Framing an agenda for the Opposition

their testing numbers over two months, I must point to the curious case of Gujarat. It showed a jump from 3,000 to 10,000 tests in a single day. Is there something more than meets the eye?

The Centre has been talking about Ayushman Bharat and its role in the Covid-19 fightback. How credible are such claims? Let me give you some numbers. Of the 2.5 million tests done, only 3,000 — 0.12% — have been covered by Ayushman Bharat. Of the 100,000 people who have tested positive, only 2,000 — about 2% — have been treated under Ayushman Bharat. Make your own assessment.

Now I come to the stimulus package. We are in a crisis and standard macroeconomic principles say the government must immediately stimulate demand. Of the 500 million-strong Indian workforce, 93% work in the unorganised sector. Many have lost livelihoods, without savings or any safety net. A massive direct cash infusion — one can debate the exact quantum — is unavoidable. But the Centre has carefully avoided this.

The Centre has placed the burden on the state governments, telling them it has raised the borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act from 3% of the Gross State Domestic Product to 5%. The states would have welcomed this, if not for the fine print. The increase is only from 3% to 3.5%, after which it becomes conditional on impossible benchmarks that include one nation-one ration card; power sector reform (a pipedream in the midst of an economic crisis); or augmenting urban local body revenues (at a time when city economies are reeling).

Then, there is the abandonment of guest (migrant) workers. Clearly, there’s much on the Covid-19 response to discuss at today’s Opposition meeting.