COVID-19 impact – Centre may separate India into different colour zones

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India will have to strike a balance between lives and the outside world. This is being seen as a sign that restrictions in some form will continue to save lives as it helps in social distancing.

The PM’s formulation, according to some government officials, means that this could indicate a move towards a smart lockdown. This will involve severe restrictions in affected districts, and partial lifting of restrictions in unaffected districts. Some sectors may also be opened up to meet the economic challenge.

The government is also considering dividing India into three zones – red, yellow and green – depending on the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Red Zone: According to news reports, no activity will be allowed in the red zone. These are the districts where a sizeable number of cases were detected or areas which were declared hotspots.

Orange Zone: Minimum activities like opening of limited public transport, harvesting of farm products will be allowed in orange zones where only few cases have been found in the past.

Green Zone: It will see further relaxation. Some small scale industries falling under the green zone will be allowed to function with in-house lodging facilities for employees with proper maintenance of social distance.

For the Centre and state governments, this is a difficult situation. There are the demands of public health and the demands of the economy. Loss of jobs and incomes have to be considered.

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