Everyone is battling coronavirus in India, except the state

Pandemic is a reminder of why even a dynamic private sector needs a state that can support its efforts.

If you are lucky enough to be healthy in Covid-haunted Delhi, life feels strangely disconnected. Offline, there’s an undeclared lockdown. The normally noisy city is silent except for the sound of birds.

Social media, on the other hand, is an unfolding tapestry of tragedy. People beg for help finding hospital beds and life-saving medicines. Friends and acquaintances call and text asking if you know where they can get an oxygen concentrator for the home. In one way or another, everyone is battling the virus.

Everyone, it seems, except the Indian state. Once again, ordinary citizens feel as if we’ve been abandoned by