Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s steps might look a little harsh from the outside but at the onset of such a deadly virus, it seems like the bold & decisive people’s leader has taken appropriate steps at the correct time to ensure the safety of the people of India.
– Himanshu Singh
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Novel Corona virus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It reiterated its call for all the countries to take immediate actions and scale up their response to treat, detect and reduce transmission to save people’s lives.
Till today there have been more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 all around the world as per Worldometer. A virus that originated from the Wuhan city of China later last year has taken the whole world by storm. Even a global superpower like the United States of America is dealing with a very gruesome situation with over 3 Lakh cases reported.
India being the 2nd most populous country in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion people, has till now reported over 3000 cases. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, India is still on stage 2, and there are no signs of significant community transmission till now. The decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet again shown how such situations are supposed to deal with in a densely populated country. Several bold steps are being taken by Narendra Modi-led Government to ensure that the nation is not pushed to the stage of community transmission due to which countries like Italy, Spain and Iran have been devastated. Let’s have a look at several steps taken by the PM Modi-led Government.
Janata Curfew
Bharat observes Janta Curfew as Coronavirus hits large number of people
In the history of independent India, there might have been many lawfully enforced curfews in the country, but for the very first time, a voluntary curfew termed as Janata Curfew by PM Modi took place. In his address to the nation on March 19, 2020 PM Modi urged the people of India to voluntarily participate in a Janata Curfew from 7 AM to 9 PM on March 22, 2020, and the whole nation listened to its leader and a Janata Curfew as successfully implemented. Also as the PM asked the people to come out in their balconies and cheer up our frontline workers in the time of this health crisis with claps and bangs at 5 PM, the people of India enthusiastically like a festival followed their leader. They thanked its Healthcare professionals which became a global phenomenon where several other countries did the same.
3 Week Lockdown
With the Janata Curfew, PM Modi made sure that the country is ready for the upcoming complete lockdown of the country. In his address to the nation on March 24, 2020 appealed the whole country to follow ‘Social Distancing’ as it is the only effective measure to tackle the spread of COVID-19 and announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days. In his address, the PM ensured people that essential supplies will not hamper and advised people against Panic Buying. The lockdown is still going on and has kept India away from the Community Transmission. It shows yet again, the resilience of the leader that Narendra Modi is.
The Economic Response Task Force
To deal with the economic situation that the country will go through due to the Pandemic Prime Minister Modi the creation of a COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force under the Union Finance Minister. On March 26, the PM Modi-led Government announced a 1.7 lakh crore humongous financial support package which focuses upon the direct benefit transfer to the poor who are most affected by the lockdown. The Package also includes a three month free supply of food grains, pulses and gas under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to support them from the economic vagaries arising out of the impact of the Corona Virus.
PM Cares
Prime Minister Modi understanding the need of a dedicated fund for such emergencies which will provide emergency relief to the nation announced setting up Prime Minister’s Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund( PM Cares). Exempted from the Income Tax the fund will have Prime Minister as the chairman of the Fund and will have defence minister, home minister and finance minister as its permanent members which differentiates it from the PMNRF which had the Congress President as its member. Several prominent industrialists, sportspersons and celebrities from different fields have already contributed to the fund.
Leading the Global Front
PM Modi has always been referred as a global leader due to his good diplomatic and personal relations with the leaders across the world. PM Modi was the first leader to call for a video conference among the SAARC nations the meeting under the leadership of PM Modi took place on March 15. PM Modi leading the way appealed for the creation of a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund by contributing an initial 10 million USD to the fund.
After which a virtual G-20 Summit took place on March 26 to discuss the challenge posed by the Novel Corona Virus. PM underscored the need to put human beings at the centre of our vision of global prosperity and cooperation, freely and openly share the benefits of medical research and development, develop adaptive, responsive and humane health care systems amongst others. PM called on the Leaders to help usher in a new globalisation, for the collective well-being of humankind and have multilateral fora focus on promoting the shared interests of humanity.
PM Modi also held telephonic conversations with several world leaders including the Prime Minister of U.K Boris Johnson, President of the United States Donald Trump, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and others.
The PM Modi led government has also rescued several Indian Professionals who were stranded in the hotbeds of COVID-19 all around the world including China, Italy, Spain and others.
Review Meetings And Discussions
At Cabinet meet PM Modi and ministers practice social distancing
While practising social distancing himself PM Modi has been taking several review meetings and sessions with the Chief Ministers, Leaders from several fields such as sports, entertainment, media etc. to discuss and review the situation the country is facing due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. PM Modi has also conducted several meetings with the healthcare professionals, nurses & doctors.
Light a Lamp of Unity and Solidarity
Bharat switches off power and lights diya and candle to thank up Corona Warriors
In his small video message to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet again appealed the country for a gesture which includes lighting up a diya, candle, torch or a flashlight by switching off all the lights at 9 PM on April 5 for 9 minutes. This is being looked at as the show of unity and solidarity in the nation’s fight against the COVID-19 virus which yet again portrays the belief invested in PM Modi by the people of India who duly stand behind him in this.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s steps might look a little harsh from the outside. Still, at the onset of such a deadly virus, it seems like the bold & decisive people’s leader has taken appropriate steps at the correct time to ensure the safety of the people of India.
