Life in Lockdown Land – 3 ‘Aluth and Parana Parlimenthu’

Our Parliament stands dissolved. The elections for a new Parliament have been put off. The President dissolved Parliament a few weeks after he set up the national task force to counter the coronavirus threat. In the lockdown mode, my access to archival information is limited. So, I am not sure if the dissolution order was before or after the WHO declared it a ‘pandemic’. 

I am also not sure of the legal implications of the President’s ability to reconvene the dissolved Parliament which could have otherwise functioned till August. There is also a muted but insistent debate on the President’s powers to direct the exchequer to meet ‘corona contingencies’ without Parliamentary approval. The last I heard the ‘people were sovereign’ and a people’s Parliament had all authority over public finance. 

In my lockdown depressed mood, I can hear Caesar

‘Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,

He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.’

The advice on the ‘doctrine of necessity’ may have already been tendered to ‘powers that be’ and ‘brothers that are’ by lean and hungry Cassius Pieris. 

The same doctrine of necessity can be relied on to the restore the semblance of a transparent democracy to fight the Corona pandemic that wouldn’t heed only to the 69 lakhs that represent the majority. 

I invite the reader to monitor the global spread of the coronavirus. Please click on the link https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/countries-where-coronavirus-has-spread/. The chart shows the number of reported cases and deaths. 

Sri Lanka has no deaths so far. Neither has Senegal with 105 reported cases. Neither has Kuwait with 208 cases. Neither has Slovakia with 226 cases. Neither has Vietnam with 153 cases. To contextualise the threat, we must frame this information in their demographic profiles. 

The population density in Sri Lanka is 341 per square kilometre; 3,945 people or 18.4% of the population is urban. Median age in Sri Lanka is 34.0 years.

In India the population density puts 464 per square kilometre; 483,098,640 or 35% of the Indian population is urban. India’s median age is 28.4 years. 

The population density in China is 153 per square kilometre; 875,075,919 or 60.8% of the population is urban. The median age in 38.4 years.

The population density in Italy is 206 per square kilometre; 42,006,701 or 69.5% of the population is urban. Italy’s median age is 47.3 years. 

The population density in Singapore is 8,358 per square kilometre; 5,850,342 people or 100% is urban. The median age in Singapore is 42.2 years. [https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/]

India, China, Italy and Singapore are the four countries most cited by experts such as Dr. Harith Aluthge and Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya of the GMOA. 

I cited the urban rural cartography in order to let the reader decide why lockdowns are required. A lockdown in China where urban living conditions cover 60% would be far more effective than in India with its 35% urban swathe and Sri Lanka with its 18% urban living conditions. 

In my previous column I referred to the learned or very learned like public discourse on current topics aired by the TV channel ‘Derana’ under the giveaway title ‘Aluth Parlimenthuwa’ that has been the spaawning ground for many ‘Viyathmaga’ professionals and academics. 

Apart from the squint world view of its moderator (he is the chap who compared the operatic rendering of ‘Namo Namo Matha’ to a meowing of cat), it is a serious forum that impacts the psyche of the monolingual Sinhala intelligentsia. The type that listens to Dulles Alahapperuma attentively, Bandula Gunawardene with disdain, and Wimal Weerawansa with contempt. 

If ‘Parana Parlimenthuwa’ cannot be summoned the electronic media instead of being an arm of the regime can be the pulse of the people by allowing old parliamentarians to regularly appear on prime time to contribute to the pandemic debate. 

The people can watch without annoying advertisements. The participants will have the assurance that ‘chili powder ventilators’ will not be permitted. 

Writing in this paper on Friday, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka has said something very relevant to the dark times we live in. He revives Plato’s call for rulers to be amenable to philosophy or for philosophers to consider switching from abstracts to practical governance as rulers. 

It is an interesting intellectual interrogation to be undertaken in our lockdown land where we have always had an abundant supply of lockdown mindsets. Imagine if corona attacked fallopian tubes! 

Modi the “Commander” of 1.3 billion foot soldiers 

Narendra Modi has surprised the world. He has actually made a Ghanaian call to India and the rest of the world. He has kept politics out of the corona crisis. P. Chidambaram, the cerebral Congress Leader, has responded in the same Ghanaian spirit. India has rediscovered its soul. 

The former Union Finance Minister and Congress Leader P. Chidambaram has described the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “watershed moment” in the battle against COVID-19 and called Modi the “Commander” and the people of India the “foot soldiers”.

“The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of a nationwide 21-day lockdown is a watershed moment in the battle against COVID-19. We should put behind us the debates that took place before 24 March and look upon the nationwide lockdown as the beginning of a new battle in which the people are the foot soldiers and the PM is the Commander.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make any recommendations on whom to elect at the next State Assembly elections or the Lok Sabah elections.

He said that the 21-day lockdown was necessary for a decisive battle against the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“Coronavirus has made many powerful countries helpless; challenges are increasing despite all efforts. If we don’t handle these 21 days well, then our country, your family will go backwards by 21 years,” he said. 

Social distancing not only for infected but for every citizen including the Prime Minister.

One step outside can make way for coronavirus into your house. 

You have to remember that a coronavirus-infected person initially appears to be normal and doesn’t show symptoms. So maintain precautions and stay at home. 

The Central Government has allocated Indian Rupees 15,000 crore to strengthen health infrastructure to tackle coronavirus. 

“This is time for patience and discipline, I appeal to you with folded hands to remember people putting their lives at risk for our safety.”

The Prime Minster took upon his base constituency: “Don’t believe in rumours and superstitions. Don’t take any medicines without consulting doctors.” 

Sorry if the column was too preachy. I am going to take a nap and spend the two days rereading Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’. The pandemic has restored the secular India of Bhimrao Ambedkar.