Lockdown 3.0: Some Features: Delhi -- all Red Zones: Kolkata, Mumbai also Hotspot

Government on May 1, 2020 announced that the Ministry of Railways will designate nodal officers for coordinating with the states and Union territories for movement of migrant workers.
"The Railways will issue detailed guidelines for sale of tickets, and for social distancing and other safety measures to be observed at train stations, platforms and within the trains," a senior official in the Union Home Secretary said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs ordered allowing the use of trains for ferrying people stranded due to the nationwide lockdown to their respective states.

Joint Secretary in the MHA Punya Salila Srivastava said stranded people such as migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims and students can now be transported using trains. "States and the Railway Board will make the necessary arrangements for the same," she said.

Underlining that some problems are cropping up in the movement of trucks and load carriers, Srivastava said the MHA has again written to the states, reiterating that no separate pass is needed for trucks and load carriers, including the empty vehicles

Exercising the powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places is allowed by special trains to be operated by the Ministry of Railways.

"Some of the problems and harassment faced by migrant workers during the lockdown period were avoidable. Some workers said they would probably die of hunger before the unseen virus gets them," commented veteran politician Yashwant Sinha, who was once a BJP member.

The 82-year-old Sinha, a former finance minister, said social distancing norms were largely being enforced, keeping the middle class and elites in mind.

Sinha indirectly also points to the millions in the slums of India — 64 million officially and double that unofficially — for whom social distancing is just not possible. People brush against each other as they pass through congested narrow pathways of slums for simple tasks such as collecting water.

It is also impossible for people in slums to remain permanently inside their homes, where on average four people live in a space of 10 square feet, which includes a kitchen and often a toilet too.
The government neglected the poor and planned nothing for them, especially for migrant workers who sleep in cramped rented quarters. No measures were taken to ensure they had night shelters, public toilets or food. The government acted as if the poor did not exist.

That neglect led to panic in many places, not just in big cities like New Delhi and Mumbai but also in smaller towns in southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

The government even failed to arrange transport for poor people to get back to their villages before the lockdown started on March 24. But officials justified the situation by saying that migrants moving from cities to rural areas could spread the virus even to remote villages, a disastrous situation.

"So Lockdown 3.0 till 18/5. Will anything be done to deal with the desperation & destination of Migrant workers & other poor who have been without jobs & money for 6 weeks already. Direct money transfers? Or will millions be left to die of eventual starvation?" - Prashant Bhushan, senior counsel, tweeted on May 1.

The plight of migrant workers figured in major litigation in the Supreme Court. The court agreed on the risk of infection in villages if migrants returned. The court, however, directed the government to ensure food, water, beds, medication and counseling for migrants.

But nothing much could be done as migrant workers do not have an official identity. Most of these people have no documents to prove their identity or domicile. The identity documents, anyway, would not confirm their engagement as migrant laborers.

An estimated 30 percent of Indians, or about 400 million, are internal migrants. Conservative estimates are that at least half of them eke out a living doing jobs such as construction helpers, rickshaw pullers and roadside tea sellers. The government has no record of them as workers and no system to ensure their welfare.

Making things even more complex, the federal home ministry guidelines on lockdown relaxation have put the onus on states and local district administrations to ensure social distancing norms are enforced. The provincial administrations have directed individual industrial units, mostly operated by private entrepreneurs, to enforce social distancing norms. They were also asked to ensure that workers are given hygienic food, sanitizer and masks.

The governments have moved away from providing any benefits to migrant workers, even those who were in the organized sector. Migrants have ultimately turned out to be nobody's child when it comes to administrative accountability.

The principal opposition Congress party has urged PM Modi to be bold in declaring a financial package worth at least 5-6 percent of India's GDP to ensure economic recovery post the Covid-19 lockdown.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi also wrote to the prime minister seeking delivery of 10 kilograms of free food grains per person until September to the poor, including migrants who do not hold documents to prove their identity and domicile.

She said the crisis had pushed many relatively secure families into food insecurity and poverty despite India having some 59 million tonnes of buffer stock of food grains.

The government granaries are overflowing with more than three times food grains than the country needs as buffer stock. But sadly, millions are hungry and the government has no system to identify the needy and get food to them.

BJP leaders say the migration issue has been blown out of proportion by opposition parties. One of them, Virendra Sachdeva, said the government announced a US$24 million relief package to take care of the poor, workers and those who needed immediate help. He also named a series of other welfare programs for migrants and workers. He said Modi has the highest popularity among global leaders in the fight against Covid-19.

Dilip Bhattacharya, a social worker, believes it is case of "missing the woods for the trees." Migration in India has happened primarily because of lopsided development policies. The Covid-19 crisis should make policymakers rethink those policies.

Therefore, COVID19 crisis should make policy makers focus on development of India's northern parts also called cow belt".

These are easier said than done. Development in Bihar and UP - the state now being represented by no less than Prime Minister Modi himself - may put a halt to urbanisation  that's a long term perspective, but the crisis at hands is "reverse migration" of millions of workmen and women - who are not sure of their daily bread, with Covid19 or without it.

Well, it may be early stages. But what is important is that the gulf of difference between haves and have nots may surface at onetime; say - three months time from now. Can India handle a civil war like situation, between Haves and Have Nots? 

More so, because the country has immense social and political issues in the form of age old caste and communal conflicts.

The classification of districts across the country into red, green and orange zones will be shared by MoHFW with the states and Union Territories (UTs) on a weekly basis, or earlier, as required, the Ministry said. While states and UTs can include additional districts as red and orange zones, they may not lower the classification of a district included by MoHFW in the list of red or orange zones.

Noting that number of districts of the country have, within their boundaries, one or more Municipal Corporations, the Ministry said it has been observed that due to higher population density within these civic bodies, and consequent greater inter-mixing of people, the incidence of Covid-19 within the boundary of the the civic body is higher than in the rest of the district.

In the new guidelines, therefore, it has been provided that such districts will be classified into two zones -- one for the area under the boundary of the municipal bodies and another for the area falling outside their boundary.

If the area outside the boundary of the civic body has reported no case for the last 21 days, it will be allowed to be classified as one stage lower than the overall classification of the district as either red or orange. Hence, this area will be classified as orange, in case the district is overall red; or as green, in case the district is overall orange.

This classification will enable more economic and other activities in that area of the district, which is relatively less affected by the incidence of Covid-19, while also ensuring that due caution continues to be exercised so that these areas remain free from cases.

This dispensation has been made only in respect of districts having Municipal Corporation (s).
The most sensitive areas of the country, from the spread of Covid-19 point of view, and falling within the red and orange zones, are designated as containment zones. These are areas where there is significant risk of spread of the infection.

All the domestic and international air travel, movement of trains, metro and inter-state buses for public transport, except those permitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), will be prohibited during lockdown 3.0 to contain the spread of COVId-19 pandemic.

In the two-week extended countrywide lockdown beginning from May 4, all domestic and international air travel of passengers, except for medical services, air ambulance and for security purposes as permitted by the MHA, will continue to remain prohibited, according to the fresh guidelines.

The prohibition will also apply on all passenger movement by trains, except for security purposes or for purposes as permitted by the Home Ministry.

Inter-state buses for public transport, except as permitted by the MHA, and the metro services will remain prohibited. The fresh guidelines were issued after the Ministry announced extension of the lockdown for more 14 days till May 17.

The government took the decision after a comprehensive review, and in view of the lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the Covid-19 situation in the country.

Delhi has at least 11 red zones, Uttar Pradesh 19 red zones, 36 orange zones and 20 green zones while, the state of Haryana has 2 red zones, 18 orange zones and 2 green zones.

The Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh has been identified as a red zone district while, Ghaziabad has been designated as an orange zone. The national capital has no orange and green zone; there are only red zones according to the letter.

In Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik come in the red zone.

In West Bengal, Kolkata, Howrah, 24 Parganas -- both North and South have been identified as red zones while Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad etc have been marked as orange zones.

In the southern part of India, Kerala has 2 red zones and 10 orange zones, while Tamil Nadu has 12 red zones and 24 orange zones.