As it turns out - COVID19

Due to the spread of the COVID 19 virus and its threat on account of it being contagious, a number of countries have opted for the measure of strict social distancing, which means avoiding human to human interaction as much as possible. To make it effective in a shorter time period, the market is put to a halt and the people are appealed to remain in their home. Amid its dilapidated healthcare capacity, India followed the suit. Only essential services are allowed to take a run and those who can work from home. It is no doubt a strong decision and may be the only possible solution which is feasible at the moment, since there are no vaccines available for the infection and least it known about the virus due to its novel character. This has been quoted as being a new age epidemic. It indeed is. The elders of the society are of the opinion that such measures have been observed by them for the first time. The silence has engulfed the streets.

India is a poor country. It lies at the per capita zone of lower middle income country. Besides, there is a high rate of inequality within the country. This means that a high proportion of the country’s wealth is owned by a fraction of the people. There is a severe lack of liquidity and physical assets availability with as much as the bottom 60% of the countrymen. More than 20% of the people are officially recognized to be below the poverty line. However this line is controversial in itself for being too low monetarily. While in more developed countries, such indices also take into account other consumable items, India is largely dependent on a shorter bracket of needs. This is directly related to the country’s economic capacity. The point is that a majority section of the population greater than the 20% line is in grave conditions of living. They have marginal landholding. They do not possess enough assets and means to raise their standard of living and enjoy a good lifestyle. Their out of pocket expenditure on health care and other exigencies is heavy and often push them below the official poverty line. Thus, in any incidents of emergency - be it war, regional conflicts, law & order situations, market breakdown, natural events and so on, they are the worst sufferer. They tend to lose everything and the most important of all is Hope. Fundamental Rights are just a namesake thing for them.

The manner of the implementation of the lockdown reveals that India has not learned from its past mistakes of administrative failures such as – the bloody migration during the India-Pakistan partition & the merciless scheme of demonetization. Both of these events could have been done more smoothly and without causing much disruption in the ground level. This indicates that there is a significant amount of understanding deficit between the top echelons at the helm of leadership and crucial decision making & the dire situation at the ground. The bell has been rung and there is chaos in the air at its first wave. People were worried about how they will arrange for the food, what is going to happen to their businesses and so on. Although in a matter of few days, measures have been taken, but the injury was already caused. Again, the worst hits are the poor people, especially the daily wage migrant workers in other states. At the announcement of the lockdown, they thronged towards the public transportation such as railway station, bus station. A large crowd is gathered and God knows how many of them propagated the infections. The speculation is that, as they will go to their villages which were earlier isolated, they will affect more number of people in the process. The desperation was so much that in the absence of any public transportation services, people started to walk towards their home for covering hundreds of kilometers by foot and without the availability of any support of food, water, shelter on the way. Initially, they also invited the wrath of the police. In the meantime, Telangana CM has announced a conciliatory speech for reducing the anxiety of the migrant workers and similar moves has been coming from Kerala and other states.

It is indeed a public emergency situation. At such time we also get to see a different nature of the society. Slowly, it came about to be a people’s movement to not only save themselves from the virus but also from the punitive times. They come together and contribute monetarily and by other means. Consequently, it also brings to the fore a new idea of India. We are in this together. As the Sun will set, so will it rise... Jai Hind.