India shouldn’t have to choose between lives and livelihood amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has said, calling for ramping up of disaster management preparation and resource availability.
“I hope we will not have to continuously try this tradeoff or balance between saving lives and livelihoods,” Economic Times quoted Kumar as saying at a webinar on the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“I hope there will be enough resources available with public authorities at all levels to ensure that when it comes to situations like these, we have enough resources to support lives because livelihoods will get lost when you have lockdowns,” he said at the online seminar hosted by a journalism school.
India is currently under a 21-day lockdown to arrest the spread of Covid-19 which has claimed 239 lives and affected more than 7,500 people. Daily wagers and migrant labourers have been hit the hardest by lockdown. Scores of migrant workers travelled hundreds of kilometres on foot to reach their native places as bus and train services were suspended. With cases and fatalities on the rise, the lockdown is likely to be extended till April 30.
“We need to get our act together so that the next time we get into a situation like this, we are better prepared,” he said, urging better planning to take care of the informal sector.
Calling for more than just signing of treaties and agreements, Kumar called for effective implementation, warning that failure would mean “next time the country won’t be able to control the exodus of people”.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) said last week that 400 million Indians working in the informal economy risk falling deeper into poverty during the crisis.
The central government has announced direct cash transfers and food subsidies to help some 800 million people.
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