Stores and businesses stand shuttered in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it well on March 24 when announcing a nationwide lockdown on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Jaan hain to jahaan hain,” he said, emphasising the state’s responsibility to first protect life. While right to livelihood is no less a fundamental right, it took second place to public health in the face of a highly infectious disease that has now killed 2,69,000 people worldwide.