I: COVID-19 pandemic and the politics of risk: Perspectives on science, state and society in India

Health behaviour of the people is said to be shaped by market forces, scientific or religious institutions or the state. It is pertinent to examine the dominant institutions that shape health cultures in any society, at any given point in time. While public health has not been a priority for the Indian state, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unmistakable opportunity for state regulation. It is the argument of this article that the state has been central to the framing of the COVID-19 pandemic and the identification of relevant interventions, such that the borderline between the political and medical is blurred. The influence of these institutional decisions on the health behaviour of the people indicates that compliant health behaviour is a symbolic resource for the state in societies like India, irrespective of whether the government actually delivers on its health care delivery.