Ruchir Sharma in The Times of India:
“After three weeks the government began replacing lockdown 1.0 with looser versions, but rather than relax many upper class Indians were learning to love life under lockdown. They posted odes to recipe sharing, Netflix, Zoom cocktail parties, the clear view of the sky and moon as the smog lifted over an idle nation. They gasped over images of leopards venturing into shuttered cities like Chandigarh, 250 kilometres from Delhi. Ah, nature!
When I looked out of my living room window, I saw dorms for the community staff, and had to wonder how sublime this life could be for them. Does social distancing have any meaning for labourers packed six to a 200 sq ft room? Does a lockdown make any sense in such crowded living conditions?
Meanwhile the crisis was liberating for Indian bureaucrats and the police, self-important in normal times, “essential” during this crisis. Videos posted on WhatsApp showed police beating people caught on the streets without a satisfactory excuse, or forcing them to perform squats while holding their ears – a punishment common in government schools. The commentary was often less horrified than humorous, including one mash-up that went viral with cricket style play-by-play.
By mid-April many rich countries had started to debate reopening their economies. Protests were breaking out against lockdowns in the United States. In India, there was little public debate, much less protest.
[Lila: This is not true. There was plenty of debate, but it doesn’t get into the major English media, which is largely leftist, favor of an expansion of government, and inclined to criticize Modi reflexively from that angle. While, Modi appears to have followed the dictates of the globalists at every turn, he is commonly derided as being too insular. ]
The hardest hit, the poor and unemployed, seem to accept their misery as fate, likely unaware of evidence that the most stringent lockdowns are generating the most severe economic damage.
While the pandemic quickly became the leading cause of deaths in many countries, in India many more still die each week, mostly in rural areas, from diseases like tuberculosis or diarrhea. Still, the urban elite has the political influence and most continued to support a tough lockdown
“If the government lifts restrictions millions of illiterate Indians will pour into the streets and super-spread the disease,” says a friend.
Of estimates showing that each week the lockdown is pushing tens of millions of Indians below the poverty line, the elite’s standard answer is “The government should take care of them, just look how much the United States is spending on displaced workers.” Never mind that India has one-twentieth the average income of the United States, or that no bureaucracy, including those of much wealthier nations, is equipped to handle a sudden exodus of tens of millions of workers.
The irony now is that with India headed for what could be its worst post-Independence recession, economic pressure is forcing a retreat to lockdown lite, even as the virus case count surges.
Lockdown fatigue has set in. Confronted on the street by a police patrol after Delhi’s 7pm curfew last week, a friend pleaded that it was insufferable to go out earlier, with daytime temperatures around 45 degrees. “It is my job to make these announcements,” said the weary officer. “You can keep walking.”