Need 65,000 Crore To Help Poor in India – Raghuram Rajan

Renowned economist and RBI’s former Governor Raghuram Rajan stated that around Rs 65,000 crore will be needed to feed the poor in India whose livelihood is hit hard by the imposed lockdown.

This was in his response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s question, “How much money will be required to help the poor. Kitna paisa lagega.” In the interaction between Raghuram Rajan and Rahul Gandhi, the former opined that the prolonged lockdown would be a huge burden to the nation as it would not be sustainable for the country’s economy.

He said it’s not possible to provide food for so many for so long if the lockdown continues. Rajan opined that India needs to open up in a measured way but as fast as possible.

“We need to be cleverer in lifting the lockdown. We need to open up in a measured way as India does not have capacity to feed people for long. We have to manage the reopening so when there are cases we isolate them,” Rajan told Rahul Gandhi.

Currently working as the Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Raghuram Rajan was appointed as the RBI Governor by then Congress government in 2013 for a period of 3 years. However, the Modi government which came in 2014 hasn’t offered him to continue for the second term as RBI Governor which made him leave the office after his tenure.

Raghuram Rajan’s full interview with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was 27-minute-long where the duo discussed the prevailing conditions. Interestingly, Rajan too posted a question to Rahul Gandhi on how he compares the response in India and the US. T

o this, Rahul replied back saying that he observed a greater inequality in India and that’s the big difference between the two nations. He was seen saying that social change is must and also said different states need different plans, solutions since they have different issues and added that one blanket solution wouldn’t be sufficient.