On Friday, the Centre extended India’s lockdown, due to expire on 3 May, by another two weeks to consolidate gains made by the curbs imposed on 24 March against the coronavirus.
It’ll no longer be a full lockdown, though, and the order comes along with a byzantine set of guidelines on what clamps are to be lifted, and where, with the country split into risk-ordered red, orange and green zones; and that too, with containment areas within these.
At first glance, the new corono-permit raj is bewildering. On closer inspection, its intent is clearly to allow as much of the economy to resume as seen as safely possible.