The Suicide Conspiracy no one is paying attention to

By Ayush Kumar

(Image source: economictimes.com)

Over the past few weeks, there has been great mayhem in the Indian media about the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Not to say that the case doesn't deserve justice, but lately it seems like that is all what everyone cares about. In the process of vouching for justice in his case, one of the biggest issues in our country stands right under our nose. The GDP in India hit a record low of -23.90% percent in the second quarter of 2020.

Before I even begin, no, America's economic fall isn't 32℅, it's 9%. If India was to calculate their economic fall the way the United States did, it would be 75℅.

India has dethroned the United Kingdom and has successfully managed to face one of the worst downfalls amidst the bedlam caused by Covid-19. My motif isn't to expand on Covid-19 here but rather the sporadic changes being made in the economic policies and how COVID -19 has aggravated and exposed our ill-preparedness as an economy. This 'act of God' isn't something to succumb to. Yet, it's crucial to reflect on all the economic blunder made in the name of the demonetization, poor implementation of GST, and the scrooge relief packages in which direct spending is nowhere to be seen. Direct benefit transfer has been the climacteric step in many foreign policies of countries to combat the pandemic. India, on the other hand, hasn't done much for their citizens except for providing means of deferred payment and blatantly insinuating a YOYO policy( yoyo here refers to you are on your own).

Despite the things of the past, the Government is still to play a paramount role in shaping the economic recovery and clearly would either become a protagonist or an antagonist. The government can't push the consumption itself and would have to broaden the scope of spending by empowering the lower middle class and middle-class. In simple terms, demand has been hit. People's propensity to save for the future has multiplied manifold considering the ambivalence about the economy. Since India is a consumption-driven economy, the economic pandemic could only be overcome once the demand is back on track.

This is the time for the government to take responsibility and lead its citizens out from the economic pandemic whose repercussions will not only sabotage the vision of the 5 trillion economy but to become a world power as well.

If people survive the coronavirus, there's a high possibility that hunger would jeopardize their lives. The demography of India would be pushed to poverty if policymakers still play it safe. This is surely an act of God, but Noah built the ark and survived the flood gracefully. We have the flood knocking on our door but we are losing our time to build the ark.