The May 2020 issue of Thinking Aloud focuses on “COVID-19 Crisis: Economic and Social Challenges”. The first page article titled “The Political Economy of the Stimulus Package for COVID-19 Induced Economic Crisis in Bangladesh” emphasizes that the success of the stimulus package in Bangladesh depends on three things – financing, management, and monitoring. Without proper monitoring of the use and management of stimulus package funds, its purpose will be severely hampered. This requires the immediate formation of a national monitoring committee comprising representatives from government agencies, NGOs, civil society, the business community, and labour organizations. The second and third pages of this issue present three articles. The article titled “COVID-19 and New Realisms” briefly discusses some of the realities of COVID-19 – failure of the health system, upsurge in global poverty and the unemployment rate, and uncoordinated global leadership. It points out that an immediate coordinated effort is needed to save the lives of millions of citizens around. The article on “How Ready is Bangladesh to Support the Agriculture Sector amid Coronavirus?” states that, though appreciable, the mere announcement of stimulus package for the agriculture sector is not enough to save the sector from being pushed hard. The effective implementation of the stimulus will be required to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on the agriculture sector. The article titled “Domestic Violence towards Women during the COVID-19 Crisis” highlights the dimensions of domestic violence during the COVID-19 crisis and how the lack of a gendered perspective in solving the crisis is worsening the situation for survivors. The fourth page writes about the SANEM Netizen Forum and the policies suggested by SANEM to combat the COVID-19 crisis.
