Annexures, clarifications followed first lockdown fiat
Release of multiple clarifications led to widespread confusion and criticism.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) declared the specifications of the first all-india lockdown on 24 March. By 12 April, within 20 days of its original order, it had issued eight annexures, addenda, and clarifications to the same order.
A cursory analysis of these addenda, and clarifications would reveal that bureaucrats at the Ministry of Home Affairs would not have had to release multiple clarifications, which led to widespread confusion and criticism, if they had taken a holistic view of the effects of the lockdown while preparing the contours of the 24 March lockdown as most of the issues that these clarifications dealt with, were on expected lines of the impact of a lockdown.
The Sunday Guardian has analysed the clarifications and addenda issued only during the first lockdown that was in effect from 25 March to 14 April and not the orders and clarifications that were issued for the subsequent three lockdowns.
The first annexure to the 24 March order, that was issued on 25 March, the very next day, was about the establishments that were exempted from the lockdown.
Then, on 27 March, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued another clarification allowing movement of ships and transportation of ship crew within the city. On the same day, it issued another addendum that allowed relaxation to the farming sector.
Then came another clarification from Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on 29 March that was shared with the states which was related to more exemptions related to transportation of all goods, milk and newspaper delivery supply chain from the lockdown.
On 2 April, an addendum to the 24 March order was issued that was related to travel arrangements for foreigners and release of people who were in quarantine.
On the same day, another addendum was issued by Bhalla that gave exemption from lockdown to another set of professionals and sectors.
The next day on 3 April, Bhalla issued another clarification that exempted laboratories, e-commerce and transportation of essential commodities.
On 12 April, the Home Secretary issued another clarification on the movement of trucks across the country, functioning of establishments in the MSME sector engaged in production of essential commodities and exemptions of warehouses.
The lack of foresight and weak planning among bureaucrats at the Ministry of Home Affairs while dealing with Covid-19 is also visible from the fact that from 19 April to 15 May, it issued seven orders related to movement of migrants across the country. It was not until more than 25 days of the lockdown that Bhalla and his team realised that a different set of guidelines was needed to dead with the migrants.
In all, bureaucrats at the Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Bhalla, issued at least 77 orders, clarifications, and addenda, till May 19 related to Covid-19.