Documenting 21st Century - India and the World

Recently, Central and State Governments have started cutting salaries, pensions and other benefits of Govt employees and pensioners. These policies are direct result of Central Govt decisions - cutting salary of Central Govt employees and not disbursing adequate funding to States in this times of crisis. State Governments which are revenue constrained have no choice other than to implement salary cuts policies. How to best describe these Austerity policies implemented by Central Government? Its like this - Central Govt has absolutely no clue on policy making in times of Covid-19 crisis. But to give an impression that they are doing something, they are taking these senseless decisions of salary and pension cuts. Indian Economy in massive contraction - Unprecedented Macroeconomic uncertainty - Collapse of Revenue and Tax Collection The situation with economy is critical. There is a massive slowdown in economy due to lockdown as businesses, factories and services by private as we

Some people equate the large scale public health crisis as a war with Coronavirus. A war which requires mass mobilization of healthcare resources and workforce. A war which requires major re-planning of economy, healthcare system and even changing social & cultural habits. But to fight a conventional military war, a country must know and understand the enemy. What is the capacity, strength, behavior and nature of the enemy? Every war is fought on basis of this information and intelligence. First and foremost, India's response strategy on Coronavirus needs to be based on data. Data about infections, death rate, level of community transmission, percentage of Asymptomatic people etc. And more detailed data in terms of medical research and understanding of Coronavirus like efficacy of drugs & treatment strategies. This Data will become the underlying basis of our response strategy. Hence a large scale testing is the MOST essential requirement for formulating Coronavirus res

India did not prepare for Coronavirus crisis in January, February and early March. As a result, India paid the price as Coronavirus will likely become an epidemic in India. India did not implement initial containment strategy - Large scale testing and aggressive quarantine measures in early days. India did not prepare for building a stockpile of Testing kits, N95 Masks, PPEs, Ventilators and other medical supplies.  Lockdown was unplanned and unprepared exercise by Modi. As i explained in earlier articles, India has very different socioeconomic conditions and population dynamics compared to western world & developed countries, so "flattening of curve" measures won't be much effective in India. Even otherwise, the lockdown only makes sense when you can identify the infected people and separate them from rest of the population. But without large scale testing, India is flying blind or sleepwalking in this crisis. You cannot fight your enemy which you can't see it.

US is hit by worst public health crisis in its recent history. The Coronavirus pandemic in US has infected hundreds of thousands of people and killed thousands in just last few days. The crisis is developing right now and its projected that as much as 100,000 people may die in very near future. The crisis has also caused massive economic and social catastrophe in America. US, when hit by 9/11 terror attacks, ordered a federal commission, to investigate the attacks, identify military & intelligence shortcomings and provide real account of the tragedy. US under Trump Administration has been hit by Coronavirus crisis which all experts warned in advance. The mismanagement, bungling and lack of preparation by US federal Government is visible on many things. US Congress should pass legislation to create Coronavirus federal Commission for investigation of Coronavirus situation. The Commission should be comprised of technocrats from field of Science, Medicine, Economics and Intelli