COVID-19 pandemic since March has been affecting the Indian Economy not only economically but socially as well. It has brutally exposed and worsened existing vulnerabilities in the Indian economy.
The lockdown from March 25 has affected several economic sectors like aviation, tourism, retail, capital markets, MSMEs, and oil which has resulted in the decline of GDP from April to June 2020 by almost 9%. The forecasts for the GDP growth rate of India for the year 2021 recorded by agencies is 4.2 percent which is the slowest in 11 years.
The unemployment rate during May 2020 was recorded as 24% which has gradually decreased to 6% by September end. Best DPS in Raj Nagar Extension
As per the report of “The International Labour Organization” – the coronavirus pandemic is ‘the worst global crisis since World War II’ where 400 million people which is roughly 76.2% of the total workforce that is working in the informal economy in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to catastrophic consequences of the virus.
During the lockdown, there has been an estimate 92.5 per cent of labourers who have lost 1-4 weeks of work due to no construction. A survey was done by Jan Sahas, of 3196 migrant workers across northern and central India, between 27 March and 29 March which reveals that 80 per cent of migrant workers feared that they will run out of food before lockdown ends on 14 April and will not get their job back thereafter.
A majority of small scale businesses and startups have to shut down due to zero revenue during this period, making the survival of companies a real challenge, and that brought down the value of expected growth of the business to only 13%.
The stock market has been under shock, affected global financial markets, withdrawal of foreign capital from the foreign market, and depreciation in the domestic currency.
A micro virus has eroded wealth and corroded investor confidence, slowed-down private consumption and investment, disrupted workplaces and distorted markets. As India is known as the land of diversity, so the impact of Covid-19 is diverse and countless. But, if we see the other side of reality, COVID-19 has impacted our society and that is for sure, but only adversely? That is the thing we need to analyse carefully and can’t be left without a brief discussion.
It has been truly said that “crisis gives birth to the changes which were pending for many years”, same has happened during the time of Covid-19. Things have been changed to meet the needs of the society be it online education or judiciary, Covid-19 (crisis) has allowed making these major transformations in the education and judiciary.
But, again the benefits from these transformations are still limited.
~ PRAPTI GROVER
