Needless to say that indiscriminate and unplanned lockdown was a panic response which was followed by superstitions like making light and sound shows. What we needed was ‘strategic lockdown’ or sealing the areas infected and allowing all the other uninfected areas to work as usual. Under indiscriminate lockdown, the country and its people are made to halt. All the attention is shifted to corona, and other patients are struggling for medical help. Million others are struggling even for getting food and medical supplies. The overall tension prevailing has a potential to jeopardize both the physical and mental health of the people that may soon lead to violence and chaos.

So be it, but we have two major tasks in hand now – fist is to fight to contain the spread of the corona, and the second is to feed the hungry stomachs who are hundreds of millions in numbers. Both the task cannot be successfully done with any panic response of complete lockdown of the country, in which all the works are stopped and only restricted medical and food supply is allowed. There are reports that the supplies are not reaching millions who needed them most. People, including patients, are reported stopped going to the medicines and other shops. If we extend the lockdown, government must ensure the food and medical supplies to all haves and havenot’s. Brute police force is not the best answer. Mobilizing uninfected people, medical and non-medical personnel, for supplying essential goods and services, and sufficiently financing the efforts may be the answer. We have a long battle ahead for which we must prepare ourselves to contain the adverse effects in all dimensions. No effort is sustainable under indiscriminate lockdown.

Therefore, a better and more realistic approach is required, which should revolve round ‘strategic lockdown’. Let us keep in mind that we do not have infection of the corona virus in all the districts of the country. Why should we stop the people from working where there is no incidence of corona infection? Only less than 100 districts of the country have reported concentration of infected people, and another 200 or so has reported small number of corona cases. There are 736 districts in the country. Why should not we put only such districts under strict lockdown while allowing the non-infected districts to work as usual? It may ease the impending economic woes on the one hand, and allow us more room to enhance our concerted efforts in relatively smaller area of infection which can be sealed to prevent movement of people from and into.

In the meanwhile the interstate movement of people must not take place which can be done by extending lockdown period for trains and all modes of transportation of people from an infected area to a non-infected one. It would minimize the risk of spreading the virus from the infected cities to villages and small towns.

It is worth mentioning that to contain the spread of the disease we have forcefully stopped the movements of millions of workers out of the cities due to fear that they may carry the infection back to their villages. Many of them are now kept in government shelters, but millions are left to manage on their own. With little money they were able to manage in the last three weeks, but a disturbing prospect awaits them when there will be no money left with them. In such a time of crisis, they could not get financial help from the people they are living among. One of the reasons is that the lockdown will drive millions of people of the lower middle class into poverty.

An entirely different scenario is slowly emerging in the densely populated urban areas with large number of people living in the slums. We have lately noticed the spread of corona in such areas. Those are the people who cannot avoid other people around them to avoid social distancing norms in such areas. The situations in the slums are more precarious because they need to take water from the same tape. Summer season is at hand and there will be shortage of water in almost all the cities of the country. People will gather at a place to take water from the tapes or water-tankers. The second advisory for cleaning hands frequently will need more water which would be in scarcity. The people living in such areas may not be able to even follow this advisory. Many of them could not even have masks for themselves. For such areas, the central and state governments, must have special planning before the situation goes out of control. Large scale free distribution of masks may be one of the steps. Food supply chain, paid and free, must be in place. A situation of chaos on account of water and food must be avoided to take control of corona in urban areas. Very poor and destitute persons may need special attention. There is another category of people who may not have access to any facility given by the governments which are largely based on documents. Many may not have legal documents to avail them, but they can be carriers of corona virus. Governments cannot to choose to ignore them, because it would be inhuman and self-defeating in the war against corona.

The rural areas of the country need special attention. They feed the country and we cannot ignore them. No amount of money can feed the people if there would be shortage of food articles. Since the whole world is suffering from the corona crisis, and many of them are under lockdown, we cannot have sustainable food supply chain from other countries in the long run. Allowing the agricultural activities and supporting them will be a wise decision for uninfected areas. Food and medicines for them and their livestock must be supplied, who in return will feed the hungry stomachs in the country. It has been reported that the rural areas are suffering more than urban areas during the lockdown. There are no shelters and food for them as these are being provided in many of the urban areas. (IPA Service)