Hunger can arouse the most intense survival responses, and the non-linear linkages with India’s internal security challenges will prove daunting. This exigency, which is already discernible, must be addressed and calls for very swift policy responses, both by the Centre and state governments. While some police officials have acted with commendable empathy and compassion in certain cases of citizen distress, the larger pattern of policing since the Covid-19 curfew has been reprehensible. Furthermore, the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh on March 23 that killed 17 security personnel points to the spectrum of national security challenges that have to be kept on the policy radar. Mobilising volunteers from every institution to manage the 21-day national curfew and containing mass social disorder is imperative.

Source: Hindustan Times March 29, 2020 12:41 UTC