For coherence in corona battle

For coherence in corona battle

Restrictions must be cogent and adaptable.

Uncertainty is a given, with a pandemic that spreads rapidly, has no certified vaccine or cure, and has a morbid appetite for the lives of the elderly and the unwell. When confronting such a disease, what governments need to have is coherence and coordination, to provide a modicum of order and reassurance. While all of India performed a reassuring ‘janata curfew’, enough people came out in some sort of celebratory mode, gathering in crowds and processions, defeating the prime minister’s very appeal for social distancing and the general need for curfew. Several state governments have felt the need to impose lockdowns of entire districts. Some have closed their borders, resulting in understandable anxiety.

True, shutting down public transport systems does not help ensure constant availability of basic services, or maintain the supply of ‘food essentials’, keep pharmacies open or help critical personnel travel to their workplace. Flip-flops on the ban on public transport do create more additional confusion. But all these measures, along with the closing of borders that can cut off vital logistical links, raising the risk of shortages and inducing unnecessary panic-buying and hoarding, are going to be ‘policy fluid’ according to what ground reality determines in the coming days. We live in, as the Chinese curse puts it, in ‘interesting times’ — not just for the populace, but also for those responsible for their safekeeping.

So, in such extraordinary circumstances, the ability to quickly adapt becomes necessary. But if, say, movement of people has to be restricted — as it must — the sensible thing to do is to quarantine the returning migrant, not banish him to unemployed penury far from home. Similarly, news reports suggest that private producers of Covid-19 testing kits have been stumped by an Indian Council of Medical Research order that only kits US FDA-approved or Europe’s CE-certified can be sold in India, even as these local producers have been getting their kits certified by the National Institute of Virology, Pune. In such cases at least, could policy be more coherent, please?