Phanjoubanm, Pradip <br/><br/>
In fighting Covid, the Manipur government needs to be reminded that answers to problems are often counterintuitive 

 - Dialogue   
 - 21(4), Apr-Jun, 2020: p.15-18 
<br/><br/> The path to truth can be sometimes counterintuitive, therefore often missed or dismissed by those seeking answers to problems. This thought returns in the midst of Manipur’s fight against the COVID pandemic, and what are seemingly inadvertent flaws in the government’s response, precisely on account not being mindful of the fact that solutions to problems do not always follow what are believed to be common sensical approach. Perhaps this is also why Italian Communist philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, was suspicious of the popular understanding of common sense, for according to him, this is not an inherent condition of nature but an interpretative conception of the laws governing natural phenomena, constructed through prolonged exposure to hegemonic ideas of dominant cultures and traditions. Hence what is common sense for orthodox Christians, Hindus, Muslims etc, can vary, and even radically so. Gramsci even suggested adoption of what he called “counterhegemony” in the deconstruction of these existing hegemonies. But without going into these arguments, let us see where the Manipur government might have gone wrong and may still be going wrong, considering these weaknesses of common sense are not acknowledged or even noticed. – Reproduced