India, May 30 -- Release of multiple clarifications led to widespread confusion and criticism.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) declared the specifications of the first all-India lockdown on 24 March. By 12 April, within 20 days of its original order, it had issued eight annexures, addenda, and clarifications to the same order.

A cursory analysis of these addenda, and clarifications would reveal that bureaucrats at the Ministry of Home Affairs would not have had to release multiple clarifications, which led to widespread confusion and criticism, if they had taken a holistic view of the effects of the lockdown while preparing the contours of the 24 March lockdown as most of the issues that these clarifications dealt with, we...