Eight days into the 21-day nationwide lockdown that he ordered to stop the spread of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked chief ministers to help the Union government formulate plans to “ensure staggered re-emergence of the population” once it ends.
It is important that states come on board along with the Centre and the nation has a well-thought-out exit strategy unlike the entry plan which left millions of people, mostly migrant workers, stranded in distant lands and forced them to trek their way home, many on empty stomachs. The states, which are in the forefront of battling the pandemic, have their ears to the ground and are better placed to advise the Union government.
One only hopes that economic activity takes precedence over social activity during the re-emergence; in other words, shop floors should be opened before worship and wedding platforms.
A sound exit plan is fine but the government should also think of a strategy to make use of the remaining days of the lockdown. True, the prime minister has talked about “testing, tracing, isolating and quarantine” but offered the chief ministers and the nation no concrete route map for such a strategy nor fixed the milestones to be achieved. We have seen no change in the strategy devised by the Indian Council of Medical Research, nor have we seen additional efforts on tracing Covid-19 suspects. India continues to test less than 10,000 samples a day — as per ICMR, it tested 8,345 samples on April 2, against more than a lakh the United States, the new hotspot, is testing. As of March 31, India tested only 35 samples per million people against 3,377 of the US.
Scientists have already warned that a lockdown per se is not the solution; the pandemic could bounce back with more vigour unless we redouble our efforts to contain it now. They would want mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic people who are potential carriers of the virus to be tested. The government must heed their advice. To start with, the government should facilitate states to conduct rapid tests.
Several chief ministers are understood to have raised the financial crunch they face and sought liberal help from the Centre. Some chief ministers have sought funds for procuring personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers and patient care facilities such as ventilators. With economic activity coming to a halt, many will be forced to rework their budget numbers. Some of them have already announced either deferment or cut in the salaries of their employees, who are, ironically, fighting the virus on the frontline. That will be calamitous.
The government must immediately find ways to incentivise the good work states do. Early disbursal of GST dues and raising of borrowing limits could come as an immediate relief. The government should not hallucinate that it can win the war with fiscally hamstrung states.
