According to Paul, India is at the early signs of problem as 300 districts in the country, with a susceptible population, is still not infected.
COVID-19 CASES
WorldIndiaConfirmed9,352Deaths324Confirmed1,846,680Deaths114,090Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said government must identify five-six key sectors where we built up entire supply chain for manufacturing in India, including medical essentials, with massive disruptions in the global supply chain post the outbreak of COVID-19.
“We have opened up mobile manufacturing and manufacturing of APIs in the country. In a similar way, we should look at five to six sectors for manufacturing in India,” Kant said, citing example of India’s inability to have full manufacturing capacity for key medical devices like ventilators and personal protective equipments.
Kant laid out the roadmap for the Indian economy post the lockdown at a webinar with member VK Paul on COVID-19: India Fights Back – the Strategy and Way Forward.
Admitting that there is a need to revive factories, Kant said it is important that workers resume work when industrial activities resume so as to bring the factories back in action. “Individual discipline will be the key to our success in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Companies have to be vigilant and forth coming to ensure, workers functions in multiple shifts, maintain social distance and observe high levels of hygiene at the workplace.
Commenting on supply disruptions during the first phase of lockdown, Kant said, in the second phase the entire supply chain across sectors will be taken care of. “We will ensure that decisions at the highest level will be implemented to the best of our capability,” he said
While commending the Rs 1.7 lakh crore welfare package for the weaker sections to help them tide over the economic crisis followed by series of relief measures by the Reserve Bank of India, finance ministry is taking several measures. “More packages will come in to address the need of MSMEs and big enterprises,” he added.
Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member VK Paul said India should be prepared to handle 1,50,000 new cases per day, similar to what Italy experienced at its peak even as the country has not yet seen the ínterval’ of the movie.
“Our disease is very limited compared to the size of our nation because we resorted to early and effective steps. However, this does not mean the situation will remain the same if we are not vigilant.
According to Paul, India is at the early signs of problem as 300 districts in the country, with a susceptible population, is still not infected.
Commenting on the impact of the lockdown Paul said, the purpose of the lockdown has been achieved to a great extent. “We have flattened the curve and changed the behaviour of society where social distancing has become a new norm,” he added.
Stating that the challenge still persists when India lifts up the lockdown, Paul said we must ensure our behaviour is conducive to prevent the spread of virus. “Besides, the health system preparedness should kick in fully as the lockdown had given us opportunity to get our supplies and hospitals in order while our Surveillance system has to be resilient and responsive,” he added
Backing the idea of opening up economic activity in a calibrated way to improve livelihood, Paul cautioned that a balance has to be created between losing minimum number of lives and productivity .
Commenting on India’s lead efforts in creating diagnostic kits, working on developing vaccines and drugs against COVID-19, Paul said the ultimate was against Covid will be won by research and technology and India has the advantage in that,” he added.
Source: indiatimes.com