It is said "Every cloud has a silver lining". Positives can be taken out of every situation howsoever worse it may be. If nothing else, it at least offers a lesson.
Progress, in normal times is organic, incremental and slow. Many a times a silver bullet for the problem exists but, it is procrastinated. Sometimes people become afraid of radical upheaval and keep the tasks to be done at bay. But, a moment of crisis takes away the luxury of procrastination, fear of change and vacillation.
Such impact of crisis plays out at different levels. It can be an individual who has witnessed failure and looks to improve oneself or, it can be a community trying to address the existing social fault lines like "Black Lives Matter" protest in USA following George Floyd death. Even, national government recalibrates or sometimes revamps policy in the face of crisis, like many countries across the world have done during COVID-19 pandemic. A natural extension of it applies to the world at large. But, what is it so about the crisis that it offers opportunity worth not wasting ?
Every crisis exposes an underlying problem that was festering but was largely ignored. For example, it is well known that Indian economy is inadequately formalized. About 90% of the 450 million strong workforce are in informal sector, lacking proper safety nets and it is them who are likely to fall through the cracks of government policies. But, this festering problem was ignored. Migrant exodus during COVID-19 lockdown, one of the the worst humanitarian crisis of modern Indian history merely exposed this existing plight of informal economy.
Another thing about crisis is that it lends political capital for risk taking. This further stems from the fact that as problems are exposed, public opinion gravitate towards the solution which might have been unpopular earlier. In a way it allows to bite the bullet. Similar thing happened in India's Balance Of Payment crisis in 1991, when India's forex reserve plummeted to $5.8 billion. With problems exposed and sufficient political capital , India ushered into Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization era. These reforms have yielded result and India now has $500 billion forex reserve, equivalent of 12 months of import.
Many a times, in the face of crisis people, community and countries come together to tackle challenges posed collectively to them. Such co-operation offers a very opportune moment to bring reforms or adopt practices in the best interest of everyone. It was the wound inflicted by Second World War(WWII) that led to the formation of United Nations in 1945 and adoption of historic Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948. Had it not been for a crisis like WWII, reaching consensus would have been difficult, as seen in the polarized view of the world today towards internet regulation. One camp wants internet to be free of restriction, while other eyes for state control. In such polarization we do not have a universally accepted internet regulation. Such polarization is even more visible in climate deals, as countries have taken it only as an emergency and have not raised the flag to the level of crisis yet.
Hence, it becomes very important to utilize a crisis. Such crisis offers opportunity which lies at the intersection of many factors. Such opportunity, co-operation and trust may not be available during normal times. However, the path to utilization needs to be meticulously planned, executed and monitored keeping in mind certain principles to abide by.
First of all, people, community and institution need to have humility to accept the problem surfaced out by the crisis rather than denying it. Running away from a problem will only increase distance from its solution. Such humility should be accompanied with commitment to deliver rising above narrow, parochial consideration.
Since, crisis can also lead to authoritarian regime to amass more toxic power, another important ingredient is compassion. Compassion should be at the heart of planning. As Mahatma Gandhi's Talisman guides, the actions should empower the poorest and the weakest, like the recent APMC reforms which empower farmers who were denied marketing choices for their produce and better remuneration for their labour.
Reforms need to be inclusive as well. Because sustainability can be ensured only if it is inclusive of all, encompassing all region, community, class, age, gender. Reforms will soon start to unravel if it is at the cost of others.
Another important aspect is to maintain inter-generational equity. We have not inherited environment from our ancestors, rather borrowed it from our future generations. In that sense, passing on a hospitable environment with sufficient resources for them is our duty. Inter-generational equity is going to be even more important in coming times due to ongoing climate change.
Albeit crisis offers us the opportunity to reform but, we should be vigilant and proactive enough to preemptively tackle and avert the crisis by course correction. It should not take a crisis to wake us up from our slumber of complacency. We should be sensitive enough to act upon a nudge - like that in IPCC report which shows existential threat due to climate change impacts - rather than waiting for a quake (disaster).
Progress, in normal times is organic, incremental and slow. Many a times a silver bullet for the problem exists but, it is procrastinated. Sometimes people become afraid of radical upheaval and keep the tasks to be done at bay. But, a moment of crisis takes away the luxury of procrastination, fear of change and vacillation.
Such impact of crisis plays out at different levels. It can be an individual who has witnessed failure and looks to improve oneself or, it can be a community trying to address the existing social fault lines like "Black Lives Matter" protest in USA following George Floyd death. Even, national government recalibrates or sometimes revamps policy in the face of crisis, like many countries across the world have done during COVID-19 pandemic. A natural extension of it applies to the world at large. But, what is it so about the crisis that it offers opportunity worth not wasting ?
Every crisis exposes an underlying problem that was festering but was largely ignored. For example, it is well known that Indian economy is inadequately formalized. About 90% of the 450 million strong workforce are in informal sector, lacking proper safety nets and it is them who are likely to fall through the cracks of government policies. But, this festering problem was ignored. Migrant exodus during COVID-19 lockdown, one of the the worst humanitarian crisis of modern Indian history merely exposed this existing plight of informal economy.
Another thing about crisis is that it lends political capital for risk taking. This further stems from the fact that as problems are exposed, public opinion gravitate towards the solution which might have been unpopular earlier. In a way it allows to bite the bullet. Similar thing happened in India's Balance Of Payment crisis in 1991, when India's forex reserve plummeted to $5.8 billion. With problems exposed and sufficient political capital , India ushered into Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization era. These reforms have yielded result and India now has $500 billion forex reserve, equivalent of 12 months of import.
Many a times, in the face of crisis people, community and countries come together to tackle challenges posed collectively to them. Such co-operation offers a very opportune moment to bring reforms or adopt practices in the best interest of everyone. It was the wound inflicted by Second World War(WWII) that led to the formation of United Nations in 1945 and adoption of historic Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948. Had it not been for a crisis like WWII, reaching consensus would have been difficult, as seen in the polarized view of the world today towards internet regulation. One camp wants internet to be free of restriction, while other eyes for state control. In such polarization we do not have a universally accepted internet regulation. Such polarization is even more visible in climate deals, as countries have taken it only as an emergency and have not raised the flag to the level of crisis yet.
Hence, it becomes very important to utilize a crisis. Such crisis offers opportunity which lies at the intersection of many factors. Such opportunity, co-operation and trust may not be available during normal times. However, the path to utilization needs to be meticulously planned, executed and monitored keeping in mind certain principles to abide by.
First of all, people, community and institution need to have humility to accept the problem surfaced out by the crisis rather than denying it. Running away from a problem will only increase distance from its solution. Such humility should be accompanied with commitment to deliver rising above narrow, parochial consideration.
Since, crisis can also lead to authoritarian regime to amass more toxic power, another important ingredient is compassion. Compassion should be at the heart of planning. As Mahatma Gandhi's Talisman guides, the actions should empower the poorest and the weakest, like the recent APMC reforms which empower farmers who were denied marketing choices for their produce and better remuneration for their labour.
Reforms need to be inclusive as well. Because sustainability can be ensured only if it is inclusive of all, encompassing all region, community, class, age, gender. Reforms will soon start to unravel if it is at the cost of others.
Another important aspect is to maintain inter-generational equity. We have not inherited environment from our ancestors, rather borrowed it from our future generations. In that sense, passing on a hospitable environment with sufficient resources for them is our duty. Inter-generational equity is going to be even more important in coming times due to ongoing climate change.
Albeit crisis offers us the opportunity to reform but, we should be vigilant and proactive enough to preemptively tackle and avert the crisis by course correction. It should not take a crisis to wake us up from our slumber of complacency. We should be sensitive enough to act upon a nudge - like that in IPCC report which shows existential threat due to climate change impacts - rather than waiting for a quake (disaster).
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