Self-reliance is the mantra for overcoming trying times

I have always wondered what causes our society to forget the lessons learned during trying times.

- Shashi Shekhar

Those hurt by US President Donald Trump's tariff tantrums should remember the Covid-19 pandemic. The US, along with most rich nations, erected regulatory walls to hoard lifesaving drugs and vaccines for the exclusive use of their citizens.

Remember, it is the same US that once termed the world a “global village”, on the lines of the Indian concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), though with questionable intent. While our ancients were moved by the altruistic vision of the world sharing whatever there was, then US president, Bill Clinton, who had popularised the concept of global village, was interested in maximising his country’s gains.

The reality of the so-called global village vision unravelled during the Covid-19 pandemic. During its early days, Donald Trump, then in his first presidential stint, mocked its very existence and threw off his mask in a public show of defiance. When cemeteries started piling up with the dead, he labelled the Covid-19 pathogen a “Chinese virus”. It was he who ordered reserving vaccines for US citizens. No one knows how much it helped the Americans, but, in terms of the numbers that died worldwide, the pandemic ended up wiping off many villages from the globe.

In those days, a debate raged within India, on becoming self-reliant so as to be able to deal with any such future eventuality. This did result in some positive initiatives, but as the threat subsided, we reverted to our complacent ways. Many young men and women lost their jobs during the pandemic, moved to small towns or villages, started ventures of their own, and never returned to big cities. They were helping themselves and, as a consequence, improving their local business landscape.