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India, Day 1: World’s Largest Lockdown Begins India, Day 1: World’s Largest Coronavirus Lockdown Begins
(about 3 hours later)
NEW DELHI — In one state, police officers have staked out roads and highways, stopping any passing motorists and demanding to know why they were outside their homes. In another, doctors have been run out of their homes, shunned as carriers of the coronavirus. NEW DELHI — India’s economy was sputtering even before its leader announced the world’s largest coronavirus lockdown. Now the state-ordered paralysis of virtually all commerce in the country has put millions of people out of work and left many families struggling to eat.
Across India, crowds swarmed into food stores and cleaned out the shelves. At a fancy market in New Delhi, one man stuffed his Mercedes with groceries on Wednesday afternoon and then jumped behind the wheel and zoomed off — wearing blue rubber dishwashing gloves and a clear plastic face mask that looked like it fit with a snorkel. On the first day of the nationwide 21-day shutdown of nearly all services on Wednesday, the streets of Mumbai, India’s largest metropolis — usually so busy it’s known as Maximum City — were silent. Shuttered shops, empty train tracks, closed airports and idle factories all across the country were signs of the economic impact of the social distancing that the Indian government said was necessary to prevent new coronavirus infections.
This is Day 1 of how India is coping with the world’s biggest coronavirus lockdown, 1.3 billion people — nearly a fifth of humanity — ordered to stay inside unless vitally necessary. India has reported 606 coronavirus cases so far, but with the population density so high and the public health system so weak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the country’s 1.3 billion residents to stay inside to keep India from sliding into a disaster that could potentially dwarf what China, Italy, Spain, the United States and other countries have faced.
India has reported relatively few coronavirus cases — fewer than 600 so far — but with the population density so high and the public health system so weak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed stringent measures to keep India from sliding into the disaster that the United States, Italy and other countries face. But Mr. Modi’s effort to prevent the spread of the virus will lead to its own calamitous damage.
On Tuesday night, Mr. Modi ordered more than a billion people to stay indoors. And on Wednesday, Indians, from the snowbound valleys in the Himalayas to tropical islands in the Andaman Sea, mostly seemed to be following the rules — though the price for some will prove high. Manual laborers have no work, farmers cannot tend fields, online retailers and pharmacists have been harassed by overzealous police officers. Countless people have been running out of cash.
Many Indians live on a very short and tentative cash flow. Rickshaw drivers, for example, buy food for their families with the money they make that day. Rickshaws have been banned from the roads, and many drivers don’t know how they are going to survive. “The kind of devastation that is going to be faced by the bottom 50 percent of the workers in the informal sector is unimaginable,” said Jayati Ghosh, an economist and professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
Many Indians reported difficulties in getting food. According to the official lockdown rules, police officers are not supposed to shut down food shops or factories related to essential commodity production. But these rules have been interpreted with differing degrees of harshness. Many essential food sources have been closed and farmers are staying home as well. In some places, police officers have staked out roads and highways, stopping motorists and demanding to know why they were outside. Several states have closed their borders, forcing cargo trucks to simply park by the roadside.
One chief minister, in Telangana State, in the center of the country, threatened to issue “shoot on sight” orders if people did not take the lockdown seriously. Flipkart, the country’s largest online retailer, found it so difficult to move people and goods that it suspended delivery of everything except food.
In the Andamans, Jagadishan, a taxi driver, has been cooped up in his house in Port Blair, longing to “walk past the sea and smell fresh sea air.” Grocery stores were allowed to remain open, and in the cities, crowds swarmed and emptied the shelves. At an upscale market in New Delhi, one man stuffed his Mercedes with groceries on Wednesday afternoon, jumped behind the wheel and zoomed off — wearing blue rubber dishwashing gloves and a snorkeling mask.
The National Restaurant Association of India estimates that perhaps 20 percent of the 7.3 million restaurant workers will permanently lose their jobs as employers go out of business. “Many companies may not survive this onslaught,” said Anurag Katriar, the association’s chief executive and the owner of a chain of upscale eateries.
Harcharan Singh, a vendor in rural Punjab state who usually goes door to door peddling everything from oranges to cauliflower, has had nothing to sell for days. The big wholesale food markets he normally relies on have all been closed.
“Our business is completely shut,” he said. “We need this money to survive, get food for our families.”
Hundreds of millions of Indians are like Mr. Singh, with little or no savings. Rickshaw drivers, for example, buy food for their families with the money they make that day. Banned from the roads, many drivers don’t know how they will survive.
Economists at Barclays predicted Wednesday that the lockdown would last a month and shave two percentage points off India’s anemic economic growth rate. Although India is likely to escape a recession, Barclays said, such a significant slowdown would mean rising joblessness in a country where millions of young people enter the work force every year.
Mr. Modi acknowledged the trade-offs in a televised address on Tuesday night, when he first announced the nationwide lockdown.
“No doubt this lockdown will entail an economic cost for the country, but saving the life of each and every Indian is the first priority for me,” he said. “If we are not able to manage the next 21 days, then many families will be destroyed forever.”
Economists are urging the government to create a huge stimulus package to blunt the effects of the lockdown.
India’s government stores an enormous grain supply, which could quickly be distributed to the poor, said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at CRISIL, a Mumbai-based credit ratings agency.
Mr. Joshi also urged direct cash payments to individuals, and loans to small and medium-size businesses. “Give a clear signal that you will help,” he said.
The Modi administration is deliberating what kind of stimulus to offer, and a plan is expected to be unveiled within days.
For now, people can only hunker down at home.
One chief minister, in Telangana state, in the center of the country, threatened to issue “shoot on sight” orders if people did not take the lockdown seriously.
In the Andamans, Jagadishan, a taxi driver who uses only one name, has been cooped up in his house in Port Blair, longing to “walk past the sea and smell fresh sea air.”
“All shops are shut, not even groceries or chemists are open,” he said, which should not be the case, according to the government’s rules. “The uncertainty is killing me.”“All shops are shut, not even groceries or chemists are open,” he said, which should not be the case, according to the government’s rules. “The uncertainty is killing me.”
Mr. Modi said the lockdown would last 21 days. Some health experts think that will not be enough and that Mr. Modi will extend it. But in Kolkata, a large city in eastern India that is a stronghold of the political opposition to Mr. Modi, many people were hoping the lockdown would wrap up even quicker. The lockdown includes schools, offices, factories, parks, temples, railways, even the airspace. To impose social distancing where people are ordinarily squeezed together, exempted businesses and the authorities are looking to devise solutions.
“People are hoping that India will overcome this disease in 14 days,” said Chandrasekhar Bhattacharya, a newspaper journalist in the city. In the city of Meerut, the police began shaming people caught evading the lockdown, forcing them to hold signs — later posted on social media — stating they did not care about protecting society.
India is a crowded place, and Mr. Modi is basically trying to throw normally bustling life into a deep freeze. The lockdown includes schools, offices, factories, parks, temples, railways, even the airspace. The long roads of major cities remain deserted, and to implement social distancing in a place where people are used to squeezing together, businesses and the authorities are devising their own solutions. Outside Mother Dairy, a national milk cooperative, shopkeepers drew circles and squares on the pavement using chalk to indicate where people should stand and wait.
In the city of Meerut, the police began shaming people caught evading the lockdown, forcing them to hold up signs saying they did not care about protecting society and then posting photos of them. In Veergaon, a farming village in central Maharashtra state, a few farmers were still tilling the fields. But many stayed indoors, in small cramped houses with sheet metal roofs.
At Mother Dairy, a national milk cooperative, shopkeepers chalked out circles and squares on the pavement in front of their stores to indicate where people should wait. The intent was to keep people spaced apart; it seemed to be working, even if it looked like a hopscotch game. “They fear the disease,” said Kapil Wagarhande, a villager.
In Veergaon, a farming community in central Maharashtra State, a few farmers were still tilling the fields. But many stayed indoors, in small cramped houses with sheet-iron roofs. During his address on Tuesday night, Mr. Modi spoke forcefully about the dangers of social interaction and how Indians must make big, immediate sacrifices. Mr. Modi remains widely popular in India. In many quarters, what he says goes.
“They fear the disease,” said Kapil Wagarhande, one of the villagers. “Everybody appreciates the steps taken by Modi ji,” said Kailash Dhoot, a textile trader in Mr. Modi’s home state of Gujarat, using a term of respect. “Of course people are facing problems like how to spend the whole day. What do you do?”
On Tuesday night, Mr. Modi spoke eloquently and forcefully about the dangers of social interaction and how Indians needed to make big sacrifices right now, especially the poor. Mr. Modi remains widely popular in India, and in many quarters, what he says goes. Still, rumors and misinformation have led to the closure of essential businesses and the harassment of citizens, outcomes that the government had likely not anticipated.
“Everybody appreciates the steps taken by Modi Ji,” said Kailash Dhoot, a textile trader in Mr. Modi’s home state of Gujarat, using the formal way of referring to him. “Of course people are facing problems like how to spend the whole day. What do you do? That problem is there but people are aware of the issues.” Gaurav Gupta, chief operating officer of Zomato, the country’s No. 2 restaurant delivery service, said his couriers had been turned back and in some cases detained by the police, despite clear orders from the government permitting such deliveries.
But rumors and misinformation are leading to closures and harassment that the government clearly didn’t intend.
In a video message, Sandeep Nangia, president of a pharmacists’ association in New Delhi, said the police were “raining sticks” on pharmacists for trying to do their jobs.In a video message, Sandeep Nangia, president of a pharmacists’ association in New Delhi, said the police were “raining sticks” on pharmacists for trying to do their jobs.
Doctors and airline employees have reported landlords forcibly evicting them from their homes, calling them “dirty.” Doctors and airline employees have reported landlords forcibly evicting them as “dirty” tenants.
Amrita Saha, an employee at IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, said people in her neighborhood were spreading rumors that she had the coronavirus and harassing her mother, who lives with her in Kolkata. Amrita Saha, an employee at IndiGo, India’s largest airline, said her neighbors in Kolkata were spreading rumors that she had the coronavirus and harassing her mother, who lives with her.
“She cannot go to the market to buy groceries, because people are refusing her, saying, ‘Your daughter has the corona and you might also have it,’” Ms. Saha said in a recent video, nearly in tears.“She cannot go to the market to buy groceries, because people are refusing her, saying, ‘Your daughter has the corona and you might also have it,’” Ms. Saha said in a recent video, nearly in tears.
An association of doctors in New Delhi wrote to India’s home minister, Amit Shah, on Tuesday urging the government to protect medical personnel from being thrown out of their homes. An association of doctors in New Delhi wrote to India’s home minister, Amit Shah, on Tuesday, urging the government to protect medical personnel from home eviction.
“Many doctors are now stranded on the roads with all their luggage,” the letter read.“Many doctors are now stranded on the roads with all their luggage,” the letter read.
Shalini Venugopal and Sameer Yasir contributed reporting. Karan Deep Singh, Hari Kumar and Jeffrey Gettleman reported from New Delhi. Vindu Goel reported from Mumbai, India. Reporting was contributed by Suhasini Raj, Kai Schultz, Shalini Venugopal and Sameer Yasir from New Delhi.