COVID-19 is poised to become one of the most severe economic crises the world has faced in the 21st century. Along with the loss of human lives the deadly virus has impacted various sectors such as Production and Transportation over the long term.
Various measures amidst lockdown such as social distancing resulted in sharp reductions in the transportation demand and production & consumption activities incurring huge losses. Hence, the Indian Government has decided to resume the economy by re-starting the operations in phased manner.
Transportation Sector
Considering that the public transport comprising of railways, airlines, metro, buses and shared mobility services comprising of taxis and rikshaws acted as vectors for distribution of the virus, all these modes suffered due to their partial (if any) operability during the lockdown. Social distancing norms further affected the usage of the transportation services by the masses. Hence, to resume the services and to regain the confidence of the masses, the public transport companies are taking considerable measures to safeguard the safety of commuters and vehicle operators.
- Indian Railways
The Indian Railways will begin running 200 passenger trains from June 1,2020 bookings for which have started from May 21. These train services will be in addition to the existing Shramik Special trains and special AC trains started by the Railways earlier to help stranded migrant workers to get back home. Jan Shatabdi trains, Sampark Kranti, Duronto Express and other regular passenger trains are among those that will run from coming Monday.
No linen or blankets shall be provided inside the trains. Only passengers with confirmed tickets shall be allowed to enter railway station premises. On arrival at their destination, the passengers will have to adhere to strict health protocols as prescribed by the destination State. Tickets can be booked online through the IRCTC website, Common Service Centres and ticketing agents. Reservation counters have been opened in a phased manner from May 22, keeping in mind local needs and conditions.
- Domestic Airlines
Domestic flights routes in India once again returned to life beginning operations from May 25, 2020. This means that even before the current lockdown end-date, Indians will be able to fly to their domestic destinations.
A tweet by the Civil Aviation Minister of India, Mr. Hardip Singh Puri indicated, that the recommencement of domestic flights will happen in a calibrated manner, and airports and air carriers are being informed to get ready. Further, The Ministry of Civil Aviation had issued draft SOP to all aviation stakeholders. It listed a few precautionary measures for flyers like mandatory Aarogya Setu App, face masks and no cabin baggage.
Air travel aggregator websites showed that low-cost airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir and Air Asia have started taking bookings for domestic flights.
Manufacturing Sector
The ongoing lockdown has put a lot of strain on the manufacturing industry, which contributes almost 20% of the GDP. Of this, 50% is contributed by the auto industry. Manufacturing industry has been hit in many ways due to the Corona – lower production, lower demand and workforce crunch being the dominant factors.
Several manufacturing companies across auto, textiles, breweries and fertilizers segments resumed operations in many parts of the country.
The development comes after a recent announcement from the Union Home Ministry, which has permitted companies to resume operations based on their zones. While organizations like Panasonic and Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India (HMSI) are yet to restart their operations, others like Xiaomi, Hyundai, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Nokia and Lava Mobiles have restarted their production a few days ago.
To sum it up
The economic activities have started to pace as we exit the Lockdown 4.0. The ease in restrictions on business activities as per the guidelines suggested by the Home Ministry will push the economy to resume. The companies have accepted to maintain social distancing, have proper sanitation, and take precautionary measures while resuming these industries.This is aimed to benefit the labour class who depend on daily wages to earn their livelihood. This would also benefit the people who are in dire need to travel to different locations because of professional and personal front.