Speaking to NDTV on a range of topics, Chief Economic Adviser Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian strongly defended the lockdown, on a day former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said it had been a failure. Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian told NDTV, we must look at the other side of the argument, what if we hadn't had the lockdown, "we may have had about 70,000 deaths and lakhs of cases." Dr Subramanian also said his forecast was not the same of the RBI governor for negative growth in FY 21, adding that much of this is now crystal ball gazing. Asked whether the government was considering suggestions made by former CEA Raghuram Rajan and Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of cash transfers, the CEA said no, pointing out that data showed how deposits in accounts set up for the poor, had actually gone up.
