Best of BS Opinion: Coronavirus complexity, structural reforms, and more

Here's a selection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day

Crowds of migrant workers in Mumbai defying the extended lockdown and demanding transport home belied Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s self-congratulatory speech on managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Those disturbing visuals when added to those showing families making the long treks back to their villages and reports of police brutality urgently call for a reorientation of political leadership and the future of economic reform. What shape should these policies take? Opinion writers offer their suggestions. Kanika Datta sums up the views.

Parthasarathi Shome suggests that the time has come to set economic growth aside and focus on redistributive programmes. He offers a template for financing them here. Read here

T T Mohan Ram explains here why the government’s preferred course of calibrating the exit and the stimulus is our best bet. Read here

As the world searches for alternative manufacturing bases to China, India’s opportunity lies in scrapping the old rulebooks that hamper private initiative, says BJP’s national spokesperson for economic affairs, Gopal Agarwal. Read it here

The top edit explains why the relative growth of Covid-19 cases in India, which have multiplied 19-fold in 20 days from March 25 to April 13, belies the prime minister’s claims of success with the first phase of the lockdown. Read it here.

The dire forecasts of economic growth by a host of multilateral institutions highlight the fact that a comprehensive economic plan – not a piecemeal relief package – from the government is overdue, says the second edit. Read it here

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They don’t want food or shelter, they want to go back home

Aaditya Thackeray, Maharashtra environment minister on migrant workers crowding Bandra station to demand transport out of the city