Economy during Covid Times

TheCoronavirus or Covid pandemic wrecked havoc in the lives of a large number of people, societies, nations alike. Moreso, the economies of countries got affected drastically at the onslaught. The Indian economy was growing at a rate of 3% - 4% before the advent of the pandemic say, March-April 2020. Moreover in the year 2019 the economy was growing at the rate of 6% ,5%  annually. The first lockdown in India was announced in March 2020. All schools, colleges, markets, shopping malls, hotels/restaurants, parks, public and private functions/events were banned. Industries, factories ,construction activities etc. came to a halt. However online services like Work From Home(WFH) ,online shopping ,meetings via video conferencing were the order of the day. But a large chunk of the population were left jobless with little or no earning. The economic growth thus got slowed down. The profitabilities of companies – both government and private decreased, income from tax, incomes of employees, workers and daily wage earners too slumped. Covid-related expenditures both public and private inflated. Purchase of medicines, disinfectants, vaccines, drugs etc. cost the exchequer dearly. The economic growth rate moved to as low as almost -24% in the first quarter i.e. April-June 2020 of the Financial Year(FY) 2020-2021, followed by -7.5%   in the next quarter i.e. July-September 2020. Thus the annual growth rate of FY 21 i.e. April 2020 - March 2021 was -7.3%. Likewise a second Covid wave stuck the country by around March- April 2021. Although nationwide lockdown was not announced this time, partial to complete lockdown was imposed in most of the states. The second wave infected more number of people and more died than the last. The economy too is likely to contract, this time may be more. The last contraction was termed as a Technical recession. Although Covid infections and deaths have started receding since May 21 still some states have increased lockdowns. The Central government announced economic stimulus package worth 20L crores last time which would provide some resilience to a faltering economy. Moreover moratorium on EMI for six months, financial packages, cash-in-hand schemes in some states and reduction in IGST etc. on purchase of medical equipments would help the economy a lot better. Yet historic unemployment rates 14%, insecurities of sources of income/revenue and frequent lockdowns would be a dampner to the growth of the economy. The way forward would be to contain and fully get rid of Covid infections and the pandemic and putting the economy back on rails on a firm footing to achieve reasonable growth rates.

Coronavirus

Coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that causes COVID-19 disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide and scores of others infected. A very deadly and fast-spreading virus that causes influenza, pneumonia like fever ultimately killing the affected people in respiratory illnesses by destroying their immune system within a matter of a week or two. Since this is a first occurrence of the new variant so no vaccine or antidote is available for it in the market. Since no vaccine has been available to cure the disease named - COVID-19 it remained a mystery killer world over from January 2020 to late 2021 spelling doom killing more than 20 million till date. It is a part of the coronavirus family of influenza viruses largely found in bats which strangely are not infected due to their natural immunity. But the Sars Covid-19 virus believed to been tinkered with in labs if not naturally occurring is more infectious, deadly and immune to any known medicines or treatment. Several medicines that were used to cure

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other similar type of illnesses has been used namely- Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Chloroquinine, Dexamethasone etc. Coronavirus caused COVID-19 still remains unknown with newer symptoms appearing. Although mostly it looks like normal influenza still coronavirus causes severe infection to lungs, failure in vital organs of the body and ultimate death due to breathing difficulties- Asphyxia. The treatment of the COVID-19 is also very difficult one. The patients will have to be kept in isolated wards and strict precautions have to be taken by doctors and the health care people not to be in direct contact of the patients during that time. The patients will have to be supplied with fresh oxygen from the oxygen cylinders in order to make up for oxygen deficiencies and provided with doses of the anti-virus medications. The family members would also not to allowed to freely contact in order to prevent the spread the virus. 

The symptoms of the disease - COVID-19 include headaches, muscle pain, skin rashes, dry cough, persistent fever, nausea, loss of smell, loss of taste, shortness of breath etc. Although these symptoms are common there are also some asymptomatic patients i.e. patients having no sign of any of these. These cases are more dangerous. But Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR Test (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Test) can prove the presence of the virus or disease. Swab samples from the nose or mouth are used to test.

The scarier part of COVID-19 is that it gets transmitted from people just by touch, standing with an infected person for more than few minutes or even by suspended air particles. In a world interconnected closely for social or economic reasons this has been a real disaster. Scores of people have been affected by the spread of the deadly virus and many are still undergoing treatment in hospitals or in containment centers. Lockdowns given all over did prevent further infection, but still more people have contacted the virus and the disease. Frequent handwashing, use of hand-sanitizers and social distancing - staying at least 1 meter apart can slow infection of the disease and prevent it.          

Politics

Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The academic study of politics is referred to as political science. It also refers to business of politics that allows people to elect their representatives in the legislative bodies to put forward their problems and aspirations before the government and make programmes and policies for the same. In popular parlance, politics refers to the day-to-day activities of debate and discussions between parties and their leaders/workers in ways of solving the problems of the country and on the issues of public welfare necessary. In the exchange, a colorful mosaic of words and cultures is seen that finally leads to a new scheme or project of national progress, welfare and prosperity.           

It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and non-violent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation. For example, abolitionist Wendell Phillips declared that "we do not play politics; anti-slavery is no half-jest with us. "The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it.

A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising force, including warfare against adversaries. Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level. In modern nation states, people often form political parties to represent their ideas. Members of a party often agree to take the same position on many issues and agree to support the same changes to law and the same leaders. An election is usually a competition between different parties. Indian politics is unique and exciting in its own sense. Since we have a Parliamentary system of governance, so the Indian Parliament represented by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha hold the most power in the country. The Prime Minister of the country selected from the Party or coalition with the highest majority in the elections is accountable to the Parliament. Also, the legislations must be passed in the both the houses of the Parliament to become laws. The Prime Minister along with his cabinet can be in power as long as they have the necessary majority in the House of the People - the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha known as the upper house serves as a place to higher debate and deliberation on the issues coming up before the Parliament and the nation. Similarly, in the states there are the Vidhan Sabhas just like the Lok Sabha at the center with some states also having the Vidhan Parishads just like the Rajya Sabha for the debates and discussions. Elections to the Parliament are known as the General Elections conducted by the Election Commission of India, a statutory body. Similarly, the state legislatures are also elected by the State Election Commissions with similar powers. Along with these, their the local bodies namely the Municipal Boards or Committees or Corporations or the Village Panchayats for the representations in the small or large towns, cities and villages respectively. 

A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics, Chanakya's Arthashastra and Chanakya Niti (3rd century BCE), as well as the works of Confucius.