Call it health, physical or Covid distancing, say sociologists

Nagpur: Stating that the term social distancing takes the country back to the days of untouchability, sociologists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use a different terminology during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. They feel ‘health distancing’ or ‘physical distancing’ are better alternatives. They also foresee certain communities being targeted with the current usage.

President of People’s Linguistic Survey of India Ganesh Devy, executive trustee of Rashtra Seva Dal and member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council’s teachers constituency Kapil Patil and national general secretary of Rashtra Seva Dal Atul Deshmukh recently wrote a letter to the PM, expressing their disagreement over the usage of expression social distancing.

“Using the expression for describing a scientific requirement is an unfortunate choice of words. Though this expression is currently in circulation, the cultural and historical reference in the Indian context immediately evokes the age old practice of untouchability, which is now banned by the Indian Constitution,” the letter stated.

The letter also highlighted how the term was being shunned at the global level. “Various social scientists across the world have raised concerns about the use of the expression. The World Health Organization has consciously decided not to use it and prefers using ‘social contentedness with physical distance’,” it added.

Calling it a “stigmatizing term”, the sociologists feared that usage of the term will lead to some communities facing a “different kind of untouchability”. “The possible future picture is dreadful. The erstwhile Dalits have faced this for about 2,000 years and the country had to pay huge price for the same. We hope that the some communities would not have to face a similar discrimination,” they stated adding that the unity of the nation may get disturbed.

The letter, which was also sent to all the state chief ministers, did seem to have its impact. “The Prime Minister wrote a tweet encouraging citizens to use the term physical distancing. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray too has stopped using the term social distancing. We are very happy that our point was considered,” said Deshmukh.

Social scientists TOI spoke to agreed that the term might have dreadful consequences in the future. “The phrase social distancing is a misnomer. We should definitely be physically distancing, but remain more social than ever. It is very important to increase physical proximity from others to prevent further spread of the virus, but it is equally important to stay connected with friends and family for sound emotional and intellectual health,” said Supantha Bhattacharya, associate professor and director of PG English at Hislop College.

Bhattacharya cited studies that have revealed that social networks, which provide emotional support, companionship and opportunities for meaningful social engagement, have a beneficial effect on mental health outcomes, stress reactions, psychological well-being and self-esteem. “So the term ‘physical distancing’ needs to replace ‘social distancing’. Also, regional equivalents need to be brought into use,” he added.

Political scientist Anjali Gaidhane recommended the term ‘Covid distancing’. “Personally, I do not see any problem with the word ‘social distancing' as I take it as distancing yourself when in a social place from any body and every body. Nonetheless, given the historic wrongs done against particular sets of people in the past in our country, we cannot overlook the possibility of its dreadful consequences in the future. I recommend the term ‘Covid distancing’ to restrict the use of the term only to the pandemic. It would be relevant only with reference to this pandemic and we continue to distance ourselves to avoid the spread of the disease without any social connotations,” she added.