Modi confronts pressure to lock down India | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
May 29, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2023
Modi confronts pressure to lock down India

Coronavirus chronicle

TBS Report
04 May, 2021, 07:30 pm
Last modified: 04 May, 2021, 09:20 pm

Related News

  • Overseas Indians flock to Modi's rally in Sydney
  • India to host Quad summit next year, PM Modi says
  • Zelenskyy invites India PM Modi to join Ukraine's peace formula
  • Karnataka election results: PM Modi congratulates Congress on win
  • Japan PM Kishida, India's Modi set to strengthen cooperation, Kishida says

Modi confronts pressure to lock down India

The most immediately effective way to break the chain of transmission is to keep people far enough apart that the virus can't jump from one to another. Some experts say a temporary shut down is important

TBS Report
04 May, 2021, 07:30 pm
Last modified: 04 May, 2021, 09:20 pm
A woman walks past a painting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day before the inauguration of the Covid-19 vaccination drive on a street in Mumbai, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
A woman walks past a painting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day before the inauguration of the Covid-19 vaccination drive on a street in Mumbai, India, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to confront a pressure to lock down India as his political allies, top business leaders and US President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser see it as the only way to stem the world's worst virus outbreak.

The debate has been complicated by Modi's move last year to impose a nationwide lockdown without warning, spurring a humanitarian crisis as migrant workers fled on foot to rural areas, reports the NDTV citing Bloomberg.

While Modi is keen to avoid that criticism again, particularly after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an election in West Bengal when votes were counted Sunday, even states run by his party are ignoring his advice.

"One of the problems is this false narrative that it's either a full lockdown, which equates to economic disaster, or no lockdown, which is a public health disaster," said Catherine Blish, an infectious disease specialist and global health expert at Stanford Medicine in California.

"What's happening now is a health and an economic disaster. If you have huge swaths of your population getting sick, that's not good for your population or your economy."

In the past week, television channels and social media have been flooded with grim scenes of overcrowded crematoriums and desperate pleas for oxygen from hospitals. Daily deaths in India slowed marginally after hitting a record 3,689 on Sunday, while the number of daily cases have been over 350,000 for the past few days.

The Indian rupee has turned into Asia's worst-performing currency this quarter from being the best in the previous quarter as foreigners pulled about $1.8 billion from the nation's stocks and bonds. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index declined about 1.5% as investors turned cautious amid the deadly outbreak.

India's richest banker Uday Kotak, who heads the Confederation of Indian Industry, urged the government to take the "strongest national steps including curtailing economic activity to reduce suffering."

"We must heed expert advice on this subject -- from India and abroad," Kotak said.

This represents a shift from India's top business leaders. In April, a survey of the confederation's members showed they were against lockdowns and wanted swift vaccination. In the past month however, the collapsing health infrastructure and mounting fatalities revealed the extent the crisis. A lack of adequate vaccine doses has only added to the chaos.

Although policy makers have signaled they are ready to take steps to support growth, economists say a failure to flatten the virus curve could exert pressure on monetary and fiscal policies at a time when most of the conventional space available has already been used.

The most immediately effective way to break the chain of transmission is to keep people far enough apart that the virus can't jump from one to another. Some experts, including Anthony S Fauci, the top US infectious disease doctor, say a temporary shut down is important.

But others say complete national lockdown isn't possible and would be disastrous for the poor, who have already suffered the most during the outbreak.

The Indian government has left it open for states to decide on local lockdowns, and places like the national capital Delhi and the financial hub Mumbai have imposed restrictions -- though they are less strict than last year.

People who live hand-to-mouth must go out every day to find something to eat or earn a day's wages, said Kim Mulholland, an Australian pediatrician and leader of the infection and immunity group at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne.

As hospitals struggle for oxygen and bodies pile up at crematoriums, a blanket lockdown may only add to the misery. A sudden loss of livelihoods may once again prompt a rush of workers from cities to their home towns and villages, also helping the virus spread to the hinterlands. 

Instead of a strict shutdown, experts said, local governments could stop activities where it is difficult to maintain social distancing.

"I would absolutely curtail indoor retail, restaurants, shops, as much as possible anything that has people getting together indoors," said Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University School of Public Health.

"I would absolutely ban any large congregations outside, though it's hard in places in India where things can get pretty crowded naturally."

Top News / World+Biz / South Asia

India Covid Crisis / Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. TBS Sketch
    We are working to establish world peace: PM Hasina on UN Peacekeepers Day
  • Govt's borrowing from treasury bills up by Tk65,000cr in FY23
    Govt's borrowing from treasury bills up by Tk65,000cr in FY23
  • Infographic: TBS
    Inside Airbus's mega plan to develop the aviation ecosystem in Bangladesh

MOST VIEWED

  • Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
    Covid is no longer global health emergency: WHO
  • Federal police officers stand guard near the house of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home, in Brasilia, Brazil, 3 May, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
    Bolsonaro home raided, phone seized in Brazil vaccine records probe
  • World Health Organization logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration photo taken March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo
    Covid here to stay but moving out of emergency phase: WHO
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India reports 12,591 new Covid cases today, 20% more than yesterday
  • People queue up outside a quick test centre to take their coronavirus disease (Covid-19) antigen rapid tests, in Singapore September 21, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    Singapore witnesses new Covid wave: ‘Cases are mostly mild’
  • India's active case count now stands at 3.90 per cent. ( HT file Photo)
    India logs 5,676 new Covid cases, active infections cross 37,000-mark

Related News

  • Overseas Indians flock to Modi's rally in Sydney
  • India to host Quad summit next year, PM Modi says
  • Zelenskyy invites India PM Modi to join Ukraine's peace formula
  • Karnataka election results: PM Modi congratulates Congress on win
  • Japan PM Kishida, India's Modi set to strengthen cooperation, Kishida says

Features

An exquisite symphony of flavours awaits in the heart of Old Dhaka, as this vegetarian ensemble takes centre stage, showcasing the rich heritage of traditional cuisine. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

Jagannath Bhojonaloy: Vegetarianism, the traditional way

23m | Food
Infographic: TBS

Inside Airbus's mega plan to develop the aviation ecosystem in Bangladesh

2h | Panorama
How women's purchasing power is altering market dynamics

How women's purchasing power is altering market dynamics

1h | Panorama
Media companies are rushing to capture the youngest market of news consumers in the misplaced hope that this will ensure their survival. Photo: Bloomberg

News firms are too obsessed with wooing the young

1h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Turks are voting in presidential run-off

Turks are voting in presidential run-off

19h | TBS World
Temperature will surpass 1.5 degree by 2027

Temperature will surpass 1.5 degree by 2027

1d | TBS World
Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

Dubai’s gigantic moon shaped mega resort

1d | TBS World
In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

In an interview given to TBS Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury

3d | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
End of zero tax!
NBR

End of zero tax!

2
Photo: TBS
Energy

Wind power feeds national grid for first time Friday

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Private helicopter service launched in Ctg

4
Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars
Bangladesh

Malaysian ship docks at Mongla port with 926 luxurious cars

5
Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss
Economy

Nagad builds hope on Tk510cr bond, incurs Tk625cr loss

6
Cenbank prints Tk70,000cr new money in 11 months to support nat'l budget
Budget

Cenbank prints Tk70,000cr new money in 11 months to support nat'l budget

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]