Effects of Janta Curfew, Now Turned into Lockdown

The nationwide voluntary 14-hour self-quarantine exercise-Janata Curfew- that was supposed to be only for Sunday has now transformed into a complete lock down in various states, raising varied concerns for the 1.3 billion population of India.
A pre-emption of the lock down led people to stock up on essential items, such as food, milk anything and everything that doesn’t have a shelf value, despite government’s appeal not to hoard products.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday gently nudged Indians to “stay home’ for preventing spread of covid-19 pandemic without engineering panic but later in the evening put a complete lock down in states reporting cases and deaths related to covid-19. The unrest after the lockdown among the world’s largest democracy is visible.
A 25-year-old man working in a software company wants to go back to his home town in Chandigarh as his company has closed the office for operations. “I am making all calculations to leave Delhi and work from my hometown. I am not getting taxis, those available are charging tripe rates. My parents are also alone," he said.
Another woman has quit her job in Delhi and wants to leave for Mumbai on Tuesday with her two kids to be a housewife for a while till coronavirus scare settles down. “I am facing major problems. The society was already locked down due to a covid-19 positive patient, not the states are
implementing laws for restricting movement. Flights status is also a problem," she said.
“Social distancing and self-quarantine, despite their immeasurable importance right now, are inherently unequal in their potential costs, benefits and impact to people. Temporary emergency measures are bitter pills even developing nations must take," Ashish Bharadwaj, Dean of Jindal School of Banking & Finance.
While corporate companies across India have given their employees work from home, fates of unorganised sector such as house helps, daily wage labourers hang in balance. India is still a developing nation with a major chunk of population “going out" to work.

By: Prerana Sharma