Abstract

Public health policies and pandemic preparedness became central to India’s governance and development agenda between 2018 and 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) exposed systemic weaknesses in health infrastructure coordination mechanisms and preparedness strategies while also catalyzing critical reforms. India introduced a series of public health policies addressing healthcare financing digital health vaccination epidemiological surveillance and community health systems. This paper explores how India responded to the challenges posed by pandemics during this period analyzing both the successes and limitations of public health reforms. The role of community participation digital health platforms and international collaboration in strengthening preparedness is highlighted along with structural barriers such as rural-urban health disparities workforce shortages and resource constraints. The paper concludes that pandemic preparedness requires a sustained multisectoral and decentralize