Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is interacting with noted economist and former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to discuss the economic crisis looming over India due to the ongoing lockdown and measures to tackle the problem.
Rahul Gandhi will be holding a series of such interactions with experts from India and across the world. He said, “This is the first of a series of conversations with global and Indian thought leaders.”
The interaction between Rahul Gandhi and Raghuram Rajan is being streamed on social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
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Updates on Rahul Gandhi-Raghuram Rajan conversation:
9.30 am: The interaction has now ended.
9.27 am: Rahul Gandhi asks Rajan, “What do you think of the authoritarian model?” Rajan replies, “It’s appealing to the people who are disempowered and it gives them the sense that here is a strong figure and you will be taken care of.”
9.25 am: Rahul Gandhi: The level of inequality you see in India is nowhere to be seen. You cannot compare the measures taken in the US to that in India. Our societies are very different. Caste is such a factor.
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There can’t be a blanket solution for the whole of India as we have a different society structure unlike the US.
9.20 am: Rahul Gandhi: infrastructure of division and hatred causing great damage to the society in middle of such a crisis.
Raghuram Rajan: We cannot be a house divided at times of crisis like this. Social harmony is a key infrastructure.
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9.15 am: Rajan asks Rahul Gandhi about the effectiveness of the panchayati raj system in India. Rahul Gandhi says, “It was effective once. We are moving towards more centralisation of power and northern states are more bureaucratic or DM-based.”
9.12 am: Rahul Gandhi asks Raghuram Rajan: Will there be a strategic benefit for India post-Covid-19? Rajan says, “There are ways countries can take advantage of the situation. There will be rethinking. In this situation India can find opportunities for Its industry.”
9.10 am: Rahul Gandhi asks Rajan how much will India need to help its poor population. Rajan says, “India will need a budget of Rs 65,000 crore to help the poor. India should do this.”
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9.06 am: India’s testing rate is nowehere close to the US, which now has the highest number of coronavirus cases. Our testing needs to go up.
9.05 am: Raghuram Rajan says the lockdown cannot go on forever, the government must plan an exit and manage it well.
9 am: Rahul Gandhi is holding a live interaction with Raghuram Rajan.
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8.40 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has planned a series of interaction with Indian and global thought leaders on ways to tackle the coronavirus crisis. In the first interaction, Rahul Gandhi will discuss the economic aspect of the coronavirus crisis with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan.
8.30 am: During his conversation with Raghuram Rajan, Rahul Gandhi will ask ways and means on how to revive the Indian economy that is currently looking downwards with the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Apart from Rajan, Rahul Gandhi will also be having dialogues with health experts on how to deal with the pandemic, besides talking to experts in different fields on the effect of the novel coronavirus.
With billions of people across the world and the entire population in India being asked to stay at home over fears of the spread of coronavirus, economies across the world have come to a screeching halt.
The Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday slashed India’s growth forecast to 0.2% for the 2020 calendar year from the earlier projection of 2.5% released in March.
Moody’s in its Global Macro Outlook 2020-21 projected that all G-20 advanced economies would contract by 5.8% in 2020.
On the other hand, US economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate last quarter as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country and began triggering a recession that will end the longest expansion on record.