It might have sounded exciting two days ago to propose the Swedish pathway as the ideal route for India to pursue to combat the coronavirus . But no longer so.
When it comes to Covid-19, a cut-and-paste policy from Sweden, which has a very different cultural and historical background, and mindlessly extrapolating it can be risky for India’s conditions.
To be sure, the evolving pandemic and economic shock has to be met with in an Indian way. And India’s business and industry is clamouring for resumption of activity. Yet, the Exit Plan from Lockdown emerging out of the 4-hour interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state chief ministers on Saturday has all the Indian characteristics and rests on consensus opinion.
The Swedish pathway runs like this: One, social distancing measures are not the be-all-and-end-all of the combat against coronavirus. Two, although some restrictions were in place in Sweden and many people on own accord observed general safety and social distancing measures, the authorities felt it was better to have much of the country operating
— source newsclick.in | M.K. Bhadrakumar | 13 Apr 2020