RETHINKING HUMANITY AND NEW SOCIAL VALUES IN INDIA: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF COVID-19

Dr. Ajay Kumar Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, India. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 05 May 2020 Final Accepted: 10 June 2020 Published: July 2020

The process of globalization transformed the whole world scenario via changes in economy, politics, culture and social system. It has produced a phenomenon of the alienation of communication that has become the social reality within a timeframe. The cunning and inhuman behavior of individual has become the sign of this phenomenon. The growth of technology and globalization brought social isolation in the society. Diseases and environmental destruction have also become globalised due to the same. It also caused of a global pandemic namely COVID-19. With the initiation of the pandemic the intellectual communities analyzed its negative aspects and introduced a social distancing model to combat this pandemic. But this study found something apart from these arguments. This study found that some social values or ethics have come back in a new form. This analytical study seeks these new social values in the society and the state which emerged during the COVID-19 lockdown period. As a result, these new social values will help in making a civilized and scientific society in India.

Introduction:-
In the end of the second decade of 21st century as COVID-19 transcended the boundaries of the countries, it exposed the entire world's myth about their advancement, when no country could trace the novel corona virus, its genes and its vaccine or any medicine to guard citizenry and to fight with COVID-19.
Ironically, before this pandemic the world community as a whole was engaged in numerous problems like globalization impacts, terrorism, communism, women's issues, religious ambiguity, racism or untouchability, nuclear war threat, environmental hazards, sustainable development, conservatism vs. modernism, technological and mental improvement, health issues etc. But it had not been concerned about the humanity and social values which were on the sting. The world's security defenders were concerned only about the Third World War or a total war but they didn't expect that they might soon trap during a big and non-remedial pandemic of the century. As this pandemic opened up within the world community which was initiated from china, every country of the universe began to invite help to the major countries, on behalf of the humanity and social values; they began to demand for a drug or a vaccine, or economic help to save infected people from this crisis. Then, taking into consideration that 'Health is Wealth', India regulates a model of 'social-distancing' under the lockdown condition to guard citizenry from human to human infection and whole world adopted this model for protection and survival. But in these crucial days numerous changes came in the existence and new social values 231 severe abuse. In order to combat the situation and to make homes as safe zones, special measures are required. I agreed with all these evidences that expressed and projected this pandemic as negative impact. These evidences do not show that the human behavior has been changed during lockdown positively but these studies kept expectations for the same. Therefore, I found the research gap that these evidences are showing only the negative aspects of the pandemic; I wanted to study on what new social values have been emerged on the ground of humanity.

Methodology:-
To understand the situation what new social values have been emerged during the pandemic, this article employed qualitative methodology. More specifically, I collected both primary and secondary data, cross referencing the findings of primary research with the findings from secondary research. Given space and time constraints of the article, its focus is on secondary research. Therefore, I scrutinized multiple books, reports and articles from reputed journals, newspapers in both scholarly sources and online mass media to extract some common threads from the existing scholarship.
What is COVID-19? COVID-19 also called 2019-nCov, like a normal flu this is an infectious disease caused by a new virus that is related to respiratory illness with symptoms such as a dry cough, fever, tiredness and in more severe cases, difficulty in breathing. This disease spreads primarily through contact with an infected person once they cough or sneeze (Lai & Shih, et.al. 2020). Experts believe that it also spreads when an individual touches a surface or an object that has the virus on that thereafter touches their eyes, nose, or mouth. People could even be sick with the virus for 1 to 14 days before developing symptoms. Likely 80% people endure the disease while not having special treatment. This disease could also be serious and even fatal. But it occurs rarely as media expressing. Older people that are in range of 50-60 and above and people who are laid low with other disease like diabetes, asthma, cardiac problem or the other respiratory problem could even be more liable to becoming severely ill (United Nations, 2020). A demurrer is with this disease that there's no specific medicine to prevent or treat this pandemic. People may require supportive care to assist them breathe. Self care is most supportive if anyone wants to recover. Self care is linked with rest and sleeps, keeping warm, drink lots of liquids, use an area humidifier or take a hot shower to assist ease a sore throat and cough. India adopted five points formula to prevent from this disease like-stay home, keep a safe distance, wash hands often for 20 second carefully, cover your cough, and in the case of sick, call the helpline or medical help .

Establishment of the New World Order in the absence of humanity:
Historically, the world always has been oscillating between war and peace. In the last few decades economic experts many times showed their mainly concern about the effects of wars and the return from war to peace. They believed that the two major world wars were the byproducts of the failure of economic principles (Blodgett, 1946). Therefore, to save the human life from wars and maintaining the peace in the world, many scholars defined the developmental structure. Basically, before the industrial revolution agriculture was the main occupation and a person believes in "health is wealth." Peoples had given more importance to their families. The Industrial revolution changed economic landscape of the world as a whole. The occupational shift away from agriculture caused a movement of population from rural to urban areas. Continued employment often depended on market forces over which people had no control. A dominant economic principle had come in existence during the late 18 th and 19 th centuries which was the concept of self regulating market. This concept was under a laissez-faire policy which advocated no intervention of government in the market (Kreiser, 1976). This policy generated a hunger among the people to be wealthier by which the world was divided into poor and wealthier people. The wealthy countries divided this world into their colonies over which they fought two major world wars. In the mid-twentieth century a developmental programs were introduced for the new independent states to maintain the marketer-customer relationship. But world's hunger for being wealthier was not mitigated. In the continuation, since end of the last century a new buzzword had come to dominate the world which is called 'globalization'. This new phenomenon touched all the significant factorseconomic, political and social that bearing on our conceptions of domestic and international. However, globalization caused of much advancement for all countries and established a new world order which was in the benefit of the world as a whole. Very soon, unfortunately, it became a hard challenge for the world community regarding their security, people, planet, communication, technologies, population migration, internationalization of financial markets, growing importance of MNCs, goods, capital, data and ideas of infectious diseases and pollution (Naidu, 2006). Now 'wealth maximization' (Dworkin, 1980) had become the credo of universal man. This was emerged as a new value over the all social values which were based upon the inhumanity. Technological so-called advancement created a new smart individual who has been depended upon his smart occupation via digital track and their mind-232 based skills. But an individual was alone in this new technological world on the virtual base. Now this individual was under the control of digital media where he/she could put his relationships alive with digital network via so many applications or apps but he/she was not connected with his family as in the earlier time ever. In other words, we can say an individual had become the slave of digital data recently but he/she was free from all responsibilities which were time consuming. Now this individual has entered in the E-globalization. In the present time the COVID-19 has set a new world order where E-globalization is emerging as a new phenomenon.

Present scenario of India and attack of COVID-19:
Before the sad demise of Professor Stephen Hawking in 2017, he has warned that technology must be controlled by in order to safeguard the future of humanity. He created a relationship between aggression and technology and found that the advancement in technology and aggression may destroy the mankind by nuclear and biological war. He suggested that recently our planet is facing some problems as overpopulation, climate change, decimation of other species, epidemic disease, and acidification of the oceans. So we have developed technology and artificial intelligence but it could destroy the earth (Prigg, 2017). Here Stephen Hawking warning was indicating that social values are on decline in the world. Study analysis reveals that technology has benefited human society, particularly in revolutionizing the medical field and playing a key role in scientific research. However, it has its own drawbacks for individuals and the society as a whole.
Due to technological innovations contemporary individual is more isolated than ever before. Technology reshaped the paradigm of our emotional lives but it offered us the new updated lives we want to lead (Weinberger, 2011). On the one hand, contemporary social world where opportunities to make connections with others have become ubiquitous, on the other hand, man, crucial part of the society, has moved from living in a society where mutual connections required considerable investment of time to a world where connections are widely available and inexpensive to create. By these characteristics, modernity has been characterized as weakening the traditional bonds that used to connect people to their communities and extended kinship groups. Prior the modern period society included peasants, lords, kings, queens, priests, popes, etc. but not single individuals. Communities came before individuals and defined them. But as the concept of 'individuality' came in being it implies a certain degree of freedom in the private sphere, the illness of social isolation could not take hold. Some scholars believe that social isolation is seen from this perspective as an undesirable and inevitable by-product of modernity (Parigi & Henson, 2014). The impact of Social isolation was also hammered on India.
It is notable that the main reason of social isolation was the social media in India. Since last decade Indians completely have been depended on the social media, they have been fully trapped out in the internet and Wi-Fi facilities. Everyone became the crazy about new mobile apps. Every task started to depend upon the WhatsApp group connectivity. Social media users devour almost instantly on each subtle gesture and a movement allowed by social media, and elegantly applies these to navigate their relationships with families, friends, romantic partners and even with strangers online. Social media has not only become an integral a part of lifestyle, an area where people live alongside their offline life. Indian were begun to be busy on their online games, updating their profiles, sending files to the colleagues, paying off their bills, selling, purchasing, marketing, and so on (Wang, 2016). Likewise, they started to be so busy during daytime and at night, on the bed, when they could not fall asleep and worried about things, they would take out their smart-phones and watch their massages, and they felt much better psychologically. Indians have been totally engaged in social media where they found connected themselves with whole world-politically, ideologically, economically, culturally, sociologically-social media and internet access often provide people with increased capacities, whether for learning skills, connecting with new people and concept or ideas or simply attaining a public voice. Yet the connection between new capacities, increased aspirations and increased happiness based on what 'motive' is not always clear-cut. The Indians found mostly everything by social media but they lost their relationships with their adherents. They forgot the human values and social as well to do. However, growing challenge of pandemic-covid-19 taught Indians something new regarding ethics of caresocial values came back.
Approximately a one fourth of all deaths in the world today are due to infectious diseases. According to World Health Organization (2004) HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, and diarrheal diseases are the leading infectious disease causes of death and take a particularly large toll in developing countries (Gururaj, Girish & Isaac, 2005). After the end of the Cold War, now, borders are generally more open and the pace of global travel, migration and commerce has increased in recent decades. Due to globalization public health has been widely considered effected (Smith & Sax, et.al., 2007). Though globalization comes with the benefits of increased commerce and 233 closer international relationship, but it also presents new challenges and risks. One such challenge is that infectious diseases which have pursued a trend of increased global travel and spread. Infectious diseases are not just confined to their nations of origin rather these are global in nature, appropriate responses to contain and control them have become a challenge to nations and require a global approach (Cecchine & Moore, 2006). History has evidences of this kind of pandemic occurrence when a virus harassed estimated 2-7.4 million to 71 million people of the world in Spanish human influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 (History.com, 2020).
Today in a very less time people can traverse the world than it takes for several infectious agents to incubate and generate symptoms. For instance, SARS emerged in rural China-spreading to Hong Kong and later on to thirty countries on 6 continents within a couple of weeks-and this was a disease whose transmission rate pales as compared thereupon of influenza. In recent times infectious disease risks are beyond to human-to-human contact. About 75% of infectious diseases that have emerged and reemerged in recent decades are zoonoses, i.e., diseases transmitted to humans from animals. SARS, West Nile virus, monkeypox, HIV, and many of the hemorrhagic fever viruses are in list of its example (History.com, 2020). The recent example of the infectious disease is Corana virus disease of 2019 which transmitted to humans from animals. This emerged in Wuhan city of china and transmitted to all over the world. Death rate is reaching to the millions. The whole world is living with death risk. And the situation has been uncontrolled as evidence tells. Approximately 206 countries of the world adopted the health security measures but seem to be as failure. India adopted the doctrine of "LOCKDOWN"-a state of isolation or restricted access instituted as a security measure. The Indian government suggested to the peoples that they keep space between each other-is one of the best methods to avoid this disease-called social distancing (Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, 2020). Under the social distancing there was a need to stay away at least six feet or two meter from other people, stay out of crowded places and avoiding mass gathering, gather in groups was so restricted in that. Social distancing is also known as 'physical distancing'. Under this resolution a slogan was taken seriously 'stay home, be safe'. On the social ground the feedback of the same was so beneficial by which peoples acknowledged their home, family, relatives, friends and self.

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Knowing thyself and Self help: However, touch expresses presence, desire and intention as well. Caring touch is always can be considered as sacred but non-caring not. One gives life, the other steals it away. Touch is identified as one of the conditions of human growth, for instance, we cannot live without touch. Touch is as necessary as oxygen, food, and rest. Lack of touch affects the health progress of the individual through the stages of development. Deprivation of touch becomes necessary in very extreme conditions which result in permanent psycho-social damage. Under the lockdown or socially isolation, an appeal was made by the government authority to the people that they do not touch anything if they comeback from outside. If they are sneezing, having cold and fever they do not touch their faces with their infectious hands and should not shake hands, hugging, and kissing with others. Since handshaking as a customary greeting enables virus transmission through skin to skin. Substitutes something else-smile, wave or bump elbows, or 'only say hi' could be used for greetings. If anybody is sick with the novel corona pandemic, the best way to keep itself quarantine or isolated from the others and to avoid the infection he/she should stay home. Thus, man recognized himself during this pandemic. Peoples deemed the responsibility toward their family, friends and community. If peoples got infected by pandemic they recovered themselves with their will-power to attain their family, it remained a very good example of 'self help' (PTI, 2020). Not only did, they followed every step of 'social distancing' to avoid this disease so that their family could be survived. People patiently stayed at their homes and tolerated every problem that they received in this uninvited enlacement. They washed their hand timely for 20 seconds with alcoholic based hand-wash or soap whatever they had. It means they wanted to save their homes from this 'terror-bearing' trouble. In upper-middle class and rich families' people followed the principle of 'self help is the best help' when they did their own work without any help of the outsider servants since they were on leave with pay. People grappled with boredom and occasional depression, it was a time also to rebuild their bonds with their families (Mander, 2020).

Knowing the Family values:
Some days before, peoples were so busy in their work and social media as well. Mostly became workaholic. They had not any part of time to their family members. They were living in another world, in which they could carry their work and their skills. To earn more and more money they forgot their loved ones. By which they always engaged in quarrel with their family members, no space was vacant for respect and dignity. Peoples had been lost themselves in the shining technological world. They were missing their surpassing moments. This pandemic offered a chance to the people to live their nonpareil moments with their loved ones. During lockdown, peoples understood the family values. Mostly husbands offered help to their wives in kitchen for cooking, washing dishes, cleaning home-decors etc. After spending a long time, women felt good in equilibrium conditions at home where husbands were busy in household works. The strong bonding between husband and wife was matured. Mostly couples ignored the mess. They tried to spend quality times with each other (Borah, 2020). Kids also became the part of comfort and delight. Since all schools were shut to maintain the social distancing module, so kids got the opportunity to spend their time with their parents. Although, they were engaged in taking online classes but they happily enjoyed their autonomous doings (Tellis, 2020). No doubt, people did not leave their daily routine because they were doing office work from their home. Though no working hours were to manage their relaxation, but now they had few time for their old parents. They were in stress because they were attending calls and replying to emails. But, No special demand remained to spend time with old age parents (Tanwar, 2020). However, quarantine was stressful, during this, fear of infection, boredom, lack of groceries and information and the fear of financial loss (TNN, 2020) were made a home issues but Indian peoples tried to maintain their family values at pinnacle.

Community services:
If we need a strong quality of life, without community service it is not possible. Every person should think about it who serves as well as recipient that it is a genre in which we ourselves grow and develop (Dorothy Height Quotes, 2010). Indians strongly comply with this quality of life. On 22 nd March a 'Janta curfew' announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was aimed at encouraging people to stay indoors and break the chain of COVID-19. A decision has been taken out for the welfare of the Indian people that under the protective measures, a complete shutdown of gyms, bars, restaurants, cinema halls, swimming pools and malls would be there (Manchanda, Ailawadi, & Abrar, 2020). After two days on 24 th March, again Prime Minister announced a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to prevent further spread of COVID-19 . He assured the peoples in his appeal that supply of essential items during this period would be continued and all road, rail and air services will be remained suspended. Some essential services like police, home guards, fire and emergency services, civil defence, disaster management, and prisons, public utilities (including petroleum, CNG, LPG, PNG), district administration and treasure, water and electricity, sanitation municipal bodies etc. were kept operational during this period (ET Online, 2020). In these maleficent days, the Indian did not leave hope, millions of people spent their days at indoor when Prime Minister announced a 'Janata Curfew', across the country peoples became an exemplary to fight with COVID-19 with a unity and appreciated and encouraged those who were serving the nation, for the reason people came together at 5 pm on 22 nd March 2020 and stood at their doors and balconies for five minutes and clapped, or rang bells or beat thaalis to salute the community service providers or warriors. Peoples of the nations again introduced their unity to fight against the disease when they switch off the lights at their homes and light lamps, candles or mobile phone torches for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5 to display the country's "collective resolve" to defeat the corona virus on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was determined on 3 rd April through video conferencing (Mirror Online, 2020). Apart from this, on the advisory of World Health Organization wearing of face masks made mandatory in India when people leave their homes across several of the country's largest states and cities (Withnall, 2020). On the shortage personal protective equipment (PPE) health workers also were panic. Then women police cops of Delhi, Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh came forward for sewing the masks for million poor peoples of India (TNN, 2020). Photo 2:-Three women cops engaged in sewing the mask for poor people.
Photo courtesy: Times of India.

Civility:
Civility is always bound with good manner. 'Recognizing other's pain' may be called a characteristic of civility. For Clifford Orwin, 'Civility as a contrived dilution of both citizenship and charity, resembles neither friendship nor love nor any other intense attachment. It more nearly resembles neighborliness" (Orwin, 1991). However, the economical growth of India has been going at down from last few years to January 2020. It was estimated at 4.7 percent in January 2020, according to trading economics.com (Trading Economics.com, 2020). Almost every 236 economic sector was showing a deficit before this pandemic. Every state was looking helpless to fight with COVID-19 on the economic ground. Recognizing the need of the hour, Prime Minister Narendra Modi created a relief fund namely 'The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund' (PM CARES FUND, 2020) on 28 March 2020 to fight against COVID-19, so that individuals, organizations, trusts, companies and institution etc. might help for the same cause voluntarily (See Table 1). On the appeal of Prime Minister, most of the public and private sectors and peoples came forward to help the nation. All government employees donated their one day salary for this cause. Many private organizations like Mahindra & Mahindra and high-net-worth individual like Ratan Tata have already contributed to the fund. They also took a resolution to make ventilators and other essential medical equipment at cheaper rates for assisting the health sectors' efforts. Some ministries also contributed in this regard. Apart from this, small and huge corporate houses, industrialists and Bollywood actors started to contribute (See Table 2) in immediately in an all-out effort to fight the deadly COVID-19 disease (Babal, 2020). Network18 also came ahead with the #IndiaGives campaign in which estimated 6000 employees working under the network donated one day salary to the PM CARES Fund (Nath, 2020). Thus, the nation represented by this effort that they are in unity to fight with any pandemic and they all always ready to help the others because they realize the other's pain in their hearts. Hence, here it can be said that Indians perceive the fraternity on high stage of the thinking, therefore our nation is based upon the three highest mottos-liberty, equality and fraternity-which is an emblem of civility.

Scientific temperament:
The extension of lockdown to combat the COVID-19 in India caused to shut down school, workplaces, industries, transport and forced people to stay home. After few days, India got pollution rate at lower proportion. Air index began to expose the cleaning of the air. Pollution arrived on the decreasing point because very less vehicles were on the road, construction activities and factories were unopened. Situation helped people to recover from the COVID-19 effects. Lockdown's effects were found on the rivers of India too. Such as Ganga River's water became so clean to get pleasure to the people. Albeit, the quality of the Yamuna River flowing along New Delhi has also improved during the lockdown as Delhi Pollution Control Board declared (India Today-Associated Press, 2020). By the environmental improvement people realized the value of scientific temper. People began to store the given knowledge in India which was displayed on TV channels about the percentage of died, cured and infected people by the disease. Public got much awareness about the role of data in disease management and prevention. This could have been said a small step towards the wider acceptance of evidence-based reasoning, a tiny victory for the empirical-causal explanatory story of the world. These are some factors that could be counted in the scientific outlook; it meant that people of India have made some progress towards inculcating a scientific temper. People really realized the science is indeed crucial since science works. They felt that because of science they were safe. They began to have faith in science because temples were unopened and they were out of the superstitions (Parbhu, 2020). Science influenced people's life much more so they paid attention to the gardening plants at home, so that they might get fresh oxygen from the plants because all parks were locked. People simplified their life because of supply of commodities was shrinking up. They started to abandon a luxurious life and began to consider the 'essentials'. They tried to figure out what they really needed. Some paid attention to their fitness by doing yoga and aerobics. Some people became the friend of books to enhance their knowledge about the people, society, history and culture while some people still became dependent on their mobile phone to enhance their knowledge. But one was the notable fact that people started to think scientifically. Even they began to celebrate their birthday and marriage anniversary at their home by simple manner and got the wishes by video conferencing or video calls.
238 Photo 3:-The Banke Bihari Temple in Mathura closed due to Corona Virus.
Source: Google Image.

Photo Courtesy: Deccan Herald
Corporate social responsibility and Government initiatives: On 4 th May 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the 3.0 lockdown for next 14 days. On the basis of rapidly growing cases of novel coronavirus-the doubling rate of the cases of covid-19, and the extent of testing and surveillance, government took the decision to categorize every district of the nation into Red, Green, and Orange zones. The objective of the categorization was to determine the kind of restrictions placed on the movement of the people and supply of goods in a district. Red zone represented high number of cases and doubling rate. Orange zone was related to fewer cases and Green zone meant that there was no case reported in last 21 days (BusinessToday.In, 2020). During the lockdown a major problem emerged with the migrant labourers, they came under the food insecurity. They faced very worst condition in taking their essentials. Promptly, Indian government announced a relief package of Rs. 1.7 lakh crore to provide a safety net for those hit and hardest by the Covid-19 lockdown. With this package an insurance cover was included for frontline medical personnel (doctors, paramedical and other medical staff). Food security have been arranged with 5kg wheat or rice per person, 1 kg free dal per household, and free LPG for Ujjawala beneficiaries for 3 months were distributed along with this package. Apart from this, Rs.2000 to 87 million formers under PM Kisan Yojna have been sent in their bank accounts within 10 days, Rs. 500 per month for 200 million women has been sent to Jan Dhan account holders for next 3 months (ET Bureau, 2020).

Prospects:
Though, COVID-19 is reacting as a challenging threat for the current century but it has been successful to teach us a lesson that money can't buy all things. It taught us that a man is a social animal, without the society a man is unrecognized and unvalued creature of this universe. It also taught us the ethics of care. Basically, care is a competency that all human beings have for giving and receiving, with the main objective of enriching relationships. The 'ethics of care' (Torquemada, 2017) reminds us of the moral obligation we all have as human beings not to act unfairly with others. In other words, we have a responsibility to attend, not to abandon, not to turn our back on the needs of others. It means ethics of care is largely a service without selfishness. But it does happen only whenever we trap into a problem, however without problem it must be carried out under the condition of equality, integrating variables such as the socio-cultural context, the rational aspects, and the emotional aspects. We all are aware that this pandemic is yet to prevail on the society but now we can have a hope that the new social values would survive India with its ethical power, social responsibility of the man, society, corporate and the government as well.