Bp Mathew Arackal

On 25 March 2020, just like the announcement of demonetization on 8 November, 2016, 1.38 billon Indians came under lockdown, in four hours’ notice, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, hundreds of truck drivers stuck on the highways and as many students trapped in their hostels, with no enough medicine, food or water. While the wealthy and the middle classes in gated communities observe religiously the social distance, the slum dwellers of Delhi and Mumbai and the thousands migrant workers spread all over India could not stay any longer shut in cramped ghettos and shantytowns – suitable spreading grounds for a fast moving pathogen. Many chose to disobey the inconsiderate law and walk hundreds of miles carrying their pregnant wives and children – the greatest mass exodus since partition of 1947– only to drop dead halfway or be overrun by a freight train. They knew fully well that they were walking back to unemployment, exploitation, starvation and zero healthcare, but a preferred death with their family members who were counting on them. Despite the lockdown for the past more than 60 days, right now, India has over 1.39 lakh COVID-19 positive and around 4021 who lost their lives, while globally over 54.9 lakhs proved positive and 3.46 lakhs succumbed to the virus.

While many are dying on the streets out of stress, fear, uncertainty, poverty and malnutrition, they are watching if their governments’ priorities are in order. Broken supply chains, food scarcity, low salaries and wages, and the reduced purchasing power could be alarming signs of a deep economic crisis and the ensuing negative G.D.P. growth and recession. Economies built on discretionary consumption are struggling to come to terms with the fact that a packet of biscuit has become a matter of discretionary spending. While industrialists turn to reducing their exposure to financial risks, downsizing and cutting the wages and salaries, the government has launched stimulus packages for households and small businesses and rescue the poor and the unemployed. COVID-19 crisis requires wartime public health measures and economic thinking. Keeping all fellow beings alive and preventing a social breakdown are our immediate goals; no place for peacetime discussions of divisive ideologies.

We have to build confidence, create a business-friendly environment, and more jobs in each quarter.

We watched powerful leaders who hold the nuclear buttons jetting off to disaster bunkers and the super-rich fleeing for life – all afraid of a tiny invisible germ. We saw the limits of the market that defy modern economics, the theories of demand and supply, their helplessness in facilitating the movement of even emergency medicines and critical care equipment, from neighbouring states let alone other countries. A time when every family, village, state and country thought about being self-sufficient rather than overly dependent on the neighbour or stranger.  The virus made us to realize that we have Mars transit vehicles, space weapons, fighter jets, submarines, nuclear bombs, but no masks, no gloves, no food grains. Corona has taught many of us the medical jargon ‘triage’ – an unprecedented crisis – for the first time. We came to know about social health; we realized that the virus knows no national borders, that the rich are not safe if the poor are not.

At this juncture, I must congratulate the Government of Kerala that has organized emergency rations and community kitchens for the quarantined as well as the poor across the State including the migrant workers. I’m pleased with the care, concern and professionalism with which the Government and the Health Department in particular prepared us and our migrant guest workers to fight Covid-19. I note with joy that we have succeeded more than any other State in India or overseas in motivating the people and organizing the entire Government machinery to fight the pandemic. While people in many countries are revolting against their Governments to revoke the lockdown, the well-informed civil society of Kerala cooperates with the officials well. That’s the reason why we succeeded in flattening the curve or keeping the fatality rate low compared to other States of India or even many developed countries. We understand the real worth of this achievement only when we recognize that Kerala is the most thickly populated State in India where keeping social distance is not so easy; Kerala has the largest number of expatriates, immigrants and students who travel all over the world and are in higher risk of contracting COVID-19. An enormous exit of these people back to their homeland is now taking place only because they are convinced that they will be safer and more comfortable just here. I must appreciate the Government and the people of Kerala for their readiness and preparedness to welcome back to the homeland all their people from every nook and corner of the world whether they are COVID positive or negative.

The post-COVID era is going to be very different. The new normal will consist of a lifestyle that is more health-conscious, self-reliant and environment-friendly. We have already learned by ourselves that with a little more of carefulness and self-discipline, we can keep the germs away and have a healthier society that is immune to most diseases. We are convinced of the importance of keeping the private as well as public spaces garbage-free and clean – the sign of godliness and civilization. I hope, the Government of India that launched the Swachh Bharat Mission will show the political will to institute scientific waste management systems or robust sanitation projects in both towns and villages, and lead a cleanliness revolution in the country to eliminate not only COVID-19 but also a number of preventable diseases like the Dengue fever. Let’s keep in mind the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi that the strength of a country rests on the shoulders of cleanliness.

This is also a time of conjectures and conspiracy theories. People are trying to explain away the attack of COVID-19 in various ways. Some wonder it is part of the predetermined natural laws or punishment for upsetting natural harmony. Whatever it is, we believe, no excesses go unpunished. Human exploitation of nature and the occurrence of pandemics are said to be interlinked. SARS, MERS and Ebola have their origin in animals. Getting too close to wild animals can put humans at risk of contracting new diseases. Scientists believe that hunting and trading bats and pangolins might have something to do with the outbreak of COVID-19. Wildlife that lose their natural habitat due to human intrusion also come into closer contact with the humans. Human health depends not only on animal health but also on the health of the planet. Man-made ozone depleting substances increase the amount of ultraviolet radiation on Earth’s surface that damages genetic and immune systems and cause skin cancer, cataracts, etc. It’s worth remembering what Pope Francis said about it: “We have failed in our responsibility to be guardians and stewards of the earth. We need only take a frank look at the facts to see that our common home is falling into serious disrepair.” The hitherto human response to such excesses on fellow creatures and the planet, and their consequences have never been to stop it but make another pill. However, COVID-19 has taught us a great lesson that God has given us immunity against most pathogens provided we are willing to give other beings their due and live a moderate life without those pills and associated businesses.

There are lots of people who believe that the outbreak is God’s retribution for human excesses and hubris. Still others claim that it is man-made, precisely a Chinese scheme of conquering the world with the help of insects and micro-organisms. Are we racing towards self-annihilation by means of a biological war?. We know one thing: it’s not impossible for the imprudent man to saw off the branch he is sitting on. Some other interesting discussions are as follows: God should be playing dice with us. Maybe it’s the sins of the fathers visiting upon the children. It could be our karma for past misdeeds. We know that these are not new questions. The world has witnessed many natural calamities and pandemics to this day. Each time, people of the generation asked the same questions. Looking at Jesus dying on the Cross, they asked: why God allowed such an injustice? Can’t God save Him? If you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down. Jesus said: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Whatever be your understanding of this Scripture or your response to these questions, the fact is that all trade wars, debates and agitations over economic leadership, power of passports and citizenship seem to be swept under the rug. Border walls between nations are dwarfed by the four walls of one’s own house of quarantine or the walls that separate villages from villages or districts from districts or state from state. Albert Camus considers Nazism as the plague that is infecting humanity. For Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Times of Cholera matters more than the epidemic. Even until today, we continue to misdiagnose the real pandemic and treat it with the wrong drug. It’s not Coronavirus or plague or cholera that is more frightening, but the greed, exclusivism and imperialism preached by certain races, religions and nations.

Post-pandemic worlds have never been the same. COVID-19 will also force our generation to get used to a new normal lifestyle including new food habits, new health practices, new entertainments, new ways of education, and what not. Like most other calamities, this could also be a doorway to a better world built not on mere cost-benefit analysis, imperialism or exclusivism but founded on love, generosity and the authentic virtue of responsibility. Pope Francis writes, “You are the indispensable builders of this change that can no longer be put off … The time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family.” We have the potential to be a virtuous and prosperous society rather than a self-interested one. While the recent floods taught us the lessons of equality, fraternity and charity, this pandemic has taught the whole world the limits of the market as well. What we need most is not the so called “efficient” consumerist society where bread crumps trickle down from the rich man’s table to the lap of the poor man sitting underneath, but a compassionate capitalism that has room for a self-sufficient Gram Swaraj. Once again, we are told not to simply leave the plight of the poor to the impersonal market forces or to the mercy of a philosopher king born once in a blue moon, but to promote a virtuous society where benevolence is currency. Hence the instruction of Pope Francis to keep “tenderness” and “warmth” in our responses to problems rather than impersonal solutions.

If we care for a happy and flourishing society more than a wealthy one, reciprocity and benevolence beyond the market dynamics matter. Happiness is a relational reality. But, how long can we ignore the one who said: blessed are the merciful Samaritans who reach out to their neighbors in need?