COVID as an uninvited guest was successful in creating a hullabaloo that showed off the loopholes in types of machinery in every country. The “conquering” attitude of man felt so helpless in front of this tiny virus. Like the popular belief, even Rome can have an end of history, the plaster Paris of progress, development, and efficiency took a deep downfall concerning governance everywhere.

Record-breaking has been a trend of the corona season, like -23.9 percentage of GDP contraction needs immediate attention firstly. Tracing back to lanes of our ignorance which brought us to this price that we are paying can land us to the eighteenth century, the etymology of the word autonomy. Kantian philosophy breaks down autonomy into two combinations of components; 'auto' defined as the negative form of independence or to be free where to have a rational state of choice to make decisions and freedom or lawfulness where you choose a particular law to be followed on the base of circumstances.

This autonomy brought into the context of a state is the pertaining pillar for governance that has its epicentre in its civil society.

This is an autonomy that has a two-pronged effect. The first is for the government and secondly, for the citizens to have a say on what and how important are institutions in the country. The measure to liberalize the economy that started in the 90s has come a long way where we have been able to catch up in the race of development with other countries across the globe. But this fistfight has cost us a lot and the most irreplaceable of them is to lose autonomy as a virtue for both government and civilians. Privatization has always been an organized effort with one aimed phenomenon, i.e. profit. The underlying drive of this was to directly empower the state to reach out to more percent of the population who are deprived of their necessities. It was supposed to be a collaborative effort of strengthening the state which can in turn result in the welfare of the country.

But what we saw as progress or growth was contradictory to this as the more our economy was welcoming saviors the more we were losing out on the real people that were in the far end of needs.

The age-old concept of alienation criticized for its idealistic nature, slapped right on our face when the farmers who lived a life of dignity with their farm produce became destitute and just a number in suicide rates.

The possibilities that this new life-saving system had brought can't be ignored but an exaggeration of the same cannot suffice the way more extreme lose hands we, as a state faced and still go through. In the logical interpretation of the definition of democracy, of the people, by the people, and for the people, the root word people needs the most attention.

The sole capital of any country is its people who have a far-reaching effect in socio-economic and cultural aspects of the system. In a country where seventy percent of the population that still survives in rural areas and the very same people who rely on agriculture allied activities is indeed an indispensable and undeniable cost that this country has to pay for. But what has happened to this section of society who was lost on the roads, in search of their way back home in a COVID hit season, when public and private messiahs rolled the dice to find out who wants to save whom.

But the result has revealed very clearly its array of elitist and communal biases that was swallowed up than anyone could cover well.

 Studies estimate that almost sixty-two crore which is forty-seven percent of the population is pushed to extreme poverty after COVID which is even scarier because of one sole reason - who is going to take responsibility of holding a hand for this unerasable number and reminding that it isn't just a number but actual oxygen-breathing human beings. It's also important to revisit the fact that they did not just vote banks or even if they were, the elite politicians have lost

 them!It is with no wonder that this scenario is overlooked for we were already an alarming country long before corona with innumerable red flags of shallowness from the health sector to education.

Thomas Jefferson once noted that we do not have government by the majority, but by the majority who participate. Then again comes the question that who has participated in the process other than the creamy layers of sellers and buyers in this mess of drained democracy.

This increasing trend of shuttling the responsibility can land us in a new set of trends where we will have a more human cost.

Justice and equity have to be the priority over the maximization of surplus for the government to exist in a long run. Solutions of the same have been always there with this process its just that we, as a society are used to ignore it. Ambedkar long ago affirmed how economic democracy is one of the major pillars for the completion of the democratic process.

Amidst doubts, what we need is clarity and courageous responsibility which can only be taken up by the government, as it is the most questionable and reliable system which was formed by the people and in papers, for the people. State socialism where a timely intervention that has integrity and transparency attached to its core is much needed to take up this fight against a faceless villain that has already taken lakhs of lives.

The necessities like health service, education should be facilitated through distributive justice which is equitable than equal.Hundreds of policies, bills, initiatives signed, and shoved under the carpet cannot work anymore for we need one policy at least making up to its expectations.

For this what we need is encompassing lead than a passive character role. If it's not the case, are we planning to continue this gamble of lives seasoned with occasional escapism on taking charge to lead?

(The authors are students of Social Work at Visva-Bharati, a Central University and an Institution of National Importance, Santiniketan)