00:00The most important politician in the country, the Prime Minister, has taken direct charge
00:08of the situation.
00:09Therefore, I can say that the Indian government is doing the best it can.
00:14We cannot let the economy come to a halt, already we have 140 million workers who have
00:21been affected by this virus.
00:31The global GDP has gone down, global trade has shrunk, global travel has almost dissipated.
00:38The global GDP is likely to shrink between 5% and 12%, India's GDP is expected to shrink
00:46by at least 5%.
00:47There is a fear that we may even reach the lowest GDP since independence, since 1947.
00:58The tension between two major powers in the world, that is US and China, has escalated.
01:08The vaccine for COVID-19 is in the third trial, as I pointed out, and it's only one case among
01:17On the domestic side, the government has realized the importance of restarting the economy and
01:25supporting MSMEs and low-wage workers.
01:29They have been spending as much as 10% of our GDP, about $300 billion on wages for low
01:38workers who have lost their jobs, on loan guarantees for MSMEs, and for creating infrastructure
01:47for fighting the virus.
01:48I do not have data on how much of this amount has been actually disbursed.
01:56The industrial sector has restarted, but has not picked up pace.
02:03That's what I would say.
02:07Right from the first day of the lockdown on 22nd March or so, my view has been that we
02:20have to be prepared to live with the virus.
02:23There are three reasons.
02:25First of all, there is no vaccine.
02:30The earliest possible vaccine is from Oxford University, and that may be available in India
02:41anywhere from six to nine months.
02:47But even if we are able to vaccinate 10 million people a day, it is going to take 140 days
02:57to vaccinate all Indians.
03:00That is a long period to prevent the spread of the disease.
03:08Second, there is no cure.
03:10There are lots of companies that are trying, but there is no cure.
03:15Third is, we cannot let the economy come to a halt.
03:20Already we have 140 million workers who have been affected by this virus.
03:29So the smartness, according to me, is to define a new normal.
03:35This normal should allow our economy to grow while moving down the arc faster
03:43and fighting the virus effectively.
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