India's War On Corona

While India locks itself down and ups its medical measures to stop the community outbreak of Covid-19, it also has to tackle a series of challenges related to policy and economy

- R. Prasannan

The good news is: there is food for all, enough and more. Our godowns can beat several months of lockdown. Together, 140 crore Indians eat 214 lakh tonnes of grain a year— as rotis, rice, biscuits, noodles, poha, idlis or whatever—and our warehouses have 565 lakh tonnes. If together 140 crore Indians can prevent the coronavirus from reaching our paddies and fields through community transmission, our farmers can safely walk to their fields to harvest a bumper this season which, by early estimates, should yield about 2.9 crore tonnes.

Not just roti and rice, there will be dal, too. Pulses are in plenty. The season is yielding 2.3 crore tonnes, which is 27.6 lakh tonnes more than in any year since 2015. And, oil to cook these. Oilseeds production is estimated to be 26.7 lakh tonnes more this year, and sugar 40.7 lakh tonnes more. So with most other food.

The challenge is how to get this food from the godowns to the locked-down markets. A few lakh among the 140 crore will have to venture out, taking the risk of being bitten by the virus, and move this grain from the godowns into our kitchens—loaders, drivers, managers, mandi merchants, book-keepers, grocers and shop boys. To keep them going, and to keep the rest of the 140 crore Indians staying home alive, there will have to be power distributors, telecom engineers and water suppliers. To ensure that the sick among them are treated, there will have to be nurses, doctors, paramedics and hospital managers. And to ensure that all these are running well, there will be another few lakh of the constabulary, bank clerks and pay cheque writers, all of whom will have to stay alive and be healthy. Even during a three-week lockdown, several millions will have to venture out, risking infection.