Government’s initial COVID response betrayed its own road map for “biological and public health” disasters

22 April 2020
A homeless man, along with several others, was evicted from the banks of the river Yamuna by the state government of Delhi on 15 April, and bussed to various makeshift shelters. The homeless people in Delhi took shelter wherever they could find it amid the nationwide lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost a month into the lockdown and the humanitarian crisis facing the most vulnerable groups in the country is yet to be resolved.
Altaf Qadri/AP Photo
A homeless man, along with several others, was evicted from the banks of the river Yamuna by the state government of Delhi on 15 April, and bussed to various makeshift shelters. The homeless people in Delhi took shelter wherever they could find it amid the nationwide lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost a month into the lockdown and the humanitarian crisis facing the most vulnerable groups in the country is yet to be resolved.
Altaf Qadri/AP Photo

On 14 March, the disaster-management division of the ministry of home affairs, or MHA, decided to treat the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in India as an officially “notified disaster.” Ten days later, during an address to the country, the prime minister Narendra Modi announced a complete nationwide lockdown of three weeks, which would come into force mere hours after his 8 pm  speech. Though high on its emotive appeal to the citizenry, Modi’s speech provided no details on what the lockdown implied for India’s workforce—over eighty two percent of which is employed in the unorganised sector. 

Over the next few days, in the absence of any economic assurance from the government, and all means of livelihood at a standstill, the lockdown sparked an exodus of migrant workers from almost all urban centres in the country. It was only two days after the lockdown came into force that the government announced a financial package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for vulnerable sections of society, including migrant workers. Meanwhile, the MHA clamped down on all inter and intra state transport simultaneously, leaving lakhs of workers who were already on the move, families and belonging in tow, stranded, without food, water or money. The humanitarian crisis facing the migrant population is yet to abate. 

Reports of violence against women, and discrimination against marginalised groups also starting coming in as the lockdown progressed. On 9 April, a pregnant patient was reportedly raped by a health worker in a COVID-19 isolation ward in Bihar, and died later due to excessive bleeding. In another case, on 5 April, a pregnant woman was turned away by hospital authorities in Bharatpur, in Rajasthan, and lost the child. The family said that the hospital refused them admission because they were Muslim. Five days later, Harsh Vardhan, the union minister of health, had to direct states to be “mindful that the medical needs of pregnant women… are attended to.” Several news reports have highlighted the surge in incidents of domestic violence against women and children even as the government has been slow to take concrete measures. 

Sagar is a staff writer at The Caravan.

Keywords: COVID-19 NDMA coronavirus lockdown Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry of Home Affairs
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