The poor state of the Indian state Updated: Updated: February 18, 2021 01:40 IST The pandemic has revealed its chronic inability and systemic weakness to take care of the poorest citizens Share Article AAA The pandemic has revealed its chronic inability and systemic weakness to take care of the poorest citizens Two new books reveal stark weaknesses of the Indian state in serving India’s poorer citizens. The first, Locking Down the Poor: The Pandemic and India’s Moral Centre by Harsh Mander, records the plight of millions who lost incomes and shelter, and food and medical care too, in a harsh lockdown to create a sanitised cordon for better-off Indians during the pandemic. “Every system is perfectly designed to produce the results it is presently producing”, said Donella Meadows, a doyen of systems thinking. The second,