Lockdown exit plan for May 17: Govt may ready a negative…

Lockdown exit plan for May 17: Govt may ready a negative list of prohibited activities

A negative list will clearly spell out what’s not allowed, allowing other activities to resume.

The negative list could include all activities that involve public gatherings and weekly bazaars as well as educational institutes remaining closed for some time.

India may draw up a negative list of activities that are prohibited in order to help ease the country out of the lockdown. The strategy is aimed at opening up a bigger share of the economy and preventing the kind of confusion that’s allowed district administrations to be more restrictive than intended.

The government permitted the resumption of many activities in two stages, on April 20 and May 4, but lack of clarity over the guidelines has meant the impact of this relaxation has been much less on the ground than it should have been.

Some government policymakers are worried that this confusion has given too much power in the hands of local authorities and led to the return of an inspector raj that could derail the country’s efforts to attract foreign investors looking to shift from China besides further crippling the economy.

“We need to have a negative list of five-six things and open up the rest completely… Supply chains must fully work,” said a senior government official aware of the deliberations.

The idea is to allow as much economic activity as possible with stringent sanitisation and distancing norms, the official said.