Identify and discuss the most important governance issues today during the lockdown period due to
Covid-19, and how far the Government of India has been able to deal with those issues? (150 words)
Answers
Answer:
The war against Covid-19 has also opened a battlefront elsewhere. The unprecedented 21-day lockdown has unsettled lives, halted the economy and pushed India Inc deeper into crisis even as pain on the employment front looks inevitable. These difficulties are only dwarfed by the hardships and devastation faced by millions of migrant workers and daily-wage labourers, with little economic buffer or welfare safety net. Some have questioned the lockdown. “I see no logic in this sweeping lockdown in a country in which 94% are below 65 (years of age)...,” Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj said in a media interview. Adds another labour expert who asked not to be quoted: “We have a fundamental problem of misframing the issue. We are putting health risk before economic risk. For informal workers who survive day to day, health and income are equally proximate issues. You can’t prioritise one over the other.”
Not everyone agrees, expectedly. “The lockdown was timely. Any delay could have resulted in a spike in cases. Without doubt, the lockdown has been costly in terms of increasing hunger and rural distress but the benefits are significant in terms of a smaller projected epidemic peak,” says Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy. Agrees Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University, who has an interest in infectious diseases modelling: “You can fault the government in their preparation. But the decision to lockdown was very brave and the right one.” Varying outcomes from iron-handed China, dismissive US, dithering Italy and procrastinating Spain have all shown the importance of a lockdown in dealing with Covid-19. Bear in mind that India entered the Covid-19 battlefield with its hands tied – a fragile and under-funded public healthcare system and a sluggish economy. “India deployed the most potent weapon it had at its disposal. A 21-day lockdown,” says Oommen C Kurian, head of health initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.