India is currently undergoing a nation-wide lockdown in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown which was supposed to end on 15 April 2020, has been extended till 3 May 2020.
However, in order to mitigate the hardships to the public, the Ministry of Home Affairs has released a list of select activities that shall be exempted from the lockdown from 20 April 2020. However, the exemptions will be operationalized based on a strict compliance to the existing lockdown guidelines. There workplace shall be prepared before operationalising and containment zones shall not be allowed such exemptions till the time it remains in that category.
Following are the services that maybe exempted from the lockdown post 20 April 2020:
- All health services (including AYUSH)
- Hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, telemedicine facilities
- All kinds of medical shops including Jan Aushadhi Kendras and medical equipment shops
- Medicals laboratories and collection centers
- Pharmaceutical and medical research labs, institutions carrying out COVID-19 related research
- Veterinary hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, pathology labs, sale and supply of vaccine and medicine
- Authorized private establishments supporting the provision of essential services or efforts for containment of COVID-19 (including home care providers, diagnostics, supply chain firms serving hospitals)
- Manufacturing units of drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical oxygen, their packaging, raw materials and intermediaries
- Construction of health infrastructure
- Movement of all medical and veterinary equipment and personnel
- Agriculture and related activities
- A. Agricultural and horticultural activities
- Farming operations
- Agencies engaged in procurement of agro products
- Mandis
- Shops of agriculture machinery
- Related ‘Custom Hiring Centers (CHC)’
- Manufacturing, distribution and retail of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds
- Movement of harvesting and sowing related machinery
- B. Fisheries
- All operations of the fishing/aquaculture industry
- Hatcheries, feed plants, commercial aquaria
- Movements of fish/shrimp, its products and related workers
- C. Plantations
- Operations of tea, coffee and rubber plantations (max 50% workers)
- Processing, packaging, sale and marketing of tea, coffee, rubber and cashew (max 50% workers)
- Animal husbandry
- Collection, processing, distribution and sale of milk and milk products
- Operation of animal husbandry farms
- Manufacturing of animal feed and feed plants
- Operation of animal shelter homes
- A. Agricultural and horticultural activities
- Financial Sector
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and regulated financial markets and entities
- Bank branches and ATMs, IT vendors for banking operators, Banking Correspondents (BCs), ATM operation and cash management agencies
- Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) and notified capital and debt market services
- IRDAI and insurance companies
- Social sector
- Operation of homes for children/disabled/mentally challenged/senior citizens/destitute/women/widows
- Observations homes, after care homes and places of safety for juveniles
- Disbursement of social security pensions
- Operation of Anganwadis. Beneficiaries to not attend.
- Education
- All educational, training, coaching institutions must operate online whilst maintaining academic schedule.
- MNREGA works- priority to be given to irrigation and water conservation works.
- Public utilities
- Operations of oil and gas sector
- Generation, transmission and distribution of power
- Postal services
- Operation of utilities in water, sanitation and waste management
- Operations of utilities providing telecommunications and internet services
- Movement, loading/unloading of goods/cargo (inter and intra state)
- Goods traffic, railways, airports, seaports and inland container depots, Land ports, goods vehicles (only with two people)
- Shops for truck repairs and dhabas on highways
- Movement of required staff and contractual labor
- Supply of essential goods
- All facilities in the supply chain of essential goods
- Shops dealing with food and groceries
- Commercial and private establishments
- Print and electronic media
- IT & IT enabled services (up to 50% strength)
- Data and call centers for government purposes only
- Approved Common Service Centers (SCS) at Gram Panchayat level
- E-commerce companies
- Courier services
- Cold storage and warehousing services
- Private security services and facilities management services
- Hostels, homestays, lodges and motels accommodating tourists, stranded people, medical and emergency staff, air and sea crew
- Quarantine facilities
- Services provided by self-employed persons
- Industries/Industrial establishments
- Industries operating in rural areas
- Manufacturing and other industrial establishments with access control in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Oriented Units (EoUs), industrial estates and industrial townships
- Manufacturing units of essential goods
- Food processing industries in rural areas
- Production units and its supply chain requiring continuous processes
- Manufacturing of IT hardware
- Coal production, mines and mineral production, its transportation, supply of explosives and activities incidental to mining operations
- Manufacturing units of packaging material
- Jute industries (staggered shifts and social distancing)
- Oil and gas exploration/refinery
- Brick kilns in rural areas
- Construction activities
- Construction of roads, irrigation projects, buildings and all kinds of industrial projects including MSMEs, in rural areas
- Construction of renewable energy projects
- Continuation of works in construction works (only with available workers; no outside workers allowed)
- Movement of persons
- Private vehicles for emergency services and for procuring essential commodities
- All personnel travelling to place of work and back in the exempted categories
- Offices of the Government of India
- Defence, Central Armed Police Forces, Health and Family Welfare, Disaster management and Early Warning Agencies, National Informatics Centers (NIC), Food Corporation of India (FCI), NCC, Nehru Yuva Kendras (NYKs) and customs
- Other ministries and departments and offices under their control (100% attendance of Deputy Secretary and levels above; 33% attendance for remaining staff)
- Offices of the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments, their autonomous bodies and local governments
- Police, home guards, civil defence, fire and emergency services, disaster management, prisons and municipal services
- All other departments of state/UT governments (with restricted staff)
- District administration and treasury
- Resident commissioner of states/UTs, in New Delhi (only to extent of coordinating COVID-19 related activities and internal kitchen operations)
- Forest officers: staff workers required to operate and maintain zoo, nurseries and wildlife
