DISTRESS SIGNALS

THE PANDEMIC RESULTED IN DEPLETED SAVINGS, SLASHED INCOMES AND JOB LOSSES LEADING TO ECONOMIC DISTRESS AND WIDESPREAD DISAPPOINTMENT WITH THE CENTRE’S MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY

- SHWWETA PUNJ & M.G. ARUN

Dali Rani Das, 48, works as a cook in South Delhi. Before the pandemic, she and her husband together earned about Rs 30,000 a month, enough to rent a small room in Chirag Delhi and pay for their son’s college education. She was, in fact, saving up to buy a laptop for her son. Now, the family’s income has nearly halved. Her husband, who drove a school bus, has been without pay for over a year. Although they have been receiving subsidized food rations, Das says paying rent and meeting basic expenses has been difficult.

Das is one of the millions of Indians facing severe economic hardship, including job losses and shrunken incomes, because of the pandemic. Many believe the government is also to blame—since August 2020, the India today's Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll has shown a sharp decline in Indians’ confidence in the Modi government’s handling of the economy. In August 2019, about 71 per cent of the respondents had rated the NDA government’s handling of the economy as outstanding or good; two years on, only 47 per cent rated it so. Moreover, 20 per cent rated the government’s handling as poor or very poor, double the 10 per cent who did so in January 2021. The slump in confidence is notable—in August last year, optimism on the handling of the economy was at a high of 72 per cent.