Maha tally...

“The change in discharge protocol by ICMR is one of the reasons for the improvement… it is [similar policy] followed all over the world. Patients are discharged only after ensuring there is no risk of them spreading the virus. It’s a good sign that although cases are rising, the recovery rate has improved and even mortality rate has improved to 3.37%,” said Supe.

The state government, meanwhile, is likely to further relax lockdown curbs in red zones from Monday. During a meeting with the Cabinet secretary on Thursday, Maharashtra chief secretary Ajoy Mehta discussed the state’s exit plan from the ongoing lockdown. More commercial activities are likely to be allowed in red zones and inter-district transport activities may be permitted in non-red zones.

The state, however, is wary of the likely surge in cases after easing restrictions. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray told district collectors and divisional commissioners to ensure that there was no surge in the cases. “We have no choice but to open up the lockdown to ensure that the state economy revives rapidly, but at the same time, our responsibility increases to ensure that the virus is chased away more aggressively,” Thackeray said.

After having allowed activities at stadiums and sports complex during the fourth phase of lockdown, the state is expected to allow jogging and exercise activities at playgrounds and stadiums from Monday. “We are of the opinion that private offices, too, should be allowed to open with 33% of their staff being present. The Centre has already allowed them to operate outside containment zones. But a final decision is yet to be taken,” said a senior government official.

The state government also hinted at a relief package to help fight the pandemic. Deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar said, “We are facing a different sort of crisis and we also have to find a way out of this. The state government will soon declare a financial package for the people. The decision will be taken by the state cabinet.”

Pawar also commented on the Rs21-lakh-crore package declared by the Centre. “There are many opinions about actual amount that the people will get… A view is that the daily wagers should also be considered in the package, as they earn money on a daily basis,” he said.

Pawar said local people should come forward to take over the jobs in industries after an exodus of migrant workers from the state. “Migrant workers have gone back to their native places. I’m of the opinion that people from the state, especially from backward areas, should come forward to replace them. The state is also ready to provide them with the necessary training,” he said.

The finance minister also admitted that the reverse migration from cities to rural areas has led to rise in Covid-19 cases in districts. “The central, state and local administrations are fighting the battle… It is also a fact that cases have increased in rural areas after people migrated from urban areas. But there is no need to worry if everyone takes all precautions,” Pawar said. host a measures to boost the economy last year. The biggest among these was a reduction in corporate tax rates which was expected to reduce tax burden on companies by ~1.45 lakh crore in the month of September. The economy’s performance in the December and March quarters shows that they have not helped.

Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) statistics support the weak demand argument. From a peak of 8.1% in 2017-18, it grew at just 5.3% in 2019-20. Government spending is the only head which has grown at a faster pace than 2018-19. However, Government Final Consumption Expenditure accounts for just 10% of the GDP. PFCE and GFCF have a share of 56% and 29%, respectively.

Gross Value Added (GVA) figures for the March quarter also suggest that employment-intensive sectors in the non-farm sectors might have suffered a bigger hit due to the pandemic. Construction and trade, hotel and restaurants category has suffered the biggest reduction in growth rate between the December and March quarters.

Manufacturing, which was already contracting in the September and December quarter, lost another 66 basis points in terms of growth in the March quarter. These three sectors account for 41% of India’s total employment.

The index of eight core sector industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity — fell by 38% in the month of April. This suggests that non-farm activity, especially manufacturing and construction will not revive in the June quarter as well.

The GDP figures reinforce a trend which was seen in the December numbers released on February 28. They show that the previous numbers were underestimating the economic slowdown. The latest figures highlight a downward revision of 16, 36, 66 and 64 basis points in the GDP growth figures for the March 2019, June 2019, September 2019 and the December 2019 quarter respectively.

DK Aggarwal, president of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expressed concern about the deceleration in GDP growth to the level of 3.1%. He, however, expressed optimism that the growth will revive in the second half of the financial year 2020-21 on the back of various reform measures.

The government has announced a slew of policy reforms and a revival package of ~20 lakh crore to help India cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the lockdown imposed to fight it.

DK Srivastava, chief policy advisor at EY India, said: “On the output side, there has been a fall mainly in manufacturing, construction as also in the two heavyweight service sectors namely, trade, hotels, et al, and financial and real estate services. India is thus facing a problem of falling investment and savings and an acute problem of Covif-19-induced lockdown.”

Dilip Chenoy, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said: “GDP numbers released today are on expected lines. The data reflects the impact on the economic situation due to actions on account of Covid-19. Growth slipped to 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2019-20 and to 4.2% for the full fiscal year 2019-20 and this is the lowest since 2008-09.” empowering people. However, these social media platform operators must follow certain well defined norms, not promote hatred, terrorism, secessionism and communal violence,” he added in an interview.

In the past, these platforms have been accused of bias. “Criticism is welcome but if only one type of criticism is allowed and the counter to it is shelved, then it is not fair. The social media platforms need to acknowledge that free, frank and responsible exchange regardless of political colour or ideology, is of essence in a democratic world and if there are grievances on that score that a platform is favourably disposed towards one and hostile against the other, then it is neither fair nor appreciated,” Prasad explained.

When asked if he was dissatisfied with Twitter’s response to his concerns, he said: “In some cases they have been responsive, in others they need to be more proactive.”

Internet freedom activist and founder of medianama, Nikhil Pahwa, said that governments, including India, will use what they can to control social media platforms. In a Linkedin post, he wrote that since India was pushing for traceability of a message and proactive takedown of content, “this might lead to the minister saying his ministry is justified in proposing/demanding these amendments”.

Lawyer Prasanna S, who deals with privacy issues, said that the order sparked a debate about an “underlying principle of whether the platform companies should have as much censorial power — particularly when they have become an almost primary tool for exercise of political speech and political organising”.

Twitter India refused to comment on the matter, other than pointing to the company’s response to the executive order which said: “This is a reactionary and politicized approach to such a landmark law. #Section230 protects American innovation and freedom of expression, and it’s underpinned by democratic values. Attempts to unilaterally erode it threaten the future of online speech and Internet freedoms.”

But it may not be as black and white as that. Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said in response to Twitter’s actions that social media platforms cannot be an “arbiter of truth”.

His comments came ahead of the executive order.

FROM LADAKH