Governing in the times of a pandemic like this

Shastri Bhawan in Delhi is a hive of activity on any working day. Ministers, bureaucrats, officials and citizens visit the building complex that houses at least 11 ministries.Around two weeks ago, a delegation of 20 people from Punjab wanted to meet Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan at his office in Shastri Bhawan to discuss some payment issues. But, as a precautionary move, his ministry allowed only four from the delegation into the complex. Paswan wanted to minimise, if possible even avoid, face-to-face interactions. The coronavirus pandemic had reached India and the government wanted to minimise the spread. A week later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days.Paswan’s ministry – which has been instrumental in capping the prices of masks, hand sanitisers and its raw material and also placing them under essential commodities – had started discouraging unnecessary visits to the ministry since 25 days. The measures were taken to check the huge surge in prices of these items in the country. “Any work that could be done over video conference or over the phone should be done that way,” the minister tells ET Magazine.The eight-time MP, who is often called “the greatest weather vane” of Indian politics, has also distributed 500 masks to his office staff. Even before the government stopped trains and flights, he had decided to cut down on “unnecessary travel in these times”.Several government departments had taken similar decisions by the first week of March. After all, government staff has to continue working to ensure relief measures are implemented smoothly. At the same time, the government also wanted to contain the spread of the virus. “We have told everyone that safety comes first,” Union Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar told ET Magazine on Monday. “We are running on skeletal staff. Many of our staff members are working from home.”Three weeks ago, when this reporter had visited the ministry, efforts to install hand sanitisers were in full swing. Within days, all the ministries had installed dispensers with alcohol-based sanitisers at the entrance. A note near the dispenser said: “Please use 3-4 drops to sanitise hands”.In the Parliament complex, thermal scanners that check body temperature have been installed at every metal detector point. Hand sanitisers were placed at several places in the building. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned on Monday in the wake of the pandemic. “But when the Houses were functioning, we told our staff to always carry some object, like a file, in their hands so that they can overcome the natural tendency to shake hands,” says a senior official of Rajya Sabha, adding that it was just a precautionary measure.Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting even demonstrated social distancing. Photos of the meeting showed ministers sitting at least a meter apart. Sources said everyone is greeting others with a namskar, instead of a handshake.Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, who attended the meeting, says safety is of utmost importance now. “Apart from promoting the use of hand sanitisers, we asked our staff to take utmost care once they reach home also.”Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who is part of a group of ministers reviewing the actions to fight Covid-19, was going to his office at Transport Bhawan till Thursday. “We are working on minimising physical interaction. My family members keep calling from Gujarat asking me not to go to office. But some meetings were unavoidable,” he says. His office has declared flexible timings and only asks those living closer to the office to come to Transport Bhawan, that too only when it is unavoidable. The rest work from home.All the ministers this reporter spoke to said they were meeting only one or two persons at a time and that too when it cannot be avoided.Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi says till a few weeks ago, they used to have hundreds of people visiting his office and residence to get paperwork done for travel or medical treatment. “But we started discouraging people from coming in the last few weeks. Instead, we started collecting their requests first at the gate and then over the phone,” Naqvi says. The idea was to ensure people did not congregate at a point.After the lockdown, most ministries have implemented work from home. The health ministry, for one, is working almost 24/7. Yet only about 10% staff is still working from their office in Nirman Bhawan. Health Minister Harsha Vardhan is conducting most meetings through video conferences and calling officials over phone to get updates, to avoid face-to-face meetings. “We have streamlined our work in such a way that face-to-face interaction is minimal,” Vardhan says.The finance ministry -- another ministry crucial to keep the country and economy functioning ¡V has also implemented similar measures. Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Pramod Chandra Mody says: "We have restricted our movement to office. It is entirely needbased. I go only when some work can¡¦t be done otherwise. I have also restricted oneto-one meetings to a bare minimum. Thanks to technology, most of the meetings and follow-ups are happening over video-conferencing and telephonically. I get the doorknobs cleaned from time to time to avoid the spread via surfaces."In Uttar Pradesh, the health minister has quarantined himself in his home for 14 days after he attended a party in Lucknow where singer Kanika Kapoor, who tested positive for Covid-19, was also present. Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh said on Wednesday he was awaiting the results of the second test after the first one tested negative. "I am in self-isolation at home and will resume fulltime work after my second test results. If any file is very important, it reaches my home so that I can clear it. But I take all possible precautions," he added. Till it is all clear, it is work from home for ministers and bureaucrats.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/3dCkw4Q