Lock down rules - On Paper Vs Ground reality

Before putting my point in this blog, I like to comment on the fundamental issue regarding the administration. Language of the Administration sometimes looks like some alien is talking. DGP on the TV to the Constables on the street with mike in hand speak in the nomenclature of the 144, The buffer zone, Sealing, Epidemics disease act and whatnot. The first thing the administration needs to do is to talk in the language of the people to enlist their coordination. This "Sarkari" language may send the wrong message to citizen sometimes. Announcement of the Sealing, Buffer zone etc. without conveying exact message may lead to rush shopping and hoarding.

Now let me come to the main points. Government issues number of the notifications on a daily basis regarding the law-order, tests etc. Government writes many things in Notifications/Circulars but the ground conditions are different from it.  These lines of the Aadam Gondvi perfectly point out the difference between the What Secretaries speak on TV and Ground reality - 

तुम्हारी फाइलों में गाँव का मौसम गुलाबी है 
मगर ये आंकड़े झूठे हैं ये दावा किताबी है 

उधर जम्हूरियत का ढोल पीते जा रहे हैं वो 
इधर परदे के पीछे बर्बरीयत है ,नवाबी है 

Here I explained ground conditions by 4 incidents 

Police detained our bike in our home town as our driver was going to fetch drinking water for his home. In India, 75% of the citizen do not have the drinking water supply in their premise. This does not figure of mine but NITI Aayog said so.  And for the same reason, In My home town, Municipality installed a water treatment plant from where a citizen can get cheap and well quality drinking water. Our driver was going to that plant and police detained bike.

You may think that Police detained our bike and that’s why I am writing this. No! I am writing this Cause water is nowhere in Debate. Officers talk about Grocery, Milk and Vegetables. Water is nowhere on their horizon. The reason is simple, Officers don’t have to struggle for the Drinking water and most of Metro people also have own RO plant in home. This issue going to become critical cause We are entering in the time zone where 100 districts in-country will generally face water scarcity (April-June) Now, tell me, is there anything is more "Essential" than water except oxygen to survive?

The second issue is class! If I was on the bike - A well dressed, Well educated Middle-class Man, Police might not detain me. To prove the class discrimination, there is no need to do any guesswork - Just Note down the numbers of bikes and numbers of cars detained by police. Data speaks for itself. ! Corona is the disease of the rich people but responsibility to contain it is mainly on poor. It's a fact !

Now, Let me talk about my own experience.

The government always maintains that there are no restrictions on the Medical shops and citizen have full access to the Medicines.  But the ground reality is different. My mother had some Skin allergy and I went to purchase the Medicine for that. Police stopped me on the road and asking me reasons. They sought Prescription papers of doctors which I have not as our family doctor on phone gives us a prescription. Secondly, Most of the Doctors shut down their private practices in these days so written prescription of doctors is not possible for now. Furthermore, Self medicine is the practice of Indians. We take medicines for the fever, headache etc without any prescriptions. I also understand the problem of the police that many citizens roam in the city by citing medical reasons. But it has been nearly 20 days of lockdown but still, the Government can't find a solution to find out who is genuine and who is not regarding the medical issue.

Fortunately, I was not detained by the police as I can speak the name of the medicine. If Police caught some uneducated but genuine citizen roaming for the medicine in the city, Gods know how police will treat him!

Now Let come to the third point - The government announced 1.7 Lakh crore packages. Main two things in that is Rs.1500 to Each Women having Jan dhan account and second are free Grains from PDS.

There are only 50,000 rural bank branches in India. There are millions of people in India who have no bank branch in 5 Km radius of their home. In a lockdown, Bus, Rail and other private services are Suspended. So Question arise is that - How can one Reach to Bank? And even if one has bike or walk barefoot to the bank, Does police allowed them to do so?  This question is important as the Notification of the restriction of movement issues by the police clearly list those who are exceptions i.e Fire safety, Government staff, Grocery store owners etc.  Such 57 Exceptions mentions in Notification of Ahmedabad police but none mention that a citizen can step out from the home to visit the bank branch. I know that since starting The government saying that there is no restriction on Bank, But Question is that - How police can ensure that a person is going for a bank or Just roaming in the city without any reason? ( If there is any circular regarding this bank access, Please let me know in the comment box, I will update it) 

Now Comes to a Most common issue that millions of citizen's face daily - Access to grocery stores and Vegetable shops. On the paper there are no restrictions. But On the ground, if Police caught you and you make "Excuse" of Grocery shopping, Police asked to show the bill for the same. Now tell me that which grocery shopper in India give you bill, and especially this time where long queues at shops? Vegetable Vendors also facing the wrath of the police. It's true that we citizen many time don’t follow the social distancing at the Vegetable shops but it's citizen responsibility to do so and not the Vendors. But Police forcing the Vendors to ensure that. Yesterday, Police pick up a vendor near my home for not following social distancing norm but also leave him in 30 minutes (Maybe after warning!). So the point is Administration duty to make out a plan to ensure the easy access to essential things while maintaining social distance. 

Why I write this long post? Criticism of government is no motive to write this post. My motive is to give a message to the government to formulate simple and straight policies. If you going to do many things, you with end with nothing! The same happens in the case of Rs.500 to Jan Dhan accounts! I would like to request the government to formulate exit plan such that it's possible for the ground administration to maintain social distancing and Hygiene. "Social distancing" must be a central part of the any existing plan police. 

Here are some suggestion in Brief -

• Community Kitchens instead of cash transfers
• Paramedical staff and regular medical auditing of Agriculture market when it gets open.
• Divide city/town/village clusters in the zone and make a micro-level plan about citizen access to water, milk, medicines etc in such that no crowding take place.

Here, I don't go in details about suggestions cause no one has time to listen to it. I write many times to Ahmedabad and Gujarat officers but none have time.  I am not saying that my ideas are better than them, It may not as I don't aware of the limitations of theirs. But what I feel is that the Administration should communicate as more as possible to the citizen in such an unprecedented situation. A hundred minds have to think together. If anyone is interested to know details, Can put up comment in the comment box. Will Happy to write in details.