JOIN USBeyond smoke and mirrors
The COVID-19 pandemic, I dare say, was waiting to happen. It is a manifestation of the Tragedy of the Commons: Each acting in his own self-interest resulting in worse outcomes for the community. The irony in this process is that it is ideology-agnostic and happens regardless of whether it is the economics of the left, right or the centre, and is characterised by three features: maximizing my interest is the only personal ethic; the notion that maximizing my interest will lead to some greater good; so, I follow my own narrow self-interest. This tautological drive is universal, has defined our politics and economics, and how we relate to our community and society. This has been especially true with common property resources. The silver lining is that, the coronavirus has compelled a collective —principles of the commons—response of social distancing, self-quarantining, and lockdowns; for the greater good in the aggregate. In the future, when the ongoing pandemic is likened to a parable to draw an instructive ethical lesson, it will simply be that ‘greed is not good’.
In one fell swoop, COVID-19 has proved Milton Friedman wrong: the world does not run on individuals pursuing their self-interests. On the contrary, it has put the spotlight on the imperative of cooperation and on long-existing structural problems, at its heart the widespread and deeply entrenched economic inequality. To paraphrase the enduring pathos of the ‘Sound of Silence’: “And in the naked light I saw; Ten thousand people, maybe more; People talking without speaking; People hearing without listening; People writing songs that voices never share; And no one dared; Disturb the sound of silence”. We must now dare to listen to people for whom living standards have stagnated or declined, live precarious lives one day at a time, and think their children will be worse off than they are. Multitudes in our cities and villages, with little hope and few aspirations, except for a slender slice of life lived in dignity and with a sense of belonging. These are people who played by the rules, while others did not; and those others have been rewarded. The apparatus of the state, appears to them, profoundly out of touch with their reality, and they themselves, prisoners to the impersonal forces of technology and the market.
The spectacular failure of neoliberal—‘the rising tide lifts all boats’ —economic strategy, coalescing with the progressive evisceration of the social safety nets, has rendered the economic possibilities for the future vulnerable, for more people individually and collectively, than official statistics might bare. The portrait that recedes from the national eye, routinely and unconscionably, is of the deprivation and vulnerability of women, children, migrants, the physically and mentally challenged, and the old and the ailing, that is darker than we might at first suppose. The fragile foundations of India’s socio-economic structure must precipitate a serious rethink of our economics, and the political economy of development at work. This can scarcely be a top-down strategy, regardless of the far-sighted or short-sighted leaders that countries might elect and excessively rely on. Simply put, the distance between those who own and control resources and those who do not, is widening. The market as the primary driver of material progress is beginning to show systemic diminishing returns. It is not anymore, at the margin, improving the weal - wellbeing - or the wealth (as referred to in the present day) of the common person.
But the rites of passage to a more equitable, just and humane society is not easy. What is easy and politically expedient is the development process as smoke and mirrors. “Ignorance, more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge,” Charles Darwin wrote far back in 1871. This is worth keeping in mind today, when we must deconstruct the idea of development, to understand the depth and breadth of the problem of socio-economic inequality, in India. We need rigorous data and analysis defined by first principles—that GDP is not the best metric - to measure the wellbeing of people. In this post-truth age, facts and science, not schemes and slogans will be necessary to ground truth, the real story of whether the progress we are making is inclusive. We need to truly invest in a new idealism - and transform human development into a positive-sum game that the common citizen can aspire to, take responsibility for, and be a part of. To do so, we need to bring ethics to the centre-stage of economic discourse, at least in so far as common property resources and the three basic rights - health, education, and livelihood - are concerned.
We must renew and rejuvenate the commons: revenue and forest land, grazing grounds, open spaces, water bodies, forests and wooded areas; local libraries, workshops and artisan guilds; local markets, kirana shops and village bazaars; and community-based institutions in our villages and cities alike. The commons operate outside the market economy, and are the social rather than individual, local rather than global, repositories of community assets —physical, social, cultural. They often do the most important work for community sustenance and wellbeing. Without the common body of knowledge that farmers have; the vast and diverse knowledge network of local artisans, artistes and workers, and the unseen migrant workforce; India’s economy, indeed much of our society, will be diminished as would life itself. These are common property resources that are not of the state or market but of the local community of users that must self-govern the resource through institutions that it creates. Yet, the commons are invisible today. Economists disparage it as a romanticized view of community ownership, and extol private property rights. This fatal flaw in the economic discourse is central to inequality, making for a few billionaires but many the poorer.
We must transform the Covid-19 crisis to opportunity, going back to basics. A cannibalising market diminishes the sense of community, and not everything should be for sale. We are capable of preventing the tragedy of the commons. Quite simply, the commons and the community must outweigh the market and the state. Only then will we break the sound of silence.
Until such time, exhortations such as Atma Nirbhar Bharat or Swachh Bharat will remain, for the vast mass of ordinary citizens, smoke and mirrors.
(The writer is Director, Public Affairs Centre, Bengaluru)