In Kerala, almost everyone agrees to the fact that reading books is extremely important as an activity in day to day life and especially during the ongoing nationwide pandemic. The state government has emphasised the fact that reading books is crucial to maintaining the mental health of the public and ensuring that they get through this crisis smoothly and it is because of this important consensus that the government of Kerala has underlined the need for keeping bookstores open despite the lockdown. This is the time when there has been a lot of debate going on between the Centre and the states on the list of essential services that ought to be made accessible to the public despite the lockdown. The government of Kerala has been in an ongoing tussle with the Centre on what goods and services should be exempt from the lockdown.
Kerala insisted on making its own list of services that ought to be considered vital amid the lockdown and therefore made available despite the lockdown. Kerala has been able to gain significant success in containing the cases of coronavirus and controlling its spread and therefore it moved on to ease the lockdown in certain pockets.
This move was supposed to allow the resumption of operations of micro and small scale industries within the limits of the municipalities, restaurants, motor vehicle repair shops, barbershops and book stores. The consideration of book shops as part of the services that the state considers essential and something that people cannot live without, holds true to Kerala’s record for being the most literate state in the country.
However, the decision made by the Kerala government immediately caught the attention of the Centre and it questioned its move.
The Union Home Ministry tweeted “the state has allowed the opening of activities, prohibited under Consolidated Revised Guidelines.”
The tweet also attacked a letter that had been sent to the Kerala chief secretary Tom Jose asking the state to comply with the guidelines issued by the Centre on 19th April. This move compels the government of Kerala to review some of the relaxations that it has made to the lockdown, but bookstores in the state were allowed to operate for two days in a week by the government.
Most people in Kerala feel that reading books is an essential activity and must be seen with equal importance even amidst the lockdown associated with the pandemic. It is interesting to note that when the countrywide lockdown first began, one of the first things that Tovino Thomas and Manju Warrier (two of the biggest actors in the Malayalam film industry) rushed to book stores in the neighbourhood. According to a recent report, Thomas purchase a bag full of books and Warrier got several books delivered to her home as she couldn’t go out.
The Malayalees are known to be quite fond of reading and in responding to the need of the people, the administration has been maintaining a positive outlook towards opening the state’s bookstores despite the ongoing lockdown.
There are more than 100 publishers in Kerala and more than 1,000 titles are published every year in the state. In fact, Kerala is a state that has seen PDF piracy, this is something which is unheard of in any other state.
Ever since the lockdown began, the Kerala government had been flooded with requests from reading groups and individuals who demanded that the state’s bookstores be kept open. The government took cognisance of this demand by the public and agreed that reading books is essential to keeping the mental health of people on track and therefore even while the state goes through a lockdown, bookstores must be considered as part of essential services.
