Hyderabad: The nation entered 50th day of the countrywide lockdown on Wednesday as the number of confirmed cases surpassed 70,756 mark with massive economic disruptions and an untoward escalation of the unemployment rate.
Economists are forecasting the Indian economy to encounter the lowest growth for the fiscal year 2021 since India's economic liberalization, thereby highlighting the hefty cost of shutting the country down for 50 days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to curb the spread of coronavirus. Research says, the lockdown lessened the growth rate of the pandemic by April 6 to a rate of doubling every six days, and by April 18, to a rate of doubling every eight days.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12 announced a mega Rs 20 lakh crore package with the hint at phase four of lockdown majorly focused on easing restrictions.
Impact on economy
The economy on the forefront has been suffering massively despite measures being taken to boost it. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of March 2020 stand at 132.7, 114.8 and 149.2 respectively. A decline of 16.7 per cent has been noticed by the National Statistical Office (NSO) as per the data released on May 12. The Reserve Bank of India in one of its reports stated, coronavirus pandemic "hangs over the future, like a spectre", and the lockdowns will impact the country's economic activity directly to a massive extent.
Impact on Airlines and Transport
Aviation is among the worst-affected sectors amidst the COVID-19 crisis. According to the International Air Transport Association, airlines globally can lose in passenger revenues of up to $113 billion due to this crisis. Reportedly, Air travel demand saw its lowest figure post-March 2020 with lockdown in force.
On the other hand, the transport sector has been seeing the economic halt as migrants return back to their home states. The operation to bring back stranded migrant workers to their home state followed soon after the centre passed the order in Phase three of the lockdown.
With huge loss incurred, The Indian Railways restarted passenger services from May 12 in a phased manner with 15 pairs of trains, in a move to ease the curb.
Impact on Agriculture
Lockdown extension has been an added hurdle inflicted on agricultural sector with farm economy facing absolute hit as a result of the halted transportation. This has led to a stagnation in the harvesting process, further, the produce couldn't reach mandis, thus disrupting the supply chain completely. Moreover, the unavailability of migrant labourers posed challenges in procurement operation.
Impact on migrant workers
According to a report of the World Bank, the lockdown in India has impacted the livelihoods of a large proportion of the country's 40 million internal migrants. Many migrants had to lose their job and were compelled to walk back home in the face of unending coronavirus challenge. Over the period it has turned to a large scale humanitarian crisis since the migrants not having anything to sustain themselves took a long exodus to their home towns. Some of them, including 16 workers run over near Aurangabad, died while on the journey. Women delivered on the roads.
However, govt arranged Shramik Special trains to facilitate the movement of thousands of migrants from one state to the other amid the ongoing crisis.
Impact on the Environment
The world's largest lockdown has been having a dramatic impact on pollution in India. Data shows data that metropolitan cities have recorded much lower levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter known as PM 2.5, and of nitrogen dioxide, which is released by vehicles and power plants. The national capital which remains adversely affected by pollution level saw a rapid decrease amid coronavirus-induced lockdown.
