Best of BS Opinion: Unemployment rate, Covid-19 lockdown, and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard opinion pieces of the day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly noted on Monday that the country will have to give importance to the economy as well. While the ongoing lockdown helped in flattening the infection curve, it has severely affected the economy. Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day talk about various aspects of the pandemic

Lives vs livelihoods is a legitimate policy choice at this stage of the game, when the infection curve is flattening, and it is clear that the time has come to lift the lockdown in more meaningful ways than what has been done so far, so that something approaching normalcy can be restored in stages, notes our lead editorial

A relaxation of the lockdown or its withdrawal can immediately repair at least some of the damage caused to livelihoods, writes Mahesh Vyas

We have already gone through an 18-month credit crunch phase, and now it will only intensify if banks are not encouraged to lend to all reasonable credit-worthy borrowers, writes Akash Prakash

When it comes to hard power, expect China – maybe not in the short term, but indeed in the medium term – to emerge from this crisis in a stronger position than the US, writes Claude Smadja

 Quote

“The country has seen two lockdowns till now, both different in certain aspects, and now we have to think of the way ahead.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi