Reopening blues: More relaxations, guiding people towards a “new normal” should take precedence now

A necessary step in the phased restart of businesses has been taken with the go-ahead for opening of neighbourhood shops, though not without its share of glitches. After opening industrial estates and government offices, Centre had been weighing the option of restarting commercial establishments. The home ministry directive allowing neighbourhood shops to open with 50% staff and physical distancing norms must in turn kick off more relaxation measures even as strict containment efforts continue in hotspots.

The artificial distinction between essential and non-essential goods is finally being done away with. Hesitation to extend this concession to e-commerce must also go. It is an avenue where shopping activities can resume with minimal human interaction, and consequently less risk of infection spread. Restricting e-commerce to solely the essential domain is a dampener for business. Jobs that have gone into deep freeze – especially in the gig economy like delivery executives – can be revived overnight. The future of businesses like restaurants and most other recreational expenditure will be determined by their success on online platforms and governments must play an enabling role here.

With lockdown ending on May 3, Centre’s next moves on lifting curbs will be crucial. With some chief ministers appearing keen to extend the lockdown – which is having catastrophic economic effects – beyond May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with CMs today must thrash out a plan to revive the economy. Between now and May 3, the challenge for Centre is to ingrain the idea of a “new normal” in public spaces. This could be done by allowing many categories of commercial establishments in markets to open so that authorities can monitor how businesses and consumers respond to relaxations.

Use of masks, gloves, hand sanitisers, disinfectants and enshrining a one-metre distance in human interactions need to be reiterated during this period. A complication is that most hotspots are contiguous with industrial belts like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Indore and Chennai. While moving to normality may take a little longer in these areas, it is imperative for lesser affected areas to pull their weight till then. Continuing a nationwide lockdown after May 3 is unworkable given the scale of productivity and job losses facing the country. It falls now to citizens emerging out of lockdown to take necessary precautions. Another onerous but unavoidable test of civic sense and social responsibility beckons.