India Lockdown

[Gin96]

I wonder how many people will die in India from starvation from 21 day lockdown, it make my problems insignificant in comparison. We’re so lucky go live in the UK

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-52086274

It's just unbelievable that they have resorted to these measures, I've spent months in India and it's just not possible to do this. It will be carnage 😪

What I can't understand is - are the leaders of these countries really that incompetent? Surely they have advisors who could have foreseen all this and come up with a better strategy? There's no shortage of highly educated medical professionals in India. It really does beggar belief.

I don’t think the leaders don’t know, I think it’s a sacrifice there willing to take, I think they were shocked how quickly everything went into melt down though.

We have relatives in different parts of India. When we have spoken to them they have told us how surprised they have been at how quickly and efficiently the government have acted in their areas. Food packages/medicines are being delivered to all the houses on their street. They have people in hazmat suits coming in to sanitise all the house.

Seems like it's a different picture according to where people are in the country

Funny that, how Indian leaders are going out there way for one part of India while leaving the other without anything, I think they know what they are doing.

Think it's more telling what the people who live in the country say about it than the media. Have to say I've also found it funny how biased the media often are about India.

I’ve been to India a few times. There is no way that social distancing can happen there. That is a luxury Indians could only dream off. Coronavirus is going to be catastrophic for them. And, yes, it does make me annoyed when people here complain about how their rights have been taken away and they have to sit on their sofa.

I totally agree. I’ve seen the footage of the police beating frightened people with canes who are out on the streets disobeying curfews and it’s horrifying, but at the same time I get a sense that there is no choice. You can’t reason with 800 million poor people who can’t afford to prioritise the greater good over their immediate needs.

And also yes, any concept of social distancing will be completely lost on your average working class Indian, no matter how much you explain the logic.

Completely agree Pieceofmaria, unfortunately there is a big divide between rich and poor. The govt have a huge immensely difficult job on their hands. It's an awful situation for those people to be in who live hand to mouth and their first and most important priority is their next meal as it would be for anyone. We are so lucky in this country comparitively. However, there is a bias also in only the negatives being reported. My family members are by no means wealthy, they are government employees. They have had a different experience of their homes being sanitised and food parcels being delivered.

Unfortunately on a country of that scale which already has issues (which I fully acknowledge exist in India) the task the government face is huge. However, it is not just a simple case of let's attribute the blame to the leaders as often is the case when it suits.

Modi has gone quite mad

4 hours notice was obviously going lead to this, it doesn’t take a genius to work it out.

He had a confused declaration about shop opening times before the lockdown, with horrendous queues at markets. My friend’s 90 year old mother went out herself to get food in that panic, due to the creation of panic!

Then shutdown public transport so people couldn’t get home. And the crowds of people waiting for food distribution.

At the point he did this, they were at 10 deaths I think. And were they still letting tourists in, I can’t recall when that was banned, but I think the infection was brought by tourists from Europe.

Really appalling handling.

“ There's no shortage of highly educated medical professionals in India. It really does beggar belief.”

This. They would know how many more people would die from poor handling of this.

All tourist visas were cancelled from the 11th march. They acted quickly and efficiently on this.

There are a lot of wealthy and middle class people in India. They’ll be fine (the ones that actually do what they’re told, lots of quite entitled wealthy and middle class people just carry on doing as they please as there is very much a two/three tiered system in India). Unlike in the UK, there are already existing channels for people to get basic necessities and they’ll certainly have an easier time subsisting in lockdown than we will in the UK. There isn’t the same sort of dependence on massive supermarkets and supply chains.

But the reality is that a lot of poor people who can’t afford healthcare and have been dying of infectious diseases for years while no one in the west cared very much will continue to die, with little access to medical care, in close cramped quarters. It is certainly a very strong case for how the wealthiest can not be truly healthy if the poorest are so ill. It’s just a jump over a fence from the slums to the penthouses of billionaires.

Thanks Recover

With my tin foil hat on, maybe I should t say this, but wtf, it annoys me....

I know two people who have that secondary residence permit and went India from England. Guess what they took there with them? I don’t know what date they left though.

Oh well, mum’s social group has already decided to shun them when they return! 😂

It’s OCI or PIO they have

But quite why they HAD to stick with their trip....and now their relatives are stuck with them for goodness knows how long!

The idea of a lock down and social distancing in India is utterly ridiculous

I see a news report on this earlier,
It's horrifying, all those children without food or shelter. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. My heart breaks for them.!!

My parents went to India in January and now cant get back. They seem quite relaxed about it when I spoke to them. But as PP have said, the people who can afford it will be fine. They are shut away in their flat and having food delivered to them by relatives. Others wont be so lucky. I think Modi is very concerned about the economy. He said something like 21 days lockdown to prevent India going backwards 21 years. The rich in India are very rich, even the middle class professionals are very comfortable. I suspect the rest, sadly, are disposable to the government and many of their fellow citizens.

The idea of a lock down and social distancing in India is utterly ridiculous

Exactly. Same in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. I have friends in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya who are wealthy and are locking down in their nice houses with their staff. But surely it's utterly pointless if the rest of the population can't do the same? Or are these governments just expecting the rest of the population to get "herd immunity" and protect the rich? Actually that's probably exactly what they're planning to do...

Noodle “ My parents went to India in January and now cant get back”

Oh dear, I know lots of people who go to India in winter and they all came back Feb/March without trouble.

think the infection was brought by tourists from Europe.
I dont think it was originally. One man went to China, refused to self isolate and died but not before giving it to about 40 people apparently. I think he was a preacher or something.

It was awful how the police were beating people for going out and punishing people for trying to get food

There is talk of a government package for the daily wagers but it will take ages to implement and many will still get lost in the system. Zomato have a 'feeding india' donation link to try and reach these people. www.feedingindia.org/