Rahul Gandhi: That is, the sooner you come out of the lockdown, the better. A strategy will be required for this, some economic activities will have to be started for this. Otherwise money will prove to be useless.

Dr. Banerjee: How soon to get out of lockdown depends on the disease. If a lot of people are getting sick, how will the lockdown end? You are right that we have to control the pace of disease and keep an eye on it.

Rahul Gandhi: The other important thing in relation to India is the issue of food, and its scale. There are uncountable people who do not have ration cards. One argument is that whatever is full in the godowns should be given to the people, because it is the harvest season and they will be replenished by the new crop. So this needs to be proceeded with aggression.

Dr. Banerjee: Actually I wrote a paper together with Raghuram Rajan and Amartya Sen. The same thing was said in this, whoever needs it should be given a temporary ration card. Actually, the second ration card should be set aside, only the temporary ration card should be recognized. Whoever needs it gets it. Initially, renew for three months and after that if needed, and ration should be given on the basis of this. Give the ration card to anyone who comes to ask and make it the basis of benefit transfer. I think we have enough reserves, and we can run this plan for a long time. If the rabi crop has been good, then we have a lot of grains (wheat, rice). At least we can give wheat and rice. I do not know if we have sufficient quantity of lentils or not. But I think the government should also promise lentils. There should also be a system of edible oil. But yes for this we should issue temporary ration card to everyone.

Rahul Gandhi: What else should the government do in the package? We talked about small and medium industries, we talked about migrant laborers, we talked about food. Apart from this, what can be more that you think the government should do?

Dr. Banerjee: The last thing will be that we should send money to those who need machinery etc. We cannot deliver cash to people. People who have Jan Dhan accounts will get money. But many people do not have accounts. Especially migrant laborers do not have this. We have to think of a large section of the population who do not have access to all of this. In such a situation, the right step would be to give money to the state governments which reach the people through their schemes, help of NGOs can be taken in this. I think we will have to keep some money in the item whether it reaches the wrong people or goes around. But if the money is kept in hand, that is, we do not want to do anything, then there will be a big mess.

Rahul Gandhi: There is also the issue of balance between centralization and decentralization. Every state has its own problems and strengths. Kerala is handling the situation in a completely different way. Uttar Pradesh has a completely different approach. But the central government has a special role to play. But I feel some tension about both these thoughts.

Dr. Banerjee: You are absolutely right that there is tension and only the state governments cannot handle the issue of migrant laborers. It is a little strange that this front is being seen as being so bilateral. I think this is a problem. Here you do not want to decentralize because you want to share information. If this part of the population is infected, you would not want to roam around the country. I think the place where people are being boarded by the train should be tested. This is a central question and the answer lies only with the central government. For instance, tell the Uttar Pradesh government clearly that you cannot bring your workers here. That is, if the laborers are in Mumbai, then it is the problem of the Maharashtra government or the municipality of Mumbai city, and the central government cannot solve it. I think you are right. But what is your opinion on this at the moment? There seems to be no solution to this problem. But in the long run, the institutions are strong. But at the moment this is not happening which we can do.

Rahul Gandhi: I think you have to find alternatives. As much as possible decentralization, I think they can be dealt with locally, which is a good thing. The thinking should be that things which can be managed at the district level or at the state level should be separated. Yes, there are many things that no district collector can decide, such as airlines or railways etc. So I believe that major decisions should be at the national level, but decisions on local issues, such as lockdown, should be left to the discretion of the state government. The choice of the states should be important and the states should decide what they can and cannot do and when the risk falls on the states, they will be able to handle it better. But I think the current government has a different view. They want to keep things under their control. They look at things and centralize it. These are two views. I don't think any of it is wrong or right. I am in favor of decentralization. 

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