That the Indian economy currently in a tizzy needs no reiteration. Several assessments, both from national and international agencies have already raised the red flag. A further telling revelation came on Tuesday through RBI’s Annual Report: 2019-20 where there is an acknowledgement that the national economy besides staring at contraction which have no precedence will take quite some time to regain the pre-Covid momentum. Besides this, for the first time perhaps an official admission that the poorest have been the maximum sufferers due to the economic ruins resulting out of lockdown(s) has also been made. Seemingly coincidental though, the SC on Wednesday while hearing a case on loan moratorium has made a general observation that there exist problems in the economy which have origin in the government's decision to impose strict lockdown(s). While questions regarding effectiveness of the measures rolled out so far as prescriptions for the ailments continue to heap, it’s the unending economic predicament of the common man that remains the core issue.

Among various symptoms of the current economic miseries, the report has been categorical about the shrinking consumption factor, a vital component in a huge consumer-centric and market-driven economy like India. This, in a way, is also an acceptance of the hard reality that people, despite having the propensity to spend are now being compelled to relinquish the habit and that has been a major reason for the current stagnation. Thinking the other way, it’s due to the prolonged recession leading to massive unemployment that has diminished the once-enviable purchasing power of the middle and lower middle class that so far had kept the economy moving. A slew of surveys across sectors have already pin-pointed how, both in urban and rural India, there has been a marked downward trend in consumption patterns. Despite being a report, its findings throw much light on what needs to be done. Government must increase its own spending first and additionally do the needful so that the common man gets money in hand. For this, there must be a reversal from its current role of ‘virtual encourager’ which it has been doing through measures such as cutting corporate taxes and extending loans to more real-term measures such as direct cash transfers. It will be hardly an overstatement that high insensitivity regarding the common man’s miseries has gripped the nation. Millions of poor, a mammoth portion of which falls in the unorganised sector continue to languish.

Meanwhile, the RGU, which has brought honour to the state recently by clinching the 2^nd position among 40 central varsities will deserve appreciation for organising a national e-FDP on the current challenges faced by the unorganised sector. Even if the policy makers continue to falter, the academic world is still responsive.