckers had complained that thousands of trucks laden with goods had to be abandoned due to the obstructions created by the state police and other authorities.
Hopefully, this vital movement of goods country-wide would be allowed soon alleviating the developing shortages of a number of essential manufactured goods with the kirana stores. Symbolically, the interstate movement of trucks could be a first step in the slow and steady return of normalcy to the Chinese virus-hit country.
