Customised action plans
Following the relaxations norms issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, several districts in the country began resumption of economic activity in bits and pieces. The Centre was alarmed by the dilution of its guidelines in Kerala, as the state allowed more than what was to be offered to its residents. Accordingly, the Kerala government rolled back some relaxations. Indeed, plying of buses and opening of restaurants feels like a big leap from the total shutdown that has been mandated to be observed till May 3. What to allow or not is a topic of everyday debate in the upper echelon of New Delhi. The Centre may have bought buffer time for itself in a bid to frame the necessary guidelines while simultaneously assessing the situation on the ground but it has to take cognisance of state-specific peculiarities. For instance, a near estimate of cases across the country shows that Maharasthra has recorded nearly a fourth of all cases in the country till now. By and large, this fact underlines the need for a state-specific action plan as the lockdown nears its end. Social and geographical conditions anyway denote that not all states can resume life in the same manner. But that said, none should cross the upper limit of relaxations either. It is widely understood that restarting the economy is an inevitable phenomenon. In fact, it is an eagerly anticipated action. But any haste and regret would be in abundance for the nation as a whole. Given the unprecedented outbreak that enforced this lockdown upon the nation, all exit strategies would be novel in nature. Kerala's attempt to resume life in safe districts — Green and Orange B, out of the four categories — is in this direction. The state does boast of having flattened the transmission curve ahead of others in the country as one must recall that both Maharasthra and Kerala were at par when the lockdown was imposed. Since then, Maharasthra's situation has taken a turn for the worse — though not by global standards where countries in the West have been brought to their knees owing to stage three transmission i.e., community transmission. Cooperative federalism has taken its best foot forward in India with all states heeding Centre's directives on the unprecedented pandemic. That spirit must be maintained. Yet, the Centre cannot deny that all states will have to craft their routes to normalcy owing to their respective infection clusters albeit adhering by the Centre's well-defined contours.
Easing lockdown is not just a national affair. Nations that posted massive infection and fatality figures on the global list have begun to chalk out routes to normalcy with safeguards deployed. Germany, Belgium, Spain, South Korea, etc., have in their respective capacities allowed for economic activities to be resumed. But even as they take strides towards normalcy, apprehensions of a second wave loom large. WHO chief warned that the worst is yet to come. His warning does not mean more people have to necessarily die but the caution comes at a time when nations have begun to ease curbs. Countries have to exercise extreme caution in easing restrictions as even a single mal-assessment could result in an explosion of cases, necessitating an even stricter lockdown. The crucial briefing before the end of the lockdown would not only have to take into account the nationwide infection status but also how the districts with eased curbs have fared in the ten-day period. One cannot rule out yet another extension for districts that fall under the red zone. But the hope is that
by May 3, the territory under red zone decreases and remains isolated to few clusters that can thereby be tackled in a more severe manner of trace, test and treat. Colour-coding districts and assigning separate action plans for each of those — largely how Kerala has done — should be a logical exit plan from the lockdown, if at all there is an exit on May 3.
