Amid a nation-wide extended coronavirus lockdown, the supply of non-essential goods by e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart, others will remain prohibited during the lockdown period, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed on Sunday. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from the cart of e-commerce companies. The order said the following clause -- "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" -- is excluded from the guidelines. The April 15 order had said e-commerce platforms were allowed to sell such items from April 20.
The reason for reversing the order is not known immediately. But there was a talk of some retail traders mounting pressure on the government that local shops be also allowed to sell non-essentials items, like e-commerce giants. E-commerce platforms are allowed to sell essential commodities such as food, pharmaceutical and medical devices.
The Union Home Ministry has released a new list of services and activities which are being allowed to open from Monday. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has shared the list of what will remain open all over India effective April 20. This includes healthcare, agriculture, horticulture, fisheries and animal husbandry. He has also made it clear that these will not be applicable in containment zones.
The exemption will be applicable from April 20, in those areas of the country where the effect of coronavirus is negligible, or which are less affected areas. Prasad has said that in some cases the government has given exemptions, and the list has been released. However, these services will not be allowed in the Containment Zones.
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