India declares war on an invisible enemy: Covid-19

India has been sliding into an economic crisis since 2015 [I had called it the tailspin]. This was due to economic policies that have been followed since 2006 without a national debate on such policies.

Since February 2020, the slide to crisis runs the risk of being compounded by the consequences of a new variety of coronavirus, called Covid-19. We are now facing an imminent disaster unless sufficient remedial measures get taken.

As a rational person, I would rather err on the side of caution than commit the folly of being complacent. So on this forecast I would rather be wrong than right, which would certainly be the case, were necessary measures implemented to mitigate the additional effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the national economy.

At present, on the statistics put out by governments, the pandemic is rapidly expanding across practically all the nations of the globe. As far as India is concerned, available statistics show India has not been, comparatively speaking, hit very hard. It is apparent from his actions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking no chances and is focusing on the curative and preventive measures on a war footing. When the news came out from China, and of the virus’ spread to Italy, we barely reacted. In February, Dr Jaishankar at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had information. Based on this, a recommendation was made to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry (headed by the efficient and knowledgeable Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan). This was to order the immediate quarantine, to begin with, in airports of all arriving visitors from abroad, especially from West Asia, Europe, US and China.

The foreign visitors to India included those infected,