Three disparate data points can be connected to explain the Indian state-s indifference towards its citizens. One of these is the Madhya Pradesh government-s survey, which shows that only 2.7 per cent of the 7.3 lakh migrant labourers who returned to the State during the lockdown belonged to the general, or upper, caste category. This suggests that upper-caste people left the State in smaller numbers as they did not suffer from acute deprivation; or if they did indeed migrate, their financial well-being did not make them pine for home in desperation.

The second data point pertains to India-s public health spending, which is less than one per cent of its GDP, lower than Bhutan. This is why India, identified as a rising power, has a rickety health infrastructure, evident from media stories about the Coronavirus-infected having to run around in just about every city to secure a hospital bed. Their harrowing tales have aggravated the nation-s panic disorder, which initially arose from the possibility of the Coronavirus turning a seemingly routine cough into a desperate gasp for air.