Mainstream newspapers lead with PM Modi’s announcement of a 19-day extended lockdown but also find space for the mass gathering of migrant workers at Bandra station, Mumbai, apparently wanting to return home.
In financial news, The New Indian Express and the pink papers note a recession worse than the Great Depression of 1929 is in the making. All newspapers also note the International Monetary Fund’s dramatic slashing of India’s FY21 growth estimates.
Looks like The Times Of India did its math as the lead story is ‘Lockdown Goes From 21 To 40 Days’.
“Emphasising the continuing spread of the disease and that adherence to social distancing and lockdown alone can be the bulwark, the PM said tougher enforcement of the twin prescriptions could be extended beyond April 20 if intensive monitoring stretching down to “each block and police station” showed violations or growth of infections…”, reports TOI.
Laying out a roadmap for the second phase of the lockdown, the paper reports, ‘In Phase 2, focus on checking spread to non-affected regions’.
TOI says, “The health ministry said it takes nearly a month of zero-case reporting for the spread of the disease to be halted in a particular area. ‘We believe that the disease spread has stopped in an area if there is no new case for 28 days,’ Luv Aggarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, said while justifying the need to extend the lockdown till May 3.”
In a glimmer of hope, India could be among the few economies to grow despite the pandemic: ‘India to grow 1.9%, global economy to shrink 3%: IMF’, TOI reports, adding that “it estimated the global economy would contract by 3% due to the devastating impact of the pandemic. Even Goldman Sachs and World Bank estimated India’s growth to be around 1.5%… Barclays economists projected a more pessimistic picture, estimating zero growth for India in 2020 (calendar year), and 0.8% during fiscal 2020-21.”
Though The Indian Express’ lead story is similar to TOI, it is eclipsed by its five column photograph of thousands gathered near Bandra station in Mumbai after rumours that trains were about to run.
‘Longer lockdown brings 2,000 angry workers out on the street in Mumbai’, reports Express. It says they were “upset over the extension of the national coronavirus lockdown till May 3, and demanded the right to return home, and access to food and rations. The police had to resort to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd”.
The daily adds, “The gathering comprised largely migrant workers and their families residing in the adjoining slum settlements…”
In an accompanying story, ‘Saamna milkar karenge, Uddhav tells migrants; ignore rumours: Kejriwal’, the national daily writes, “Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray switched to Hindi from Marathi during his address to the state Tuesday evening to connect with migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states and made a strong appeal to them to be patient, and stay back in Mumbai.”
Express also reports on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s message for migrants in the capital — he told them not to fall prey to rumours. “We are here to fulfill all your needs and address difficulties. We are arranging food, medicines. Many people will try to spread rumours. Some might claim they will take you back to your village in exchange of money. No one can take you home.’’
Another report, ‘Over 1,400 new cases in 24 hours, count crosses 10,000-mark’, indicates the increase in cases has compelled the prolonged lockdown. According to Express, “… India recorded the highest single-day spike in novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases so far — 1,463… Till now, the highest single-day jump was 918 cases on April 12, which was followed by 905 cases on April 13. The last three days have together seen an increase of 3,286 cases, which is over 30 per cent of the total cases so far.”
And, away from the coronavirus, the wheels keep turning. In ‘Elgar Parishad: Teltumbde, Navlakha surrender, arrested by NIA’, the paper reports, “Teltumbde (70) surrendered at the NIA office in South Mumbai around 1.30 pm, after which he was formally arrested and taken to the special court where the NIA sought 10 days’ custody claiming it wanted to investigate his alleged involvement in the case. Special Judge A T Wankhede sent Teltumbde to NIA custody till April 18.”
Navlakha surrendered at the NIA headquarters in Delhi and will be produced before a special court Wednesday.
Under its banner headline on the lockdown, Hindustan Times reports on a crucial aspect of the extension: ‘Industry bodies call on govt for stimulus of up to ₹16L cr’. According to the daily, “Industry bodies redoubled calls for a financial package of ₹14 lakh crore to ₹16 lakh crore to revive the economy… The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Tuesday estimated the magnitude of daily losses arising from the national slowdown at ₹40,000 crore. ‘It is also expected that close to 40 million jobs are at risk during the period April-September 2020. Hence, an urgent relief package is also critical,’ FICCI president Sangita Reddy said.”
The paper also notes that states are devising their own testing schedules. In ‘Pool tests to travel ban in states’ plans’ it says that “Uttar Pradesh will start pool testing of people for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Wednesday, strictly enforce the lockdown and will not allow any inter-district travel. Bihar will start door-to-door screening of residents. Telangana will begin doorstep delivery of essentials in Hyderabad, the state capital, to make sure residents stay indoors. Tamil Nadu intends to tighten restrictions on public movement.”
ICMR did not have good news — ‘Covid cases rising exponentially, critical to ramp up testing’. HT reports, “The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that it is critical to increase testing for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as the number of cases in India is ‘rising exponentially’, a development that comes even as the government awaits the arrival of rapid testing kits from China. The rapid testing kits, which search for antibodies in blood samples, were first supposed to arrive on April 5.”
And in a major faux pas on page 7, HT report ‘World grapples with Covid as death toll nears 2 million’ mistakes the number of infections across the world for the death toll. More than 2 million people have been infected by novel coronavirus globally while over 1,26,000 people have died.
As the lockdown is extended, trains and flights stay suspended. “The Railways on Tuesday said all passenger services, including premium trains, mail/express trains, suburban trains and the Kolkata Metro Rail, will continue to remain suspended till May 3. In addition, advance reservation will not be allowed ‘till further notice’. The ban on domestic and international flights was also extended until May 3’, reports The Hindu.
Like the Express, The Hindu has a telling picture of thousands of migrants gathered outside the Bandra station but unlike the Express, the report is buried in the lower half of the page.
The importance of comorbidities is brought out in the report, ‘Bhopal gas survivors left in the lurch’. Hindu says, “Four of the five patients who died of COVID-19 in Bhopal were survivors of the city’s 1984 gas tragedy, and were suffering from respiratory illnesses that made them more vulnerable to the disease.”
Hindu also dwells on ‘Teltumbde, Navlakha surrender to NIA’. It explains the social activists have been detained “…for their alleged involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon riots of 2018.”
The paper writes, “The Supreme Court had on April 8 ordered Mr. Navlakha and Mr. Teltumbde to surrender after rejecting their anticipatory bail pleas… Both have been charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).”
The New Indian Express’ front page throws a lot of light on the economic fall out of the 19-day extended lockdown. In ‘Recession closer than thought’, it mentions a Barclays estimate that “the economic cost of the 40-day lockdown will be a staggering $234.4 billion, or 8.1 per cent of the GDP (much higher than the $120 billion it estimated earlier.)”. That said, the size of GDP shrinkage will hinge on how economic activity resumes in some areas post-April 20 “and the magnitude by which government spending is stepped up to cushion the blow from the lockdown”.
Another report, ‘One fourth of MSMEs will shut shops, warn experts’ predicts MSMEs, which constitute one fourth of the $2.9 trillion economy, “may perish” and close permanently. The report finds that exporters will be the worst-hit as they have “no liquidity to pay wages for April”. Desperate, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) have demanded a Rs 9-10 lakh crore package that will include “interest-free credit to cover six months of wages, rental, utilities along with a six-month moratorium for exporters.”
And this may be the way to protect health workers at the frontline of the Covid-19 battle: in ‘Fever clinics at pvt hospitals soon: 31 new cases in TN’, the newspaper notes that these designated fever clinics are spaces where “doctors [can] screen the patients wearing personal protective equipment and as per protocol.” The approval for such clinics came after The Indian Medical Association’s Tamil Nadu branch wrote a letter to CM Edappadi K Palaniswami seeking such facilities to “prevent more doctors getting exposed to infection”, it reports.
Curiously, the Mumbai tabloid does not lead with the migrant crisis at Bandra Tuesday. Instead, the Mumbai Mirror explains why many more are dying in the city in its lead story. “What has made Mumbai look bad is how its hospitals collapsed one after the other under Covid-19’s onslaught. At the last count, 15 major hospitals had shut after staff members contracted the virus.’’ The list includes Jaslok, Breach Candy, Khar-Hinduja, Bhatia, Wockhardt and Saifee. “No other city of India has had so many hospitals taken out by coronavirus,’’ it writes. It points out “how woefully unprepared Mumbai still appears with the example of another hospital, Kasturba which does not have ‘an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), nor does it have a full-time senior intensivist’.”
The Economic Times’ second lead delivers the body blow on the economic front. In “IMF Slashes FY21 Growth Forecast for India to 1.9%”, it notes that like a grim reaper, the IMF foresees a “worst recession since the Great Depression” and “India and China would be the only two major economies likely to register growth, with all others contracting”. The paper quotes only the IMF projections whereas NIE’s report on the same includes estimates from Icra, Nomura and Barclays.
In some damage control, “RBI is likely to raise its liquidity game to calm market anxiety and facilitate smooth government borrowing as bond yields surge despite a 75 basis point cut in interest rate”, reports the paper. In ‘RBI to Step Up Liquidity Measures’, it notes that the central bank may have to buy corporate bonds “for the first time ever”.
Another report observes SEBI’s request to banks to “disclose details of ‘ultimate beneficial owners’ (UBO) of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) based in China and Hong Kong”. This comes a day after China’s increased shareholding in HDFC. The report notes: “The lurking fear of wealthy Chinese investors raiding the Indian stock market seems to be taking root”.
Mint’s lead sums up how the conversation around the lockdown has moved towards the economy. In “All Eyes On Economic Package”, it says the Modi government faces a tough choice, to “push as many as 400 million workers in the informal sector deeper into poverty through an extended lockdown, or risk losing thousands of lives by letting the deadly virus spread unchecked”.
A small news item reports HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh statement that “normalcy is expected to return in the second half of 2020” and despite the global economy shrinking by 12% in one quarter, “India’s young demographic, entrepreneurship, services and start-up sectors will propel growth”.