Page 68 - EW July 2021 final

Interview

“History of pandemics not taught in our schools, nor

surprisingly in medical colleges”

n alumnus of Mumbai Uni-
versity and London School
Aof Economics, Chinmay
Tumbe is currently assistant pro-
fessor of economics at IIM-Ahmed-
abad. Excerpts from an interview
with Dilip Thakore:

Congratulations for your timely new book
The Age of Pandemics 1817-1920 — How
they Shaped India and the World. The
subtitle of your book seems to suggest
that the history of the great pandemics
that swept the world in those years is in-
adequate and its impact under-estimated.
Am I right?
Yes. For instance this age of pan-
demics between 1817-1920 took over
70 million lives which is about the
same loss as in the two World Wars
of the 20th century. But although we
are well-informed about the World
Wars, the public knows very little 1920 pandemics were responsible for the In the case of plague, not enough
about the pandemics. precipitous decline of the subcontinent investment was made in improving
from one of the most prosperous regions housing conditions or rat-proofing
Age of Pandemics provides compelling of the world for several millennia, to its them. When it came to the influenza
evidence that in those years, the Indian impoverishment in the 19th and 20th pandemic, inefficient food supply
subcontinent was the epicentre of the centuries? management after a bad drought
great pandemics — Cholera (1817), I don’t see it as impoverishment aggravated the problem. While there
Plague (1894) and Influenza (1918) as much as relative stagnation and were British policy failures, most
— which wiped out 72 million lives pandemics contributed to that by princely states under Indian rulers
worldwide, with an astonishing toll of 40 hurting economic activities. For fared as badly, so accountability was
million in India in the 19th and early 20th instance, in 1918-19, real GDP fell by scarce throughout the subcontinent.
centuries. So we should have been well- over 10 percent and inflation surged I would add that three unusual rain-
experienced to manage the latest Covid to 30 percent. Pandemics, combined fall deficit shocks in the 1870s, 1890s
pandemic. But obviously we were not. with famines of the late 19th century, and 1918 aggravated the problem.
How do you explain this conundrum? had a deadly impact on the Indian
Unfortunately, we have little collec- economy. Although apologists of almost two centu-
tive memory of that age of pandem- ries of the British Raj over India claim that
ics because it is not taught in our The popular Western narrative is that the they brought modern education to India,
schools, nor surprisingly, in our prime cause of the subcontinent’s suc- nationalists including Mahatma Gandhi
medical colleges. We remember the cessive pandemics is poor hygiene and accused them of uprooting the ‘beauti-
Jallianwala Bagh tragedy of April sanitation. Yet you suggest that the major ful tree’ of the organic Indian education
1919 and the hundreds of lives lost, causes were rising international trade, system. To what extent did neglect of edu-
but not the raging influenza pandem- continuous movement of British and cation in post-independence India make
ic a few months before that incident, Indian soldiers within India and the British the population vulnerable to the current
which took a toll of nearly 20 million empire. What’s your comment? Covid-19 pandemic?
lives. Epidemics tend to slip through There is little doubt that the British Education matters for two core
history because they are often not took more precautions against pan- reasons: Scientific understanding
clearly identifiable enemies and leave demics for their own people in Brit- of how diseases spread is important
little property destruction behind. ain than for Indians in the subconti- so that social groups are not scape-
nent. In the case of cholera, British goated as they were in the past.
Although the impact of pandemics is officials in India resisted scientific The other is in overcoming vaccine
measured in terms of lives lost, they also evidence that it was water-borne for hesitancy. Notice that while educated
heavily impact the economies of nations. four decades, and millions of Indians countries in the West were initially
To what extent would you say the 1817- died due to that disease. hard-hit by the current pandemic,

68 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2021