(Context - on the recent exodus of labors, lockdown across countries, accessibility to basic needs, and economy with respect to people where they work a day to live a day - life is 'hand to mouth' )
Disclaimer - I am not an economy expert, this article is an opinion, not a statement.
We stepped into 2020, with the belief that it’s the new century, we had a lot of expectations, and the generation we are in, also had new year resolutions – and if I am not wrong, none of our expectations have met.
It’s the beginning of the century, and the world is witnessing the havoc caused by the CoronaVirus. Keeping all speculations aside, only time will decide the real culprit. But, the need of the hour is health, safety, and livelihood of the people – and we all are responsible, as we are part of an integrated society, integrated economics.
No matter how advanced we considered ourselves, be that 1st world, 2nd world or 3rd world countries – we all are sailing the same boat, where we are fighting to keep ourselves alive, and for that matter keeping the economy stable. We have one of the best transport systems, which we would only have imagined during the ancient days, but we are not able to reach the people in a significant way, to meet their expectations, are we? And, we have found something to blame on, isn't it?
No wonder this havoc has led to the unforeseen circumstances which we are witnessing today, but we all have an equal share in it. Economic development, development of nations at the cost of country people was never a great idea (it may not be true for all the cases). In the last few decades, we have seen the expansion of cities into villages, where the farmers were pushed to sell their land to the developers – for money, nominal or hefty sum, doesn’t matter.
But what we lost is the land of agriculture, capable of cultivating organic crops, employment for local people, and a part of village economics, which could have contributed to the sustainable development of the mind, body, and soul of the society. Cultivation is an art, you must be a scientist to get crops, fruits out of barren land – encroachment of urbanization though enriches a few peoples but dwells most people into the slum of cities. Where a person capable of cultivating crops, is converted to labor. But, we all know the power of labor, only machines can’t construct anything we need an operator as well, and that operator is ‘The’ labor, isn't it? (Capitalism?)
This whole process leads to disintegrated economics after all every human being is part of the economy. If there are no significant employment opportunities at villages, we will witness an exodus of people to cities, where they will dwell in the slum, leaving everything aside at their place of origin. And, if cities don’t provide enough employment – which is the case most of the time, people lose their ‘Life of Dignity’, and that’s a fundamental right of a human being – and any country should not witness this!!!
What we should understand is villages are an integral part of society, most of the citizens live in the villages (at least in India). We should have villages, small towns capable of running their own economy end to end, without relying on center or metro cities.
Though they remain integrated most of the time, in times of crisis they should operate on their own (and, the structure is already in place, we just must follow it diligently). The village economics consist of communities, capable of providing goods and services a person needs, if not greed!
Article by Author @Coolsage