Goa has been relatively lucky.
Without being complacent, Goans need to send out a quiet prayer of thanks to
their almighty for one of the lowest active positive CoronaVirus cases in the
country. While there is a call to open up certain sectors so that economic
activity can be generated again, will Goa run the risk of losing its initial
advantage? Opinions on this flew thick and fast
Livelihoods first, as we have no
safety net
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In the phase 2, the focus should be
on livelihood without displacement of people in the lowest income categories
i.e the labour class and self-employed class which make nearly 40 crore people
of India. If we don’t do this, lives will anyway be lost to hunger and
starvation. We have to do this on war footing while ensuring strict physical
distancing. Benefits should reach these people without any middleman and all
documentation and paperwork handled by the govt machinery and the NGOs.
Unfortunately, I have to choose livelihood over life because we have failed to
value life and take care of it through social security and as a welfare state,
people have to work to sustain their lives as there is no safety net- Datta Prasad Shetkar- Lead organiser and Curator TedEx Goa
Tourism cannot survive with social
or physical distancing. Give it 8 months
Tourism cannot survive with social
or physical distancing. A hotel employee cannot work from home but has to
be in the kitchen or do room service. It is a personal service. In
tourism life or livelihood cannot be the question at hand One will
displace the other. And therefore in Tourism we need to now take care of
life and then think of re-starting tourism. Tourism is not something than can
be started for 15 days and shut off. It will take 8 to 12 months
for the tourist market to get back their confidence and back
on its feet to earn their livehood, unlike manufacturing or construction
which can be switched on and off at will.
Therefore tourism needs special
measures from the Government so that it can sustain itself and live for
the next 8 months to earn its livelihood after this period of 8 month is
over – Francisco Braganca,
Former President of TTAG
It’s a Catch 22 situation
It is a catch 22 situation. It is
not easy to pick one over the other. Everything has to happen. We cannot have
the entire country in total lockdown for 2-3 months. In the initial days the
focus was on ensuring lives were not lost. Now the administration has to
understand the pulse and decide what needs to be done. The importance of
ensuring everyone has a livelihood cannot be emphasized enough. The government
said everyone has to be paid importantly the workers and place the onus on the
business community. But then what happens to those who survive on daily wages.
This of course is a very new situation and one has to give the government some
leeway. They took decisions and have changed it based on the situation on the
ground. The government has made the right moves and they will find the balance- Blaize Costabir Entrepreneur
Life first, as we have reached a
very crucial phase in out fight against COVID 19
Definitely the balance should tilt
towards life since this is a crucial phase for Covid 19 social transmission
which if cannot be contained can have serious consequences- Joao Philip Pereira Social activist
A gradual opening of the lockdown
with immediate shutdown if there’s escalation
Kudos to the effectiveness of the
lockdown. I truly believe we have given our health infrastructure a chance to
contain the rate of escalation in the number of cases we are seeing per day.
This no doubt has come at a cost to a larger percentile of our populace who
depend on their salaries and daily incomes to survive. Needless to say it has
affected almost all middle class families to and only that much income the
internet can bring. A gradual opening of the Lockdown seems the only way to do
it with a finger to an immediate shutdown if the escalation in cases starts
climbing.
I also urge the govt to be a little stronger if need
be, in locking things down because I dont believe we are out of the woods yet – Andre Shackleton Corporate Trainer
People need to eat to stay
alive otherwise we will have deaths due to starvation.
I think both are very important.
The lockdown has to be lifted gradually. It is very important that livelihood
should also be given attention by the government otherwise the economy will be
badly hit. Livelihood is important, the lockdown ensured the numbers in India
were low but now the focus has to also now include jobs especially for those in
the weaker sections of society. People need to eat to stay alive otherwise we
will have deaths due to starvation– Subodh
Kerkar, Artist
Our lockdown was one of the most
ruthless and one has to look for a fine balance to be struck
Economists are talking about lifting
the lockdown. Who should prevail? The medical experts or the economists? There
has to be a fine balance. If we look at the new notification by industry’s
ministry it stated that certain essential industries could function. It is very
clear the economist have prevailed finally it is not life versus livelihood. It
is life versus life. If people die of hunger, then again it is life. The
present notification of the industry ministry talks of lifting the lockdown in
a staggered manner. It is not about the continuation of the lockdown. Our
lockdown was one of the most ruthless and one has to look for a fine balance to
be struck– Cleofato Coutinho Legal
Luminary
Cannot be an either-or
situation, but are livelihood issues addressed
You can’t really compare the two.
One cannot have starvation due to an absence of a job. The issues have to be
addressed. It cannot be an either-or situation. But I don’t see anything
concrete to address the issues of livelihood. Even the state government has
constituted an economic revival committee but it does not have representatives
of people whose livelihood are being threatened– Albertina Almeida, Lawyer and human rights activist
Migrant workers are getting the
rough end of the stick
With this economic lockdown they
should do something for the common good. Improve the distribution system and
have some respect for the medical community. The migrant workers are getting
the rough end of the stick. A strong economic policy should be place to ensure
such people don’t die of starvation.- Nilankur
Das Cultural Practitioner
