India, May 24 -- Have you heard of Bhamashah, the epitome of financial renunciation for a cause? He was the treasurer (finance minister) of Mewar in 1578, when Maharana Pratap was living in the jungle after losing to the Mughals. Bhamashah gave all of his family wealth to the Maharana who used the funds to raise a new army and reclaim most parts of his kingdom that he had lost to the Mughals. This gripping, fairytale-like turnaround story holds an important lesson. If the State and the people join hands, they can make the impossible happen.

The lesson has become extremely relevant in the present context as our world deals with a decade of crisis. It began with the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the Ukraine-Russia war and the Israel-Gaza ...