People lined up outside grocery stores amidst lock-down in the country. (File photo) | Photo Credit: Paul Noronha

To give the local Bania the benefit of doubt, he seems genuinely scared. All masked up and shutters down, he is tentatively catering to loyal and casual-about-hisaab customers such as myself and advised stocking up on the morning of the Prime Minister’s much-dreaded 8 pm address to the Nation. But the chatter on one of office whatsapp groups about the prospect of black-marketing and artificial spiking of prices in the event of inevitable supply crunch was still at the back of my mind when I called him this afternoon. So, yes, he fears supply shortages. And would the prices be rising? They are already up by 7-10 per cent, he said. “It’s up to each individual. But some people are doing it. Generally, the prices are up at least by 7 per cent. Not a lot,” he told me. The business has spiked up by panic-buying in the run-up to and immediately after the announcement of the lockdown. And, like my rationwallah and soon after him, Mausiji from back home (Nahan, in Himachal Pradesh) related, her chemist had definitely overcharged her for the two-month supplies she bought yesterday.

Tragedy, natural disasters, wars have historically been opportunities for some with money to make even more money. American giant IBM and its German and other European subsidiaries collaborated with the Nazis during the 1930s and through the World War II to facilitate the Holocaust. This week, when newsrooms were being swamped with Corona crisis, it was hard to miss the report about a multibillion dollar deal between Facebook and Reliance Jio. Telecom sector may be battered but Mukeshbhai certainly has a visionary perspective from the perch he now occupies. Working from home and self-distancing, virtual classrooms, seminars, conferences and an altogether unprecedented dependence on internet connectivity naturally present a rather overwhelming opportunity.

The aftermath of wars and rebuilding efforts are similarly rich with possibilities. Capital, after all, begets Capital. And when we’re talking crony Capital, the possibilities are even richer. So, if they’re so smart, why are they bankrupt and looking for bailouts? And why has the mainstream media dubbed any discussion about the State, Welfare, Public Health as ‘commie’, ‘leftie’ and what have you. I remember asking the late Arun Jaitley in the first year of his becoming Finance Minister about he had chosen to divert money from the Health Ministry midway through the financial year. “The goal is to take it to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2018,” I remember telling him. “Do you know what 2.5 per cent of the GDP really means? They can’t absorb even the funds that they have currently been sanctioned,” he snapped.

But as I said yesterday, the unsolicited Vajra of Covid-19 is the lightening that has apparently struck down these insidious arguments. It is ironic to see the hapless Air India being resurrected to its glory of being the national carrier all over again. Divestment is temporarily suspended and all the glib talkers on the TV are hailing the virtues of our airline staff and their service to the Nation in evacuating trapped Indians from all corners of the world. Public health is the new buzzword and the Kerala model is being cited as the most effective counter to a crisis of this scale.

Let us not, however, be complacent in the belief that even the Covid Vajra has the capacity to counter the canny knack of the likes of my rationwallah or Mukeshbhai to make the most of any situation. If I were to imagine that Covid can trigger a rethink and fresh debate on Capitalism, there are signs that the historical pattern is set to repeated. It is heartening that the Rs 1.7 lakh crore fiscal stimulus announced today by our Finance Minister is almost entirely targeted at the farmers, migrant workers and the poor. However, the demand for an industry bailout has not ceased and is in line with the international precedent.

A big chunk of the biggest aid plan in modern US history of $ 2 Trillion Dollar voted by the Senate today entails business bailouts, the UK has already announced its biggest economic recovery package in history like Germany, Japan and Singapore which has announced a $4.2 billion stimulus package to business and households. Back home, we can expect similar largesse to the smart people while those without Capital and without smarts such as myself can naturally expect to be poorer and jobless by the time we are through.

For all the peace and tranquillity that the mindfulness gurus on the internet preach and the inner silence that I am supposed to derive from washing dishes and cleaning up, such thoughts are hard to block. And it is just the second day of our lockout yet.

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Published on March 31, 2020