India’s top entrepreneurs form Founders against COVID-19 and ask government to head for a complete lockdown, build war rooms

• Indian entrepreneurs have come together and formed a group called ‘Founders against COVID-19’.
• Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy, Phanindra Sama of RedBus, Abhiraj, Varun and Raghav from Urban Company, Kunal Shah from Cred have joined over 50 startup founders and investors to form the group.
• They also suggested that a government war room headed by the Chief Minister of each state should be set up.

Indian entrepreneurs have come together and formed a group called ‘Founders against COVID-19’. Under the group, the startup founders have sent out a petition to the government of India to take even more stringent action to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy, Phanindra Sama of RedBus, Abhiraj, Varun and Raghav from Urban Company; Kunal Shah from Cred have joined over 50 startup founders and investors to form the group.

The group has suggested that the Indian government should impose Section 144 in most major cities and head for a complete lockdown in order to ensure quarantine.

The founders have suggested a four step process – Section 144 to be imposed and a lockdown from March 20 to April 12; a precautionary phase of social distancing from April 13 to May 17; second lockdown from May 18 to May 31 and finally, opening up with social distancing June onwards.

They have also suggested that a government war room headed by the Chief Minister of each state should be set up.

As the Coronavirus pandemic spreads, the Indian government has already taken swift action and shut down malls, theatres, pubs etc in several cities. Over 20 lakh IT employees have been asked to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus. Yet, cities like Mumbai have seen little difference in peak hour traffic which shows that few are opting to stay home.

But as people are fearing a complete shutdown, they are also hoarding on groceries. In such a scenario, the founders group is asking the government to ensure that there is a steady supply of essentials in the market. This also includes that the government should ensure that there is cash availability in the ATMs.

“Open up to the private sector and ease out licensing for production,” was another suggestion from the group.

The group has also done an analysis of the growth in Wuhan, the epicentre of the Coronavirus, to say that actual undiagnosed cases are 5-20 times of the diagnosed cases – thus urging the government to amp up the tests in the country.

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