The Kerala government has launched “Kerala Dialogue”, a debate series on new concepts and development models for the postpandemic world. Visionaries including noted political thinker Noam Chomsky and Nobel-laureate economist Amartya Sen joined this initiative, which was launched on Friday. “Kerala is starting a new conversation on development ‘Kerala Dialogue’ which will bring together thinkers, policymakers, professionals, scientists and the public to a shared space where they could rethink and reimagine development for a world disrupted by the pandemic,” tweeted CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
The state government’s tackling of the coronavirus pandemic has been hailed world-over. It was one of the first states in the world to have flattened the curve and since then has never seemed like losing their grip over the situation. Sen, Chomsky and Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at WHO, were part of the first edition on Friday. Kerala State Planning Board vice-chairman Prof V.K. Ramachandran, journalists N. Ram and John Brittas were moderators. The topic was ‘Kerala: Future Paths of Development’. “Humanity is in a battle with the Covid-19 pandemic. The resultant crisis has made us all rethink the core aspects of our life. We have to change for this new world, our priorities are going to change. Even the way we organise society may change and some of the common knowledge we take for granted may become useless. We may have to gain new knowledge to adapt,” said the CM.
The second edition is expected to feature economist Joseph Stiglitz, among others.