This piece is written by Reetika Khera and it originally appeared here on indiatoday.in
The coronavirus pandemic, possibly the greatest disruption since World War II, is also a great opportunity for a radical reset of state priorities. WW-II, which destroyed nations, also became a springboard to create a new society. For example, Britain put in place the National Health Service (NHS), which provides universal access to healthcare. Other west European countries instituted social security mechanisms, providing for unemployment doles, while simultaneously corralling the workforce into an organised sector, thereby also widening the tax base. As people began to see the returns from taxes they paid, in the form of free education, health, social security and pensions, governments were able to levy taxes in the range of 30-50 per cent. It’s worth reminding readers that the high rates of taxation had no detrimental effect on the entrepreneurial drive.
Today, India faces a threefold crisis: a severely underfunded healthcare system, trying to deal with the corona pandemic; an economy paralysed by the ‘lockdown’; and a humanitarian crisis as a result of the abrupt, overnight break. Among India’s employed, less than a fifth (17 per cent) have salaried jobs; many more (about a third) are casual labourers and about half are self-employed. For many non-salaried people, the lockdown is far more threatening than the risk of contracting the disease. Indeed, in the very first week of the lockdown, we have collated reports of nearly a hundred deaths from hunger, heat, exhaustion, suicide etc.
In other countries that ordered a lockdown, most have salaried employment and/ or access to social security or unemployment benefits. Those are countries, France and Germany, for example, where the government has been spending 8-10 per cent of GDP on healthcare; in India, on the other hand, the government spends barely 1 per cent on health. In that sense, the strategy to lock down caters to a section of Indian society that has economic staying power and can deal with the consequences of a lockdown. For a much larger swathe of its population, the 76 per cent classified as ‘vulnerable employment’ in the World Development Indicators, 2019, staying home in cramped spaces is not only a health hazard but also economically ruinous — if they don’t earn, they can’t eat, let alone pay rents.
For this lot, food security comes first. The government’s decision to double PDS rations for three months is a welcome announcement. But to benefit from it, these workers have to first reach home. Before announcing the lockdown, the government should have thought on its feet and assured them of temporary shelter (in schools and community halls, for example) and food (through community kitchens). And what better use could there be of the current excess food stock, at 3.5 times buffer norms? It’s still not late to open up the Food Corporation of India (FCI) granaries for people who are stranded away from home.
By way of supporting India’s most vulnerable in this dire situation, the Centre needs to provide food and beef up cash support. Giving Rs 1,500, in three instalments, to female Jan Dhan Yojana account holders is not enough. For MNREGA workers, the government should give 10 days worth of wages for the coming three months, while worksites are closed for risk of community transmission; later, they should be assured of work. The Centre’s contributions to old-age pensions have been stuck at a meagre Rs 200 a month, this too needs to go up.
The central government can also learn from various state initiatives to offer free meals, temporary shelters, free transport, waiver of bills and repayments, among other relief measures. To tide over this health emergency and to ensure that no one is denied treatment, governments might consider taking over more private hospitals (Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have taken over a few already). It’s time to acknowledge that not prioritising our healthcare systems was a big, big mistake, and we must resolve to change that. If higher GDP growth rates are the be-all and end-all of economic activity, it will do us well to understand that expanding healthcare facilities has the same effect on GDP as manufacturing defence aircraft or building flyovers.