AIFB shares thought

IMPHAL, Sep 8: As COVID-19 situation is different in every State, the All India Forward Bloc, Manipur State Committee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow States to take their own decisions on lockdowns and other measures necessary to fight the pandemic.
The AIFB expressed that the decision to implement lockdown beyond the containment zone should be taken by the States according to the need of the local condition for the safety of the public.
"To impose centralised policy all over the country may not be an appropriate idea as it will be against the quasi-federal nature of the Constitution," it added.
"Ours is a big country with the second largest population in the world. It is characterised by regional, geographical, and cultural diversity and to implement a common policy all over the country to tackle the issue of the pandemic may not be appropriate," AIFB pointed out in its letter.
While appreciating the Centre's decision to keep cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks shut, AIFB denounced the decision to reopen open air theatres from September 21.
Free inter-State and intra-State movement of people seems "quite inappropriate" at the present situation. If not properly controlled, it may set back the hardwork done so far to contain the pandemic leading to serious consequences, it said.
Local or regional policy/strategy which addresses the local needs of the hour may become very necessary as the number of COVID-19 cases keeps on increasing in all the States and Union Territories of the country, said AIFB, Manipur State Committee.