India and the Pandemic

The First Year
A collection of 24 essays on how India dealt with Covid-19 in 2020, published by Orient BlackSwan. The essays, with a detailed Introduction, cover the history of pandemics, the early stages, the lockdown, the law, impact on economy & society, and the future.
January 28, 2021

In the past year, the novel coronavirus Covid-19 has affected every single part of the world. Over 1.5 million people have died; the global economy has contracted the deepest since the Second World War; and the gains over the decades in poverty eradication may have been erased. Amidst this, how did India fare in coping with Covid-19 in 2020? 

India and the Pandemic looks back at the historical, social, cultural, economic and political aspects of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. The 24 essays in this volume, written by astute political and social commentators, offer rich insights into the impact of the pandemic, and the response of state and society. The essays tell us what we should have done early on, and what we should have done differently in dealing with this health and humanitarian disaster. They place the current pandemic within the broader history of infectious diseases. They provide valuable lessons for the future, telling us how we should think of organising human society differently if we are to prevent future pandemics. 

Written in 2020, these incisive essays offer a real-time window into the spread of the novel coronavirus disease in India. They make for a thought-provoking read for anyone interested in what happened during the first year of the pandemic.

The volume has an extensive and new Introduction written for the volume 

Section I — Early Stages of Covid-19 in India

Section II — Dealing with Pandemics in India’s History

Section III — Covid-19: The Initial Impact

Section IV — The Law, the Judiciary and Covid-19

Section V — The Lockdown and After

Section VI — Impact on the Economy

Section VII — Impact on Society

Section VIII — The Future

Available online on these pages at:

1. Orient BlackSwan

2. Amazon

3. Flipkart

4. Kindle Edition

 

please wait...
This article was last updated on March 11, 2021
The India Forum

The India Forum welcomes your comments on this article for the Forum/Letters section.
Write to: editor@theindiaforum.in

Read Also
State-sponsored health insurance schemes are growing by leaps and bounds in India. Ensuring that they serve the public interest rather than private profit is a major challenge. Insurance apart, what India needs is a radical expansion and improvement of public health services.
Published On: February 18, 2025 Updated On: February 21, 2025
Given the high degree of informality in the Indian economy, national employment surveys have drawn up complex instructions to capture all those who work. This however also comes with the risk that misinterpretation can lead to a varying impact from region to region, and also result in errors.
Published On: February 10, 2025 Updated On: February 11, 2025
Since it was created in 2015, NITI Aayog has neither been able to offer fresh thinking on the economy nor has it functioned as a a mediator between the centre and the states. A federal institution facilitating political-level cooperation is crucial to respond to the demands of a modern economy.
Published On: February 06, 2025 Updated On: February 07, 2025

Sign up for The India Forum Updates

Get new articles delivered to your inbox every Friday as soon as fresh articles are published.

 
 

The India Forum seeks your support...

You can now also use the QR code in the link above to make a quick one-time donation via UPI.

Donations enjoy tax exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.