Letter to BS: The economic costs of the lockdown need to be considered

The Prime Minister needs to take a considered call on this

This refers to the editorial “End lockdown or not?” by Shankar Acharya (April 9), in which he has cautioned that extending the nationwide lockdown could well lead to more deaths. This fear should not be dismissed as being alarmist. There are also suggestions for the release of excess stocks of the Food Corporation of India to the states for free distribution (or at nominal price) amongst the poor, as the emergency cash transfer has several limitations. With the International Labor Organisation predicting that about 400 million Indians face the risk of being pushed into poverty because of the stringent nationwide