The stringent lockdown imposed by the Union government during the initial phase of the pandemic excluded care for the poor and the most vulnerable by its design, said human rights activist and author Harsh Mander here on Wednesday.
Delivering a lecture following the launch of his book Locking Down the Poor: The Pandemic and India’s Moral Centre , he termed the lockdown, which completely shut down the economy, as being draconian and indifferent to the plight of the homeless, the poor and the majority of the workforce employed by the unorganised sector.
He said the lockdown was meant only to protect the rich and the middle class who had a home and assured income, but inflicted pain on the poor, particularly migrant workers.
Pointing out that India had just around 500 cases when the lockdown was enforced, he said the least the government could have done was to ensure that migrant workers were taken home first through free trains operated for a week.
Quoting writer Arundhati Roy, he said COVID-19 was not only a pandemic caused by virus but was also an X-ray to the society.
The plight of the poor during the pandemic not only exposed the failures of the government but how society, particularly the middle class, had become indifferent to the poor. “When migrant workers started walking back home in defiance of the lockdown, many were surprised to see that there were so many workers. We have ‘invisibilised’ the workers whom we depend on daily,” he said. The lockdown further exposed the failures of other institutions like the judiciary and the media, he added.
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, who released the book, highlighted the failure of large sections of the media in bringing out the plight of the people during the pandemic and instead diverting public attention and communalising by focusing on the Tablighi Jamat. He said Mr. Mander was one of the most valuable citizens of the country and lauded his and his organisation Karwan e Mohabat’s work.
Stating that the book brought out the dark tale of distress, destitution, brutality and the long-term consequences of the lockdown, he highlighted that Mr. Mander had made an important distinction of how these problems were “brought on” by COVID-19 but not “created” by it.
Published - March 18, 2021 02:42 am IST
