The government should arrange milk distribution in localities to ensure milk supply to households with children
LAHORE: The negative effects of the lockdown are undeniable, but it is the only strategy we have to counter Covid-19. In Pakistan, only a partial lockdown is possible as complete isolation would create havoc and many poor people would starve to death. Thus, while this partial lockdown is being maintained, it is important to distribute food supplies to the needy. This can be a challenge in densely-populated urban areas where a large segment of the population is that of informal labour.
One way out of this predicament is to use information technology. As a first step the government should encourage all those people who are informal workers to register for identification. Teams should be sent to their houses to take the relevant information which is then added there and then to the database through online technology. The tiger force should be made active for this purpose especially. This will be a faster and more efficient way. After having been registered, they can be provided with either the money or ration bags so that the poor don’t have to wait for days long process.
With these steps, the government will take a big leap to formalise the major chunk of urban informal workers. Once they have all the information, they can map out all of these densely-populated areas in order to figure out exactly how much resources and manpower is needed. This information will also help for future purposes. Another important resource that not many people are talking about is milk. The government should arrange milk distribution in localities to ensure milk supply to households with children. If the government is able to implement these steps, only then can the lockdown be successful.
Ummad Mazhar
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2020.
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