Pandemic and the Anecdote of India’s Welfare State

–Siddhant Dubey and Shrishti Natani

A total of 198 workers lost their lives during all the 4 phases of lockdown. As per a report of the International Labor Organization [‘ILO’] and Asian Development Bank [‘ADB’], 41 lakh Indian youth lost their jobs owing to the Pandemic. Human Rights Watch reported that more than 1.5 billion students are out of school already. Incidents of communal violence and religious discrimination in the country have ballooned since the outbreak of coronavirus. This pandemic came at the time when India was already among the most hunger struck countries in the world, corroborated by the Global Hunger Index [‘GHI’] ranking India 102 among 117 countries. Besides all this, India is a country with the 3rd most number of deaths in the world, and its healthcare infrastructure is failing the citizens. These facts very aptly ingeminate the gravity of the mishap India is witnessing. COVID-19 has brought almost every essence of life to a halt. Managing Director of International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has already declared that the world has entered a recession as bad or worse than 2009. In this sweeping human, social and economic disaster, there lies a widespread belief that the state’s welfare spending is paramount in not only recouping the economic damage but also to efficiently combat the pandemic By assuring timely supplies of basic essentials and income support, the government can lessen the chances of people volunteering outside, therefore containing the outbreak of the virus.

To read more about how the Indian welfare state failed to ensure this, click here.