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India's Covid-19 challenge

Is the Modi government losing the battle against the coronavirus?

India has entered a dangerous new phase of the pandemic. The country’s infection rate is the third-highest in the world. It also has the fourth-highest death toll. Testing is a shambles, and infections are moving into rural areas where healthcare is sorely lacking. Late in March, all of India's 1.3 billion people were told to stay at home while the government bought itself time to prepare for the pandemic. But instead of confining people where they were, the lockdown resulted in one of the biggest peace time migrations of people. Instead of helping to defeat the virus, it has created economic hardship for many. So why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi act so fast and can India now get the virus under control and the economy back on track? Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is still popular with many Indians, but his critics say he's using the coronavirus as a cover for the consolidation of power. Are they right? And will it accelerate a Hindu nationalist vision for the country that risks more religious unrest? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of commentators.

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Sat 22 Aug 2020 13:06GMT

Contributors

Rana Ayyub - Indian investigative journalist and author based in Mumbai 

Jay Panda - National Vice President and spokesman of India’s governing BJP party 

Indrajit Roy – Senior Lecturer of politics specialising on India, University of York  

ShankkarÌý´¡¾±²â²¹°ù - Political economy analyst, columnist and author  

Also featuring 

Ramanan Laxminarayan -  Founder and Director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), Delhi, India 

Ashok Malik - Policy Adviser, Ministry of External Affairs, India 

Picture

Millions of migrant workers and the poor lost their livelihoods during the lockdown. Credit: Getty Images 

Broadcasts

  • Fri 21 Aug 2020 09:06GMT
  • Fri 21 Aug 2020 23:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Aug 2020 03:06GMT
  • Sat 22 Aug 2020 13:06GMT

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