Is Truth-telling Self-defeating?

A shattering dip in the first quarter in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) has led to rounds of intense debate the moment the data were announced by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. While the economic adviser to the Government of India accepted the dip in the GDP, he also expected a V-curve recovery in the GDP. Contrary to this kind of optimism, however, run the experts’ arguments that suggest that it is going to be a slow recovery rather than a stiff one, as suggested by the adviser. Given the uncertainty of the pandemic and its corresponding impact on the opening up of the economy, unfortunately, it is going to be a slow recovery.

The consequence of the decreasing GDP, as the first editorial in this issue points out, lies in the intensification of unemployment and falling levels of consumption. The editorial also brings out the less-discussed inadequacy of the data that have been brought out by the concerned ministry. However, the government and its supporters do not seem to look at their own limits as the source that would help the former establish its own credibility. The limits are stark, particularly in terms of a more thoughtfully confident response to the economic challenges that have been rendered more archaic by the eruption of COVID-19.