India and the Pandemic

The First Year
A collection of 24 essays on how India dealt with Covid-19 in 2020, published by Orient BlackSwan. The essays, with a detailed Introduction, cover the history of pandemics, the early stages, the lockdown, the law, impact on economy & society, and the future.
March 08, 2022

In the past year, the novel coronavirus Covid-19 has affected every single part of the world. Over 1.5 million people have died; the global economy has contracted the deepest since the Second World War; and the gains over the decades in poverty eradication may have been erased. Amidst this, how did India fare in coping with Covid-19 in 2020? 

India and the Pandemic looks back at the historical, social, cultural, economic and political aspects of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. The 24 essays in this volume, written by astute political and social commentators, offer rich insights into the impact of the pandemic, and the response of state and society. The essays tell us what we should have done early on, and what we should have done differently in dealing with this health and humanitarian disaster. They place the current pandemic within the broader history of infectious diseases. They provide valuable lessons for the future, telling us how we should think of organising human society differently if we are to prevent future pandemics. 

Written in 2020, these incisive essays offer a real-time window into the spread of the novel coronavirus disease in India. They make for a thought-provoking read for anyone interested in what happened during the first year of the pandemic.

The volume has an extensive and new Introduction written for the volume 

Section I — Early Stages of Covid-19 in India

Section II — Dealing with Pandemics in India’s History

Section III — Covid-19: The Initial Impact

Section IV — The Law, the Judiciary and Covid-19

Section V — The Lockdown and After

Section VI — Impact on the Economy

Section VII — Impact on Society

Section VIII — The Future

Available online on these pages at:

1. Orient BlackSwan

2. Amazon

3. Flipkart

4. Kindle Edition

 

The India Forum

The India Forum welcomes your comments on this article for the Forum/Letters section.
Write to: editor@theindiaforum.in

Read Also
India’s digital welfare state recasts citizenship by translating complex social identities into data categories. Driven by efficiency and targeting, this shift has entrenched opaque systems that erode rights, obscure errors & risk the subordination of citizenship to administrative convenience.
Published On: April 03, 2026
India’s free trade agreements are progressively undermining access to affordable medicines. The government must resist big pharma’s narrative that stronger IP protection drives investment and innovation, and instead heed health advocacy groups that say healthcare costs for the poor will balloon.
Published On: April 02, 2026
India’s trade deals with the EU and the US share the same goal but differ sharply in structure and implications. While Europe offers rules-based predictability, the US is transactional & conditional. For better outcomes, India must invest in deep manufacturing & reduce the cost of making products.
Published On: April 02, 2026

Sign up for The India Forum Updates

Get new articles delivered to your inbox every Friday as soon as fresh articles are published.

 
 

The India Forum seeks your support...

Donations enjoy tax exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act.

You can now also use the QR code in the link above to make a quick one-time donation via UPI.