[ti:2020 Brought India Recession] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.56]The year 2020 brought India its most serious economic [00:07.44]and security issues in many years. [00:12.16]The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the country into a recession. [00:19.04]India ordered one of the world's most severe lockdowns in March, [00:25.24]when it had just a few hundred coronavirus cases. [00:31.32]But when the country started opening up, [00:34.52]the virus began to spread quickly. [00:39.24]By the end of the year, India was the second-worst hit nation, [00:45.12]with nearly 10 million COVID-19 cases. [00:50.92]Millions of people lost jobs and hundreds of small businesses closed. [00:58.68]But experts warned that the economic problems [01:02.44]went deeper than the health crisis. [01:06.88]The first evidence of this came in April when India witnessed [01:12.84]a never-before-seen exodus of migrant laborers. [01:19.92]Having lost jobs in cities, millions walked [01:24.40]hundreds of kilometers to their villages when all transport was halted. [01:31.76]India has been the worst hit among large economies [01:36.92]because nearly 90 percent of its workers survive on its informal sector. [01:45.88]The economy is expected to fall by nine percent this year, [01:51.24]its worst recession in 40 years. [01:55.72]The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy [01:59.64]estimated that about 120 million jobs were lost from April to June. [02:09.08]Many jobs came back as the government began easing lockdowns to help. [02:16.76]But millions of people are still struggling to find work. [02:23.44]Among the jobless are tens of thousands of street sellers [02:28.72]whose businesses were destroyed by the pandemic. [02:33.84]Ranga Shalivan restarted his two small roadside [02:39.36]food stands in July in the city of Hyderabad. [02:45.72]For months, few people bought his food. [02:49.40]But he has seen some improvement in recent weeks. [02:56.04]It's a little better now, "but I am still making [02:59.72]only about half the money that I used to. [03:04.72]It has been very hard," he said. [03:07.68]The government has announced two stimulus bills. [03:13.64]But Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told industry leaders [03:19.80]it would not be enough to deal with the crisis caused by the pandemic. [03:26.96]Now at the end of the year, there is hope that the worst may be over [03:32.96]as India gets control of the health crisis. [03:38.84]Numbers of new COVID-19 infections are lessening. [03:45.20]And a new vaccine is expected to come within weeks. [03:51.56]Economist Arun Kumar, however, has warned that real progress [03:57.80]will be a long-term process for the world's second most populous country. [04:05.60]During the past year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also faced [04:11.92]some of his biggest challenges since taking power six years ago. [04:19.44]There was widespread protest over a new citizenship law [04:24.80]that critics say discriminates against Muslims. [04:30.32]In the Indian capital in February, communal riots killed more than 50 people. [04:39.24]Then in December, tens of thousands of farmers [04:44.40]camped on the edges of New Delhi, angered by new farming laws. [04:51.72]They worry the laws will open them to corporate abuse. [04:57.96]Experts say while the pandemic tested nations worldwide, [05:03.44]India's challenges could make the road to recovery longer and harder. [05:10.56]I'm Alice Bryant. [05:12.52]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM