As we know, India has a high population density combined with poor hygiene standards and creaky health infrastructure, which makes it more vulnerable to the pandemic. Recently, COVID-19 has spread over 210 countries, infecting beyond 2 million people, with more than 1,37,000 fatalities. The only remedy which is available with government till now is to keep the country under lockdown condition which gives rise to an alarming question: “whether to extend the lockdown and divert resources to save lives? Or, should the attempt be to end the lockdown, revive the economy and protect livelihood of the people? “There are no easy answers…
Questions hang heavy in the air; far too many with few or no answers coming from anywhere. The most pressing question is how long the lock- down would last. Even as economists warn that a longer lockdown would cause even more havoc to employment, economy and livelihood, the government’s dilemma is whether to save lives or livelihood in the short run.

By looking into the present scenario, Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman of NitiAayog gave a much convincing statement that “India should improve its disaster management preparation and ensure the availability of resources so that the country doesn’t have to choose between ‘lives and livelihood’ during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic”. He also addressed a global conference organized by Bennett University titled “COVID 19 – Fallout & Future” where he said “I hope we will not have to continuously try this tradeoff or balance between saving lives and livelihoods”. So, by far we can understand that the COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global crisis of present time and the greatest global humanitarian challenge the world has faced ever. As government is taking measures to slow down the spread of the virus, it has been spreading widely, and the number of cases is rising on daily basis. India has moved quickly, implementing a proactive, nationwide lockdown, with the goal of flattening the curve and using the time to plan and resource responses adequately.