Lockdown to unlocking — Narendra Modi failed every step of the way
I ndia is now the 4th worst-hit country in terms of the number of coronavirus infections after the US, Brazil and Russia. Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government can always argue that when two of the world’s super powers—with arguably the best available medical infrastructure and research—couldn’t escape the wrath of the pandemic, Modi too can’t be expected to do much.
However, Modi’s lockdown—government’s central response to check the virus spread in India—was one of the most strongest shutdowns in the world with a stringency score of 100, the highest possible. And yet, the country is reeling under the pressure of rising coronavirus cases that have now crossed the 3 lakh-mark. The Modi government, obviously, made a lot of mistakes since hastily announcing the lockdown.
Vinod Paul, member, NITI Aayog and chairperson of the national task force constituted to advise the Modi government on Covid, presented a mathematical model on 24 April at a press briefing where he claimed confidently that there would be no new coronavirus cases in India from 16 May. And most of us believed him. Up until we reached 16 May and realised we’re in the eye of the storm. Evidently, the government’s task force seems to be headed by fiction writers rather than credible data crunchers. In fact, epidemiologists from this task force have gone on to anonymously testify that they were rarely ever consulted by the government for their inputs on coronavirus and the measures that would actually help, one of them being aggressive testing and tracing.
