In childhood, we learn "opposite words", and one of such pairs was day and night. At a point of space and time on earth we either experience day or night. They never are simultaneous. So it seems that day and night are different events. We are told winters have longer nights and summers have longer days. Yes, it is correct, what is wrong with it - Nothing. Now If we see the earth from a certain distance, we can see different lengths of day and night simultaneously for infinite points of location on earth. Day and night happen together, they are not two events but the result of a small single phenomenon of sun rays falling on the earth, covering different areas day and night. The point of observation shifts and the interpretation differs. What is correct? What we learn in childhood that day and night happen at different times or what we have seen just now that day and night are simultaneous. If we see things differently our "correct knowledge" can even become ...
With all the
hustle-bustle around the world, the travels, the planning and projects, all
came to a sudden halt when Governments started to impose lockdowns and
restrictions. Industries and institutions, employers and workers, teachers and
students have to cope with a lot of change in a short period. Keeping it
brief, let's look back to see what are the lessons of this COVID pandemic.
1. Be
ready for any contingency and to be resilient
Initially, it
was thought that a lockdown of a few days would bring normalcy and for some, it
was a rest from hectic schedules but soon it came out that the abnormal
uncertainty was there to stay for a longer time. So what is the lesson now, can
we predict what will be the new contingent situation – whether it would be natural
or man-made, whether it would be medical or environmental or what. The answer
is that we cannot surely tell when and what to come but what we can learn from the COVID pandemic is that we have to make a mindset that can accommodate such
sudden situations and build the resilience with which we can face challenges in
better ways.
The
dependency on China for essential items like APIs(Active Pharmaceutical
Ingredients) and other things and the understanding that even this dependency
can be used as a weapon. The concept of weaponization of the supply chain came out
prominently. As a result, India, Japan and Australia came with SCRI(Supply
Chain Resilient Initiative) and initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat came out. What it means is
that there should be interconnectedness and interdependency and not the
dependency that can be misused.
2. the Nation States
at centre stage
With Globalisation and technology, the role of the state was becoming secondary. But the
territorial boundaries of nation-states were emboldened by the travel bans and
lockdowns due to the COVID pandemic and poor people looked at governments for
livelihood support and survival needs – PM CARES fund, vaccine nationalism,
vaccine diplomacy – are the examples. Lessons that the world learnt is that state power exists and states can still play welfare roles in times of need.
3. The
Divide and Inequality
Except for the
fact that COVID can infect every person, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, the reality is that COVID has sharpened the differences in education and
employment. While some could afford the quality online education with educated
parents others even struggled to get the internet signal in a small phone which
was available for the whole family. Similar is the case with employment, some could
do “work from home” and some were migrating to home without knowing what would
they do at home. The vicious cycle of poverty deepened.
4. Technology
Although technology was already the accelerator for the changing world, the COVID
pandemic again taught the world that science and technology can be the main
tool to face challenges and the scientific research in new fields must go on
even if the current profitability is not there. These scientific works build
the base on which sudden requirements can be accomplished.
The “One
Health” approach of WHO is about we have to look at things with a holistic
view. We cannot separate animals, humans, soil and ecosystem health -came into the limelight although the concept of “One Health” was introduced in 2007.
5. The
value of social capital
Even if there is no specific measure to find the monetary value when a stranger helps a stranger when the aware people educate the uninformed ones with the valuable knowledge when the trust in society makes the work of Government and industries smooth but these things have value no less than monetary capital. COVID has taught us to find a helping person in ourselves, where the random truck drivers help the migrant workers, where community kitchen opens up for the needy, where a government school teacher becomes a consultant for the poor student’s family is not just her professional work but as a public servant, as a human.
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