കാർമൽ ഇ.എം. ഗേൾസ് എച്ച്.എസ്.എസ് വഴുതക്കാട്/അക്ഷരവൃക്ഷം/LOCKDOWN (2020)
LOCKDOWN (2020)
The Nation wide lockdown was a sudden order imposed by the Government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a period of 21 days, limiting movement of the entire 1.3 billion population of India as a preventive measure against the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in India and to wisely cope up with the then predicament. It was ordered after a 14-hour voluntary public curfew on 22 March, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in the country's COVID-19 affected regions.The lockdown was placed when the number of confirmed positive coronavirus cases in India got beyond 500. The Government of India confirmed that India's first case of Coronavirus disease 2019 on 30 January 2020 in the state of Kerala, when a university student from Wuhan travelled back to the state.As the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases closed 500, PM Modi on 19 March, asked all citizens to observe 'Janata Curfew' (people's curfew) from 7 am to 9 pm on Sunday, 22 March. At the end of the curfew, Modi had said: "Janata Curfew is just the beginning of a long battle against COVID-19". Following this while addressing the nation second time, on 24 March, he announced the nationwide lockdown from midnight of that day, for a period of 21 days. He said that the only solution to control the spread of coronavirus is breaking the cycle of transmission by social distancing. He also added that the lockdown will be enforced more strictly than the Janata Curfew.The Janata curfew was a 14-hour curfew (7am-9pm) that was scheduled for 22 March 2020, prior to the total lockdown. Everyone except people of ' essential services' such as police, medical services, media, home delivery professionals and firefighters were needed to take part in the curfew. People belonging to National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme were to enforce the curfew in the country. The lockdown restricts people from stepping out of their homes.However people were seen breaching the lockdown and not following social distancing. During the lockdown period, all transport services including roadways, airways and railways were suspended with exceptions for transportation of essential goods, fire, police and emergency services. Educational institutions, Industrial establishments and hospitality services were also suspended. Services such as food shops, banks and ATMs, petrol pumps, other essentials and their manufacturing were exempted.The Home Ministry announced that anyone who fails to follow the restrictions can face up to a year in jail. On the first day of the lockdown, nearly all services and factories were suspended.People were hurrying to stock essentials in some parts.Arrests across the states were made for violating norms of lockdown such as venturing out for no emergency, opening businesses and home quarantine violations. The government held meetings with e-commerce websites and vendors to ensure a seamless supply of essential goods across the nation during the lockdown period.Several states announced relief funds for the poor and affected people while the central government was finalising a stimulus package.On 26 March, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced ₹ 170,000 crore stimulus package to help those affected by the lockdown.The package was aimed to provide food security measures for poor households through direct cash transfers, free cereals and cooking gas for three months.It also provided insurance coverage for medical personnel. On 27 March, the Reserve Bank of India announced a slew of measures to help mitigate the economic impacts of the lockdown. Prior to the announcement of the nationwide lockdown, on March 22, the government had announced that Indian Railways would suspend passenger operations through March 31.This has been described as the first time in 167 years that India's rail network had been suspended,although there was also a strike in 1974. On 5 April, Citizens all over India cheered and showed solidarity with the health workers, police, and all those fighting the disease by switching off the electric lights in home for a duration of 9 minutes and lighting candle,diya,flashlights etc. As the end of the lockdown period approached, state governments and other advisory committees recommended extending the lockdown. The governments of Odisha and Punjab extended the state lockdowns to 1 May. Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Telangana followed the suit. On 14 April, Prime minister Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown till 3 May, with a conditional relaxation after 20 April for the regions where the spread has been contained.During the lockdown period, food delivery services were banned by several state governments despite central government's approval. Thousands of people emigrated out of major Indian cities, as they became jobless after the lockdown. Following the lockdown, India's electricity demand fell down to a five-month low on 28 March. The lockdown has also broken the supply chain of narcotics in Punjab.
An estimated 139 million migrant workers from the countryside work in India's cities and towns. With factories and workplaces shut down, they were left with no livelihood. In the first few days of the lockdown, television screens captured long processions of migrant workers walking miles to go back to their native villages, often with families and young children on shoulders. Two days later, the Uttar Pradesh government decided to arrange buses at Delhi's Anand Vihar bus station to take the migrants back to their villages.Following this the central government issued a press statement stating that it had asked state governments to set up immediate relief camps for the migrant workers returning to their native states. On 29 March, the government issued sweeping orders directing that the landlords should not demand rent during the period of the lockdown and that employers should pay wages without deduction. The people that violated the lockdown were to be sent to government-run quarantine facilities for 14 days. The Supreme Court of India has also agreed to hear a petition on behalf of the migrant workers on 30th March.The order issued by the Home Ministry on 24 March allowed the functioning of shops dealing with food items as well as the manufacturing units and transportion of "essential goods". However, the lack of clarity on "essential goods" meant that the policemen on the streets stopped workers going to factories and the trucks carrying food items. Food industries also faced shortages of labour because the workers were unable to reach workplaces and the factory managers faced the fear of legal action. All these factors combined to result in shortages and a raise in the prices of food items. On 26 March 2020, the Indian government announced a relief package of $22.6 billion to assist the poor population hit economically by the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan was to benefit the migrant workers through cash transfers and initiatives for food security.[47] However, on 9 April 2020, economists and activists argued that a significant proportion of the affected population was unable to avail the facilities. Only those registered with the federal food welfare scheme were able to secure benefits. According to a Government of India report filed with the Supreme Court of India, state governments operated 22,567 relief camps for stranded migrant workers, of which 15,541 camps (amounting to 68% of all) were operated by Kerala, 1,135 camps by Maharashtra, 178 camps by Tamil Nadu and smaller numbers by other states.And non-governmental organisations were operating 3,909 camps. Many Institutions and Committees came forward offerering a helping hand to treat corona positive patients at Hospitals. DSGMC, a counterpart of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee in Delhi, provided its rooms to hospital staff as they were facing harassment at the hands of landlords and neighbours. On 27 March 2020, the police arrested 8 people and registered a complaint against 150 people in Hardoi for gathering at a mosque. On 2 April, 2020, thousands of people assembled at temples in various parts of West Bengal defying the lockdown for celebrating Ram Navami. 12 members of Tablighi Jamaat were arrested on 5 April 2020 in Muzaffarnagar for defying the lockdown and organising an event. A priest in Andhra Pradesh was arrested for defying the lockdown and organizing a gathering of 150 people in a church. According to a study at Shiv Nadar University, India could have witnessed a surge of 31,000 cases of disease between 24 March and 14 April without lockdown.A group of researchers at the University of Oxford who tracked the governmental policy measures to counter the pandemic rated India's lockdown as one of the most stringent in the world, scoring "100 out of 100" on their tracker. They noted that India implemented school closures, border closure, travel bans etc. but they said it was too early to measure their success in containing the pandemic. . .Although the Corona Virus pandemic has brought our planet earth to a standstill and may adversely affect our country's GDP and liquidity rates, but still it has caused many positive impacts on the movement of our planet too like we are presently experiencing significantly lower seismic vibrations,lesser pollution,lowered carbon emission rates etc.
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