Raghuram Rajan to Rahul Gandhi: India needs Rs 65,000 cr to help poor amid COVID-19 crisis

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India needs Rs 65,000 crore to help poor people during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and considering its total GDP, it can afford to do that, said former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan in conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on April 30.

Rajan said that incidents like coronavirus pandemic rarely has any positive outcome for countries. But there are ways the countries can take its advantage. For India, it gives the opportunity to have its voice heard in the global economy.

He further talked about managing the reopening of the country after the lockdown and insisted that India needs to test more people for COVID-19.

"I don't think we have to aim for 100 percent success that is zero cases when we open up. That's unachievable. What we have to do is - manage the reopening so that when there are cases, we isolate them," Rajan said.

India needs to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown and open up its economy in a "measured way" soon as it does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long, he said.

Rajan also asserted that India cannot afford to be a divided house especially in times when "challenges are so big".

The video conference with Raghuram Rajan is part of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi first of a series of dialogues with experts on economy and health.

Gandhi will also be later having dialogues with health experts on how to deal with the pandemic, besides talking to experts in different fields on the effect of the novel coronavirus, according to Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.