The Hindu Editorial Analysis | 27th March’20

Table of Contents

Standing with the needy

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)
FinMin announced: ₹1,70,000 crore relief package announced
It is a good 1st step towards alleviating the distress caused to vulnerable sections of the population by the 21-day lockdown
Noteworthy: innovative ways in which the government is seeking to offer relief

PMGKY covers various sections of the vulnerable, ranging from farmers and women Jan Dhan account holders, to organised sector workers, to the most important of all — healthcare workers, who will now get a sizeable insurance cover of ₹50 lakh.
The doubling of foodgrain allocation offered free is a good idea.
PM Ujjwala scheme: free cooking gas refills
The effort appears to be to keep the funding within the budget as much as possible and retain control over the deficit.
Govt. should now turn its focus towards businesses that are running out of cash and may soon default on even salaries and statutory commitments if relief is not given.
There are enough ideas to borrow from others such as the U.S. which is in the process of finalising a $2 trillion package.
Part II of the economic relief package should not be delayed beyond the next couple of days.

Terror unlimited

Attack on a GURDWARA in Kabul that killed at least 25 people
Barefaced attempt by the Islamic State (IS) to revive its fortunes
Afghanistan is politically divided and the peace process is hamstrung by the Taliban’s continuing violence.In some parts, the Taliban had also attacked the IS, as the insurgents, who are tribal Islamist nationalists, see the latter as a threat.
Afghanistan has two governments, one led by Ashraf Ghani, who was declared winner of the September presidential election, and the other by Abdullah Abdullah, who has disputed the results and formed a rival administration.
The peace agreement reached between the Taliban and the U.S. failed to bring any halt to violence.
The country has also seen a jump in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the Herat province, which shares a border with Iran, emerging as the epicentre.

Afghanistan is notorious for violence against its minority communities.The Hazara Shias were brutalised during the Taliban regime in 1996-2001.
Most Hindus and Sikhs, once spread across the country in hundreds of thousands, have fled the country.
Resurgence of the Taliban and the fear of the insurgents taking over Kabul.
The leadership should realise the magnitude of this crisis, and take a united approach to tackle it.

Devising a people-centric response to COVID-19

It is important that we stand united in facing this grave crisis.
State has major responsibilities
It must take a leadership role in enforcing the lockdown while upholding the rights and dignity of people
it must educate the citizens on the dos and don’ts of rules to followit must take all sections of society with it
The health machinery has to work round the clock. Pinarayi Vijayan CM of Kerala
The lockdown period should be used
break the infection chain
isolate the infected from the general population
treat those who require it with varying degrees of hospitalisation, including intensive care
I welcome the announcement of the Prime Minister to set aside ₹15,000 crore for emergencies.
However, we need clarity on how this money will be spent and on how States will be helped by the Centre in the expansion of health infrastructure.

Health is a State subject.

State governments are an integral part of the governance of the nation.
Fiscal federalism, decentralised governance and flexibility to the States to meet their particular needs and requirements should be a part of the fight against the virus, including coping with the lockdown and the economic recovery to follow.
The Central government should create consultative bodies consisting of Union and State Ministers to identify bottlenecks and assess progress.We may all have something to learn from each other.
‘Take Home Ration’
We are happy to note that the Supreme Court of India expressed appreciation for our efforts in this regard.
Kerala will ensure availability of essential goods and services, and our government will not permit a single person to starve during the lockdown.
We have energised our Public Distribution System (PDS) to ensure that all households that do not figure in the priority list get 15 kg of free food supplies for a month.
This is in addition to the allocation of 35 kg per household for those in the priority category.
Nutritious meal plates at ₹20 per plate are being served through 1,000 canteens of the State government.
The Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a PSE, has been provided with ₹25 crore to ensure adequate supply of medicines required for COVID-19 treatment.
Inmates of our prisons, self-help groups under the government’s Kudumbashree Mission, and enterprises operating from our rubber parks were mobilised to increase the production of N95, triple layer and double layer face masks as well as surgical gloves.
Our Khadi PSEs have been asked to supply adequate number of bed sheets and towels for disposable use in the hospitals.
We have asked Internet Service Providers in the State to increase their network capacity by 30% to 40% to ensure that people can work from home.
Our economic package of ₹20,000 crore will be spent roughly as follows.
Two months of welfare pensions will be paid in advance to the pension beneficiaries.
For those not eligible for welfare pensions, ₹1,320 crore has been set aside for providing an assistance of ₹1,000 per family from the BPL and Antyodaya sections.
Another ₹100 crore has been set aside for providing free food grains to families in need, while ₹50 crore has been set aside for the provision of subsidised meals at ₹20 per meal.
Around ₹500 crore has been set aside for a comprehensive health package, where focus will be on improving public health infrastructure and equipping the State to face such epidemics.
Loans worth ₹2,000 crore will be distributed through the Kudumbashree Mission.
₹2,000 crore has been set aside for the expansion of the employment guarantee programme.
Further, around ₹14,000 crore has been set aside to clear all the arrears of the State government till April 2020.
Passenger vehicles have also been given tax relief.
Autos and taxis have been given relaxation on payment of fitness charges.
There is relaxation in the deadlines of water and electricity bill payment for affected firms.
Entertainment taxes for cinema halls have been reduced.
Let this be the period in which we end fiscal conservatism.

Safeguarding the vulnerable among us

The human dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic reach far beyond the critical health response.
All aspects of our future will be affected — economic, social and developmental.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that as many as 25 million people could become unemployed, with a loss of workers’ income of as much as $3.4 trillion.
However, it is already becoming clear that these numbers may underestimate the magnitude of the impact.
Often the first to lose their jobs are those whose employment was already precarious — sales clerks, waiters, kitchen staff, baggage handlers and cleaners.
In a world where only one in five people are eligible for unemployment benefits, lay-offs spell catastrophe for millions of families.
We have a chance to save millions of jobs and enterprises, if governments act decisively to ensure business continuity, prevent lay-offs and protect vulnerable workers.
We should have no doubt that the decisions they take today will determine the health of our societies and economies for years to come.
Truckers and seafarers, who deliver medical equipment and other essentials, must be adequately protected.
In these most difficult of times, I recall a principle set out in the ILO’s Constitution: “Poverty anywhere remains a threat to prosperity everywhere.”‘
Trace, test, treat model helped S. Korea control virus’
The Korean Model, a vigorous regime of “trace, test, treat”, has shown remarkable results in controlling the spread of the novel coronavirus, without putting a nationwide lockdown in place.
What is the latest situation with the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea?
I can say Korea is now in full control of the spread of the disease. The number of new confirmed cases per day has been showing steady decline since hitting a peak at 989 in February to doubledigit figures as of mid-March.
I believe, more importantly, that Korea might be the only country that hasn’t imposed a lockdown within its territories or even of its international borders.
We have our own strict measures to prevent inflow and outflow of the virus but we are sticking to improving the situation without using drastic measures such as closing off our cities or our borders.

How has this been possible?

What we call the ‘Korean model’ is grounded on concentrated testing of high-risk areas and clusters.
Korea found out at the beginning of the spread of the virus that a certain religious cult and its gathering was the cause of a large portion of the spread in a certain area of the country.
This group had massive gatherings in a closed-off space.
However, Korea succeeded in identifying and isolating potential cases at a very early stage and finally flattened the curve.
Are there best practices you would like to share?
The moment the virus DNA pattern was confirmed in Wuhan, Korean medical teams and bio-companies were able to develop new testing kits with surprising speed.
This made it possible for Korea to conduct mass-scale testing of 18,000 cases a day.
Anybody in Korea who has symptoms or reasons to be tested can get the test within minutes at ‘drive-thru’ or ‘walk-thru’ testing centres and receive the result by text message the very next day.
Korea made available over 650 testing centres nationwide.
I understand the need for lockdowns given India’s demography and medical infrastructure.
How are India and Korea cooperating and sharing information during this crisis? Has India made specific requests for testing kits/ medical equipment so far?
The Korean government has repeatedly communicated to the Indian government on what is going on in Korea and how we tackle the virus.
Though India has not asked for help regarding testing kits or medical equipment, we are always ready to extend a hand.
Already, nine Korean companies have received export licenses of testing kits and the Embassy as well as Korean Trade Agency (KOTRA) are willing to facilitate the communication between the Korean companies and those who want to import the kits.

NEWS

Will fully back Centre: Sonia“We will support and collaborate fully with every step taken by the Union government to ensure the containment of the pandemic,” she said.Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi called the package the “first” step in the right direction but criticised the government for offering insufficient cash transfer.
Lockdown forces migrant workers to leg it home from Manesar

The 21-day lockdown has suddenly left several thousand workers in the informal sector without jobs and any means of sustenance.
“Yeh hartal abhi kaafi din chalne wali hai. Hamare pass khane ka bhi paisa nahi bacha hai (This lockdown is going to last for quite a few days. We have no money left even for food),” said Ramesh, the eldest in the group. He says seven other workers also set off on foot for Uttar Pradesh but he has lost contact with them.
G20 commits $5 trillion
The G20 countries committed on Thursday to inject more than $5 trillion into the global economy, and contribute to the COVID-19 solidarity response fund led by the WHO.
“The pandemic is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities. Combating this pandemic calls for a robust and coordinated global response…,” said a joint statement at the end of the summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi: The world needs to “redefine” its conversations on globalisation to include social and humanitarian issues such as terrorism, climate change and pandemics along with financial and economic discussions.
“We will share timely and transparent information; exchange epidemiological and clinical data; share materials necessary for research and development; and strengthen health systems globally, including through supporting the full implementation of the WHO International Health Regulations.”
The leaders agreed to have more interactions of G20 Foreign Ministers, health officials and the respective Sherpas
G20 must send a “strong signal to restore confidence in the global economy by resuming, as soon as possible, the normal flow of goods and services, especially vital medical supplies.
In the effort to control the pandemic, most countries have acted individually he said, stressing the need for a more coordinated effort.
Many countries have been critical of WHO’s failure to alert the world quickly enough of the potential threat from the pandemic, even after it had been informed of its spread in Wuhan by China on December 31 last year.
Others, most notably the United States, have been particularly critical of China for not having been transparent and shared information about the pandemic, and have even called for the virus to be named the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus,” a move China has opposed strongly.
Shops selling essentials to operate 24×7
Shops and factories associated with essential services can operate 24×7 and ecommerce companies can home-deliver essential commodities during the ongoing 21- day lockdown to contain the COVID-19 epidemic in the Capital, the Delhi government announced here on Thursday.
These announcements were made at a joint digital press conference by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after a meeting with senior administrative and police officers.
Offer prayers at home, appeal clerics
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani appealed to Muslims on Thursday to offer Friday prayers in their homes.
“In the present scenario, we should ensure that the azaan continues in mosques. The muezzin and the imam could offer the prayers inside closed doors. In mosques, where there are 2-3 more staff members, they could stand at a distance of one metre while offering prayers. The rest could offer prayers at home,” he said in a statement.
DRDO develops ventilators
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a ventilator and is working with the industry to produce 5,000 of them per month to treat COVID-19 patients, Chairman G. Satheesh Reddy said on Thursday.