A computer-operated laser-cutting machine, the size of a table-tennis board, is silently embossing the State Emblem of India on a transparent acrylic sheet in a corner of a workshop in the industrial neighbourhood of Delhi’s Paharganj. In the unseasonal September afternoon heat, five-six labourers, all in their 20s, are busy making signboards, glow signs and name plates — and, increasingly these days, putting the Ashoka symbol on acrylic sheets.
As the work of the government goes on amidst the coronavirus, the desks of the high and…