'India needs better strategy to tackle coronavirus pandemic'

As India is fighting against the coronavirus pandemic, experts are of the opinion that the government needs to do much more to tackle the crisis. It is to be noted that the government announced a package of 1.7 lakh crores is a meagre 0.8% of the GDP.

New Delhi: As the nation enters into the 20th day of complete lockdown called upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight against the global pandemic COVID-19, opinions and suggestions continue to pour in for the government for better handling of the national health emergency that country is facing today.

The total number of corona positive cases has crossed 8500 while more than 180000 people have been tested.

So far the pandemic has claimed more than 270 lives in India and the count keeps an upward trend with every passing day.

The situation in India is better than other countries if we look at the numbers as the average death toll in the USA has crossed 2000 per day with more than 5 Lakh people tested positive so far.

According to Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, India has so far managed it better than the US but certainly not better than a country like South Korea where the number of testing per 10 Lakh people is around 13000.

India has so far managed to conduct tests over 102 per 10 Lakh of people.

According to CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri, Pakistan is doing better than India when it comes to the number of testing. The rate per 10 Lakh people in Pakistan is 191 which is better than India.

Now coming to the funds that government recently announced to fight against the pandemic, experts and leaders suggest that it is not enough for a country with such a huge population.

"The government announced a package of 1.7 lakh crores but out of this only 80-90000 crores are for new schemes keeping in mind the current situation. Rest of the funds are those which were already announced in the budget 2020 which was recently presented" said Yogendra Yadav while addressing a live session on Facebook.

Read: COVID-19 lockdown: Fear of livelihood looms large over Sivakasi firework unit workers

"If we compare this so-called huge package with the GDP numbers, it is a meagre 0.8% of the GDP and only 0.5% of the GDP will actually be spent to fight this nationwide health emergency and so far we have not even spent 0.1% of the allocated funds" added Yadav.

The USA has already announced an allocation of 10% of its GDP and Japan has announced 20% of its GDP to be spent to fight against COVID-19.

However, the opposition leaders agree that the nationwide lockdown has helped to keep the situation under control and avoid stage-3 which leads to community transmission of the virus but at the same time, they also opine that the lockdown would have fetched better results if our healthcare system was better equipped and prepared in advance.

"The government has itself accepted the fact that more than 6 Lakh labourers are stranded midway who are living either in relief camps or some temporary shelter they managed on their own. The government should make some arrangements so that they can reach their native place. Meanwhile, they should be helped with ration and cash by the government" said Yadav.

The FCI warehouses are full of food grains with more than 80 Million tonnes of stock, the leaders have been suggesting that government should start distributing free ration to every person in need rather than asking for a mandatory ration card.

Yechuri and Yadav both have been demanding to open the FCI godowns and distribute the food grains to states so that every person in need gets free ration in such a difficult time.

Yadav has also came up with a suggestion through which more than 10 crore MGNREGA workers can get help.

"MNREGA workers should be helped immediately through direct transfers of compensatory allowance as they have no work in their hands right now and the coming days will be more difficult for them," he said.

Talking about the hardships being faced by the farmers in Rabi crop harvesting season, Yogendra Yadav has suggested a slew of measures to help them.

"The government has announced the opening of mandis, transportation and trade for agriculture-related activities but farmers are still facing issues of labour and procurement on MSP. The MSP for mustard is Rs 4400 per quintal but farmers are forced to sell their mustard at 32-3400/quintal. The MSP for wheat announced by the government is Rs 1950 but farmers have no choice but to sell it around Rs 1800 per quintal as they are not assured about the procurement by the government at the MSP. The government must make proper arrangements rather than just making announcements" said Yadav.

Besides this, Farmers involved in Horticulture, dairy and fisheries are suffering huge losses due to drastic fall in demand and they are also demanding some sort of compensation from the government.

The government has announced relief for farmers and the middle class by extending the repayment of loans and EMIs by three months but interest will still be charged for these months.

The leader suggested that both farmers and the middle class should be exempted from paying the interest for this duration and government must ensure that they do not have to pay any interest on the loans procured by them for this period.

It is to be noted that the first phase of nationwide lockdown is going to end on April 14 but it is likely to be extended till 30th of April.

Five states have already announced the continuation of Lockdown till April 30.

It is being said that PM Modi will soon be addressing the nation to announce the 2nd phase of lockdown.

In such a situation, the opposition leaders are supporting the government but at the same time, they are expecting that their suggestions will be taken by the government in the coming days.