What to expect from Lockdown 5.0: More flight, train operations, reopening of schools

New Delhi: India is likely to enter the fifth phase of lockdown with more concessions even as Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with the Chief Ministers of states in this regard. The analysis was done by Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary in DNA, the world's most-watched news show.

Lockdown 4.0 is coming to an end on May 31 and nothing can be said about what the fifth lockdown will look like. But we try to understand what the color and form of the fifth lockdown can be based on the interaction with sources and experts.

Firstly, flights to small towns are likely to start soon with new routes to be added after May 31, although international air travel may not start till August, atleast.

Apart from this, there are also plans to run about 200 trains from June 1. For this, ticket booking has also started. About 50 lakh workers have been transported to their homes through labor trains this month.

States like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have started Inter-State bus services. But from June 1 onwards, other states can also do so and a decision can also be taken to run Metro trains. However, initially their number will be less and social distancing will also be taken care of.

Under the fifth lockdown, more shops and markets may be opened. However, such a decision regarding shopping malls is expected to be very low.

Decisions can also be taken regarding gym, cinema hall, religious places and salons. But the areas where coronavirus cases are still high people may have to wait longer.

Apart from this, the Ministry of Education is also working on creating new guidelines to reopen schools. Under these guidelines, it is possible that students of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th are allowed to attend school with strict social distancing rules.

Lockdown impact on Indian economy

Meanwhile, new figures of India's economic growth rate have been released. According to these figures, India's GDP growth rate was 4.2 per cent in FY 2019-20.

This is the lowest pace of economic development in the last 11 years. India's economic growth rate was 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of FY 2019-20. Which was reduced to 4.4 per cent in the second quarter and 4.1 per cent in the third quarter.

But in the fourth and final quarter it fell to just 3.1 per cent. That is, between January to March 2020, India's economy grew at a pace of only 3.1 per cent. Overall, India's economy has grown at a rate of 4.2 percent in this financial year compared to 6.1 percent in 2018-19.

The first lockdown was announced in the last week of March in Indi and due to the same effect, the economic growth rate has come down in the last quarter. But in April and May, all the industries in India remained completely closed, so the growth rate is expected to be less in the coming quarter.

Also, the fiscal deficit of India has also increased to 4.59 per cent of GDP. The government's goal was to keep this deficit down to 3.8 per cent.

It is the difference between the government's earnings and its spending. That is, if the government is earning Rs 100, then it has to spend around Rs 104 and 59 paise. Under this, the government had targeted to earn Rs 18 lakh 50 thousand crore by March 31 this year, but the government had achieved only Rs 16 lakh 82 thousand crore.

India's economic growth rate has decreased but these figures of GDP are much better than earlier estimates.