[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by efgritesh

With less public on the road and anonymity of masks lower rank of police officials are doing what they always wanted to do. I feel sad looking at those videos , it can be any of us someday, even the retired police personals may be.

I am not saying that social distancing is not required, but to methods to implement it should be identified instead of making it a police state similar to countries like China.

Police have a thankless job because of general non compliance by citizens (DNA of the country) . The superiors may not want to micromanage at this stage, given that they are responsible for all strategic and tactical decisions at district level, given the fluid situation and the tracking of suspect cases involved. The last thing they want to see are irresponsible people flouting the general orders.

[landcruiser123]

While the lockdown is essential to prevent spread of the disease, I hope my fellow Indians will take it in the right spirit. Reason: In our culture, it is not uncommon for senior citizens to live in joint families. Even if you don't have an elderly person in your home, respect the space of others as the other guy in the supermarket might have elders in his household.

The only way to deal with this problem is to nip it in the bud. At the present moment, no country has the medical infrastructure and personnel to handle this pandemic. The virus could easily spread in densely populated urban areas. Combined with the general lack of cleanliness, the effects can be devastating and could severely impede progress in the country. In times of extreme crisis, one can take the opportunity to skip the niceties (not advocating physical violence but a using stern tone) if needed to educate people. Also, please pay your employees a salary (even if a reduced one.) Your maid, chauffeur, security guard, and other wage laborers might not be able to sustain too long without money in their pocket.

Finally, I'm worried about the behavior of some policemen. While there must be many of them doing wonderful things during this crisis, people love showing the negative incidents to get more attention through youtube videos or whatsapp forwards. The police have a duty to protect the citizens and not harass them. I hope the policemen use their discretionary powers in the right manner. There will be some people who get joy of willfully breaking the law, I think they shouldn't be dealt with a stick but rather with kind words and made to understand the gravity of the situation. Those who have medical emergencies shouldn't be stopped and asked for all sorts of documents.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Latest update from Bigbasket twitter account:

https://twitter.com/bigbasket_com/st...154891265?s=20

Update for folks living in Nagpur and Vijaywada.

https://twitter.com/bigbasket_com/st...722294272?s=08

[Lobogris]

In addition to my concerns expressed in post no 67 above, I also fear that it would be nearly impossible to lift this lockdown after 21 days. If our total cases go to say 10,000 after the 3 weeks, the experts will say look, it is working or else we would have been in hundreds of thousands like Italy and the US would be by then. Hence they would implore to extend it or risk losing all the progress made. In addition if we panicked at 300 cases and imposed a lockdown then how would we not panic when the cases are 10k or 20k in 3 weeks? On the other hand if, God forbid, our cases really jump in these 3 weeks and we are at say 50 or 100k then the experts would warn that we have an extreme emergency despite the lockdown and imagine how much worse it would be without the restrictions. In the meantime, the public would get desperate and would start flouting it as they would be anxious to earn money, tend to their farms and businesses or simply go outside and see others. We could have protests leading to riots and looting. Rather than simply being sick, we would have a population that is angry, economically in hardship and sick. The rest of my points in post 67 explain the other issues with this. I know it si necessary and we should try to follow it but I still believe social distancing like Singapore or South Korea would have been a better approach.

[sunishsamuel]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Rather than simply being sick, we would have a population that is angry, economically in hardship and sick. The rest of my points in post 67 explain the other issues with this. I know it si necessary and we should try to follow it but I still believe social distancing like Singapore or South Korea would have been a better approach.

Social distancing will not work in india considering the crowding and indiscipline at various levels. Even with complete lockdown we see people behaving irresponsibly. I don't have a solution but i think:

1) Govt. should have acted earlier.. And the lack of coordination between states is very evident.
2) The surprise in communication that affects general public must stop.
3) Announce moratorium etc for at least 1 month (initially) and calm everyones nerves so that people will listen (may or may not) little more than being unruly. At least they know they need not worry about rent and bills for one month and will try to stay at home. This is a problem for majority of the indians.

Majority of the population do not have a hobby etc. so asking them to be under lockdown will be a challenge.

I am also not sure how things will turn up with compulsory alcoholics in states like Kerala (I am from that part and personally faced such issues with friends and family so I know how hard it is). They will resort to violence, self injury etc.

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

In addition to my concerns expressed in post no 67 above, I also fear that it would be nearly impossible to lift this lockdown after 21 days. If our total cases go to say 10,000 after the 3 weeks, the experts will say look, it is working or else we would have been in hundreds of thousands like Italy and the US would be by then.

You have raised some valid points. The idea of this lockdown should be to at least restrict the spread on an immediate basis by making people sit wherever they are. The success depends totally on community participation without which this 3 weeks lock down or even a prolonged lock down can not prevent the resurgence later on after travel restrictions within and from abroad are lifted.

My personal viewpoint is that we should work to achieve the following within this 21 day lockdown:
1. Build infrastructure, PPE, training to healthcare workers, masks, medicines, beds etc.
2. India made test kit production to be scaled up to max and test as many people in these 21 days as possible.
3. Garner community participation. People must come forward, take responsibility, disclose symptoms, travel history, adhere to home isolation etc. in larger public interest.
4. Strict monitoring and tracking, isolation of people with travel history once situation is controlled.
5. Social security to the poor.

This is a mammoth task and it is easy to type this on a keyboard sitting at home. The Government seems to be working very hard and sincerely. Lets hope for the best.

[dailydriver]

About the violent course this lockdown is taking, specially at the hands of our policemen, I tend to agree with these words from an article in scroll.in

To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. To the Indian Police, every situation can be solved with a bit of violence. That seems to be the dictum of police authorities around the country, as India enters Day 2 of the three-week lockdown

As the country faces a potential rise in the number of coronavirus cases and as millions worry about how they will access basic needs like food and water during the shutdown, Indians have added an additional worry: the fear of arbitrary state violence, even for those who are out on the streets for a good reason.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by JithinR

Update for folks living in Nagpur and Vijaywada.

There are multiple decison makers - Central Govt, State Govts, District Magistrate, Village panchayat - all who can make their own rules in their jurisdiction. Rules will vary by region to region. BB is still down in Bangalore.

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

My personal viewpoint is that we should work to achieve the following within this 21 day lockdown:
1. Build infrastructure, PPE, training to healthcare workers, masks, medicines, beds etc.
2. India made test kit production to be scaled up to max and test as many people in these 21 days as possible.
3. Garner community participation. People must come forward, take responsibility, disclose symptoms, travel history, adhere to home isolation etc. in larger public interest.
4. Strict monitoring and tracking, isolation of people with travel history once situation is controlled.
5. Social security to the poor.

This is a mammoth task and it is easy to type this on a keyboard sitting at home. The Government seems to be working very hard and sincerely. Lets hope for the best.

Those are excellent ideas for 21 days. Hopefully your ideas match with Govt's goals.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by msdivy

There are multiple decison makers - Central Govt, State Govts, District Magistrate, Village panchayat - all who can make their own rules in their jurisdiction. Rules will vary by region to region. BB is still down in Bangalore.

Agreed. Which is why the orders from top should have been effectively communicated down the chain. If the Central Government says that essentials will be accessible then the local authorities need to make that happen and not put in place restrictions that make it impossible.

BB site is down but the DCP offices are providing COVID 19 passes to delivery guys who work for organizations (not for individuals) on submission of Aadhar card as guarantee.

[Nissan1180]

First death due to police brutality in West Bengal. The person was buying milk and got beaten up by the police. Those supporting or condoning this violence, and justifying it for whatever reasons, are not seeing the high probability of it affecting their own.


https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/...mpression=true

[am1m]

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...803-2020-03-26

"Lockdowns alone won't eliminate coronavirus: WHO to India"


I'm sure this lockdown is to do precisely that, to expand capacity to treat. And to isolate existing cases. Hope the government manages to do this successfully. We can't keep extending the lockdown period, over the entire country, really hope the government understands that.

[Durango Dude]

Nirmala Sitharaman announces ₹ 1,70,000 cr worth of relief to be given to the poor and needy! To the tax payer it will only mean more direct and indirect taxes. The one part of this society that doesn't get any relief is the taxpayer: he subsidizes everything and everyone and how's he going to pay his EMI's, Salaries, Maintenance, his Family, etc. He can be damned and forgotten; no one's going to raise their voice or protest if no subsidies aren't given to him.

[racer_ash]

I think in this situation, the number of civilians flouting the rules (going for joyrides, meeting friends, girlfriends) are far more than instances of police brutality. I request forum members to please think twice before blaming the policeman on the road. As someone mentioned above, they have a thankless job.

Its not as if the general public are saints. Many people get a sadistic pleasure out of flouting rules and think they are above all enforcement. Such anti social elements are the cause of people with genuine reasons to venture out also facing the flak of the police.

So before we start bashing the police, it is better we look at how the civilian brethren behave.

[Nissan1180]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

I think in this situation, the number of civilians flouting the rules (going for joyrides, meeting friends, girlfriends) are far more than instances of police brutality. I request forum members to please think twice before blaming the policeman on the road. As someone mentioned above, they have a thankless job.

Its not as if the general public are saints. Many people get a sadistic pleasure out of flouting rules and think they are above all enforcement. Such anti social elements are the cause of people with genuine reasons to venture out also facing the flak of the police.

So before we start bashing the police, it is better we look at how the civilian brethren behave.

If that were the case, fines should be the norm. But do you have any statistics or articles to back up your claim?
In this case, a person died. In other instances, some delivery people were badly hurt. Someone I know who went out to get groceries was hit on the car, despite not going out to "meet friends and girlfriends".

This argument about Indians deriving pleasure out of breaking the law is an insult to the citizens.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

So before we start bashing the police, it is better we look at how the civilian brethren behave.

Amazon workers and police test positive for covid-19 in USA, implying how those in public domain are at risk.