I2B Assignment-1

Effective Presentation Skills

Made By: Ashutosh Pandey

PGP-2021-23
Topic of Presentation:

How Effective was Government

st
Intervention in COVID 1 Wave!?
 COVID-19:
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused
by the most recently discovered corona
virus. This new virus and disease were
unknown before the outbreak began in
Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
Initial Response of Government of India:
•January–February 2020:
Protective measures were first applied in January. India began thermal screening of
passengers arriving from China on 21 January. Initially carried out at seven airports, it
was expanded to 20 airports towards the end of January. During February, the screening
was extended to passengers from Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South
Korea. Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia were added to the list towards the end
of February. Very few new cases were discovered during February, The Indian Council
of Medical Research (ICMR) admitted that airport screening alone was insufficient.

•March 2020:
By early to mid-March, the government had drawn up plans to deal with a worsening of
the pandemic in the country. This included seven ministries working together to set up
additional quarantine and treatment facilities across the country. States and twenty
ministries, including Home, Defence, Railways, Labour, Minority
Affairs, Aviation and Tourism, were informed of the containment plan.Plans to avoid a
panic-like situation were also made. The Ministry of Textiles was to ensure the
availability of protective and medical materials. The Department of
Pharmaceuticals was to ensure the availability of essential medicines. The Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution was asked to ensure availability of
essentials.
•April 2020:
Major Indian cities and many states made wearing facial masks compulsory.
On 29 April, The Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines for the states to allow
inter-state movement of the stranded persons. States have been asked to designate nodal
authorities and form protocols to receive and send such persons. States have also been
asked to screen the people, quarantine them and to do periodic health checkups.

•Travel and entry restrictions:

On 3 March 2020, the Indian government stopped issuing of new visas. Previously
issued visas for the nationals of Iran, South Korea, Japan, and Italy were suspended.
All visas were suspended on 13 March, except for diplomatic and other official visas, as
well as the visa-free travel for Overseas Citizens of India. Indians returning from
COVID-affected countries were asked to be quarantined for 14 days. These measures
were expanded to citizens from Europe, Gulf countries and Asian countries including
Malaysia on 17–18 March.
•Closedown and curfews:
Over the month of March, multiple states across the country began shutting down
schools, colleges, public facilities such as malls, gyms, cinema halls and other public
places to contain the spread.
On 15 March, Ministry of Culture closed all monuments and museums
under Archaeological Survey of India.
On 23 March, Chief Minister of Maharashtra ordered a statewide curfew and closure of
state borders.
COVID Outbreaks in India!
The initial response of Govt. of India was not enough to prevent the outbreak of
Covid-19 in India.
The first cases of COVID-19 in India were reported in the towns
of Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kasargod, all in the state of Kerala, among three Indian
medical students who had returned from Wuhan. Lockdowns were announced in
Kerala on 23 March, and in the rest of the country on 25 March. By mid-May 2020, five
cities accounted for around half of all reported cases in the country:
Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Thane. On 10 June, India's recoveries
exceeded active cases for the first time. Infection rates started to drop in September,
along with the number of new and active cases. Daily cases peaked mid-September with
over 90,000 cases reported per-day, dropping to below 15,000 in January 2021.
Impact of 1st Wave of COVID-19:
•Displacement of Migrant Workers:
The 2020 lockdown left tens of millions of migrant workers unemployed. With factories
and workplaces shut down, many migrant workers were left with no livelihood. They
thus decided to walk hundreds of kilometres to go back to their native villages,
accompanied by their families in many cases. In response, the central and state
governments took various measures to help them. The central government then
announced that it had asked state governments to set up immediate relief camps for the
migrant workers returning to their native states, and later issued orders protecting the
rights of the migrants.
•Drug shortages:
In January 2020, Indian pharma companies raised the issue that drug supplies could be
hit if the pandemic situation in China became worse. India sources about 70% of its
pharmaceutical ingredients from China. In March 2020, India restricted export of 26
pharmaceutical ingredients; this restriction pointed to impending global shortages.
During the second wave of the pandemic in India shortages of certain drugs caused
some COVID-19 patients to go to the black market. In April 2021, other important
COVID-19 related drugs also faced lowered stocks and sharp rise in cost of raw
materials.
•Education:
On 16 March 2020, the union government ordered the closure of schools and
colleges. On 18 March, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released
revised guidelines for examination centers incorporating social distancing
measures. On 19 March, CBSE and JEE examinations for the Indian Institutes of
Technology and other engineering college admissions were postponed. States
across the country postponed or cancelled school examinations; younger
students were either automatically promoted or promoted based on prior
performance. The Union Public Service Commission also postponed the
interview for the Civil Services Examination. Only a few educational
institutions in India have been able to effectively adapt to e-learning and
remote learning; the digital divide is further impacted by serious electricity
issues and lack of internet connectivity.
•Economy:
Data released by the Central Statistics Office showed Indian economy shrank 7.3% in FY21 due to the impact
of the first wave of the pandemic last year instead of 8% contraction estimated earlier. The business confidence
of Indian companies also dipped to its lowest in three quarters in May, after posting a decadal high in the
previous survey; Since the beginning of the pandemic in India, poverty has increased, and livelihoods have
been affected. The labour sector under the MGNREGA, 2005 are worst impacted as they are not provided jobs
due to lockdown, most of the labour sectors are associated with the construction companies and daily wage
earners. Travel restrictions and quarantines affecting hundreds of millions of people have left Indian factories
short of labour and parts, just-in-time supply chains and triggering sales warnings across technology,
automotive, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and other industries.

•Healthcare and frontline workers:

On 8 August 2020, Indian Medical Association (IMA)
announced that 198 doctors had died due to COVID-
19. This number was increased to 515 by October 2020
and 734 by 3 February 2021.However, on 2 and 5
February 2021 the health ministry announced in
the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively that 162/174
doctors, 107/116 nurses and 44 ASHA workers/199
healthcare workers had died due to COVID-19.The
figures were based on the governments "Insurance
Scheme for Health Workers fighting COVID-19".As of 17
April 2021, IMA put the number of deaths of doctors at
747.Ten of thousands of doctors, nurses and health
workers have been infected with covid.
Further Actions taken by the Government of India:
•Economic package:
On 12 May 2020, the Prime Minister, in an address to the nation, said that the corona-virus crisis should be seen
as an opportunity, laying emphasis on domestic products and "economic self-reliance", creation of an Atmanirbhar
Bharat (Self-reliant India) through Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Mission). He announced a
20 trillion rupees stimulus package, equivalent to 10% of India's GDP, which was laid out in detail by the Finance
Minister in a series of tranches.During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Finance Minister announced a Rs.1.70
Lakh Crore($24 billion) relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor.
❑Rs.500 each to 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders
LPG cylinders to be provided to 8 crore poor families for the
next three months free of cost.
❑Rs.1,000 for senior citizens to tide over difficulties during next
three months.
❑As of 11 April, Rs.28,256 crores($4 billion) were disbursed
through PMGKY to nearly 32 crore beneficiaries.
Rs 50,000-Crore in Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan For returnee
migrant workers

•Legal announcements:
On 11 March 2020, the Cabinet Secretary of India, Rajiv
Gauba, announced that all states and UTs should invoke
provisions of Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
On 14 March, the union government declared the
pandemic as a "notified disaster" under the Disaster
Management Act, 2005, enabling states to spend a larger
part of funds from the State Disaster Response Fund to
fight the virus.
Conclusion:
➢With the analysis of all these Impacts of the 1st wave of COVID-19 we can clearly
conclude that the initial interventions of the Govt. were definitely not effective as they
required to be;

➢Social distancing and lockdown rules were employed in India, which however had an
additional impact on the economy, human lives, and environment. Where a negative
impact was observed for the economy and human life, the environment got a positive
one;

➢Further interventions regarding tracing, testing and curing somehow proved effective
towards curbing down the further spread of Virus;

➢Economic relief packages and grants played a crucial role in compensating the
economic damage due to the pandemic;

➢Government’s intervention regarding the development of Covid vaccines were also

very effective which made India one of the earliest developers of Covid Vaccines;

➢Now only proper implementation of Vaccination programme can further ensure

India’s success towards fighting the Corona Virus.