Originally posted in The Business Standard on 9 August 2021
Due to the lockdown, all kinds of industries and public transport, hotels and restaurants have been shut down and the financial losses caused by this closure are irreparable.
Such damage would have been agreeable if the lockdown could successfully reduce the health risks or corona infection rate.
Last year, coronavirus infections were reduced by the first round of lockdown. At that time, the pandemic was contained through the lockdown. But, it has almost failed to contain the second wave of the pandemic.
There were many weaknesses in the implementation of our lockdown. The administration has tried to implement it. But, it is very difficult to implement such an initiative without community participation.
In our country, everything is tried through administration. The lockdown would have been effective if local governments, people’s representatives, and community-based organisations were involved.
In this situation, it is natural to question the loss of production in the industrial sector, loss of livelihood of the people in the service sector and increased poverty rate caused by the lockdown.
We have witnessed that the health risk has turned into the biggest risk at present. Controlling this risk should be given the highest priority now. And the damage we would face if we fail to do so would be far greater than the temporary damage.
Lockdown casts a negative impact on the economy. There are also some financial costs involved in imposing lockdown. In the meanwhile, it has become essential to provide food for all.
Lockdown reduces people’s income. The government has to take responsibility for meeting the basic needs of the day labourers and small traders.
There were some steps taken by the government to provide such assistance during the lockdown. However, the range of such initiatives was much shorter than the need.
At this time, the most important thing is to give importance to vaccinations. More than 35% of the population can be vaccinated by the vaccines collected so far, or for which purchasing order has been placed.
It does not need that much money to vaccinate all the people eligible for vaccination. The government is hesitating to spend the money. This is a good thing.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)