In the fight against Coronavirus, Modi government is making an all-out effort. The massive popularity and control enjoyed by PM Modi is helping the country to respond to situation effectively. So far, the country has 275 confirmed cases, with 23 people already recovered from disease, and 5 people- all of them of above 60 years age- died.
The country has the second most population in the world, densely populated cities, and very poor health infrastructure. Given these misgivings, the situation is under control, if-god forbid- it does not escalate further from here.
Therefore, to prepare the country for the worse, PM has called for voluntary curfew on Sunday. According to Niti Aayog member VK Paul, the Janata Curfew will help in breaking the chain of the spread of the virus. “Even a single day of universal social distancing will be a blow to the transmission chain of the virus,” said Paul, in an interview with Times of India.
Janata Curfew will work on three levels, he said. “It will demonstrate that our entire nation can voluntarily rise to avert a calamity; and this will be a testimony to our collective determination, will power and discipline” and will prepare the country for any Stage III scenario of community spread, when there will be lakhs of cases to deal with.
India is a country of extroverts. The people in this country like to go out, attend social gatherings, and meet people. Therefore, quarantining the whole country for 14 hours a day is a big deal. And it needs a leader like PM Modi to make a Janata Curfew look like actual curfew.
In actual curfew, the guards, police, and military are present at roads to arrest anyone who shows on roads. But by making it voluntary, the government has made it more of a self-discipline exercise rather than one forced by authorities from above.
However, given the kind of buzz it has created among the people, one cannot deny that the ‘power of PM Modi’ will make this voluntary curfew look like actual curfew.
In addition to Janata Curfew, the Modi government is also trying to bring the whole country together and boost the morale of the workers who required to carry out essential duties, like medical, ration, water supply etc. “Come out of their homes at 5 p.m. on March 22 and applaud for 5 minutes, the doctors, nurses, sanitation personnel, transport services personnel and all other people who disregard their own health safety for our lives,” said PM Modi. Earlier Italy and Spain followed the same practice to boost the morale of the country.
The officials have already started preparations in the case of outbreak. On the strategy to defeat this outbreak, Paul said, “our strategy comprises containment of the outbreak at present. If the situation changes, mitigation response will be mounted as a pan-nation mission. The Centre and state governments are in sync. Entire health sector will work as one system. Pharma and medical product industry will ensure that supplies do not dry up.”
The PM is preparing the country for any epidemic like situation, and the Sunday will be a demonstration, rehearsal to that. PM wants the government machinery and the people of the country to work as a team, as in the case epidemic, cooperation from the people will be most important factor. Irresponsible behavior like Kanika Kapoor will only worsen the situation.