The “exodus” of migrant workers in the midst of the nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 and the central government’s response to this by sealing state borders, is the headline story of this Monday morning.
The financial papers, on the other hand, focus on the worrying state of the economy and the adverse impact the 21-day lockdown will have on it.
The Times of India’s six-column lead story, ‘Seal borders to stem migrant exodus, ensure shelter, food, wages, rent relief’ provides all the developments on Sunday in one sentence: “In a move to curb the movement of migrant workers on roads and highways, the Centre on Sunday used the Disaster Management Act to fix responsibility on district magistrates and senior superintendents of police to seal district and state borders while making arrangements for those on the roads to be housed in shelters besides also dissuading such workers from leaving their current place of stay.”
The other highlighted report (‘PM apologises for hardships…’) concerns Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat address, Sunday morning: he was “sorry for the hardships caused by the national lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, but underlined that there was no other option in a ‘war like’ situation to combat the highly infectious disease”.
In grim times, humanity often overcomes other barriers — read this report, ‘Muslims take body of Hindu neighbour for cremation in UP’ from in Meerut where, “Ravi Shankar, in his late 40s, had died on Saturday afternoon after a prolonged battle with cancer at his home… leaving behind his wife and four children.’’ Due to the lockdown, Shankar’s family was missing– “It was then that a group of neighbours approached the family… Soon, amid Hindu chants, scores of Muslims of the area lifted the cot on which the body was lying and took it to the ghat for the last rites.”
The Indian Express also leads with the government measures, ‘Govt doubles down on lockdown’. According to the paper, “…the government indicated it was not going to deviate from this containment and mitigation strategy against coronavirus, despite initial hiccups through the week.”
More some bad news, now: ‘Cases cross 1,000, govt sets up 11 groups to fight spread’ reports, “Eight deaths of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients were reported in the last 24 hours — the highest single-day toll so far — taking the total toll to 27. With 151 fresh cases being confirmed on Sunday, the number of positive cases has now touched 1,024, of which 95 have recovered.’’ The paper quotes Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare who said that “`most cases of death have seen old age and co-morbidity play a very major role.”
Onto some good news: ‘In Kerala, only 4 coronavirus cases out of 202 needed to be put under critical care’. The report highlights that the numbers in the state are reassuringly low when compared to the global hotspots of the virus and while the trajectory of the coronavirus’s spread is still unclear, experts in Kerala, fingers firmly crossed, say there is a glimmer of hope in the state.
The lead in HT remains the same as the other two other newspapers. The paper adds on an appeal by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to migrants and his warning to landlords: “(He) urged migrants not to leave the city because it would defeat the purpose of the 21-day national lockdown, while urging property owners not to force tenants to pay monthly rent… Kejriwal also warned those pressuring tenants and threatening them with eviction of strict action.”
There’s a story on ‘Movement of goods allowed by Centre’. HT reports that the government is permitting greater movement of goods: “The Union home ministry said on Sunday that all goods in addition to essential commodities will be allowed to move across states…”
The paper also notes that “young guns” in the medical sector may soon join the Covid-19 fight. ‘Medical students in final-year MBBS, PG may join Covid fight’ suggests that “medical and nursing students could join the fight against Covid-19 as authorities consider various options to strengthen the health care workforce and provide protective cover to ageing doctors who are themselves at high risk of contracting the infection and, possibly, dying of it, people in the know said on Sunday.”
In a grim exclusive report, The Hindu reports, ‘As inter-State buses dwindle, migrants are stuck with nowhere to go’. “Hundreds of people remained suspended between hope and despair at Zero Point on the Yamuna Expressway on Sunday as desperate migrant workers — forced by a sudden and indefinite loss of employment due to the nationwide lockdown — tried to return home to villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana,’’ it writes. Zero Point is an unofficially-designated spot on the Yamuna Expressway, which links New Delhi with Agra via Noida, where inter-State buses usually pick up passengers.
And here’s some expert advice: ‘Cases surge; ICMR denies community transmission’. According to Hindu, “The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said testing for new cases has been stepped up to 30% of the nation’s capacity. Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR, Raman Gangakhedkar, said there was no estimate yet of whether the nationwide lockdown — now into its fifth day — had managed to check community transmission.”
The Hindu also gives space to Rahul Gandhi: ‘Rahul calls for a ‘nuanced approach’’, the daily reports, “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt a more ‘nuanced approach’ to the fight against COVID-19 as a complete lockdown could result in a ‘catastrophic’ loss of life”. Gandhi added, “Millions of India’s elderly live in villages. A complete lockdown and the resulting shut down of our economic engine will almost certainly ensure that millions of unemployed youth rush back to their villages, increasing the risk of infecting their parents and the elderly population living there.”
The Telegraph is on its own agenda, as usual — ‘That same demonetisation feeling’. The Kolkata daily reports, “The Centre has woken up to the crisis a week after the ‘Janata Curfew’, which could have been used to create awareness about the impending lockdown and reassure migrants and other vulnerable sections but was converted into a plate-clanging and hand-clapping spectacle that threw caution to the winds”.
In ‘Cluster plans afoot…’, Telegraph notes that the health ministry is planning to identify “emerging hotspots” of the virus in the country to implement “cluster containment” measures.
Moving away from the plight of migrants, Mumbai Mirror reports that ‘City’s rich pockets are the worst-hit’ by Covid-19. According to the tabloid, “The scourge of coronavirus has proved that in the changing world, it’s the poor who are at a risk from the affluent. A ward-wise breakup of the Covid-19 positive cases drawn up by the BMC revealed that the Worli-Lower Parel (G South Ward) has the most number of cases at 12, followed by Malabar Hill-Pedder Road-Walkeshwar (D Ward) with 11, and Juhu-Andheri-Versova (K West Ward) with ten cases. Some of Mumbai’s glitziest hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs are located in these wards”.
While in some concerning news on the news of the spread, here’s a worrying story: ‘SoBo (South Bombay) doc who tested positive on Friday saw 40 patients just days earlier’. “The heart surgeon of a south Mumbai hospital who was admitted to Hinduja Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus on Friday operated on five patients in the previous week and came in contact with at least 40 others, of which 14 fell in high-risk category, according to the BMC. The surgeon’s father, an 85-year old urologist who also tested positive, died of a heart attack on Thursday.”
The Economic Times leads with the Centre’s orders to provide relief to migrant workers.
Equally important report ‘Ecomm Ops Resume But Deliveries may Move in Slow Lane’ says online grocers and retailers like BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon, Flipkart, Jumbotail and Udaan “…are still hobbled by the massive backlog of orders and shortage of workers triggered by the ongoing nationwide lockdown”.
The anchor report (‘Hero Suspends Full Payments to Suppliers‘) provides grim news on Hero MotoCorp, an automobile company that has invoked “force majeure to suspend full payments to vendors” due to major business losses amid the Covid-19 lockdown. Force majeure refers to unforeseeable circumstances that prevent the fulfillment of a contract.
Mint’s lead story (‘It’s A Long Slog For Bharat😉 refers to the recent “tragedy” at Anand Vihar terminal in East Delhi. “Thousands of migrant workers marched in an unceasing stream, heavy bags on their heads, children and elderly in tow…looking to escape not the coronavirus pandemic but starvation itself, with the country placed under a 21-day lockdown,” it notes.
In “India’s gig economy goes off the rails as the pandemic crisis deepens”, the newspaper mentions the, “The turmoil caused by the outbreak of Covid-19 is expected to derail India’s gig economy, which was projected to achieve a market size of $455 billion by 2023 by industry group Assocham”. Gig economy refers to the market of independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers and temporary workers.
Business Standard notes the fate of non-financial companies due to the lockdown in ‘Shutdown puts ₹15-trn debt at risk’. It reports, “201 non-financial listed companies are likely to face a sharp deterioration in their financial position in the first half of 2020-21, making it tough for them to service their debt”.