In The Hot Seat

As Maharashtra becomes the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray faces a severe test of leadership. Will he be equal to the task or will an over-reliance on bureaucrats prove his undoing?

- Kiran D. Tare, M.g. Arun & Aditi Pai

Even as Unlock 1.0 gets under way, there is one state that can either uplift India or set it back severely in the tough battle against COVID-19: Maharashtra. India’s richest and second most populous state accounts for 15 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and has a 30 per cent share in its direct taxes. Politically, it is the second most important state after Uttar Pradesh, sending 48 members to the Lok Sabha. But, with 72,300 infections and 2,465 deaths till June 2, the state now has the dubious distinction of topping the list of the country’s COVID-19 hotspots, accounting for 34.8 per cent of the nation’s total of 207,615 cases and 42 per cent of the 5,815 total deaths. Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has emerged as the epicentre of the pandemic in the state, registering 43,492 cases and 1,417 deaths as on June 2. If there is an exponential rise in Covid cases in the next couple of weeks, it could have catastrophic human and economic consequences not just for the state but for the nation as well. Maharashtra has now become a crucial test case of India’s ability to handle the COVID-19 outbreak.