Modi Seeks 'forgiveness' From India's Poor Over COVID-19 Lockdown Covid-19 Lockdown

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the nation's broke appropriate to forgiveness, as the economic and human toll from his 21-day nationwide lockdown deepens and criticism mounts over a lack of adequate planning ahead of the decision.

"I apologise appropriate to charming these harsh steps that have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the broke people," Modi said in his monthly address on top of Sunday, broadcast on top of state radio.

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"I have knowledge of some of you will be angry with me. But these tough measures were needed to win this battle."

Modi announced an unprecedented three-week lockdown - the world's largest - which came into effect on top of March 25 to curb the spread of the .

But the decision has stung millions of India's poor, leaving many hungry and forcing jobless migrant labourers to flee cities and walk hundreds of kilometres to their native villages.

The broke "would definitely be thoughts what kind of prime minister is this, who has put us into so much trouble," he said, urging people to understand there was no other option.

"Steps taken so far … will give India victory over corona," he added.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India rose to 979 on top of Sunday, with 25 deaths.

The government announced a $22.6bn economic stimulus plan on top of Thursday to provide direct money transfers and food handouts to India's poor. A quarter of India's 1.3 billion people dwell below the poverty line.

In an belief piece published on top of Sunday, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo - two of the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2019 - said even more aid appropriate to the broke is needed.

"Without that, the demand crisis will snowball into an economic avalanche, and people will have no range but to defy orders," they wrote in the Indian Express.

The lockdown is expected to exacerbate India's economic woes at a time when growth had already slumped to its slowest pace in six years.

'No contingency plans'

There still appears to be broad support appropriate to strong measures to avoid a coronavirus catastrophe in India, a country where the public health system is poor.

But opposition leaders, analysts and some citizens are increasingly criticizing its implementation. In particular, they say the government appears to have been caught off guard by the collection movement of migrants following the announcement, which threatens to spread the disease into the hinterlands.

"The Gov't had no contingency plans in place appropriate to this exodus," tweeted opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as images of migrant labourers walking long distances to return home dominated local media.

#ModiMadeDisaster was a top trending topic in India on top of Sunday on top of Twitter.

Police said four migrants were killed on top of Saturday when a truck ran into them in the western state of Maharashtra. Also on top of Saturday, a migrant worker collapsed and died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, according to a the law official.

"We will die of walking and starving before getting killed by corona," said migrant worker Madhav Raj, 28, as he walked along the road in Uttar Pradesh.

On Sunday, several hundred migrants in the town of Paippad, in southern Kerala state, gathered in a square demanding transport back to their hometowns.

The central government has called on top of states to provide marooned labourers with food and shelter, and Modi's supporters slammed state governments on top of Twitter appropriate to failing to properly implement the lockdown.

In India's cities, too, anger was rising.

"We have no food or drink. I am sat down thoughts how to feed my family," said homemaker Amirbee Shaikh Yusuf, 50, in Mumbai's sprawling Dharavi slum.

"There is zero excellent about this lockdown. People are angry, no one is caring appropriate to us."

 

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