Challenges India will face due to the COVID 19 Pandemic and ways to cope up

The Author is Gaurav Kumar who is pursuing his BA LLB and currently in 4th year of study, from Surendranath Law College, University of Calcutta.

The novel corona virus emerged from the epicentre Wuhan (China) is affecting the world very badly. Till this writing this virus has affected 1,622,785 lives including 97,205 fatalities across the world. However, in India this statistics is low as 6,725 cases with 229 deaths. Since, the disease is contagious in nature and due to unavailability of any vaccine the government has adopted complete lockdown as one of the main defensive way to curb the spreading of this virus. This lockdown has affected the mankind in various ways. The Educational Institutions, offices, factories have been shut down and people have been said to comply with the lockdown order of the government. The essential services like groceries, fuel stations, medical shops, and newspaper are exempted from this order. This article focuses over the challenges that India will face as the aftermath of the pandemic and how we will combat with it. The diverse types of challenges appearing after this pandemic have been discussed along with the measures to combat with it.

Economic Challenges

India after a complete lockdown is going to face economy challenge as one of the major challenges. Almost every sector of the India is going to face the worst conditions of the lockdown. The automobiles sector is in a dilemma due to the deadline of Supreme Court to sell the Bharat Stage 4 vehicles which is by April 30^th. If the lockdown extends like this there will be problem with the dealers who are waiting for the market to open. The manufacturing sector is also closed since three weeks which will bring the darkest days of the Indian economy. According to the International Monetary Fund there will be a recession more worst than that of 2009. People will start losing their jobs as the unemployment rate in urban areas will increase to 30 % from 8.29 % where as in rural areas it will go up to 21 % from 8.9 %. Citing United Nations ‘Economic and social survey of Asia and the Pacific’ research report states that the GDP growth rate will slash to 4.8 % from 6%. The COVID-19 pandemic is also going to hit hard the informal sector and industrial sector. Around 500 million of people working in informal sector will lose their jobs and become the prey of poverty. The International Labour Organisation has described this pandemic as the worst global crisis seen since World War 2. Despite of all aforementioned sectors the aviation sector, mining sector, tourism sector and the agriculture sector is also going to be affected from this pandemic.

Educational Challenges

The lockdown has temporarily closed all the educational institutions including schools, colleges and universities for indefinite period. The board exams along with competitive exams are also suspended till the further notice. So, the pandemic has hung the career of the student in the balance. The academic session of the universities has been delayed and the new admissions have been barred till the situation normalises. The major problem is persisting with the students who had planned for foreign studies and got their intimation letter from their respective universities. They will have to postpone their plans of going abroad due to safety issues. This has put their future in a grey area where they have to opt for other choices at their native place. However, the students below class 10^th have been promoted by the all respective state boards keeping the situation in mind. If the fatality rate increases all the rest part of world the government will have to suspend the academic session.

Legal Challenges

Amidst the crisis India is also going to face the legal challenges. The subordinate courts have been closed in the pandemic whereas the Apex court and High Court are working via video conferencing taking only urgent cases. As all courts start functioning normally the courts especially subordinate one will be flooded with the new cases hence increasing the pendency of cases. Employment termination, administrative cases, insurance claims, contractual matter regarding the ‘Force majure’ will be the major matter that the courts will experience after the pandemic.

Day to Day basis challenges

India being a developing nation will face the crisis of pandemic on day to day basis. The middle class household will have to face the cash crisis due to job lose, increase of demand of commodities. The agrarian class will also suffer due to decrease in the proper price of the food grains. Due to cash crisis the government will face hurdles to pick up the food grains at proper rates. The labour class people will suffer the most as they will have to depend on the subsidised rate food grains. The banking sector will also suffer from this pandemic. There will be increase in the NPAs as the people will lose jobs and the global recession will bring the markets on its toes.

Solutions to overcome such challenges

The Government needs to take lucrative steps to open the cash flow in the hand of labours to make the lockdown successful for a longer period because as soon as it does not take any step, people will automatically come on the road creating the situation of chaos. The Government should adopt the Universal Basic Income principle and start depositing a minimum basic amount in the accounts of the people so that they can be able to run their livelihood. The FCI should take the necessary steps to buy the food grains from the agrarian class people on proper rates so that they can be able to sustain their livelihood. The educational institutions should start their curriculum through the online mode as long as the lockdown exists. The Government should also focus on implementing Universal Health Scheme for the people. These suggestions would certainly be helpful in combating our fight with the aftermath of this pandemic. Our combined approached and help in this tough time will certainly come up with flying colours in this tough time.