COVID-19 | India needs to trust its states to fight the virus

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United States President Donald Trump’s face-off with the governors of states under the Democrats went the predictable way, with the former backing off from intruding into federal domains. There is no likelihood of anything remotely similar happening in India as the chief ministers, even those from non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governed states, have stood resolutely behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi to observe the nation-wide lockdown.

The Centre too has left it to the states to combat the COVID-19 pandemic their own way, within the broad guidelines set by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). That was only to be expected as health remains a state subject. However, the proposal by the high-level group of the 15th Finance Commission that it be brought under the concurrent list is a clear indication of the direction in which the Centre wishes to move.

Quite a few state governments have done exceedingly well in fighting the outbreak. However, is the Centre working under the shadow of the pandemic to get control of this vital state subject?

Unfortunately that is the impression the Centre is giving when it send two inspection teams to West Bengal to visit seven of its districts earlier this week. The state government protested and called the Centre’s action ‘unilateral’. It’s another matter that the inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) also visited districts in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as well.

Suspicions regarding the Centre’s intentions get accentuated as no central team visit was deemed necessary for other states struggling with COVID — Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Telengana, either BJP-ruled or governments that ally themselves with the BJP. Kerala, perhaps mindful of such a predicament, was quick to reverse its decision to ease lockdown norms in districts categorised to be in a green zone.

This inevitably brings up the question whether the Centre has a plan or blueprint to ease India out of the 40-day lockdown after May 3. That is what was expected from the Centre soon after the Prime Minister held his video conference with the chief ministers of all states and Union Territories. Perhaps the Centre has a plan and it will be made known closer to May 3. In the meantime it must not be forgotten that tens and thousands of migrant workers are stranded in cities across India perhaps among the worst affected because of this lockdown.

The national lockdown has delayed the outbreak across India—but has it eliminated the threat it poses? The virus could make a comeback once the current restrictions are eased. Will that push us into more lockdowns?

It took 15 days for COVID-19 cases in India to go from 100 to 1,000, another 15 days to get to 10,000, and just eight days to touch the 20,000 mark. During this time the total recovered patients are about 4,000. This shows that till India completely eradicates the virus, there is always the danger of further waves of the pandemic hitting us. Each time the numbers rear up in a region in a state or two, the whole country cannot be expected to lock down in its entirety. That is, unless of course the virus once again spreads right across the country.

The other challenge is that India may see a real spike in numbers when we ramp up our testing to reach beyond only those showing symptoms. Other challenges could be when travel within and outside the country resumes.

This is where the grassroots-level approach works, where each state will be better placed to decide how best to do both — ease the rigours of a local shutdown as well as revert to a lockdown-like situation depending on the ground reality. More than a macro or pan-India plan, a micro, state-level or district-level decision needs to be taken. The aim should be to contain future outbreaks to local clusters which do not bring the whole nation to a grinding halt. That is why health should remain a state subject — and not in the concurrent list.

The powers that the Centre enjoys are important, and so is the limited federal autonomy enjoyed by the states. The union of states that make India must not come under strain, concurrently or otherwise.

Vinod Mathew is a senior journalist based in Kochi. Views are personal.