Guwahati went under strict lockdown for 14 days. However, the lockdown has still not been truly effective to cut down the increasing number of cases.
The growing number of COVID-19 patients is one of the grimmest concerns of the state. But that is not the only one. Why is Assam going through another lockdown? How far will things change in this lockdown and thereafter?
These questions are important to be asked although there are no definite answers yet. But one needs to go back a little to the time of ‘Unlock One’ or even before that.
For a fact, we all know how effectively the education and the awareness on COVID-19 have reached the public. To be fair it is almost null and void in every part of this country.
From the beginning of this year, days have been quite like a rollercoaster in and around Assam.
First it was the CAB and CAA movement and then this pandemic. When lockdown hit the geographical borders of India, people were no doubt locked inside their houses with force or without because of a new fear called Corona.
Awareness about this contagious disease was not quite right. Social distancing, masks and sanitizers have somehow become just names. Notably, most of us wear a mask to protect ourselves from the police and not COVID-19. Social distancing never existed except for some. But whom do we blame here? The government, the police or ourselves? The last seems quite significant but with some loopholes. Awareness about how crucial social distancing is should have been given as an education to the public. To avoid the mistakes done earlier there should be strong rules for social distancing. It might be a little difficult to understand but this is one of the reasons behind the rapid rise of the cases.
Just before the government of Assam declared 14 days of lockdown, people came out in thousands breaking all the norms of social distancing to buy their needs. Grocery shops and pharmacies everywhere were jam-packed. In such a situation, it is not possible to even imagine about slowing the cases.
Also seeing the phase, daily wage earners and others who earn their bread from their daily work are eating one meal a day now, unlike some who are sharing pictures of 'chicken' and 'pulao' on social media. As soon as this lockdown gets over, things will go back to the same place until there is some definite awareness or laws about social distancing. Not only people of Assam but people from everywhere should learn some basic things because this is the need of the year.
(The author is a student of M.A History at Gauhati University. The views expressed are his own.)
