Livelihood at stake ?

Maibam Dollar *

Ima Keithel as seen on 20th April 2020.

Who would have thought that our motherland Manipur would be blessed like this with zero death when more than 500 have died across the country!

Salute to the doctors, nurses, medical health workers, law enforcement agencies and to our beloved citizens who took extra precautionary measures during this crisis.

It is now quite probable that Manipur will fall into the Green Zone as per what the Government had announced because the two positive patients have also recovered fully and there is no new cases coming up as of now. And now I believe that there will be partial reopening of the economy.

As per the government notification, the reopening will be based mainly on the agricultural and essential items. No doubt that the farmers and those who deal with essential items will be relieved.

The big question then arises is , what about those people who are engaged with non-essential items, those who do labor works at Ima Keithel, those who sells traditional clothes and items, different kinds of knife, mosquito nets and what about the street vendors and daily wage earners who are the backbone of our supply chain.

Has the government taken up measures that would provide some kind of incentives which would sustain their livelihood? I think the answer is a “NO “.

Recently, I talked to a woman, who is a mother of two children, who said, “ Son, I used to feed my children selling my product that is mosquito nets, but now the Ima Keithel is closed indefinitely , I don’t how I’m going to feed my children.”

This is a story of a just one mother amid thousands. Just imagine how many more mothers like her there would be in Manipur.

Another woman who is living just with her husband said, ”I used to sell the traditional phaneks, and with the little profit we used to live on that, and now I have no source of income at all. As of now we are living on with the little supply that the government is providing and if the food runs out I borrow money from the neighbors with interest.”

There are thousands of heart-touching stories like this where people are fighting not only with the deadly virus but with hunger as well. With no source of income and the exponential rising inflation, life is now beyond imaginable. It is now an undeniable fact that the poor will be killed by hunger before the virus does.

Since Manipur is now likely to fall in the Green Zone, the people are now anxious about how the partial reopening of the lockdown will be done.

During this second phase of lockdown and partial reopening, it is a request to the government to reopen the Ima Keithel not like before, but with some modification.

For example: Let’s say, the Imoinu Keithel (a.k.a. Lakshmi Bazar) has 600 sellers. We can divide them into three groups, with 200 sellers in each group. Members of the group can be selected after they confirm that they would maintain atleast 1 meter or above from the next seller. We can let each group sell their products for atleast 2 days a week on a rotation basis.

This way, they will be maintaining social distancing or physical distancing guidelines as well as saving their livelihood.

The government will also have to provide more security forces to make sure that the sellers as well as the customers in the Ima Keithel maintain the guidelines of social distancing, uses of mask and maintaining hygiene. Same can be done for the labors at Ima Keithel as well.

Best of the best medical science over the world is trying to develop a vaccine and cure for this pandemic. In spite of their invaluable efforts it will definitely take time. And it is not viable to undergo lockdown till we find the cure as it may take months or may be years.

Precaution is the only effective weapon in our hand as of now against this deadly pandemic. Fortunately, our state is doing well in this fight against COVID-19. There is huge hope that we will win this war if we control our boundaries and do the needful. So before we are killed by hunger we should think about staggered opening.

I know that many people and organizations are appealing to the government to keep the three Ima Keithel closed in order to contain this deadly virus. However, many eminent persons have also suggested that a complete lockdown in Manipur is not necessary as long as the government seal the borders because the condition here in Manipur is different.

So in my opinion, in order to bring a balance between saving lives and sustaining livelihood, opening the three Ima Keithel is of utmost importance.

Let every mother feed her children.