Some excerpts from the article on “What can be done?”
- We are all in it together and representatives of all political parties should work together to deal with what we are told is the severest crisis since Independence.
- The Centre must have the State Governments as equal partners while taking decisions. The most productive effort will be an equal partnership between the Centre and the States.
- We can surely be more generous with how we can support the millions who have been brutally affected by the stop to most economic activity. Centre can also give the States more resources for their health services and expanded welfare programmes.
- Uncertainty and fear among the people calls for assurance from the highest levels on a regular basis, indeed every day, about what is being done.
- India must be unique in the world for increasing social tensions in such times. After many members of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi were found infected, an intense wave of Islamophobia has swept the TV channels and social media. The result is social ostracism in parts of the country, economic boycotts and an open expression of hate.
- The economy cannot be operated with an off-on switch. It is going to be a long and hard process to rebuild the economy and rescue the livelihoods of millions of people in rural and urban India that have been weakened, if not destroyed altogether. That is why we need a collective national effort at reconstruction.
