The Covid-19 pandemic has not only revealed humanity’s true nature but has also exposed the new world order
KARACHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has not only revealed humanity’s true nature but has also exposed the new world order. While leaders rush to tend to their nations, there is a slim chance that they will be willing to work together to overcome the situation. This crisis has, nevertheless, brought to the forefront the problem of global economic inequality. Underdeveloped countries are being crushed as infection rates increase while healthcare sectors and small-scale businesses are slowly crumbling. Governments under enormous debt are pleading for relief packages to stabilise their economies and countries are desperately searching for ways to import essential goods and PPEs.
Our current path foreshadows that of a global disaster; therefore, it is high time that we collectively addressed the problem of inequality for the greater good. It is time to heal society and help those that have been mentally and emotionally scarred by current events. To bridge the wide income and wealth gap, governments need to re-evaluate their policies and cater to the common man. As a first step, they can introduce progressive wealth taxes so that additional revenue generated from them can be used for public education and healthcare. Furthermore, governments need to work on providing equal opportunity for all, so that people who are working hard get their due rewards. These changes will not only help bridge the gap between the public and the private sector, but will also help in dispersing global wealth, majority of which is being held by a certain few.
In an underdeveloped country like Pakistan, such measures may be hard to implement given the fact that the country is already fighting serious problems on multiple fronts. But if the situation is analysed holistically, the pandemic can be thought of as a blessing in disguise as it will allow us to readdress our socio-economic disparities through prudent policymaking. The actions that we take today will determine the condition of our country tomorrow. We must act wisely.
Hadia Mukhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2020.
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