Debate on Lockdown: Good Morning, honorable judges, respected teachers, my worthy fellow opponents and friends.
Today, I _________is here to convey my thoughts on the topic ‘Lockdown’. We all are aware of this term and I am going to speak against the motion that ‘Lockdown has impacted our lives in a positive way’. Let’s discuss the same pointwise.
It was last year, 2020, when a new word was introduced in our daily life dictionary-that is ‘Lockdown’. It basically refers to a state of isolation and closure of normal activities. It was imposed as a measure to restrict the movement of people and avoid social interaction with an aim to control the spread of coronavirus.
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Now the debate on lockdown starts with an analysis of consequences arising out of this step taken by the government. The lockdown was implemented to face the crisis situation due to Covid-19 but it resulted in several negative consequences besides its positive impact.
Here, as a part of the debate on lockdown, we will focus on some adverse effects of lockdown as observed during the pandemic situation across the world in general with special reference to India in particular.
We were leading a normal life till lockdown started and getting updates that lockdown was the only immediate action taken by several governments of the countries around the world as a control measure. The entire scenario was not at all comfortable and several questions were arising on how to deal with this pandemic.
The debate on lockdown brings a common view that the purpose of lockdown was to safeguard the population as the virus spread very fast through social contact and interaction. But the way it was implemented arises many questions. In India, which has the second-highest population in the world, it was really difficult to infuse the idea of lockdown to the large mass of people. The first and foremost problem in India is that a large number of people are uneducated and poor. Not anyone sensed the direct effect of lockdown prior to this but the so-called educated, established and privileged class of society managed to get some arrangements to handle this situation of lockdown. Most of them enjoyed working from home and were happy to spend more time with their family.
But the most relevant question that the debate on lockdown brings forward is what about that section of people who lost their job or business as everything was closed for an indefinite period? Some might retain their job but with a huge cut in the salary. This happened due to a major setback in the economy because production was stopped with absence of material and manpower. The demand and supply both came down drastically creating a major imbalance in the economy. Many organizations, in view of maintaining their profit margins, started retrenchment of employees, to show some kind of cost savings on their balance sheet. But many senior professionals after losing their job faced a very tough situation to find another job as new recruitment was almost stopped. In a large number of organizations, hiring was stopped and only firing was followed to cut short manpower costs.
The debate on lockdown must highlight the crucial situation of this so-called salaried class, who faced a sudden stop in their income and became helpless. It was a great dilemma how to run the family without a regular source of income. It was a bolt from the blue for families with single earning members having lots of responsibilities and liabilities to handle with. A big question was raised in front of them, how to cope up with this unforeseen situation and run the household.
In the debate on lockdown, till now we were discussing that section of society that still had a scope to sustain and somehow managed to survive the deadly bites of lockdown. But now we bring the most pathetic scene of a large population in our country – the daily wage earners and the people who have literally no savings to run their family if there is no work or business. The debate on lockdown reveals here the gravest picture of the effect of lockdown in a country due to this pandemic situation. This huge percentage of poor people who had once moved out of their native place in search of livelihood in cities, suddenly found themselves trapped in a cage of poverty and uncertainty. They had no other way but to leave the cities and again move to his village to maintain their livelihood. But as the transport was not operational, the country witnessed an endless chain of people with their belongings walking along roads and train tracks day and night, to reach the destination. Many of them even could not manage to finish the journey but lost their lives mid-way.
The debate on lockdown revolves around the question of whether the steps taken by the government to impose lockdown in a sudden manner were really justified or not. A large part of experts believes that prior preparation and arrangements had to be there to support the poor people to relocate or search for alternatives. They were forced to stay in their house which they could not afford to, but on the other hand, there was no means to help them reach other places. There were extreme rushes in a few trains and buses which were running at that time which eventually lost the basic purpose of social distancing and precautions which are supposed to be maintained in lockdown period.
The debate on lockdown really raised some valid questions and brings the harsh picture of the effect of lockdown on the lives of common people in the country. On one side there was fear of getting affected by the deadly disease, and on the other hand, finding out means for livelihood became almost impossible. The condition is like a snail on the edge of a sharp knife – can’t move forward or backward but can’t stay in the same place either. The saddest part is, a group of people started exploiting the common masses taking advantage of this crisis situation, by creating a false scarcity of essential goods and medicines, and charging exorbitant prices.
We are still waiting to come out of this pandemic situation and the curse of lockdown. The debate on lockdown has taken many turns and twists during this period. Many people have observed some positive impacts of lockdown into their life at a later stage. But the immediate blow of lockdown has left bruises on the life of common people which will take much time to heal up.
FAQ’s on Debate on Lockdown
Question 1.
What measures are required to be taken to improve mental health in lockdown?
Answer:
Distract from negative emotions and don’t be panic-stricken. Engage in physical activities and rediscover the hobbies.
Question 2.
What are the industrial sectors affected most due to lockdown?
Answer:
The manufacturing, travel and tourism and hospitality sectors were affected most due to lockdown.
Question 3.
What was the effect of lockdown on the education of children?
Answer:
The schools were closed and introduced online learning methods but those without the facilities of the internet or gadgets could not adapt to this new system.