After nearly 50 days of one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns to combat Covid-19, during which the Indian economy went into freefall,...
After nearly 50 days of one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns to combat Covid-19, during which the Indian economy went into freefall, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an economic package that would put the country back on its feet and make it self-reliant.
For Modi’s most ardent fans, the narrative logic that followed seemed to make sense: at the 20th minute of the 20th hour of the day, Modi announced that his government would offer up an economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore. It was, he declared, “20 lakh crore for 2020”.
Exactly 20 minutes into the address.... whatsapp university swung into action. pic.twitter.com/W247iAf1K7
— SamSays (@samjawed65) May 13, 2020
However, Modi offered no details of the economic package in his speech. He left it to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to confoundingly provide information through “tranches of announcements” spread over several days.
There was no explanation given for why the announcements couldn’t be made in one day, or why Sitharaman told reporters on the first day that they would have to wait until the very last announcement to get an accounting of how the government will be funding a Rs 20 lakh crore package.
After two days of announcements from the finance minister, it seems clear...
