Being an optimistic needonomist interested in public wellbeing, I wish to cultivate a philosophy of life with a positive mindset in present times of covid when positive has become the most negative word. I am floating the concept of ‘Needochemistry’ as the chemistry of needs for public wellbeing with a full sense of responsibility.

Although I learned little chemistry in the dance show ‘ Nach Baliay’ when the judge used to say that the dancing partners had excellent chemistry, yet I understand chemistry plays a role in our lives and touches almost every aspect of existence in some way. Chemistry is essential for meeting our basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, health, energy, and clean air, water, and soil.

It is pertinent to mention that our leaders in the post-independence era including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru did not know the chemistry of compound and given mixed economy character to my beloved Bharat called India as independent, non-violent, democracy with integrity and amity. If the compound character of the Indian economy with policy-mix was done the story of development could have been different.

I have been given to understand by my friends in chemistry that they study matter and change and the types of systems that are studied vary dramatically. Traditionally, chemistry has been broken into five main sub-disciplines: Organic, Analytical, Physical, Inorganic, and Biochemistry. When I coined the word Needochemsitry and tried to search in Google, I came to know about neurochemistry too. Neurochemistry is the study of chemicals, including neurotransmitters and other molecules such as psycho-pharmaceuticals and neuropeptides, that control and influence the physiology of the nervous system.

Being consumers of food, we require digestion which relies on chemical reactions between food and acids and enzymes to break down molecules into nutrients the body can absorb and use. Soaps and detergents act as emulsifiers to surround dirt and grime so it can be washed away from clothing, dishes, and our bodies. Drugs work because of chemistry.

It has been observed that the research is constantly deepening our understanding of chemistry, and leading to new inventions and innovations. To my mind, Needochemistry will help us solve many future problems, including sustainable energy and food production, managing our environment, providing safe drinking water, and promoting human and environmental health in present times of covid and thereafter.

To my mind, the subject of chemistry is the study of matter, its properties, how and why substances combine or separate to form other substances, and how substances interact with energy. To understand, analyse, interpret the prevailing problem of covid, we require Needochemsitry as part and parcel of everything in our lives. Every material in existence is made up of matter — even our own bodies require Needochemsitry. Some of the core components of chemistry include non-judgment, similarity, mystery, attraction, mutual trust, and effortless communication. Needochemistry can be described as the combination of love, lust, infatuation, and a desire to be involved intimately with someone in the society which has many complex and complicated issues.

To produce oxytocin with immunity for enhancing resistance, we need to use brain chemistry for altruism as Needochemistry which falls in the domain of needonomics justifying needoeducation of all the subjects and disciplines taught in the world of today. We require needolaw as law of the land with changed looks, action, and words (LAW) for the principle of needonomics including Needochemistry.

My friend, Dr. Pawan Sharma, Professor of Chemistry, Kurukshetra University says that the brain chemistry of a positive mindset releases tons of endorphins which are responsible for a strong sense of well-being and euphoria. Dr.Neera Raghav, Chairperson, Dept. of Chemistry Kurukshetra University says that oxytocin is related to altruism.

To make people more trustworthy and empathetic (not sympathetic), we need the medicine for morality that leads to prosperity.  It is oxytocin. The mother loves her child because her brain and blood produce the chemical called oxytocin. Oxytocin, it is said, is at the core of all our virtues, from trust to empathy to cooperation and support.

 Dr Love  Paul  J. Zak,  professor of economic psychology and founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University an economist and neuroscientist has spent the last decade running experiments to understand the proclivity for good or evil in human beings. In 2004 he discovered a key role for the neurochemical oxytocin in motivating us to behave in moral or pro-social ways. That is, when the brain makes oxytocin, people are demonstrably more generous, trustworthy, compassionate, and so on. Dr Love called oxytocin the “moral molecule” (see www.moralmolcule.com) and he wrote a book about this in late 2012 which focused, in part, on this discovery but mostly on how people can use this knowledge to improve their relationships, be more productive at work, understand and treat psychiatric and neurologic disorders, improve negotiations, and stimulate prosperity. Dr. Love tells about using the moral molecule to effect change, both change in individuals as well as to improve organizational performance, productivity, and employee engagement and happiness. The organizational work was a direct outgrowth of his work on the neuroscience of morality and leverages his cross-disciplinary approach.

To my mind, we have to live an enlightened life with skills, values, wisdom, and vision to align and harmonize new connectivity among various socio-economic sectors in the present society with sermons from the epics such as Gita and Anu Gita. All those who are interested in exploring such a journey to life, living and providing leadership driven by ambitious goals and nobler objectives in life have to imbibe human values with a spiritual bent of mind full of oxytocin for altruism needed today.

 Let the needonomists ( the breed of economists who believe in needonomics as the economics of needs and no to greed) and Needochemists ( the breed of chemists who understands needonomics too) join hands to develop a new school of thought for public wellbeing. The issues are open for healthy discussions by like-minded scholars, researchers, and academicians.

(Prof. M. M. Goel is the former Vice-Chancellor and Needonomist Professor living in Kurukshetra.  www.needonomics.com)