Tackle Second Wave: Protect People’s Health & Livelihoods

WITH the second wave of the Covid-19 infection unfolding, India is facing a calamitous situation. April 4 saw the breeching of the 100,000 mark (one lakh) in daily cases with 103,709 cases recorded. Three days later, on April 7, the count reached the highest so far of 126,260 new cases – the highest daily count in the world. The death rate is also mounting. To say that the government was unprepared for this surge is an understatement. On the contrary, the Modi government was behaving as if the worst was over in January and confident that the economic recovery was well underway.

Both on the health front and in providing relief to the people during the economic crisis, the Modi government has been grossly negligent. This was reflected in the union budget for 2021-22. The budget had made the fantastic claim of an unprecedented 137 per cent hike in allocations for the health sector when in actual terms the budgetary provision for 2021-22 for the department of health and family welfare shows a 9.6 per cent decrease over the actual expenditure incurred in 2020-21. The way in which the government  has formulated its vaccination policy  is also contradictory and confusing. So  far two vaccines have been approved  for emergency use – AstraZeneca’s  Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s  Covaxin. While the latter was  controversially approved for use as  part of the third phase of trials, the  regulatory body has still not cleared  the Russian vaccine Sputnik V. It is  being used in 35 countries but awaits  approval for manufacturing by an  Indian company.

   

The supply of vaccine is already  falling short with stocks rapidly  depleting in states where the surge  is most. This is at a time when people  above 45 are being vaccinated from  April 1. The failure to plan and execute  a scaled-up vaccination programme is glaring. 

The government should not only see that Sputnik V is put to use im-mediately but also procure license  for production of vaccines like  the Johnson & Johnson product  which requires only a single dose. The Novavax vaccine to be  produced by the Serum Institute in  India as Covovax should be expedited.  The central government should also immediately provide money for  the centrally-sponsored scheme –-Aatmanirbhar Swasthya Bharat Yojana  – which is meant to develop capacities in primary, secondary and tertiary  health system and other public health  facilities. Though the scheme is to  incur expenditure of Rs 64,180 crores  over six years, no allocation was  made for it in the budget. This scheme  should be immediately operationalised  as strengthening the public health  system should be the priority.

Contrary to the rosy picture  projected by the government of a  V-shaped economic recovery, it has  become evident that growth is halting  and can be stalled. The core sector  comprising eight segments marked  its steepest contraction in six months. 

Manufacturing output had hit a seven- month low even before the second  wave began. Now with restrictions  being imposed due to the surge like  night curfews, weekend lockdowns  and restrictions on movement,  economic activities are going to be  further dampened. Even though a full  lockdown is being avoided, the rising  toll in cases and limited restrictions  has already affected retail trade,  restaurants and hotels in places like  Maharashtra. With jobs being axed in  the services sector, reverse migration  of labour has begun.

The government was  singularly callous in addressing the  needs of people in distress during the  first wave of the pandemic. The fiscal  stimulus package announced amounted  to hardly 1.5 per cent of GDP in terms  of additional expenditure. Unlike the  United States, UK and EU countries  where substantial cash subsidies were  given to citizens, the Modi government  gave negligible cash handouts and  refused to support small businesses  and petty producers. The spectre of  lakhs of migrant workers – men,  women and children – walking  down the highways without food or  shelter symbolised the callousness  and inhumanity of the government’s  response.

The government has to take  concrete measures now to meet the  impending crisis. The first step is to  ensure that every family is provided 35  kg of foodgrains per month, of which  10 kg should be free of cost. Earlier the  government had announced provision  of 5 kg of rice/wheat and one kg of dal  free of cost for 80 crore people who  came under the purview of the Food  Security Act. However, this was  continued till only November 2020.

As of March 1, 2021, India had a  huge buffer stock of food-grains of 9.2  crore tonnes (including un-milled  paddy). This is three times more than  the mandated buffer. The government  should increase the quota of free  food-grains to 10 kg per household per  month for at least the next six months.

All the opposition parties had  demanded in September 2020,  Rs 7,500 cash payment to all families  outside the income tax bracket. The n government had only given Rs 1,500  in three monthly instalments to  women Jan Dhan bank account holders.  Given the fact that the pandemic is getting prolonged, the central  government should provide a cash  subsidy to all families. 

With the crisis in employment  mounting, the MNREGA scheme should  be expanded to ensure at least 200 days  work a year with enhanced wages. Till  that is done, there has to be sufficient  allocations for the wages to be paid for  the work-days implemented in the  states. The government should  immediately announce an Urban Rural  Employment Guarantee Scheme which  can provide some relief to the urban  unemployed. 

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector provides  employment to eleven crore people.  It is this sector which has been severely hit by the pandemic and its fallout.  So far, the steps taken have been totally inadequate. The government must ensure, apart from extending  the moratorium on loan repayments,  waiver of interest on pending loans,  subsidy for buying raw materials and  other support measures.

All this will involve a much higher  level of public expenditure than what  has been budgeted for. The government  should not rigidly abide by fiscal  deficit limits and rely on borrowing for  stepping up public expenditure.  Further, it should increase taxation on corporates and the super-rich and introduce a wealth tax. This should replace the pernicious reliance on  high taxes on petroleum products for  garnering revenue.  

The central government will do well to aim for the entire country, what the Kerala government has done in two  vital spheres. In Kerala, 95 per cent of the people with Covid infection have got  free treatment in the public health  system. The LDF government has  also provided free food kits to 88 lakh families during the entire period of  the pandemic. The kit consists of not  only cereals but pulses, edible oil  and masalas.

The government, instead of  focusing on tackling the public health  emergency and taking the necessary  economic policy measures to shield the  people from the economic crisis, has  been utilising the crisis to push through  neoliberal measures to promote the  interests of the corporate and financial  oligarchy. The farm laws, the new  labour codes and the privatisation  drive of public sector enterprises  have gone hand-in-hand with toxic  communal politics. For the sake of the  country, there should be a halt to this  pernicious course. The pandemic and  the people’s welfare must get  the undivided attention of the  government. 

Prakash Karat* is Member, Polit Bureau of CPI (M).

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