JANATA CURFEW

IN NEWS:

As part of its campaign against coronavirus, the union government announced a ‘Janata Curfew’ on 22^nd March.

WHAT IS JANATA CURFEW:

• The Janata Curfew (Public Curfew) was a self-quarantine request made by the Prime Minister to stop the spread of coronavirus in India.
• It appealed to all the citizens to not move out of their homes between 7 AM and 9 PM on March 22. The only exception to the curfew were for doctors, media and providers of other essential services.
• The PM also requested the citizens to stay inside their homes and clap for people who are working in emergency services at 5 PM on Sunday, to honour their services.

MOTIVE BEHIND THE INITIATIVE:

• To flattens the curve: social lockdown is an effective strategy for reducing new infections, as it stops the spread of airborne droplets that are released when infected people cough or sneeze.
• Familiarization: Janata Curfew is an exercise for people to get familiar with self-isolation. The success of the people’s curfew, and the experience gained from it, will also prepare the government for upcoming challenges.
• Develop awareness among the masses: More effective and crucial measure in tackling the pandemic is enhancing the general awareness of the most common Indian. Through the curfew, the government has been able to make people aware of the seriousness of the threat posed by the virus.
• Reassuring moral support: By appealing to the people-particularly the vulnerable populations, applauding the frontline workers and asking businesses to remain sensitive to the needs of their workers, the government is reassuring the nation’s commitment towards the well-being of the people while tackling the crisis.

SOME OTHER MEASURES TAKEN:

• The government has announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus.
• Centre has made a provision of Rs 15,000 crore to strengthen the country's health infrastructure to tackle coronavirus.
• A task force has been set up to ensure that all steps to mitigate economic difficulties are effectively implemented.
• The Union Finance Ministry has announced slew of measures to ease compliance and statutory burden for individual as well as corporate.
• All domestic and international flights have been suspended. Railways has cancelled all its services except goods trains till March 31. 
• Government notified masks and hand sanitizers as ‘essential commodity’ to prevent the spiraling of prices.  
• State governments have taken various measures ranging from screening at entry points to declaring curfew under IPC 144.

CONCLUSION:

• As the country goes into lockdown, it faces a huge economic impact. In a largely informal economy, such lockdowns mean income losses for tens of millions of people. But the population density and the large number of poor people make it very vulnerable for the easy spread of this transmissible disease.
• A hard lockdown like this requires sharp planning to ensure the supply of essential commodities to more than a billion people are not disrupted, and that there's no panic and social unrest. Here, state governments have a crucial role to play.
• The curfew can greatly help contain the pandemic in the current scenario – by spreading awareness, taking appropriate Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures etc.
• As the next step, India should improve the disease surveillance and testing facilities and develop a global pandemic safety plan with region-specific measures.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. Discuss the significance of ‘Janata Curfew’ as a social measure in containing the coronavirus pandemic?