Indian Government’s Response to COVID-19

Abstract

As of today, India is second in the world in term of covid cases (43,959,321) coming next only to the USA, and the third-highest number of deaths (526,212), after the US and Brazil. Although these numbers are very high, the actual numbers are suspected to be significantly higher than the ones reported. First few cases of COVID-19 in the country were reported in late January 2020 in Kerala among medical students who returned from Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic. India saw the first wave peak in September 2020 with ~1,00,000 cases per day, after which the number of cases subsided. The pandemic has set governments worldwide into action. The first response of the Indian government involved thermal screening of international passengers arriving in India. With the progress of the virus, travel restrictions and social distancing policies were implemented. Numerous shutdowns were started in March 2020, and a nationwide lockdown was declared by the end of the month (S., 2021). In May 2020, GoI announced the much awaited economic package in lines with other nations of the world. In his address, the Prime Minister said that more than a crisis, it is an opportunity to become self-reliant (Atma-nirbhar) and laid emphasis on in-house production to bolster GDP. GoI announced a large stimulus package of INR 20 trillion, which amounted to 10% of India’s GDP. Additionally, the finance minister made an announcement that INR 1.7 Lakh Crore will be released for the poor under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Even after all this, things turned bad during the second wave around May 2021, with ~3.5L – 4L cases per day. There were many reports (notably by the Lancet) which highlighted India’s failure to prevent the deadly second wave. India was battling with a medical emergency: cemeteries briming with people and wailing relatives of the dead, long queues outside hospitals, unavailability of ambulances for the affected and people making frantic calls to ask for any related resources to save the lives of their near and dear ones. Even India’s tremendous vaccination effort was struggling. Another peak was observed during Jan 2022 with ~ 2.5L – 3L per day. With recurring peaks and failure on the government’s part to curb the issue, it becomes essential to study and analyse the government’s covid efforts - how effective were they, and what could be done to handle the situation better. 3 Through this project, our objective is to evaluate the government’s covid response and to analyse what went wrong and how things could have been better. We have first looked into how prepared India was to deal with a healthcare crisis of this scale by going deeper into statewise metrics related to healthcare. We’ve concluded this by looking at the case study of Kerala and how it curbed the virus effectively. Then we’ve presented a brief overview of various measures taken or announced by the government of India. This is followed by looking at the impact on primary stakeholders and key issues faced during the course of the pandemic. In the end, we present our recommendations on how things could have been improved in key areas of focus.