Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Sunday apologised to his citizens, as the nation’s economic crisis from his three-weeks national lockdown deepens and anger rises over a lack of sufficient preparation and adequate planning before the decision was taken.
It would be recalled that Modi declared on Tuesday a 21-day for curbing coronavirus spread. However, the pronouncement has stung millions or poor Indians in particular, leaving many hungry and forcing thousands of unemployed migrant workers to walk hundreds of kilometres from cities to their country home.
Modi, who apologised in a nationwide radio broadcast, urged citizens to appreciate the fact that there was no other alternative to the lockdown.
Nevertheless, Modi, whose government unveiled a $22.6 billion economic stimulus package on Thursday to provide direct cash transfers and food handouts to the poor in India, did not provide any clarification on future plans.
Solid efforts to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in India, a country with some 1.3 billion people where the public health infrastructure is weak, are still widely supported. Yet its introduction is being strongly questioned by opposition figures and critics.
Police said four migrants were killed in the western state of Maharashtra on Saturday when a truck crashed into them while a migrant collapsed and died in Uttar Pradesh’s northern state on the same day, while walking home on a 270 kilometer journey.
In India the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus increased to 979 on Sunday, including 25 deaths.
Though experts widely agree that a stringent lockdown in India is appropriate to keep the virus spread in check, the economic implications of the policy are causing anger among the poor
