India should put in large enough stimulus package to revive demand: Abhijit Banerjee
New Delhi: India should come out with a large enough stimulus package to revive demand, Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee said on Tuesday, asserting that putting cash in the hands of people would be the best way to boost the economy post lockdown.
Banerjee, while talking to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi through video-conferencing, suggested giving money into the hands of the bottom 60 per cent population to help revive demand.
He was deliberating on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with Gandhi as part of a series of dialogues broadcast on Congress' social media handles.
Banerjee said it was important for India to announce a large enough stimulus package to deal with the crisis on the lines of what the US, Japan and the Europe are doing.
"We really haven't decided on a large enough stimulus package. We are still talking about 1% of GDP. The United States has gone for 10% of GDP," the noted economist said.
"We have done one thing that I think is wise, which is to kind of put a moratorium on debt payments. We could do more than that. We could even say that the debt payments for this quarter will be cancelled and will be taken care of by the government," he said.
To Gandhi's question as to whether some form of the Congress-proposed NYAY scheme or direct cash transfer to people was the need of the hour, Benerjee answered in the affirmative saying it should not be limited just to the poorest.
"I would say bottom 60% of the population, we give them some money, nothing bad will happen in my view. If we gave them money, well some of them might not need it. Fine they'll spend it. If they spend it, it would have a stimulus effect," he said.
Banerjee also suggested that the government should hand out temporary ration cards to people to deal with the problem of food distribution.
He said another concern looking ahead post-COVID-19 and is a chain of bankruptcies.
"Maybe writing off a lot of debt is the way to go," he suggested.
The other concern, the noted economist said, is the demand shortfall. "Getting some cash into the hands of the population is the best way to kick start the economy," he said.
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At least 16 dead in strikes as Chernobyl anniversary highlights nuclear risks of Russia-Ukraine war
Kyiv (AP): At least 16 people have been killed in strikes over the weekend across Ukraine, Russian-occupied territory and Russia, local authorities said, as the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster prompted fresh warnings about the risks posed by attacks near the plant during Russia's more than four-year invasion of its neighbour.
The death toll from Russian drone and missile strikes on the city of Dnipro rose to nine, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said Sunday.
One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol, in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-installed authorities said Sunday. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal, and has used it as a staging and supply point during the war.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine's Luhansk region — of which Russia earlier this month said it had taken full control, a claim denied by Ukraine — said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike on a village, after reporting two people were killed in the early hours of Saturday.
Ukraine did not comment on either attack, which could not be independently verified by The Associated Press.
The latest strikes came after a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod border region, according to local authorities.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine's General Staff said Sunday. The strikes sparked fires at the facility, which processes 15 million tons of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military. Russia did not immediately comment.
Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones, which can reach targets some 1,500 kilometres inside Russia. It has used them recently against Russian oil facilities as Moscow looks to boost its exports after the Trump administration gave it a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply constraints.
Kyiv officials complain that Russia will use the additional revenue on new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to warn that Russian attacks risk repeating history.
“Through its war, Russia is once again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster — Russian-Iranian Shaheds regularly fly over the plant, and one of them struck the confinement last year,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks,” he said.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, echoed those concerns during a visit to Kyiv, saying repairs to the plant's damaged outer protective shell must begin immediately. IAEA assessments show the damage sustained after a strike last year has already compromised a key safety function of the structure, he said, warning that years of inaction could heighten danger to the original sarcophagus beneath it.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repairs would require at least 500 million euros (USD 586 million).
Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone struck the outer shell of the plant's New Safe Confinement structure — a USD 2.1 billion archlike enclosure completed in 2019 over the remains of Reactor No 4 — in February 2025. Moscow denied targeting the plant, alleging Kyiv staged the attack.
