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Healthcare

Don’t see COVID-19 lockdown lifting till the end of the month, says BJD’s Pinaki Misra

Updated : April 09, 2020 01:12 AM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made it clear that the lockdown will not be lifted at one go on April 14. He told the leaders at a meeting that the government was looking at options to extend the nationwide lockdown.

According to government sources, one such option involves lifting the lockdown partially in amber and green zones, with adherence to Section 144 of the CRPC. The Centre, however, is of the view that schools, colleges, religious places, malls, cinema halls, etc. should remain shut until May 31.

The government is also considering allowing factories located in districts which have no COVID cases to resume operations, but with caveats.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the government to issue adequate notice before the lockdown is lifted. It has recommended that the Centre kick-starts its exit plan by allowing resumption of industrial activities in areas with lower incidence of the COVID spread. It has also suggested the industries which offer mass employment should be restarted first.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 on what transpired in the all-party meet, Pinaki Misra, Biju Janta Dal (BJD) MP, said according to the Prime Minister a number of things will change after coronavirus is over including 'how we live life'.

“Prime Minister said India and the world are looking at pre-corona and post-corona situation in the same way that the world looked at as pre-world war II and a post- world war II situation,” he said.

Misra further added, “The Prime Minister was quite positive when I mentioned my main point to him which was that most advanced countries, including the United States, have committed almost 10 percent of their GDP towards the corona fight package. India has so far committed a Rs 1.70 lakh crore towards the poor package and another Rs 15,000 crore towards the health package."

"We are a $2.7 trillion economy which means bare minimum of $250 billion is what we should be committing to this fight which is not less than on today’s exchange rate about Rs 16-17 lakh crore. Therefore, there is a short fall today of almost Rs 15-17 lakh crore in terms of pitching in, in this fight.”

According to Misra, there is a need for refinancing airlines, hospitality, and small industries.

“You will need a whole amount of refinancing that must come for the MSMEs, that must come for the airline industry, that must come for the hospitality industry, it must put money in the pockets of migrant workers, money in the pockets of their employers who otherwise will not be in a position to reemploy these migrant labour.”

Misra further added that these are war-like times and must forget about fiscal deficit barriers.

“We have a very bullish foreign exchange reserve quotient at the moment, we have very good gold reserve, oil prices are at all-time low and so even if the rupee depreciates a bit, I do not believe that should really hurt us. Therefore, the time now is to breach the fiscal deficit and print money and put money in people’s pockets. You need to subsidise this economy in its entirety over the next 3-4 months at least,” he said.

According to Misra, the Prime Minister is looking at an economic stimulus package very strongly. “I think, there is no doubt in his mind that to bring this economy back on the rail, it is going to be his number one priority and number one task,” he said.

On extension of lockdown

He said, “My inflection is that the chief ministers, they are all for extending this lockdown and the Prime Minister made it quite clear in his summation, in his winding up today that all indications he is getting is that the time is not right for the lockdown to be lifted. Therefore, this is given that this going to be extended.”

“Graded response, if any, will come after this extension and that extension I do not think is going to be less than the end of the month. Once we reach towards the end of the month, and if the curve has flattened out significantly and sufficiently, and the world situation also has improved substantially, I think it is only then that a graded response will come from the government,” he added.

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