Hundreds of migrant workers have already lost their lives and the latest data on GDP numbers also does not look promising. 

Indian industrialists are now divided in two sects with one hailing the government for its lockdown move while the other one unabashedly criticising it for aggravating the slowdown. Joining the former sect is billionaire Gautam Adani who recently appreciated the government for averting an unmitigated disaster by acting out early on the coronavirus crisis. The chairman of infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group also said that the government prevented a disaster which would have had an impact on global scale and took decisions in opportune time. On the other hand are industrialists such as Rajiv Bajaj who have been vocal about how the government flattened the wrong curve i.e, economy by imposing the lockdown, Rajiv Bajaj told Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in one of the latter’s series of conversations on coronavirus and its impact on Indian economy.

“What we must realise is that there are no absolute right or wrong ideas. What is required during an unprecedented crisis like COVID-19, is a government that is willing to make decisions based on best available information at a given point of time and constantly adapting as new information becomes available. For this, the Indian Government and bureaucracy must be complimented,” Gautam Adani said in the Chairman’s message section of Adani Enterprises’ annual report released on Wednesday. While Gautam Adani also acknowledged that businesses have been impacted immensely due to coronavirus and the country is also dealing with the migrant worker crisis, he added that the consequences of the unknown alternates would be far grimmer.

Nonetheless, criticism has also poured for the government from various economists and commentators for the haphazard manner in which the lockdown was imposed and how it had an unprecedented impact on the most vulnerable sections of the society despite the government also announcing an economic relief package of Rs 21 lakh crore. Hundreds of migrant workers have already lost their lives and the latest data on GDP numbers also does not look promising.