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The coronavirus pandemic will leave some deep and fundamental lessons for organising our economy and for a new kind of social policy. If lockdown was the essential way to fight the spread of the virus, it has also shown where our social policies are flawed and how those can be remedied.

Two kinds of images flashed across TV screens this week captured the essence of the nationwide lockdown declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight the spread of coronavirus. The first category showed people standing within boxes or circles to buy essential items so as to meet the requirements of social distancing, the main weapon that is believed to be most efficient to fight the deadly virus that has the world trembling at the very mention of its name. The second set of images show migrant workers climbing the rooftop of running buses in a desperate bid to go back to their villages.

India’s war against coronavirus has exposed several social, economic, political, and administrative fault-lines of which some need urgent repair to win the battle within the lockdown period that ends on April 14. We have made a considerable defense against COVID-19, our enemy number 1, but are unable to check its daily progress even ten days after ‘Janata Curfew’ and subsequent lockdown only because emerging fault-lines in our strategy right from the beginning of the crisis. Each successive day springs up new records of increased number of confirmed cases of infected persons and deaths due to this disease, albeit slower than elsewhere in the world. With the level of alertness among the people and the governments we can hope to contain the menace soon, only if blame game is avoided for now, and concerted efforts without becoming inhuman are carried out. Other steps will be needed once we overcome the crisis.

The humanitarian crisis that Covid-19 has unleashed cannot be underestimated. It has changed our world for the foreseeable future and its echoes will reverberate even after normalcy has been restored. Underlying the pandemic, however, are serious questions that impinge upon our human rights and civil liberties, which at the best of times we take for granted, and at the worst, like in the situation now, we are not mindful about.

New Delhi: The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on Friday termed the government’s economic package inadequate to tackle the situation arising from COVID–19 and said it includes already running schemes. On Wednesday, AITUC demanded Rs 5 lakh crore-package for the needy to deal with the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus threat.

Tom Landry is not a familiar name in India. He was not a great politician either. He was an American football player. But what he said once is a quotable quote: “Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you are in control, they are in control.” Judging by this criterion, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a leader par excellence.

Is the opposition supporting Modi government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic? Is the government doing enough? One should not raise eyebrows if the opposition parties do not praise the government’s effort, though they are forced to give lip-support reluctantly. Even in the United States despite the pandemic outbreak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused the President Donald Trump of “playing politics” with the virus, to which the latter responded by calling her “incompetent.” The Speaker hit back saying, “Lives are at stake. This is not a time for name-calling or playing politics.”What both said applies to Indian politicians also.

In a new and dangerous twist to the coronavirus crisis, Donald Trump is now calling for an end to social distancing perhaps as early as Easter. His goal is to restart the economy and avoid the worst impact of the coming recession.

State-specific laws

Municipal legislations

Some state municipal authorities like that in Delhi have invoked the state municipal legislation that empowers the municipal commissioners to take special measures in case of outbreak of dangerous or epidemic diseases. Such measures can include requiring private establishments to follow certain rules, eg. In case of Delhi, market and trade associations, resident welfare associations, restaurants/eateries, banquet hall owners, mall managements, hotel/motel/guest houses were to provide proper sanitation facility (washing with soap and water/alcohol-based sanitizer) at the entry point of respective establishments and to ensure no gathering at one particular site. A violation of these requirements could be punished under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

LUCKNOW: Salary deduction from doctors and other members of the staff of the prestigious KG Medical University to buy the necessary three-layer protective masks is a sad commentary on the preparations, or lack thereof, to fight Covid-19 in Uttar Pradesh.