'With his first speech on the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got us to scare evil spirits away by having people bang the hell out of their pots and pans. With his second, he scared the hell out of all of us. With not a word on how the public, particularly the poor, are to access food and other essentials in coming weeks, it sparked off a panic waiting to happen. The middle classes thronged the stores and markets – something not easy for the poor. Not for migrants leaving the cities for their villages. Not for small vendors, domestic help, agricultural labourers.
'Twenty eight-year-old Mohammad Javed, driver of a truck carrying LPG cylinders, has been stranded at the Hubli checkpost since Tuesday afternoon without food, water or any hope. The policemen posted at the border would not allow him to cross over as the COVID-19 lockdown is to be followed stringently. Javed is among some 500,000 drivers and helpers left high and dry across the many state borders, estimates made by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) suggest.
'India has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. People have been told to stay indoors, but for many daily-wage earners this is not an option. The BBC's Vikas Pandey finds out how they were coping in the days leading up to Tuesday's announcement...'
'The lockdown across 30 states and Union Territories to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has brought economic activity to a virtual halt. Transportation and logistics system are struggling to get past checkpoints amid varying interpretations across state jurisdictions of what comprises essential services. The country’s top manufacturing and services hubs are closing offices amid the restrictions. Construction activity across the major metropolitan regions is crimping to a stop...'
'Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi see the pictures of the long lines of men, with bags and bundles, making their way along the edges of national highways out of New Delhi? Did he hear the young man, sobbing because there was no way home, and no way to escape police batons who asked, “How will we go, we can’t go by flight, can we?” If Modi did, there was no sign that he considered their circumstance to be of any consequence.
'Processors and importers are finding it hard to keep up the supply of essential commodities with most markets, such as vegetables, edible oil, grain and pulses being disrupted either because they don’t have workers, or transport facilities are not smooth. If such a situation continues for long, scarcity could be a major problem, say market leaders. In Mumbai, grain offtake has doubled to 100,000 bags of 30 kg each a day over the past few days.
'It’s been an unusual Monday afternoon for Dharmanath Sapera, who, instead of his usual routine of collecting scrap or working at construction sites, is spending the day worrying about arranging the next day’s meal for his family of nine members... “We went to the chowkri (a place for daily wage labourers to seek work) today, but the police drove us away. They told us to stay at home. If we stay at home, how will we feed our families? We are dependent on our daily income as we don’t have savings,” Sapera, a father of six, told The Indian Express...'
'"The government is saying wash your hands regularly, maintain cleanliness, do not touch doors and do not go to the homes of other people. But my employer says I will not get leaves, that I must come in. On the contrary, they keep nagging me to wash my hands as soon as I come in, not go to the houses of other people, and not invite guests at home," 35-year-old Bhanu, who works as a cook at the apartments in Delhi's Alaknanda area, lists the dos and don’ts her employers have imposed on her. Over the past few days, Bhanu says she noticed a difference in the lifestyle of her employers.
