“Every action taken from now on should be on the framework of justice — health justice, food justice, education justice and others even as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that the society we have created is extremely vulnerable, and inequalities are destroying the poor,” said P. Sainath, veteran journalist and founder editor, PARI.

Speaking on “Lockdown and Rural Distress” in a programme organised online by Poovulagin Nanbargal, Mr. Sainath said, “COVID-19 turned out to be a surgeon that has provided an autopsy of our society, its neo-liberalisation policies and capitalism.”

“In the 28 years of neo-liberalism, we have created a society that is extremely vulnerable. For 28 years, we turned poor people into a much more fragile, much more vulnerable section of society,” he said.

Mr. Sainath said the coronavirus was not destroying the society, but the inequalities were. “A virus has no agency, it has no mind. It is just there. The impact of a crisis is never equal,” he said. It was a nightmare to see the socially disadvantaged people trying to access the pathetic crumbs the government was giving, he added.

Mr. Sainath said India had to be ready to face the next major challenge — food security. He condemned the Central government for diverting a large number of tonnes of food grains at this point to make hand sanitisers. Because of this, the rice eating States would be badly hit, he added.