Lipakshi Seedhar (Staff Reporter and Feature Writer):
Lockdown 2.0, another 19 days of staying at home. On 15 April 2020, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi announced Lockdown 2.0 because the number of COVID-19 cases
were increasing rapidly. This lockdown will end on 3rd May 2020. Currently, the
total number of people affected is 16,402, out of which 2,601 people have already
recovered while 538 have already died. About 170 zones all over the country have been declared Corona Hotspots based on the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India (GoI).Lockdown 2.0 came with a new set of rules and guidelines under which some services are now permitted while some are not. These will be enforced from 20 April 2020:
A. what’s permitted under the latest guidelines?
1. Financial services
• RBI and other RBI regulated financial markets and entities
• Banks, ATM and IT vendors for banking operations
• SEBI and capital and debt market services
• IRDAI and insurance companies
2. Commercial services
• Print and electronic media
• IT services with up to 50 per cent capacity
• Data and call centres for state activities
• CSCs at panchayat level
• E-commerce companies, e-commerce functions for non-essential items like mobile, laptops, refrigerators, etc.
• Courier services
• Cold storage and warehousing
• Private security and facilities management services; hotels, homestays, etc.
• Establishment for quarantine facilities
• Self-employed services like electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc.
3. Movement of individuals
• Private vehicles for medical emergency services and for getting essential commodities
• In case of a four-wheeler, one passenger within the back seat beside the driving force is permitted
• For two-wheelers, just one driver is permitted
• All personnel travelling to their workplace as exempted by State/UT/Local
authority
4. Social services
• Home for youngsters, juveniles, divyang (handicapped), elderly etc. are going
to be allowed to function. This includes observation homes and aftercare homes
• Disbursement of Social Security pensions and provident fund by EPFO
• Operation of Anganwadis
5. Agricultural activities
• Farming operations in fields
• Functioning of agencies engaged in getting agricultural products
• Machinery shops
• Custom hiring centres
• Services associated with fertilizers and seeds
• APMC markets and Mandis
• Direct marketing operations for agriculture
• Harvesting and sowing
• Operation of fishing like processing and sale, hatcheries, commercial aquaria
• Plantations of tea, coffee and rubber allowed with a maximum 50 per cent workers
• Animal husbandry including distribution and sale of milk products, animal shelter homes, etc.
6. Health services
• Hospitals and nursing homes
• Telemedicine facilities
• Medical shops and dispensaries
• Medical research, COVID-19 related labs and collection centres
• Authorized private establishments
• Veterinary hospitals, dispensaries and clinics, sale and provide of vaccine and medicines
• Manufacturing units, medical devices and construction of health infrastructure
• Movement of all medical personnel, scientists, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians
• Industrial establishments
• Industries in rural areas
• SEZ and export-oriented units
• Industrial estates and industrial township
• Manufacturing units of essential goods
• Industries producing IT hardware
• Food processing units, jute industries
• Coal and mineral production, O&G refinery and brick kilns in rural areas
• Construction activities including roads, irrigation projects, renewable energyprojects and constructionprojects in municipalities.
7. Cargo and essential services
• Transportation of cargo inter and intrastate by air, rail, land and sea routes
• Carrier vehicles with only two drivers and one helper are allowed
• Empty vehicles for delivery/pick from goods
• The supply chain of essential goods like manufacturing, wholesale, retail, shops/
carts for essential goods
• Large bricks and mortar stores, dhabas and truck repair shops on the highway, movement of staff and labourers for essential services.
8. Additional services
• Collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce, non-timber
forest produces by ST and forest dwellers
• Bamboo, coconut, areca nut, cocoa, spices plantations and their harvesting sale
and marketing
• NBFCs including Housing Finance and Micro Finance Companies with bare
minimum staff, cooperative credit societies
• Construction activities in rural areas to incorporate water system and sanitation, power, telecom and cable lines.
B. what’s shut?
• Domestic and international aviation
• Passenger trains, buses, metro, taxis
• Interstate transport apart from security and medical purposes
• Industrial and commercial activities
• Hospitality services
• Educational, training and training institutions
• Cinema halls, malls, gyms, bards, pools, entertainment parks, assembly halls etc.
• All social, political, sports, complexes, religious places and other gatherings As said by Prime Minister, some relaxation will be given to people living in the areas where no COVID-19 cases have been found until now (termed as Green Zone).
Not only the hotspots will be exempted from these relaxations, if a single case of COVID19 is found in the green zone, all the relaxations will be taken away. As of 19 April 2020,Delhi and Punjab will not be given any relaxation and people will have to follow the lockdown as before. The penalty for the violation for lockdown is predicated on the Disaster Management Act of 2005. Any person found violating the lockdown rules are going to be charged under the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster
Management Act, 2005, besides action under Sec. 188 of the Indian Penal Code ( IPC) and other legal
provisions as applicable.
Even when the Government is constantly asking people to stay at home, some people have broken the rules. People go out of their houses without any work. Some people are spitting on Medical staff, when they are trying to test them. Some are throwing stones at Police as well as Medical Staff. It has also been seen that some people are deliberately trying to spread the Virus by spitting on things (like currency notes, railings, polyethene, etc). Strict actions are being taken against these people.
The Medical Staff as well as Police have put their lives in danger and have put the country first. These people have been living away from their families, working multiple shifts in one go and still a lot of people are disrespecting them. People need to understand that they are the saviours of the country and without India won’t be able to fight the Virus.
The light of hope in these dark days is that Kerala, India has been almost successful in its attempt of flattening the curve as the recovery rate as high as 64% percent. The factory workers, construction workers were asked to stop moving and that the Government of that particular state they are in will help them with their basic needs. They have been quarantined and are being given proper food, shelter, water to drink and they are even being entertained with television, magic shows, and what not.
The country is doing everything. They are being taken care off well. The Government, the Medical Staff, the Police, the Army, The Navy and all the other institutions are doing their best. Everyone is working day and night to protect the country, to the save the country, to eradicate the virus from the country. India is already on the way to win the war with this deadly virus. The only request made by the Government is to stay at home, respect the lockdown, respect the people who are working tirelessly for them and the ball will be in our court in no time.
We, as citizens, can make India, COVID-19 free just by staying at home. So, let us all
stay at home, watch all the online shows available, read all our favourite books, call all
are long-lost relatives and friends, cook all the dishes we have been dying to eat and
catch up on all the sleep we had been losing because of that work load from work.
Forthe first time, being lazy, we can save the country. For the first time, the country will
be proud of the lazy people because they contributed the most in saving the country by staying at home.