Ahead of Lockdown 5.0, PM Modi exhorts India to be ‘extra careful’
PM Narendra Modi says a section of India’s economy has restarted again and we need to be more careful now; advises that everyone ‘stay indoors as much as possible’.
As India readies to open up after almost two months of lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked people to be “extra careful” and stick to precautions like maintaining social distance and wearing masks.
He said a big part of economy has reopened, with railway and air traffic being resumed partially and set to be scaled up in the coming days.
“You need to be extra careful now,” he said. “Industries will also resume gradually. This means a section of our economy has restarted again and we need to be more careful now,” Modi said, reiterating the importance of “do gaj ki doori”.
He said people need to ensure that they wear masks in public places. But he advised that everyone “stay indoors as much as possible”.
PM Modi’s 64th edition of Mann Ki Baat came in the wake of Lockdown 5.0, which will begin on Monday.
'Poor have suffered the most'
The Prime Minister said the poor and labourers had been hit the hardest by the coronavirus crisis, and that “their pain could not be explained in words”.
In his monthly broadcast, Modi said all classes of people had suffered during the pandemic, but the poor had suffered the most. Everyone was working to help them, he said, and highlighted the railways' exercise to transport huge numbers of migrant workers to their home.
He said that the rate of coronavirus deaths in the country was fairly low, although “the loss of even one life is heartbreaking”.
“Whatever we could save is an achievement and that could only be possible due to the strong resolution and determination of all citizens,” PM Modi said.
Edited by Teja Lele