Looking back twenty or fifty years from now historians will remember the year 2020 as one of the greatest pandemics of human history. Nothing and nobody — no even a US Presidential Election would be able to outshine this fact. One of the greatest pandemics of all time — if not in terms of lives lost then in terms of column inches written about in newspapers and the press, it effectively managed to outshine almost everything in its path.
As per official data the virus has killed almost two million people and affected almost 82 million people — officially, that is. Selective surveys in Dhaka and parts of India show a different tale with upto half or more of the population affected — so the real truth lies somewhere in the middle. The virus was powerful enough to change the result of US Election as US voters voted overwhelmingly to change a sitting US President after only one term — a change not seen since 1992 when George Bush Senior was the last such unlucky US President.
Such was the power of the coronavirus. It changed behaviour so radically that things like six feet distancing, wearing masks, and social isolation became the ‘new normal’. But other things too happened — a first in US history when a sitting US President refused to acknowledge his defeat gracefully, trying till the last minute to subvert the agenda of his predecessor — a fact which led to several Arab states like the UAE to acknowledge Israel officially.
Other major events in the year like the stepping down of Prince Harry and his wife as Senior Royals and the Impeachment of Donald Trump barely stayed on the public imagination for long. At the end of the year the coronavirus once again dominated headlines as the world rolled out vaccines in major nations to try to combat its deadly trail — a successful event which compressed the ability to make vaccines from a decade to one year, an astounding human feat.
In Bangladesh nothing much happened — the ineptitude of the administration was seen time and time again during the pandemic when the corruption and chaos compelled many people to not find aid properly. Incomes of many people fell rapidly as many firms reduced salaries. Unable to cope many lower income people left Dhaka and it became a ghost town of sorts. People suffered twice — once due to the virus itself and the other economic blow which occurred due to lockdowns. The ability to merely survive was the order of the day — everything non essential faded away.
We hope that the New Year will improve the socio-economic landscape of the nation. The new normal being ushered in by coronavirus vaccine and new hope we express will not be easy to realise and sustain. We will have to depend more on science and technology dependent competence to lead the nation. More knowledgeable and more creative have to forward to face the challenges of the new normal at the door.
We are still unsure about getting vaccine and how incompetence we shall face by way mismanagement and corruption. The government has to be saved from the grip of bureaucrats to have a people’s government. Our educated self-seekers must realise that they are part of the people and cannot have all the comforts as a privileged class.
