India faces coronavirus dilemma: to end world’s biggest lockdown or not

A 21-day lockdown is set to end next week but several state leaders have called for an extension to check the spread of Covid-19 in the country

But shuttering down the US$2.9 trillion economy has left millions of people without work

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People walk in an area with circles marked on the floor for social distancing as they buy groceries at a temporary market in Chennai, India. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:22pm, 7 Apr 2020Updated: 11:50pm, 7 Apr 2020

India’s 21-day lockdown is set to end next week but several state leaders have called for an extension or only a partial lifting of restrictions, saying is the only way to avoid a coronavirus epidemic that will be difficult to tackle.

India has so far escaped a big surge in cases after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked its 1.3 billion people to stay indoors in the world’s biggest lockdown last month that authorities have enforced tightly.

But shuttering down the US$2.9 trillion economy has left millions of people without work and forced those who live on daily wages to flee to their homes in the countryside for food and shelter.

India’s unemployment rate could have climbed to more than 20 per cent as the economy lost jobs after the lockdown took effect in the last week of March, according to a survey by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt (CMIE).

The jobless rate was 23.4 per cent for the week ended April 5 based on a sample size of 9,429 observations, Mahesh Vyas, the chief executive officer of CMIE, wrote. The private sector research group relied on telephonic interviews after suspending their regular survey in the last week of March.

The government publishes unemployment data every year. The last report, released in 2019, put the unemployment rate at a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent.