Modi’s Government Has Botched Its Response to India’s Pandemic
With its economic resources and geopolitical strength, India should be in a better position to face COVID-19 than most countries in the Global South. But its people are paying the price for incompetent policymaking and years of neglect under Narendra Modi.
An Indian man wearing a protective mask stands outside his home, as India remains under an unprecedented extended lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak, on April 22, 2020 in New Delhi, India. (Yawar Nazir / Getty Images)
India is no stranger to pandemics. The first cholera pandemic began in the subcontinent in 1817. By 1930, the third major outbreak of bubonic plague had killed 12 million Indians. The tragedy of the Spanish flu may feature prominently in the collective cultural memory of the West. But it claimed most of its victims in India, where 18.5 million people lost their lives.
Admittedly, today’s India — often considered an economic powerhouse — is a far cry from the way things were at the time of the Spanish flu. Acche din aane waale hain (“good days are coming”) was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign promise in 2014. Yet the country remains dangerously ill-prepared and vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic under Modi’s leadership.
Action Delayed
This is partly because of the government’s lethargic response to the crisis. On January 30, just a few hours before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak to be a global public health emergency, Indian authorities announced the first confirmed COVID-19 case in the country. This was after a week of media reports speculating that the outbreak had already begun in India. At the time, China had reported 7,711 cases.
Sorry, but this article is available to active subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.