- Ministry of Home Affairs extends the national lockdown till 17th May.
- The major part of the manufacturing sector can function with certain basic restrictions and safety protocols.
- Inter-state and cross land-border movement of cargo in order to maintain the supply chain is permitted and does not need special curfew-pass.
On 1st May, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India (GOI) issued an order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to extend the lockdown period by two more weeks with effect from 4th May. The decision was made based on a comprehensive review and the significant improvement in the Coronavirus (COVID 19) situation in India with the implementation of national lockdown since 22nd March.
Along with the extension order, the MHA issued new guidelines to regulate various activities during this period based on the risk profile of districts as red (hotspot), orange and green zones. The new guidelines allow for considerable relaxations in the districts that are risk-profiled as green and orange zones.
Criteria for Risk Profiling
Red Zone – The classification is based on the account of total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the districts.
Green Zone – Classified based on districts that either have zero confirmed cases till date or no confirmed cases in the last 21 days.
Orange Zone – The districts that are neither defined as green nor red zones are classified as orange zone.
Districts that have one or more Municipal Corporations (MCs) within their boundaries are classified into two zones. The zone observed to have higher COVID 19 cases within the MC’s boundaries due to higher population density and the consequent greater inter-mixing of people will be classified as red zone. The zone falling outside the MC’s boundaries and is observed to have no case in the last 21 days will classified as one zone lower than the overall classification of the district.
This type of classification allows for more economic and other activities in the less affected areas of the district, while warranting caution for these areas to remain free from COVID 19 cases. Furthermore, most sensitive areas (from spread of COVID 19 point of view) that falls under the red and orange zone have been classified as Containment Zones. The local authority will take necessary measures to ensure 100% coverage of “Aarogya Setu” app among the residents of the Containment Zone.
Prohibition of Activities Under New Guidelines
The new guidelines continue to prohibit large number of activities across the nation irrespective of the zone. The prohibitions include travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road; functioning of schools, colleges and other educational training/coaching institutions; operation of hospitality services such as hotels and restaurants; functioning of large public gatherings such as cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes, etc.; social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings; and the functioning of religious places and places of worship for public.
In red zones, apart from the normalised prohibition, plying of rickshaws and auto rickshaws, running of taxis, cab aggregators, intra-and inter-district buses, and the functioning of barber shops, spas and saloons have been prohibited. Furthermore, the guidelines have prohibited the movement of people for all non-essential purposes between 7pm to 7am.
Manufacturing Sector During the Extension of Lockdown
Urban Areas: The new guidelines show some kind of positive signs for the manufacturing sector as it allows (with restrictions) industrial establishments in urban areas i.e. Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Oriented Units (EOUs), industrial estates and industrial townships to operate with access control.
Other industrial activities that are permitted under the new guidelines regardless of the risk-profile zones are: Manufacturing units of essential goods (drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices – their raw materials and intermediates), Production units that require continuous process and their supply chain, Manufacturing of IT hardware, Jute industry with staggered shifts and social distancing and Manufacturing units of packaging materials
Apart from these, e-commerce activities for essential goods are permitted, private offices can operate with 33% man-power as per the prerequisite and the remaining staff working from home. All government offices are allowed to function with senior officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength and the remaining staff attending only at 33% man-power.
Rural Areas: Under the new guidelines, a large number of manufacturing activities are permitted to function regardless of the risk-profile zone, they are: All industrial and construction activities including the works related to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. Food processing units, Brick kilns, Most of the commercial and private establishments.
Besides these, warehousing services, IT and IT-enabled services, facility management services, print, and electronic media services, and services provided by self-employed persons except for barbers are allowed to operate. In addition, cargo for cross land-border trade that is essential for maintaining the supply chain of goods and services are also allowed.
Unlike during the previous lockdown periods, the third extension of the lockdown has slightly eased out with regards to the manufacturing sector, and as a relief, movement of stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other people by road and rail has also been permitted.
The industries that fall under the category that has been allowed to function can leverage to a large extent from the new guidelines, provided the restrictions and safety protocols are followed meticulously. Going by the new guidelines for the extended period of lockdown from 4th to 17th May, it can be assessed that this might probably be the final extension.
