Mains Practice Questions

Ethical Issues Involved in Migrant Crisis

The given case can be described as an ethical dilemma that can be described as the lives vs livelihood debate.

• The Lockdown imposed as a preventive measure to fight Covid-19 resulted into the migrant crisis.
• Inherent to this crisis there was the trade-off – at least in the short run – between health and human lives, on the one hand, and the economy and livelihoods, on the other hand.
• Lockdown led to the mass exodus of workers who were facing mental agony which accentuated by multiple factors such as:
  
  • A sudden loss of livelihood
  • Fear of starvation
  • Inability to assist in harvesting their rabi crop due to not being able to reach home in time.
• However, the migrant crisis also posed a risk to lives, as the pace of the spread of a pandemic depends upon network effects, a huge population inherently enables a higher pace of spread.

Ethical Care-Giving State

• The unprecedented crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic makes a strong case for an ethical caregiving state.
• Ethics of care is a feminist philosophical perspective that proposes caring is the foundation of morality.
• As caring is ethically basic to humans, thus caring ethics is freed from the charge of moral relativism and implies a relational and context-bound approach toward morality and decision making, rather than a rule-based approach.
• The Government of India stand in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, exemplifies the ethical caregiving state, which can be reflected in the following examples:
  
  • The public healthcare system took the major responsibility of providing quarantine facilities, treatment for Covid-19 when private healthcare failed to healthcare services even to the well-off section of the society.
  • The government launched Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana which provided the distribution of free grains to the people.
  • Further, in order to sustain the economy, the government provided a fiscal stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crore under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.

Role of Civil Society

As Covid-19 gripped the world, it put to test our collective resilience to the global pandemic. In such a scenario, solutions were unlikely to come if everybody is working in silos. The fight against Covid-19 showed why NGOs are referred to as major pillars of society.

• NGOs given their deep connection in combating various socio-economic issues have been natural partners in this endeavor.
• Many NGOs and people, referred to as Covid-warriors, volunteered to help people fight Covid-19 and extend the government’s help in the remote corners of the country.
  
  • Covid-warriors exemplified the immortal human spirit of grit and compassion encapsulated by the tireless battle against the pandemic.
• NGOs initiated to create national emergency funds, partnered with one another to channel donations, provided assistance in nursing homes, and other facilities through technical support and medical teams.
  
  • Sonu Sood, a Bollywood actor, showed the essence of humanity by helping numerous people to fulfill basic needs and reach their respective homes.
• NGOs created communication and distribution networks across the country’s hinterlands.
  
  • They have also been executing an important task of creating awareness about the virus to prevent its spread as well as educating people on social distancing and its importance.
• The ongoing pandemic put the corporate social responsibility to test.
  
  • Despite the economic debacle, which affected all sectors of the economy, companies strived to use this crisis as an opportunity to expand their CSR footprint.