Former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Dr Raghuram Rajan, has said that if India has to go for a third lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19, it will be devastating for the country’s economy.
“It’s very important to have as much information about the issue as possible. We have to start thinking about starting people’s livelihoods, and it has to be sequenced. The reopening is not just about office, it is also about following social distancing on the way to and coming back from your workplace,” Dr Rajan said while speaking to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on a video dialogue.
“Second or third lockdown will be devastating. It does diminish our credibility. We don’t have to aim for 100 per cent success – it is not possible too – we have to manage the reopening,” Dr Rajan added.
The dialogue with Rajan was first in the series that Gandhi plans to hold with public intellectuals. It included a detailed discussion on the state of the economy and how to revive it in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“To really be confident about reopening up of economy, you have to triple up the number of tests which is currently happening in India. You have to have about a million tests, if you want a confidence like the United States,” Dr Rajan added.
The dialogue was pre-recorded and disseminated by the Congress on social media.
A slew of changes in the Congress party has recently been interpreted by many party leaders as a sign of Gandhi’s return to presidency. Most recently, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi constituted an 11-member consultative group under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s leadership to deliberate on matters related to the Covid-19 pandemic and to formulate the party’s views on them.
The group also includes Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Singh Surjewala, KC Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Jairam Ramesh, Praveen Chakravarty, Gaurav Vallabh, Supriya Shrinate and Rohan Gupta. This is the first time Rahul Gandhi has become a member of a party panel since he stepped down as the Congress chief last year. The group has been holding extensive meetings and offering suggestions to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on how to address the Covid-19 crisis
