Zee readers poll 2020: Lockdown, biggest news event of the year?

New Delhi: World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi instantly ordered a nation-wide lockdown on March 24, 2020. The lockdown was implemented right after Janta Curfew on March 22, which was a public curfew of a voluntary nature. 

The government of India implemented a nation-wide lockdown in phases. The first phase started from March 25 to April 14 2020. The second phase lasted from April 15 to May 3, 2020. The third phase was there from May 4, 2020, to Ma7 17, 2020. The last phase of lockdown was there from May 18, 2020, to May 31, 2020. 

With lockdown, the Indian economy faced disruption of unparalleled nature. Indian economy saw a GDP growth rate of -23.9 per cent, the lowest number in the history of the Indian economy. 

Prominent sectors such as manufacturing, tourism, construction, trade, the hotel shut down and this resulted in a large scare exodus of migrant workers from metro cities to their respective villages. Lakhs of daily wage workers lost their jobs overnight and this created a panic. More than 350 deaths were recorded in May 2020 because of starvation, lack of medical facilities, exhaustion, suicide, rail accident. 

Offices were closed and people started working from home. Many international summits took place virtually. The advancement in technology kept the world going. The movies are released on OTP platforms. The post-pandemic world is a changed one, where people have to be aware of their surroundings. 

In the Zee Readers Poll 2020, the lockdown has emerged as one of the biggest news events of the year.