Covid-19 and Cyclone Amphan: Understanding Overlapping Disruption, Destitution, and Social Justice in West Bengal, India
Authors/Creators
- 1. Political Science at Hindu College, University of Delhi, India
Description
While the world geared up to confront the Covid-19 crisis after March 2020, the state of West Bengal in India faced the parallel blow of a super cyclonic storm called Amphan two months later in May. As a result, a pre-existing crisis viz. the Covid-19 pandemic, which had assumed the form of an extended presence, now interacted with a cyclonic storm to create a new, layered form of disruption that threatened lives and livelihoods and demanded a state response to combat these twin challenges. Taking this ‘novel’ juncture into account, this paper seeks to explore how justice can be conceived during such disruption(s) and to put the underlying focus on the principles and values at play. An integrative approach is adopted in two aspects: by viewing the two crises as a unified problem; and by invoking the importance of the contestations regarding what is right or just during crises. Recognising the gravity and unavoidability of the climate crisis and West Bengal’s present realities, this paper argues that long-term resilience and the principles animating it need to be explored through a broad-based approach that considers state responsibility, legitimacy, and environmental concerns, among others.
Files
J_ASAP_2022_Chakraborti.pdf
Files
(306.7 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:3462fa4139f0b548652797b144d7654e
|
306.7 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
References
- Beck, U. (2012). Global Risk Society. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470670590.wbeog242
- Béland, D., Cantillon, B., Hick, R., & Moreira, A. (2021). Social policy in the face of a global pandemic: Policy responses to the COVID19 crisis. Social Policy Administration, 55(2), 249– 260. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12718
- Bergquist, P., De Roche, G., Lachapelle, E., Mildenberger, M., & Harrison, K. (2022). The Politics of Intersecting Crises: The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Climate Policy Preferences. British Journal of Political Science, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007123422000266
- Chakrabarty, D. (2009). The Climate of History: Four Theses. Critical Inquiry, 35(2), 197-222. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/596640
- Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95-S120. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2780243
- Gupta, T. D., Chakraborty, A., & Danda, A. A. (2021). Confronting Cascading Disasters, Building Resilience: Lessons from the Indian Sundarbans. Observer Research Foundation Occasional Paper (297). https://www.orfonline.org/research/confronting-cascading-disastersbuilding-resilience-lessons-from-the-indian-sundarbans/
- Jha, D., Ghatak, S., & Maiti, D. (2022). Political Stability in West Bengal: Prosperity or Decay? Economic and Political Weekly, 57(25). https://www.epw.in/journal/2022/25/specialarticles/political-stability-west-bengal.html
- Kymlicka, W. (2002). Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
- Mahmood, Z., & Chakraborty, A. (2022). The pandemic and the state: Interrogating capacity and response to COVID-19 in West Bengal. WIDER Working Paper 89. https://doi.org/10.35188/unu-wider/2022/223-2
- Mendus, S. (2006). Impartiality. In J. S. Dryzek, B. Honig & A. Phillips (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (423-435). Oxford University Press.
- Mitchell, D., Hawker, L., Savage, J., Bingham, R., Lord, N. S., Khan, M. J. U., … Testut, L. (2022). Increased population exposure to Amphan-scale cyclones under future climates. Climate Resilience and Sustainability, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/cli2.36
- Olsaretti, S. (2006). Justice, Luck, and Desert. In J. S. Dryzek, B. Honig & A. Phillips (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (436-449). Oxford University Press.
- Poddar, S., Mondal, M., Ghosh, S., & Jana, A. (2022). A Survey on Disaster: Understanding the After-Effects of Super-Cyclone Amphan, the Helping Hand of Social Media. In P. Banerji & A. Jana (Eds). Advances in Urban Design and Engineering: Perspectives from India (157- 197). Springer: Singapore.
- Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1994). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton University Press.
- Sen, A. (2000). Social Exclusion: Concept, Application, and Scrutiny. Social Development Papers No. 1. Asian Development Bank. https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29778/social-exclusion.pdf
- World Meteorological Organization (2021). State of the Global Climate 2020. WMO-No. 1264. https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10618