“ALL TOO EASY TO HAVE A LOCKDOWN FOREVER”: RAGHURAM RAJAN ON COVID-19

“ALL TOO EASY TO HAVE A LOCKDOWN FOREVER”: RAGHURAM RAJAN ON COVID-19

Well, known economist, Raghuram Rajan talked over a video interaction with  Rahul Gandhi. He said, “Around Rs 65,000 crores will be needed to help the poor in India hit hard by the nationwide coronavirus lockdown”. The video was later released by the Congress.

Speaking on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, the former RBI chief also said that a prolonged lockdown would not be sustainable for the economy.

“How much money will be required to help the poor. Kitna paisa lagega,” Rahul Gandhi inquired.

“We will need Rs 65,000 crore, it is not that much. This is to save the lives of the poor,” Raghuram Rajan replied in Hindi to one of the questions asked by the former Congress president.

“All too easy to have a lockdown forever, but that would not be sustainable for the economy”, was what he said.

“We need to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown. We need to open up in a measured way as India does not have the capacity to feed people for long. We have to manage the reopening so when there are cases we isolate them,” he suggested.

The Congress MP is often suggested to learn from his own party patrons like

Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram by the BJP. This video-dialogue is seen as an attempt to give him a lift as a major opposition leader voicing on the government’s policies.

Mr. Raghuram Rajan has served as the RBI government and served for a period of three years after being appointed by the Congress-led government in 2003.

He inturns also questioned Mr. Gandhi about how he compared the response in India and the US.

Rahul Gandhi raised his concern over deep-seated inequality in India as the major contrast in the two nations.

“One of the things that annoy me is the level of inequality. A lot of social change required in India. Different states have different issues. A blanket solution will not work for India. But there is an element in our governance system of control. You cannot control COVID-19. But I think this is historic, even before the British. That is one of the challenges we are facing,” Mr. Gandhi reverted.

~ DIVYA