Events & Issues
New Delhi,
22 October 2020
Reopening Drama
SEASON OF FESTIVALS
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director,
ICSSR, New Delhi)
West
Bengal High Court has directed the State Government to treat all Durga Puja pandals
as “no-entry zones”. Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee has also urged devotees to watch pujas “virtually”. In the present stage of combining locking and
unlocking normal life in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, temple festivals
have emerged as a big issue.
In
Maharashtra, a war of words has broken out between the Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray and Governor Bhagat Singh
Koshyari over re-opening temples in this festival season when decision has been
taken to re-open markets and shops, restaurants and hotels, liquor shops and
bars, and theatres and entertainment parks. It is reported in the press that Koshyari,
in his letter to the Thackeray forwarding representations to reopen temples
that were closed during lockdown asked him if he, a “votary of Hindutva” had
“turned secular”. Opinions differ on
this question.
“No
religion or God says that you have to celebrate in an ostentatious way, that
you have to visit pandals, temples, and mosques to pray”, said Union Health
Minister Harsh Vardhan and called for extra vigil with reference to the uproar
in Maharashtra over keeping temples shut. He warned that the country may head
for “big trouble” if precautionary guidelines to prevent spread of COVID -19
are not followed.
The pandemic
has released a political drama in the phase of relaxation of lockdown
restrictions – a development not witnessed in the phase of clamping lockdown.
All States are contributing to this re-opening tamasha ignoring the continuing seriousness of the pandemic.
Currently, we are undergoing economic compulsions to resume our usual
activities while continuing our fight against the pandemic.
When
and how a country should “unlock” are best known to concerned nations. WHO has
warned all countries against premature lifting of lockdown as it would spark
resurgence and cause “even more severe, longer-term damage to the economy than
what exists as a result of lockdowns”. It has now cautioned against any relaxation of
response actions as festival season and winter would only aggravate the
situation.
Cumulative
COVID-19 positivity rate in India is below 8% now. But, Kerala, where unlocking
started earlier than in other States, has seen sudden increase in cases drawing
nation’s attention to the danger of early relaxation of lockdown.
Harsh
Vardhan has said that certain districts in some States are also witnessing
community transmission in densely populated localities. Avoiding large gatherings has become the
standard instruction to all, but the first to be broken.
Second
wave of COVID-19 is turning out to be more destructive in Europe with top five
countries in terms of total cases – Russia, Spain, France, UK, and Italy - reporting
record number of new cases every day in the last one month. Some have even
re-imposed lockdown and shutdown.
Pandemic
has divided country’s population into two groups – one comprising the
over-cautious and health conscious people, and the other including opposite
types and the economically poorer who cannot afford the precautions.
Less
informed citizens are eagerly awaiting unlock instructions which to them mean
first and foremost more freedom of movement.
No permanent lesson seems to have been absorbed by people on personal
and domestic hygienic practices or on social behaviour in groups or
congregations.
Unlocking
temples is as much a technical question as lockdown to be decided by
knowledgeable persons on the basis of data on the prevalence of the disease and
certain scientific calculations regarding risk involved in unlocking. It cannot be decided by secular-communal standpoints
or political pressures and popular demand or made an election issue. Temple
lockdown is no insult to gods and goddesses.
“Until
a vaccine against COVID-19 becomes available, it is essential that people
follow safety precautions when they are outdoors and avoid crowded places for
Deepavali shopping” – a typical advice from health secretaries and medical personnel
who have to deal with certain inevitable consequences of lifting lockdown in
the festival season is on test. Such an advice should not be necessary for
people with normal intelligence and with a certain sense of responsibility. Precautions
in public places are not much expensive but require understanding of the
situation and will to follow directives. A massive awareness campaign calling
for use of masks, maintaining safe distance, and washing hands at regular
intervals to sensitize people over the dangers of the epidemic is being
launched by the government.
Crowded
markets remain a concern for authorities because of flagrant violation of
social restrictions. Collecting fines from violators has proved to be no solution.
This was seen in Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai which was for some time
shifted elsewhere as the place became COVID-19 hotspot. Its reopening is
greeted within a day with 50 new cases among traders of the market. Traders’ association is rather keen on
downplaying the risk.
The
scene is repeated across India in all major markets in all cities and towns and
in fairs and mandis in villages. They
are spontaneous crowds going on their business or enjoying the liberty of
unlocking phase. Festival shoppers crowd market areas with little space to
breathe posing health risk to themselves, and other shoppers, shop employees, and
people residing in the area. Pictures of crowding at re-opening nullifies the
effect of lockdown observed for months.
The country
faces the difficult problem of balancing health protection, economic safety,
and social cooperation for various restrictions. The need to protect jobs and
livelihoods lost or curtailed under lockdown with the need to prevent the
resurgence of the epidemic with renewed vigor is faced in all countries.
On the
whole, India seems to have done well in educating people on the need for
limited activities and adopting alternatives to their routines, but groupism,
political enmities, and communal hatred are encouraged to distract attention
from fighting the common enemy of all in the Coronavirus.
Unlock
strategies are different in different countries and even between States within
a country. They are based on certain
parameters of the pandemic and of the state of the economy. Most important is
said to be Ro - the basic reproduction number which represents the magnitude of
the epidemic in a place. Ro shows the number of social infections caused by an
infected person during his/her infection period. If the number is more than
one, the person may infect more than one on average which may increase escalation
of the virus. This has happened in the case of COVID-19 pandemic. Ro has to be
brought to less than one to contain the disease.
Unlock
steps must invariably follow the pulse of the economy and society and cannot be
taken on the basis of demands and pressures or notions of comparative or equal
rights. It is a technical matter to be decided by medical experts and
administrators taking into consideration all possible outcome of unlocking and
cannot be decided as an emotional issue.
In case
unlocking fails and necessitates re-imposition of lockdown, people’s resentment
is likely to grow more and make lockdown a failure. The situation is complicated due to lack of the
spirit of cooperation among people often fanned by social-political differences,
even during a national health emergency. Unity should not be difficult to find
as a vaccine to prevent Coronavirus.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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