More Than Anything Else, Modi Knows How to Seize the Moment

'The much touted Rs. 20 lakh crore relief package announced by Prime Minister Modi and detailed by the Union finance minister has turned out not to be a relief package at all. Instead of offering a fiscal stimulus, she has urged enterprises of all sizes to borrow from banks to tide over the immediate crisis. To millions of poor people staring at prolonged starvation, all she has offered is an additional allocation for the MNREGA programme. And then, somewhat bizarrely, she has chosen this moment to display an entire wish list of long-term structural changes to allow greater participation of Indian and foreign corporate houses in sectors of the economy from which they had been hitherto excluded. Even though the usual cheerleaders are doing their best to present the prime minister and his team as farsighted and decisive, the package seems to have satisfied almost nobody. So what was the thinking behind it?...'

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