Swadeshi In, WTO out - Lessons from COVID19 Crisis

Post COVID-19 New Global Paradigm: Swadeshi In, WTO out

By:

Vijay Sardana

Why, President Trump, the most powerful person on the earth, is so helpless today? USA  and EU promoted concept of globalization aggressively. What is the outcome? America and EU companies lost capabilities to provide basic drugs, healthcare facilities and medical support services. If this is the meaning of globalization, who needs it? 

Where are the champions of globalization in COVID-19 era? Where are those 5-star advisers, champions of the free market and advocates of free trade regime at the cost of local employment? Why WTO is not able to address the issues faced by goods and services supplies during COVID-19 crisis?

I don't see any article of those so-called champions of the free market economy, on how to manage COVID19 crisis. My request to all those advisers will be to please go and clam down, world leaders like Trump and corporate leaders those who are finding themselves helpless in this COVID-19 crisis. 

In all my discussions, I have always stated that for a country like India there is no world market to meet our demand. No one can supply our requirements for 1370 million people. This will always be against our national interests. We need employment to feed out people but WTO promoters wanted to capture our markets at the cost of employment to build their balance sheets for their greedy shareholders. 

On the other hand, strategically, no one wants to see progressive and stronger India. Our dependency on the world market is the wrong approach for any large democratic country like India. Sufferings of Europe and America are live examples in front of us, how not to manage economies. Unfortunately, many experts due to their agenda and hidden vested interest of their donors pushed policies and policy notes which pushed the custom duties down, discourage local industries and forced our dependency on external unreliable sources at the cost of employment and national self-sufficiency. COVID19 has exposed these issues wide and open. 

Swadeshi movement was ridiculed by these foreign-educated and foreign-funded intellectuals, with no field level experience of working in India or any other underdeveloped economies. These intellectuals only used secondary data and cooked up arguments but no first-hand experiences of ground realities. Swadeshi movement was declared as inward-looking people, protectionist people with no vision. My humble request to these champions of the free market, please tell us what world should do now to ensure reliable and cost-effective essential supplies in 208 infected countries. What provisions are there to with governments to meet such emergencies due to trade disruptions?

Unfortunately, the citizens of the biggest champions of the free market economy are the worst sufferer. This is because their policy-makers and corporate were balance sheet oriented not welfare-oriented. For the welfare of society is CSR activity, that too under compulsion for brand building and advertisements. Many were operating as a wolf under the skin of sheep when they started changing exorbitant for life-saving drugs in the name of IPR and openly declared that we are making life-saving drugs only for those who can afford and give us exorbitant profit. These drugs were not for humanity. Through their money power, they discredited alternate and cheaper sources of healthcare and time tested traditional healthcare systems. 

Now when leading promoters of WTO are the biggest sufferer in COVID19 crisis. Their political leaders are losing patience and appearing directionless. The world supplies are stopped, they do not have basic medicines and basic facilities to protect their citizens and medical staff. They are also failing to produce essential products and services for their own needs. This all happened because we only had one parameter to look at i.e. profitability and the margins in the business. Greed was the only predominant driving force for development.

Time for course correction:

WTO was always having fundamental weakness, it never focused on employment generation and welfare of society. It was projected as an outcome but never as an intent. The WTO creators were from imperialistic society and never wanted to focus on employment but to invade other markets for their corporate dominance and profits at the cost of society, environment and welfare of people. WTO never came forward to help societies in crisis when people were losing jobs and livelihood. It was left to other UN bodies and NGOs. WTO only promoted economic exploitation of nature and societies. It was a hidden agenda of economic imperialism that is why it started facing headwinds after 2005. During COVID19 era WTO is emerged as a total failure and responsible for so many sufferings in all society because societies were forced to discourage their domestic capacities and entrepreneurship. 

The way forward:

COVID19 disruptions remind us Swadeshi is the only way forward. I have no problem with any investor coming to India and invest to work in the Indian market, as long as they stick to domestic rules and policies. No special concessions should be given to any investor which can create weakness in the domestic supply chains. Every country must reassess its essential requirements and plan domestic production system. Essential products and services like food, medicine, healthcare products, sanitation products, etc. which cannot be transmitted through digital systems, therefore, must be reserved for domestic production and exports to countries those who demand. 

Thanks to COVID19, we are entering into a new world economic order. We should start using inputs from our ground realities, in policymaking. We should learn from borrowed knowledge but should be careful while planning and adapting them in local situations. Vested interest and lobbies will work all the time, we should have a very objective assessment of what is right and never overlook what is right for us. Let us learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating history.

Huge Opportunity for investors in India:

Post COVID19 era, we will witness a new world order, driven by self-sufficiency on essential and critical supplies, prepare yourself for the same. It is high time for countries to look deep within their core strengths and come up with their unique policies and strategies not only to overcome but also to lead in post COVID19 era.

Please note, I am not promoting isolation, I am promoting  every country should build self-reliance to face the crisis like COVID19. Over-dependency on outsourcing of essential goods and services, which cannot be moved by telecom systems, may not help in securing the nation in COVID-19 like crisis. In coming days, securing servers will also become need of hour because if enemy country cuts off the access of vital data, GPS and servers, what will happen? We have start thinking now. Who imagined CORONA-VIRUS outbreak in China will be suppressed by local Chinese authorities and world will suffer because of their known or unknown agenda? We can only learn and plan better to secure ourselves. New world order will be called post COVID-19 era. Be ready to face the changes.