Page 409 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

36 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 2

1.43 The deep economic contractions across many countries and heightened uncertainties
about the post pandemic global economic landscape, however, may set back long-term growth
prospects.

India’s Strategic Multi-Pronged Policy Response
1.44 India recognised the disruptive impact of the pandemic and charted its own unique path
amidst dismal projections of the spread in the country given its huge population. It was estimated
that India would have 30 crore cases and several thousand deaths by the end of May, 2020 (Klein
et al., 2020). At a time of rapid change and mounting uncertainty, the clear objective of ‘Jaan
Hai to Jahan hai’ and to ‘break the chain of spread’ helped the government face the dilemma of
‘lives vs livelihood’, pace the sequence of policy interventions and adapt its response as per the
evolving situation. India adopted a graded four-pronged pre-emptive, and pro-active strategy
consisting of (i) containment measures, (ii) calibrated fiscal support focussed on essentials
during lockdown and demand push during the unlock phase, (iii) financial measures and (iv)
structural reforms to combat COVID-19 (also refer to Chapter 1, Volume I, Economic Survey,
2020-21). The policy response was tailored to different phases of the epidemic, adapting to
evolving requirements to provide succour to people, support demand, facilitate the recovery to
pre-pandemic levels and ensure fiscal and debt sustainability. A gradual, smooth transition was
paved from ‘Jaan Hai to Jahan hai’ to ‘Jaan bhi aur Jahan bhi’.
1.45 A nationwide ‘stringent’ lockdown for 21 days was declared on March 24, 2020 and
subsequently extended till May 31, 2020. As per the Oxford Government Response Tracker, India
was among the first ones to impose a stringent lockdown (with index at 100) despite having a
few cases at the time of imposing a lockdown. The lockdown provided the much-needed time to
strengthen the health system response, ramp up testing and ensure public engagement/awareness
towards practice of social distancing. At the beginning of the pandemic, India was almost
totally dependent on imported Ventilators, PPE Kits and N-95 Masks. The Central Government
recognised the challenges posed by the pandemic in the very initial stages and successfully
ensured more than adequate availability and supplies of essential medical items across the
country. A three-tier arrangement of health facilities was created for appropriate management
of COVID-19 cases, (i) COVID Care Center with isolation beds for mild or pre-symptomatic
cases; (ii) Dedicated COVID Health Centre (DCHC) with oxygen supported isolation beds for
moderate cases and (iii) Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH) with ICU beds for severe cases has
been implemented. As on 29th December 2020 a total of 2,70,710 oxygen supported isolation
beds, 81,113 ICU beds (including 40,627 ventilator beds) and 12,669 quarantine centres with
5,91,496 beds had been created. The textile industry rose to the challenge of the pandemic by
up-scaling the production of PPE kits and N95 masks from scratch to emerge as the second
largest producer of PPE kits and reach a daily production of 32 lakh pieces of N95 masks.

1.46 Government of India and the RBI have undertaken multidimensional efforts to maintain
financial stability and provide necessary regulatory support to ease both demand and supply
constraints posed by the pandemic. The policy support provided helped in cushioning the
expected fall in demand due to the lockdown-induced distress on both individuals and firms.
The fiscal policy response of the Government of India to the pandemic was distinct from other
countries in that the demand stimulus was introduced in a phased manner with prior focus on
measures to provide a cushion for the poor and vulnerable sections of society and to the business