A peek into the inner functioning of the Indian govt during Covid-19 crisis

PM Modi has tried to make inter-departmental functioning the new norm in GOI on several occasions; Covid-19 might just seal it

Of the eleven groups of secretary-led officers tasked with responding to the Covid-19 outbreak, the group to manage the “availability of hospitals, isolation and quarantine facilities, disease surveillance ….” is headed by C K Mishra, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, instead of Priti Sudan, the secretary of health and family welfare. 

“The appointment is not surprising because Sudan as the officer in charge of the ministry, has to provide resources to the thousands of hospitals and manage new emergencies daily,” says a former secretary level officer. “She is firefighting,” he adds. Instead Mishra who has held charge