6 COMMENT

DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Tuesday
May 12, 2020

BEYOND COVID-19 TO BE PRECISE

ESTABLISHED 1948
An
An alternative model
This crisis presages the fossil fuels for industrial processes and Looking forward

Give compensatition need for an “alternative”

model, which is already
products, which cause high environ-
mentaldegradationandgreateconomic
inequality, both causing downstream
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a
lockdown to ensure “social distancing”
and this has had very serious economic
toki
kin of dead enshrined in the core
social ill-effects. These produce the
co-morbidities and lowered immunities
consequences on vast numbers of the
poor, with direct and indirect effects on

H
undreds of people have died over the past month
trying to reach their distant villages while the au-
thorities have enforced a brutal lockdown. While
74 people were killed in road and rail accidents while
principles of our which contribute to Covid-19 deaths.
Thus, for long-term results, remedying
Constitution high environmental degradation and
growing economic inequality ty will have
MAJ GEN (RETD) SG VOMBATKERE a salutary effect on mortalityty rates.
their health. As the workforce suffers,
so does the national economy. Govern-
ments are struggling to cope with the
consequences, but indications are that
att
ttemptsaredirectedatrestori ringtheear-
lier economic order, which is character-

walking back to their villages, 40 died of exh xhaustion due
to the arduous trudge back home. According to a study
by a group of independent researchers, an estimated 398
people have thus died so far trying to reach home. The
poorlyconceivedandhurriedlyimposedlockdownbythe
NarendraModigovernmenttocontainthespreadofCov-
id-19 is responsible for these deaths. The lockdown was
T
hree facts about viruses: Viruses
outnumber cellular life at least
10:1; viruses drive global biogeo-
chemical cycles, and are part of cellular
life on earth; and, some viruses are ben-
eficial, others are sources of pathogens,
andnotallviru rusesmakeyousick–asProf
Healthy society
“Health” is about how we live, and the
quality
ty of life within the society
ty in which
we live. It’s not about the absence of
disease in an individual, but about life
within the family and, along with family,
in the wider community ty. Viewed holis-
ised by inequality ty, inequityty and iniquity ty.
This is not to point at any particular
government, but at the present devel-
opment model of perpetual econom-
ic growth year-on-year. As architect
Prem Chandavarkar wrote on Medi-
um.com, “Our development model
IN PERSPECTIVE

Did he say NaMo to

announcedsuddenlyandcameintoeffectfourhourslater.
For millions of migrants working in our cities, the sud-
den lockdown proved disastrous. With the government
not giving them advance notice
about the lockdown nor making
arrangements for their orderly and
safe transport back to their villag-
es, they were left to fend for them-
selves. Within hours of the lock-
down, millions of migrants began
their gruelling trudge home. Many
were beaten up by police at state
Hundreds borders. The desperate exodus has
have died due continued over the weeks since. Ann
ever-rising number of people are
to lockdown
Vincent Racaniello, Columbia Universi-
ttyy, notes in his lecture “What is a virus?”
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which
causesCovid-19,isheretostay.Itwilladd
one more virus to the millions of viruses
to which our bodies are already host,
whetherornothumansdevelopherdim-
munity ty toit.Furt
rther,asperm rmafrostmelts
duetoglobalwarm rming,thawedvegetable
and animal matter may release ancient
viruruses,towhichmodern rn humansarenot
immune.Overtime,humansmaydevel-
op herd immunity ty to these, too.
The problem faced by humanity is
not so much about viruses per se, or
about virus-caused disease or death,
but more about their social, environ-
mental and economic effects.
tically, health concerns the individual
assumes an economy that must grow
whether or not we thrive, whereas we
need an economy that makes us thrive
whether or not it grows”.
This model exacerbates economic
inequality, heightens intra- and in-
ter-societal tensions and confl flicts, and
destroys the environment upon which
all life depends. It does not need proof
that the result is increasingly unhealthy
human societies within which life-sty
diseases are by far the biggest killers of
humans, as shown earlier. Public health
is a casualty ty of the development mod-
el, yet the talking-heads only debate
Covid-19 infection, death and vaccine,
whilegovernmentsstruggletore-estab-
lish the same development model and
NAM
AM?
Modi addressed the norm. This is also an attempt
to fill the leadership vacuum
NAM
AM summit, but to in the global order when both
tyle China and the US have exposed
read from that that their vvu
ulnerabilities. India has
he is embracing non- shown that a nation with limit-
ed capabilities can also emerge
alignment is a fallacy as a leader by outlining the con-
cerns of like-minded countries
HARSH V PANT and working with them to build
capacities in smaller states.

dying en route. The tragic death
imposition of 16 migrants, who were mowed Causes of deaths
down by a passing goods train at Deaths due to Covid-19 have crossed
Aurangabad, is just one of the many horrific incidents 284,000, and counting. However, the
InstituteforHealthMetricsandEvalua-
that could have been avoided had migrants been provid-
tion at University
ty of Washington shows
ed orderly transport before or during the lockdown. In global causes of deaths as: Cardiovas-
another incident, a 12-year-old girl of the Muria tribe died cular diseases (17.79 million), cancers
of exhaustion after walking over 100 km. Tragically, she (9.56-M), respiratory diseases (3.91-
died just 10 km from her home. There have been cases, M), lower respiratory infections (2.56-
too,ofpeopledyingbecausetheyweredeniedhealthfacil- M), dementia (2.51-M), digestive dis-
ities.Looming economicuncertainty ty andapprehensions eases (2.38-M), neonatal disorders
(1.78-M), diarrhoeal diseases (1.57-M),
drove 83 people to suicide since the lockdown. diabetes (1.37-M), liver diseases (1.32-
Allthough it is the haphazard manner in which govern- M), road injuries (1.24-M), kidney dis-
mentsattheCentreandstateshavegoneaboutenforcing ease (1.23-M), tuberculosis (1.18- M), …
thelockdownthatisresponsibleforthedifficultsituations heat & cold exposure (53,350), terror-
that culminated in the death of hundreds of people over ism (26,445), natural disaster (9,603).
the past month, authorities are distancing themselves The World Health Organisation
(WHO) shows that of the annual
from these tragedies. Railway officials have ruled out 56.9-milliondeaths worldwide, 54% are
payment of compensation to the kin of those who were due to the ‘top-10’ which are, in order
killed in the Aurangabad rail accident as the deaths did of magnitude: Ischaemic heart disease,
not happen due to technical reasons or negligence on the stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary
part of the Railways. This may be so. Still, none of these disease, lower respiratory infections,
men would have been dead had the government provid- Alzheimer’s and other dementias, can-
ed them with transport home. The government cannot cers, diabetes, road injury, diarrhoeal
diseases and tuberculosis.
absolve itself of responsibility
ty for these tragedies. Most of Bothsourcesshowthatbyfar,thema-
those who are dying due to lockdown related reasons are jorcausesofdeatharelife-sty tylediseases.
from poor families. The government must pay the kin of These are ttyypical of an era of high con-
victims financial and other compensation. sumption of all kinds, but especially of
within a healthy societyty.
The Directive Principles of State Pol-
icy in the Constitution of India require
the State to assure people justice, liber-
ty
ty and equality
ty, and promote fraternityty
among them. It is precisely about creat-
inga healthysociety ty,whichvaluessocial
qualities such as fairness, freedom, se-
curity
ty and tolerance, and clearly ranks
them above economic concerns, while
providing every individual dignified la-
bour with economic and social security ty.
In the present times, the health sec-
tor worldwide is corporatised (with the
possible exception of Cuba), and uses
yardsticks of numbers of hospital beds
or doctors per thousand population.
Japan stands first with over 13 hospital
beds and India has only 0.58. Hospi-
tals are focussed on ill-health, curing
or managing disease and treating in-
jury. They are very expensive, demand
cash up-front before admission, and
closely linked with the pharmaceutical,
bio-engineering and medical insurance
businesses. They are out of reach for
people of the lower economic sections
and, in any case, have little to do with
health except when viewed through
the narrow perspective of absence of
disease. They make little contribution
to building a healthy society
ty.
RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE
grow bigger economies (the $5 trillion
GDP by 2024 dream, for instance). This
can only make society ty more unhealthy
than it already is. When philosopher J
Krishnamurti said, “It is no measure
of health to be well adjusted to a pro-
foundly sick society”, he spoke of the
societyty of decades ago. Society ty has only
sickened more since then.
Societies worldwide need an alter-
native development model to create a
healthy society ty which, as Richard Hor-
ton noted in The Lancet, “...is much
more than a community ty in which the
causes of disease are minimised. It is
one where, at the very least, human
creativityty is free to ffllourish, individuals
have the liberty ty to be who they wish to
be ... and the spirit of all life, and not
merely human life, prospers”, and in
which, “themind is without fear and the
head is held high, ...and [society ty is] not
broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls”.
In the Indian context, the corona-
virus crisis demands an “alternative”
development model, which is already
enshrined in the core principles of the
Constitution of India. But do leaders
have the awareness and comprehen-
sion of this amidst their myopic quest
for power or pelf? f?
L
ast week, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi ad-
dressed the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) virtual
summit for the first time since
assuming office in 2014. Call-
ing Covid-19 the “most serious
crisis” humanity has faced in
decades and underlining the
need for NAM to help promote
global solidarity ty, Modi argued
that “NAM has often been the
world’s moral voice” and in or-
der “to retain this role, NAM
must remain inclusive.” Argu-
ing that Covid-19 has shown
the limitations of the existing
international system, he made
a case for a new template of glo-
balisation, based on fairness,
equalityty, and humanity ty as well
as international institutions
more representative of today’s
world in the post-Covid era.
Making a veiled reference to
Pakistan, he fl flagged the issues
of “terrorism”and “fake news”,
callingthem“deadlyviruses”at
a time when the world is busy
fighting coronavirus.
Modi had skipped the two
NAM summits during his term
so far in 2016 and 2019, making
this his first participation in the
grouping’s summitry. And this
has generated some curious re-
actions about how Modi might
Indian diplomacy during the
time of Covid-19 pandemic has
been pro-active and has tried to
shape the global discourse. To-
wards this, existing platforms
like NAM and SAARC have
been used by Modi in the same
wayinwhich hehas used newer
groupings like the G-20. In his
address at the NAM summit,
Modi showcased India’s efforts
towards global cooperation by
underlining the supply of crit-
ical drugs and medical devices
to 123 countries, including 59
members of NAM. At the re-
gional level, India was the first
nation to propose setting up of
a $10 million SAAAARC Covid-19
emergency fund to help com-
bat the pandemic in the region.
It must be disappointing for
those who hold an ideological
predisposition that a BJP gov-
ernment should have nothing
to do with NAM and also for
those who believe that Modi
has shunned NAM because of
his ideological differences with
Nehru. But clearly for Modi any
and every platform that helps
in projecting India’s leadership
capabilities at a time of a dire
global crisis is to be used prag-
matically.
This doesn’t mean that
non-alignment is back as many

A
An
nd Trum
ump promimises now be recognising the rele- ideologues in India desperate-

The jum
umping queen
vance of NAM and its impor- ly want. In fact, for a nation
tance for India. This is, howev- like India this is an infantile
Am
A mericans the Moon er, a serious misreading of why
Modi decided to address the
debate to have. Given India’s
current security ty predicament,

T
brought him aboard for some basics, far off terraces of other homes and we virtual NAM summit. NAM’s India cannot afford to be non-
he recent issuance of an executive order by US Our Great Dane, Brandy he went a step ahead, telling us to also were inundated with complaints. Once contemporary irrelevance aligned in the traditional sense
President Donald Trump authorising private, hopped from one terrace train her for dog shows. We conceded she tore clothes that were drying on the has nothing to do with Modi’s ofthetermasitwillhavetobuild
commercial uses of the Moon, Mars, meteors and within an eye’s blink we saw him teach- washing line on a neighbour’s terrace, lack of interest in NAM. The partnerships with like-minded
to another ing her jumps over many barricades on and another time she scared children grouping is increasingly irrel- countries to build its capacities.
other space bodies is a violation of the accepted idea that
our terrace. playing. evant because the world has India’ssecurityty rationaleandits
outer spaceandtheobjects in itareglobal commons. The RAMESHINDER SINGH SANDHU Initially, thetrainingseemedarduous Interestingly, post her roaming she changed dramatically from leadership ability means that
orderhasviewedallspacebodiesas“off-earthresources’’ to her as she evinced no interest, declar- returnedonherownbuthercomplaints the time it was conceived. Modi India will always need its own

which are to be used and exploited. The Trump adminis-
trationwilllookatthepossibility ty of“large-scaleeconomic
development of space”, including private lunar landers
staking out de facto ‘property ty rights’ for Americans on
the moon. US companies and individuals will be granted
theserights,whichtheycanusefordevelopingthelandor
for other purposes. The moon and other heavenly bodies
will now be pieces of real estate and mining grants, and
a President who was a properly developer would not find
anyt
ything wrong in it.
This militates against the idea that space, including
planetary systems, the oceans, the atmosphere and
even certain areas of science like genetic knowledge are
globalcommons.Theacceptedviewisthattheybelongto
everyone and should benefit mankind collectively. There
have been attempts to create a legal framework for this,
though the laws need to be developed further. The Out-
er Space Treaty ty of 1967, signed by
over 100 countries, laid down that
space exploration should be for
the benefit of humanity ty. The 1979
Moon Agreement specifically de-
claredthat the surface,sub-surface
and resources of the moon shall
not be treated as private property ty.
The US, like other space powers,
A new colonial- has not signed the treaty ty. India has
ism, this time signed it but has not ratified it. It
of outer space, has been observed that the treaty ty
is very inadequate though it was
is emerging formulated under the auspices of
the UN and tried to create an in-
ternational framework of laws to guide the use of outer
space resources.
President Trump’s order clearly says that “the United
States does not view outer space as a global commons”
and describes the Moon Agreement as a “failed attempt
at constraining free enterprise’’. The order was signed
when the world and the US are busy fighting the Cov-
id-19 pandemic. It can lead to competition among space
powers to establish their own proprietary regions or
sovereign patches on the Moon or Mars or other space
bodies. That can also lead to a free-for-all with even
private companies setting themselves up in space and
claiming ownership ofresources. A new colonialism may
be emerging, with unknown consequences.
W
e had never had a dog but the ing her a duffer, and adding he had nev- worried us and we suspended her fur- may have ideological reasons voice to project itself on the
theft of our newly bought car’s er seen an adamant beast like her. But ther training and didn’t let her go on for shunning previous NAM globalstage.AnAnddespiteIndia’s
stereo more than a decade for the handsome salary he pocketed the terrace anymore. This gave her a summits but if we know any- growing engagement with the
back galvanised us to have one. She every week, he went on and his efforts hard time and she went on scratching thing about him, it is that his US, New Delhi has shown that
was a cute little brown pup with light finally bore fruit. She jumped the way the terrace door. natural inclination is towards itisquitecapableofstandingup
golden stripes-– a female, of the Great he wanted and we admired watching Sometimes we laughed and some- pragmatism when it comes to to Washington where its core
Dane breed who arrived on the palm her like cheerleaders in a cricket sta- times got irked for the training we or- foreign policy. interests are concerned.
of my brother. We named her Brandy. dium. ganised for her and we finally realised Ever since the coronavirus There was a time for
I still remember when we took her She was soon a star in all the dog that she was more suited for the farm pandemic started revealing its non-alignment. New Delhi has
out for walks, some questioned if she shows, always returning home with and not meant for a small urban home. true scale and scope, Modi has been there and done that. To-
was really a dog. Though she was al- medals. Honestly, she was now jump- We gave Brandy to one of our relatives tried to position India careful- day’s India and its aspirations
ways friendly, her appearance fright- ing so much that whenever we left her who lived at a village farmhouse. The ly as a nation that can speak of demand much more from its
ened every soul. I saw people change on the terrace, she would start jumping jumpingqueenisnomorebuthermem- globalconcernswiththewidest leadership. In his own way,
their paths after they saw her. We soon on her own. Her passion was such that ories continue to live with us who made possible range of stakeholders. Modi is responding to that
hired a trainer for her. Albeit, we had she started jumping to several near and a unique history of jumping terraces! And the first platform he used challenge. Don’t be taken in
was SAAAARC, a grouping which by his recent address to the
he has tried to marginalise over NAM summit. He has buried
the last six years. Just because NAM for good. International
he used the SAA AARC platform to institutions rarely disappear.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR reach out to India’s neighbours NAM will also continue with
doesn’t mean that he or his gov- its mothballed existence. Modi
The illustrious Kerala model ernment has had a change of
heart with regard to the utility ty
has nothing to lose by using it
instrumentally if it serves In-
Kerala model is based on an effective plan for testing and pandemic which helped in mending the wrongs when or lack thereof of the regional dia’s immediate needs. But to
tracing. People who were isolated were monitored rigor- required. Kasaragod district, which had the highest grouping. construe this as Modi’s em-
ously. The Nipah experience helped in formulating a plan number of cases, is today infection-free, with the last At a time of grave worldwide brace of a now redundant phi-
and gearing up the health care system for Covid-19. The patient having been discharged from hospital. Kerala is crisis, Modi has effectively losophy of global engagement
credit goes to the leadership displayed by CM Pinarayi in the limelight with respect to the fight against Covid-19 used all the instruments and would be a big fallacy.
Vijayan and the Health Minister Shylaja. The CM’s daily because of an excellent track record and the “Kerala platforms available to India (The writer is Director, Stud-
press conference with a dashboard of the daily infections, model” is a trailblazer in its own right. to make a case that instead of
deaths and recovery kept people well informed about the A V Akhilesh, Bengaluru nations becoming more and
ies, at Observer Research Foun-
dation, New Delhi and Profes-
more inward looking, global sor of International Relations,
Ominous ffuuture Dangerous path ployees from eight to 12 hours a day,
to make up for the loss of hours as a
engagement should be the King’s College, London)
I am a BE student studying in Mumbai on is set to become another result of the lockdown, the extension
Bengaluru, my college is conducting Wuhan given the phenomenal may amount to overexploitation of
online classes to cover the syllabus, increase in cases. Most people are the workforce. The total duration of
which is a good initiative. However, still taking the situation lightly. Most work will also have to consider the
they are also conducting online tests Mumbaikars are going out for five hours of commute to the place of
which are not effective as students to ten minutes every day to buy work as well. Employees will remain
copy the answers and forward it to essentials. This mentality will only exhausted at the end of work hours
class groups. Instead, the college put Mumbai in a worse position and be left with almost no energy for
management should have passed us than Wuhan. If we are not willing to the next day. The government must
to the next semester. If this situation understand the situation today, then rethink its inclination to extend the
continues for a long term, then col- there will be no time to mend our work hours of employees.
leges will focus on producing grad- ways tomorrow. Hence, it is better to H Narayanan, Bengaluru
uates without determining whether take precautions at the earliest.
they are capable of getting jobs or Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
not. In my opinion, AICTE may have
Our readers are welcome to email letters to:
to reconsider the framework of OBE
(outcome-based education). A bad idea letters@deccanherald.co.in (only letters
emailed — not handwritten — will be accepted).
Udaysimha V, Mysuru In case the government mulls over All letters must carry the sender’s postal
extending the work hours of em- address and phone number.