INDIA’S HANDLING OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS: COULD A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH OVERCOME SYSTEMATIC INADEQUACIES?

Abstract

Covid-19 exposed the fragility and inadequacies in India’s health care system, especially in its public health services. The sudden lockdown imposed during the first wave of the virus severely impacted the livelihoods of millions of migrant workers. Then, in spite of warnings about an impending second wave of infection, the government’s failure to prepare the health infrastructure, together with delays in vaccine distribution, cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Unlike the first wave of infection, the second wave impacted rural India very badly. Taking into consideration the existing social hierarchies and inequalities, it was marginalised groups of the population who bore the brunt of the pandemic. This article analyses the failures of the Indian government in handling the Covid-19 crisis, especially during the second wave, and concludes by suggesting ways in which the state needs to intervene to avert disasters of this kind in the future. It argues for the adoption of a ‘rights-based’ approach to public health on the grounds that successive governments have not been properly held to account for their long-term failures to address the issue.