分类： bharat

With India set to extend the lockdown that was due to end next week in an effort to prevent the further spread of Covid-19, global consulting firm McKinsey & Co has warned that the measures could come at a great cost.
In its recent report, the consultancy considered three possible scenarios for the country’s economy, depending on how long the restrictions stay in place. The decision to prolong the lockdown, announced on Saturday, renders the prediction with the mildest impact (10 percent contraction in the first quarter) impossible, as it was predicated on the measures being lifted on Tuesday.
While it is not yet clear how much longer Indians will have to stay home, if the lockdown continues for an additional month, it could put 32 million livelihoods at risk and the country’s economy could contract by around 20 percent in the first quarter, McKinsey’s analysts warn.

However, annual results in this case would not be too devastating, with growth falling between two and three percent in the fiscal year 2021.

The worst-case scenario envisaged by the report said there could be an even deeper annual economic contraction of around eight to 10 percent. This might happen if the epidemic continues to ravage the country and the authorities have to impose additional restrictions that spill into the second quarter and beyond. This scenario would result in an “even greater reluctance among migrants to resume work, and [ensure] a much slower rate of recovery.”

To evaluate those risks, the consulting firm spoke with more than 600 economists, financial market experts and policy makers, in 100 companies across multiple sectors.

The potential economic fallout of the coronavirus would vary by sector, with aviation, the auto industry, construction and real estate taking the biggest hits. The demand in key categories would also drop sharply.

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3, a large number of migrant workers who earn daily wages came out on roads across India demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.

In a repeat of shocking scenes from when the lockdown was first announced by the Union government, migrants across the country once again set off to reach their hometowns in huge numbers, violating orders to stay at home.

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3, a large number of migrant workers who earn daily wages came out on roads on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places.

BANDRA

The biggest such incident was reported from Mumbai’s Bandra West, where flocks of migrant labourers gathered outside the railway station, hoping to go home as they had no jobs, no money and no source of food.

Daily wage earners, numbering around 1,000, assembled at suburban Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station and squatted on road at around 3 pm.

Videos and images showing hordes protesting outside the Bandra station soon went viral on social media.

Heavy police deployment was made at the site to tackle any untoward incident.

Initially, the police asked local community leaders to help convince the crowd to leave the area but when the labour refused to disburse, the police resorted to lathicharge.

A police official said the migrants were dispersed two hours later and have been assured accommodation and food till the lockdown lasts.

In May 2019, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had said that the water from the holy river Ganga was absolutely unfit for “direct drinking”.

In October 2019 the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) had stated that the river water unfit even for bathing.

According to UPPCB the level of Coliform and Fecal Coliform bacteria in the river water was so high that against the maximum permissible limit of 500 MPN (most probable number)/100 ML of water for both bacteria, 40,000 MPN of Coliform and 22,000 MPN of Fecal Coliform bacteria was measured in the Ganga, in Jana village of Kanpur.

But since March this year, since the country went into lockdown, which also forced the closure of the industries along its banks, the water quality has been improving dramatically.