COVID-19: a wake-up call

In the last few months, the world has been turned upside-down.  Half the world’s population has been in lockdown, the global economy has collapsed, millions have lost their jobs and thousands have died, all as a result of a new and very infectious corona virus: COVID-19. 

A few months’ ago, who would have predicted that the world’s airlines would be grounded, that Western democracies would be following totalitarian regimes in instituting lockdowns and surveillance of their populations, that free-market economists would be advocating forms of universal basic income, and anti-big government politicians embracing state control?

In fact, the pandemic has impacted so many spheres – environmental, social, industrial, economic, geo-political – that it’s understandable why Sunita Narain, editor of Down to Earth, should describe it as “the most tumultuous, most catastrophic and the most defining epoch of our lifetime”.

Downside/upside

The downsides are relatively obvious. In addition to the thousands of deaths and the huge suffering inflicted, particularly on the impoverished millions through the loss of their jobs and income – the International Monetary Fund expects the biggest economic retraction and fallout since the Great Depression of the 1930s – populations have been subjected to unprecedented levels of surveillance. In fact, the virus has acted as a global stress test, which most countries have failed. It has thrown into relief huge social inequalities, inadequate health and social services, poor city planning, as well as the environmental destruction and industrial animal farming practices which facilitate the transmission of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. In some countries, political leadership has been found sadly wanting as has the ability of global capitalism, with its inability to think beyond short-term profits, in dealing with a crisis like this. 

Socially, the lockdown has led to record levels of domestic violence and an ‘epidemic of despair’, there has been a spike in various forms of discrimination, and the lack of understanding about the nature of the virus has resulted in a proliferation of conspiracy theories and pseudo-medical advice, aptly described by the WHO described as an ‘infodemic’.

Rather than acting together, countries have strengthened their borders and turned inward, while competing with each other to obtain essential medical supplies. Meanwhile, the U.N. has been proven to be completely ineffective in responding to the crisis. 

As former Indian national Security Adviser Shivanshankar Menon puts it, it seems “we are heading for a poorer, meaner, smaller, world.”

But there is also an upside.  Medical professionals and volunteers have risked their lives to serve the public, and people everywhere have banded together to help each other, and particularly the elderly and vulnerable. The environment has recovered as pollution levels in the air and water plunged and the stress of human exploitation lessened.  Cities are unveiling new schemes to promote walking, cycling and public transport, while Amsterdam has decided to embrace a framework for sustainable development which balances the needs of people and protection of the environment.

There is renewed interest in concepts like a basic wage for all and universal healthcare while human ingenuity has worked overtime in attempting to come up with a vaccine in record time. Perhaps most important of all, people are rediscovering through the rigours of lockdown the importance of relationships and communication with friends, and contact with nature.

The choice

The question now is what happens next, for the world is at a potential bifurcation point. As Peter Baker put it in The Guardian, “Times of upheaval are always times of radical change. Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future. Others fear it may only make existing injustices worse.”

Either we can pour billions into trying to resurrect the old order, ‘business as usual’, or we can take the opportunity to build a new kind of society. Either the world embraces increased surveillance and more government control, or it explores decentralization and strengthening grassroots action. Either we continue to destroy the environment and people’s lives in pursuit of a neo-liberal agenda, or we “forge a new, more compassionate normal”, as Charles Eisenstein put it. “It offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves,” writes Arundhati Roy. “Nothing could be worse than a return to normality.”

But do we really have a choice? The virus may have permanently shifted certain geo-political realities, as China emerges stronger and the U.S. weaker. Moreover, as the internationally-acclaimed virologist Dr Ian Lipkin warns, “We can absolutely have another pandemic if we don’t change how we interact with our natural environment. We are going to have this problem continuously.”

In fact, as another writer put it, “When we emerge from the lockdown, we must be ready to confront new political and social realities. The global institutional architecture of the 1940s cannot help humanity face the challenges of the 2020s.”

Indeed, while COVID-19 may be the biggest crisis facing the world in the last 80 years, it is dwarfed in magnitude by the long-term threat of climate change. Both of these challenges “will require unusual levels of global cooperation,” writes Baker.

“Exceptional times call for exceptional thoughts”, says the Kerala Chief Minister. But will the world rise to the occasion? Or will Amitav Ghosh’s gloomy prediction prove correct? “The history of epidemics shows that while they are raging people imagine that they will rethink everything. But when they are over they quickly go back to their old ways.”

How has India fared?

While the pandemic took longer to spread in India than in the Far East and Europe, partly because the government imposed international travel restrictions quite early on, it has now taken hold, with the number of confirmed cases rising steeply every day. On June 3rd, the number of confirmed cases was 2,16,735, with 6,077 deaths. However, health professionals say the actual figures are likely to be much higher as the number of people being tested is small and many cases go unreported.

Concerned that a huge increase would overwhelm India’s health resources, to reduce the infection rate the Government imposed a nationwide lockdown from 25th March for 21 days.

This has since been extended a number of times. The Government also launched a contact tracing app which must be downloaded by all government and private sector employees.

The lockdown reduced the rate of increase in infections, but caused the Indian economy to go into freefall. Many lost their livelihoods, in particular millions of migrant labourers who were forced, in what has been described as “the most heart-breaking migrant crisis since the Partition in 1947”, to make the very difficult journey back to their distant villages with no money, transport and little food. They, along with others in the informal workforce, make up the backbone of the Indian economy. If many of them do not return to work in the cities, it is difficult to see how the industrial economy can be speedily revived. In addition, 60% of farmers, many of them marginal, suffered yield loss as a result of the lockdown.

The Government helped the poorest by transferring funds into their Jan Dhan accounts and instructed all employers to keep paying full wages during the lockdown. On 12th May, the Prime Minister announced a huge relief package to help the poor (including free food for migrants), farmers and small and medium scale enterprises get back on their feet.

Meanwhile, Coast India, a national network of NGOs and philanthropic institutes, has been working for the welfare of stranded migrant workers. Aurovilian Bindu along with other volunteers formed the Tamil Nadu team of Coast India, which is focussed on the welfare of 98,000 migrant workers from Jharkhand stranded in 37 districts of this state.

Success rates in dealing with the pandemic have differed from state to state. Kerala, with its efficient public health services and strong panchayats (local councils), has kept infections and deaths to a minimum. However, along with Maharashtra and Gujurat, Tamil Nadu is one of the top three states affected. The majority of cases are in Chennai. On 30th of May, five of the biggest cities in India accounted for 60% of confirmed cases and 53% of deaths nationally. Vanur district, where Auroville is located, has also reported a few cases. Fortunately, to date there have been no cases in Auroville or the nearby villages, and since the middle of May there has been a partial relaxation of the lockdown here, allowing many of our employees to return to work while observing social distancing and hygiene regulations.

Auroville

How has Auroville dealt with this unique stress test?

On the whole, it has done very well: typically, we seem to derive strength from adversity. Those strengths include the extraordinary dedication and spirit of service displayed by those in our essential services (food, energy, economy, waste disposal etc.) to keep the community functioning efficiently; the long hours spent by Security, Health, the COVID Task Force and the Working Committee in dealing with the authorities and ensuring that that the tough lockdown conditions were adhered to; a huge upsurge in volunteerism from people of all ages; and, in spite of the rigours of the lockdown, a pervasive good humour and willingness to observe the unfamiliar practices of social distancing, mask-wearing and sanitising by the residents. Support was provided for the older and more vulnerable members of our population through a new food delivery service and psychological counselling, while Auroville Village Action Group provided emergency aid to the most vulnerable in the nearby villages. Meanwhile some of our units rejigged their production process to make much needed masks and sanitisers.

Weaknesses

However, the stress test also revealed weaknesses. When the authorities required exact information about Auroville residents and guests, it was found that key information was missing or outdated, and the new hygiene regulations exposed the fact that we lack a uniform code to cover our restaurants and food processing units, some of which needed to upgrade their practices. The lockdown also emphasised existing inequalities. For example, e-learning when schools are shut down is only useful when you have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection.

Perhaps the most obvious consequence of the lockdown, however, was its disastrous effect upon our economy. That economy was already in a weakened state due to reduced government grants and the likelihood of increased taxation, but now many of our commercial units, without access to materials and the enforced shutdown of movement, could no longer operate and contribute to community coffers, yet were expected, according to government regulations, to continue paying their workers. As there were no visitors to buy Auroville products and e-commerce was blocked, we suddenly realised how dependent our commercial sector is on the tourist trade. Exacerbating the situation even further, Varuna, (Varuna Energy and Water Pvt. Ltd., a company created to serve the future energy and water requirements of Auroville) which had been providing free electricity, announced that henceforth it could only cover some of Auroville’s electrical costs.

Unless commerce picks up very fast again, which seems unlikely – some units may be forced to close forever – there will be big cuts in community budgets (this has already begun) and possibly in maintenances, meaning that those who are wholly dependent upon that source will be in serious financial difficulties and the material development of the community as a whole thrown into question. Realizing that many people and units may require financial support during this emergency, the FAMC and BCC have offered various support options, including temporary emergency maintenance, the reduction or suspension of contributions, and the restructuring or suspension of loans from Auroville finances.

Meanwhile we are dipping into our reserves. At the beginning of the financial year, City Services only had a buffer for three months, so the Financial Service has opened a new account to which Aurovilians and the AVI centres were invited to contribute. Because of the very generous response (by mid May the emergency account had received 30 lakh rupees) and a major reduction in the recurring budgets, they reported in May that now they had enough to keep afloat for another six months. It enabled them to offer nutrition support to children as the schools are closed, and temporary emergency maintenance for those Aurovilians who had lost their monthly income.

Opportunity

The outlook seems dire. Yet, as Albert Einstein put it, “in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity”. The lockdown has jolted us out of our habitual grooves, and now we have the opportunity to experience Auroville anew and to examine the economy, governance system, institutions etc. we have created, as well as the lifestyles we have grown accustomed to.

That lifestyle, we realise, is heavily dependent upon employees, on income derived from tourists, on high-end products and services, as well as government grants. There is also quite a strong culture of individualism. Often we prefer the food that appeals to our palate, even if it comes from far away, rather than that which can be grown by our farmers, and rather than sharing infrastructure and expertise, many of our managers and architects prefer to work separately so they can make their own decisions.

The crisis has also given us the opportunity to explore new areas we could develop – like distance learning or hygiene products – as well as to envisage how we could put some of our existing practices and institutions on a new basis.

The two areas which have received the most attention so far are the economy and farming. Chandresh feels this is an opportunity to move from a maintenance system to a ‘basket-of-needs’ system, where the basic needs of all residents are looked after by the larger community. “This is a once in a 50 year chance to begin on the right footing”, he writes. The overarching goal would be a self-supporting and sustainable Auroville economy which would involve, among other things, the centralisation of resources and funding and a rededication by the Aurovilians to “offer their energy, time, expertise for the furtherance of Auroville only.” Overall, “it is best to encourage and absorb as many Auroville human resource talents as possible for core community needs.”

Food, of course, is one such core need. While Auroville has been able to access food from outside during this period, the lockdown has focussed us once again upon the urgent need for greater food autonomy. “As an international community, dedicated to a spiritual goal, there has never been a more poignant and urgent moment for us to come together and explore the question of food sovereignty,” writes Krishna, one of our farmers.

Aurovilian Noel Parent made suggestions about how we can be more self-supporting regarding our food needs. He noted that we need to drastically increase production from existing farms, land needs to be identified for new farms, while we also need to develop many home and kitchen gardens. Regarding the problem of farm labour, he suggests that all able-bodied members of the community should work a minimum of one day a week on an Auroville farm or in food supply. And farmers need much more economic support because “farming is the engine of a healthy and strong economy”.

In fact, attention to our food production is only one aspect of a renewed awareness of all things local which the lockdown has initiated. With more time on their hands, people are rediscovering community, the joy of walking in their gardens, and the satisfaction and ‘rootedness’ that comes with doing their own gardening and housework.

What kind of future?

Above all, the lockdown has given people time to think about why they are here, how they want to live and how they wish Auroville to develop. “What if we built our city prioritizing the needs of cyclists and pedestrians?” wondered one. “Why not house Aurovilians, Newcomers and volunteers in our guest houses rather than tourists?’ wondered another. “We need to take better care of each other and strengthen the service sector,” wrote another. Universal maintenances and healthcare, and collective food distribution were some suggestions as to how to achieve this.

In other words, the lockdown has precipitated many ideas about how we could change, and these are being collected in a community-wide survey. But how to manifest change? The experience of The Retreat suggests that while we are adept with coming up with new ideas, we are poor at implementing them.

Why is this? Some ideas, of course, are impractical or don’t command wide community support. But even those proposals which have wide assent have a tendency to disappear into drawers or to eke out a half-life, periodically resurrected in meetings before vanishing again. There is, of course, huge inertia in the system which makes any kind of radical change difficult to effect ”How to change things without getting bogged down in new, gargantuan bureaucracies like we already have?” wrote one frustrated resident – but the proponents of new ideas often don’t help their cause. Too often they feel that having the vision is sufficient, so they don’t have the perseverance or put in the hard work of detailed planning that will anchor it and bring it to fruition.

But underlying all this is the fact that we are still very much an individualistic culture, a place where individual needs often trump the needs of the larger community. This makes it very difficult for us to move together. “It seems to me,” wrote an Aurovilian, “that to affect a change in habits, consciousness – we need to understand what stands in our way. I believe this is what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother meant when they referred to ‘education of the vital’. Without overcoming these habits it is not so likely a real change can happen.”

In other words, while the lockdown has given us a wonderful opportunity to reassess ourselves and come up with a new direction for our lives here, unless there is a change in our consciousness, meaning the beginning of a realisation of our essential oneness, we are liable to look back on it, just as we did on Cyclone Thane and The Retreat, as yet another opportunity missed.

Sri Aurobindo made the same point in his essay ‘1919’. Written just after the First World War, when so many pre-war institutions had been destroyed and there were hopes that a new world was about to be born, he noted:

The physical shock of war and revolution can break down stifling obstructions, but they cannot of themselves create either the kingdom of good or the kingdom of God; for that a mental and spiritual change is needed to which our slowly moving human nature takes time to shape its customary being.