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Covid deaths low, green shoots in economy: Modi
Speaking at the beginning of a two-day meeting with chief ministers — the sixth such meeting on the pandemic between the Centre, and states and Union Territories — the PM reiterated that the national priority must be to protect both lives and livelihoods.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the Indian economy was witnessing a recovery, “cooperative federalism” helped India deal with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, deaths were contained to a minimum and that, with adequate precautions, India could emerge from the battle against the disease with “minimal damage”.
Speaking at the beginning of a two-day meeting with chief ministers — the sixth such meeting on the pandemic between the Centre, and states and Union Territories — the PM reiterated that the national priority must be to protect both lives and livelihoods.
“We must focus on both life and livelihood, boost health infrastructure, testing and tracing as well as increase economic activity,” he said.
The chief ministers provided feedback about existing health infrastructure in their states and efforts to augment the medical facilities.Tuesday’s interaction included CMs from Punjab, Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh among other states, according to a statement.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh spoke about micro-containment zones — an idea that found support from the Prime Minister. Singh said that in his state, the authorities were not sealing the entire street or an area if cases were found in a house; they were sealing only a few houses. Modi appreciated the idea and said other states could consider this model for replication.
On the health care front, the PM said that timely decisions taken to tackle the pandemic contained the spread of the disease in India. “When India’s fight against Covid-19 will be analysed in the future, this time will be remembered for how we worked together and served as an example of cooperative federalism. We have tried to save each and every life.”
In particular, he highlighted India’s lower case fatality rate compared to the rest of the world, and the recovery rate. “Despite our large population, we minimised the deaths and our recovery rate is 50%. That has become a point of discussion across the world.” He added that there is a return to normalcy with Unlock 1.0, and if all precautions are followed, the disease would cause minimal damage. He emphasised the need to maintain social distancing, wear masks and remain disciplined in the outbreak.
The PM’s comments come at a time when India reported a total of 353,853 cases, with 11,919 deaths. At the same meeting, briefing the states, Rajesh Bhushan, an officer on special duty at the health ministry, said the movement of people since the opening up of travel led to the spread of the disease to 31 new districts. The number of cases, he said, increased two-and-a-half times in just the last two weeks and 59 districts in eight states had seen a surge of cases.
On the economic front, at a time when international agencies and economists expect a contraction of growth, PM Modi said efforts of the past few weeks led to a revival in the economy. “We are seeing green shoots in the economy. Power consumption, for instance has increased, the sale of two-wheelers is now at 70% of pre-lockdown numbers.” The increase in the sale of fertilisers in May and increase in kharif sowing and digital payments were the other “green shoots” that could be witnessed, he said. PM Modi also highlighted the role recent reforms in agriculture sector could play in benefitting the farming community.
Suyash Rai, who is a fellow at Carnegie India, said: “If you shut down the economy for three months, there is bound to be demand when you open up. We have to wait and see, however, if it is pent up demand due to the fact that you couldn’t buy anything, or it is actual recovery. So, we will have to wait for August to see if the demand stays consistent or tapers out.”
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said: “They (the CMs) provided feedback about existing health infrastructure in their states and efforts for augmentation to tackle the impact of the virus. They mentioned about the awareness campaigns being run by them, help being provided to workers who have returned home, usage of Aarogya Setu app, and kickstarting of economic activities in the states.”
Before the PM’s address, home minister Amit Shah welcomed all chief ministers, praising them for their efforts so far but also asking them to be cautious as they started opening up.
