What is Hidden behind the War over Corona

A war has been declared against a criminal virus —for killing a few of us, pulling up the economy, and breaking social relations— that left us with a choice between life and income, rather an easy choice for the middle class. This might be the motivation for our Prime Minister to announce a harsh decision of nationwide lockdown, which cost profit of the few, the income of the other, and livelihood of the numerous. Since all these are interdependent and part of the same structure; deprivation of livelihood is labeled voluntary and equivalent to the reduction in income and profit. Such that instead of contemplating on the inefficiency of social security, the defeat of the virus is romanticized.

A sense of disaster shaped by the information infrastructure made people accept what risks exist and take it upon themselves to brace for whatever comes next. It made this crisis, a tragedy of common, wherein the infected persons were seen responsible for pandemic and governing regimes as savior. The management becomes easier for the government by reducing the seriousness of crisis into figures and numbers displaying categories such as total cases, recovered cases, active cases, and deaths. It eliminates the complexity of problems, with combats featuring ‘Corona Warriors’ and ‘COVID-19’, the bravery of the former successfully concealed the awful conditions of migrants and health workers. When winning over the virus becomes a matter of national pride, the critical evaluation of health infrastructure is replaced by the celebration of national accomplishments.

When we presented virus in opposition to and outside of society and economy, it became our enemy, the war against which is followed by an uncalled emergency on critical thinking that turned citizens into disciplined soldiers of governments. Here we need to understand that the pandemics such as this are integral to the economic and social system we have, this is what we called Risk Society. But the tragedy is the uneven distributions of risks, exhibited by the vulnerability of poor migrant laborers’ in an economic system that supports the Richs. Impacts of Pandemics need to be reduced by resilience not the war that requires the analysis of human life together with the disease. Resilience is the ability of society to resist, absorb, accommodate, and recover from the hazards in a timely and efficient manner. We cannot reduce victory over pandemic to reach previous levels of economic growth rates; it is about the rebuilding of a life shattered by this disaster. It requires the building of cultural and political circumstances that can endure the bitter impact of a disaster to minimize the uncertainties and inequitable distribution of responsibilities. Resilience always lies in the way in which our society is organized, where we make a sense of disaster, connect with others, and contribute to overall well being.

Ankush Sharma
The author is M.Phil in Strategic and Regional Studies.