Skip to main content

Post-Covid-19 human survival 'critically depends' on new political, economic models

By ID Khajuria, Sandeep Pandey*
As the humans stayed inside for close to a month and a half since the announcement of lockdown in the wake of coronavirus threat, most people observe that life seems to have start breathing in nature. The air is fresh, trees look greener and rivers are cleaner. It is a further and direct proof that human interference is responsible for environmental degradation.
Important message in this is that man is not the master of nature. Neither can he or should he ever try to conquer it. In fact, survival of human beings is dependent on nature. The nature provides sustenance to them and therefore controls their life as well as death. Human being is merely one small part of complex web of life and non-living matter.
Numerous interactions are taking place which maintain the balance required to support human life. Nature is a wonderful example of unity in diversity concept. That seems to be the ultimate truth emerging from the present crisis. Human beings should learn to respect unity in diversity in larger universe as well as within their species. Their lifestyle should be in harmony with nature and not which disturbs the delicate balance.
This implies that any activity beyond fulfilling the needs of human beings which involves large scale, larger than what would be required for fulfilling the need of a community, would interfere with the natural systems and as an extension becomes a cause of problem for human beings too.
The great rush of life, mostly driven by motives for material gains and which seemed to be inevitable till the other day, has come to a screeching halt. People who traveled by air and would have thought train journeys to be time consuming are not even stepping out of their homes.
Money matters but is of no use if you can't buy things which you would like to buy from the market. Realisation has also dawned that we don't really need all that much money or resources for survival.
Coronavirus threat has been a great equaliser. It has put all human being on par as it doesn't discriminate. Rich and powerful are feeling as vulnerable as the poor. There is a message in this. All human created categories of identity and especially any associated hierarchies have no meaning. Conflicts and triumphs in those have no value. One human being may conquer another but both will have to surrender before the deadly virus.
Hence equality of human beings and equal rights for everybody are nature ordained principles. Everybody has an equal right to survive is amply clear and accepted now as never before. Hence, democracy is the only way we can function in which everybody has equal right to participate.
Equality of human beings implies that this earth and its abundant natural resources are meant to be shared by everybody in an equitable manner. Anybody, especially private corporations, cannot be allowed to exploit natural resources to maximise their profits. This model of development which fuels growth has come to naught. It is not sustainable in the wake of challenges like coronavirus threat.
Animosities, rivalries must be given up, no-war pacts should be signed through UN, stockpiles of arms, armies should be dismantled
Now nobody is bothered about Gross Domestic Growth rates. Everybody is worried about their survival. In the period of lockdown human beings have learned to live with fulfilment of bare basic needs. The lesson is, a consumerist model will have to pave the way for a need based fulfilment model. Profit maximisation will have to be replaced by enough for survival.
Cooperation will be the guiding human spirit not competition. If people had not come forward to provide relief to their fellow human beings, the lockdown period would have witnessed more misery. Hence compassion should guide all policy making, not realpolitik or economics.
The politics of confrontation and hatred among different identities -- cultural, ethnic, religious, nationalities -- do not have any meaning and should be rejected in favour of camaraderie and solidarity. 
Militarily the most powerful nation on earth, United States, saw the most number of deaths due to coronavirus. A country which would have never dreamt of so many casualties in any war was helpless against the virus. Of what use is the huge defence expenditure if country's cannot save their own citizens? The most powerful of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons are ineffective to save people from a virus.
Clearly not preparedness for war but willingness to work with each other is what will save humanity. Hence all animosities and rivalries must be given up, no-war pacts should be signed, if possible collectively through the United Nations, and stockpiles of arms and armies should be dismantled.
As identities of nations become less contested, the idea of nationalism will concede to that of internationalism. UN should become the important form for global governance for countries with democratic participation.
Security Council and veto power will have no need in the new global order and every country and communities not necessarily identifying themselves with any country or which could be living in more than one country should have equal vote in UN. 
Various bodies like the World Health Organisation, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund (IMF), UN International Children's Fund will have to be fully equipped to handle natural and social challenges. In the present pandemic crisis when governments are expected to increase spending for social welfare why are Word Bank and IMF or various UN agencies behind?
In summary, just as a new economic model of development based not on profit maximisation but fulfillment of basic needs of all humans will have to be evolved similarly a new model of political governance based not on competition and one-upmanship but on co-existence and working together will have to emerge. Human survival critically depends on such a transformation.
---
*ID Khajuria is with Internationalist Democratic Platform, Sandeep Pandey is Magsasay award winning social activist and is with Socialist Party (India)

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.