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Centre for Public Policy at IIM Bangalore hosts book discussion on March 12

IIMB alumnus Chinmay Tumbe emphasizes the value in remembering and learning from history when discussing his latest book ‘The Age of Pandemics’

12 MARCH, 2021: Professor Arnab Mukherji, from the Centre of Public Policy at IIM Bangalore, engaged in a discussion with Dr Chinmay Tumbe, on the latter’s latest book, ‘Age of Pandemics’, this afternoon.

Dr Chinmay Tumbe is Assistant Professor in the Economics area at IIM Ahmedabad. He is an alumnus of IIMB’s doctoral programme.

The Age of Pandemics, written during the pandemic in just 10 months, chronicles the many facets of the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics, which claimed over 70 million lives between 1817 and 1920, with India being the epicentre in all these episodes. 

Introducing Dr Chinmay Tumbe’s work, Prof. Arnab Mukherji had several questions for the author.

“The first reaction in India to the pandemic was interesting – complete denial and an amnesia of past pandemics,” remarked Chinmay, who said this was motivation for him to research the subject. 

“There is no other century arguably that registered such a percentage of deaths globally.” The book argues that the period between the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century – an age otherwise known for the worldwide spread of the industrial revolution, imperialism and globalization – was also the ‘age of pandemics’. It documents the scale of devastation, the likely causes and consequences, and the resilience with which people faced those pandemics. 

The book also provides comprehensive coverage of the world’s greatest demographic disaster ever to descend upon a country in a short period of time – the influenza pandemic in India in 1918, which claimed more lives than all the battle casualties of World War I. It shows the continuing relevance of learning from those times to tackle contemporary challenges, such as COVID-19.

‘There is value in remembering’

“In India, we battle two issues – the pandemic itself and the migration. It happened in the past when plague hit Bombay, when people began leaving for their villages when plague broke out. The British had shut down the railways to contain transmission and people began walking home, saying, ‘agar marna hain toh gaon mein mare’! When pandemics emerge, migrants want to go home,” he said, adding that there is a lot to learn from studying past migration during pandemic times.

Establishing links between past pandemics and COVID-19, he said: “Cholera inspired first attempts at vaccine development. Haffkine spent two decades, in 1890s and 1900s, in India studying cholera and developing vaccines.” On the subject of plague in Bombay in 1896, he drew attention to the strict containment measures adopted by the British in Bombay, quite like the COVID-19 lockdowns. “In a way we are caught in a similar zone. There are some aspects we know of COVID-19 but there’s a lot more we have to figure out. Like how it took years for plague and cholera were managed and treated. The influenza of 1918, that came in three waves, caused mass mortality. It came on the back of a terrible drought, causing a surge in food prices in western India and malnutrition. When mass mortality happens, statistical systems usually collapse, so I am sure, there were reporting errors then as well,” Chinmay said.

The book, ‘Age of Pandemics’, is dedicated to Mr H Anil Kumar, Chief Librarian, IIM Ahmedabad, who succumbed to COVID-19 last year.