India’s response to shocks – 1962 war to COVID pandemic

Synopsis- The article distinguishes between the Center’s reaction to the current pandemic and its responses to shocks in Indian History.

Three criteria to analyze Indian government’s response

• The team
• The science
• The organizational innovations put together

List of previous shocks and the India’s response

• First, 1962’s Sino-India War-
  • Response- Defence reform
    • The new defence minister was appointed.
    • The financial allocation for the defence was increased
    • Alters India’s understanding of the world and foreign policy in a fundamental way.

• Second, 1966 Severe Drought – In 1966, due to drought, food grain production fell by 20 per cent. Foreign food aid came to the rescue of the starving population.
  • Team- Indira Gandhi (PM), C Subramaniam (agriculture minister) and M S Swaminathan (scientist).
  • Response-
    • Start of Green Revolution.
    • Science and technology were relied on and organizational innovations like the Food Corporation of India [FCI] were made.

• Third, 1975 National Emergency, political shock
  • Team- Indira Gandhi (PM) and Sanjay Gandhi.
  • Response-
    • The harsh family planning programme was launched by PM Indira Gandhi on her son’s insistence. Despite the efforts to create awareness and support for sterilization [surgery to make a person or animal unable to produce offspring], the camps were receiving a lukewarm response.

• Fourth, 1991, External sector shock
  • Team- P V Narasimha Rao (PM), Manmohan Singh (FM), M S Ahluwalia (finance secretary) and S S Tarapore (from the RBI).
  • Response-
    • S S Tarapore played a key role by not acceding to the capital account convertibility requirement of the IMF.
    • Response to the shock, in this case, was that both policy and organizational change was brought about slowly, without disrupting the economy.

• Lastly, India’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Team- No clarity about who is in the team.
  • Response-
    • Not clear if the Covid-19 task force and control room in the Niti Aayog are the same.
    • Mismanagement in providing information regarding Covid-19 response.
    • There are some vaccine-related issues such as the gap between the two shots and taking two different vaccines. This contributes to vaccine hesitancy.
    • Confusion related to vaccine procurement.
    • Allowing huge gathering such as Kumbh Mela, election rallies were obvious cases of not following science.
    • Few cases of which reveal the unimportance the government gives to science.

Conclusion
There is a drastic difference between the handling of COVID-19 pandemic shock from the previous shocks. The government needs to improve on all three criteria.

Source- The Indian Express