A disaster, yes. But not of natural causes.

India has had a total of 33,062 cases of coronavirus, with 1,079 deaths, which is minuscule considering a population of 1.3 billion people, compared to 1,064,572 cases with 61,669 deaths in the US with a population of 330 million. The success has been attributed to the severe lockdown declared suddenly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 March and then, just before the lockdown was to end on 15 April he extended it for a further 19 days till 3 May. Whether it will be extended further depends on Modi's wishes. "India could see more deaths due to hunger than from the pandemic if it continues to remain in lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19, according to Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy." "Murthy said India sees over 9 million deaths due to various reasons, of which a quarter are due to pollution, since the country is one of the most polluted in the world." So 1,000 deaths are nothing. Millions of internal migrants, mainly daily-wage laborers, were suddenly trapped far away from their villages with no earnings. "A 12-year-old girl died while making a 150-kilometer trip on foot from a village in Telangana to her native Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, officials here said on Monday." She tested negative for the virus. The government is convinced it was right. "Forget caution, India should rapidly ease the Covid shutdown to revive the economy," wrote SA Aiyar. "Otherwise it may suffer the worst of both worlds -- economic collapse without checking the virus." "If lives are priceless, they're worth saving at any cost -- that's the current mantra," wrote Chetan Bhagat. "Except, we Indians have never really applied this principle when it comes to saving lives from causes other than Covid-19." "India is on the cliff's edge of an imminent downgrade by Moody's and an outlook change by Fitch to negative in the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak and lockdowns that have derailed fiscal discipline and are biting into growth, said Japan headquartered Nomura in a research note." State governments are suffering even more as they see a complete collapse in revenue generation, wrote Vivek Kaul. Since people are stuck at home taxes from fuel, air turbine fuel, stamp duty from sale of real estate, registration of properties, registration of new cars have stopped completely or have been severely reduced. Had home delivery of alcohol been allowed, it would offer some respite because "the revenue generated by alcohol funds nearly one-fifth of the budget of most state governments". But Modi will not allow it. States are having to beg Modi for funds to pay salaries and provide assistance for all those who have suddenly been rendered penniless. What gives Modi the right to dictate to states and to completely suppress human rights of citizens? He has cloaked himself in the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to get absolute power over the nation. A disaster manufactured by him.