The lockdown hammer

Keeping the economy locked costs lives too and it may not be a price worth paying

The ongoing Covid-triggered lockdown, now nearly eight weeks old, has hammered the Indian economy harder than any other external or internal shock (including wars, harvest failures, oil price hikes and demonetisation) experienced since Independence. And it has done so with unmatched speed, ferocity and pervasiveness. Even if it is substantially lifted from May 18, as I fervently hope, the damage to the economy, its institutional fabric and livelihoods is likely to be massive and lasting.

Just consider these early signals of economic damage:

• As the rolling household surveys by the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE) show, about 120