Uday Kotak on why coronavirus lockdown is like Abhimanyu’s Chakravyuh

Kotak likened India’s lockdown situation to Abhimanyu's Chakravyuh, saying it would have to be gradual and calibrated

Moneycontrol News

May 14, 2020 / 12:46 IST

Uday Kotak

Uday Kotak has likened India’s lockdown situation due to the coronavirus pandemic to Abhimanyu's Chakravyuh – seeing as Abhimanyu from the Mahabharata despite being trained in warfare and breaking into the Chakravyuh, did not know how to escape.

"It is easy to get into the lockdown, but getting out is a more complicated process," the Kotak Mahindra CEO said. He added that India would have to exit the lockdown in a “gradual and calibrated manner,” Business Today reported.

Kotak acknowledged that emerging from the lockdown would be a struggle as chances of infections rising would be high, but the exponential economic cost of the lockdown is a reality. He added that the science problem would have to be dealt with in the real world economy.

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On the Rs 20 lakh crore package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and outlined by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in multiple tranches, Kotak said: “I would like to see the break-up… have no doubt a reasonable portion will go to those bottom of the pyramid and MSMEs.”

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

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