A NOVEL WAVE OF NEW NORMAL

As I am penning down my thoughts on this article, the latest coronavirus infection has crossed the 4 million mark across the Globe with a loss of more than 2.7 lakhs precious lives. At this moment in history, we all do have an opportunity to revisit and look at the way we live and realign both individual and societal change as an opportunity for realization and rebuilding for future generations. A new door has opened and we need to throw our creations for nearly a century. Today, many parts of the world are able to witness a pollution-free atmosphere, clean air, birds migrating freely to greener pastures and wild animals are able to take a stroll even in urban areas, cities.

Also, we see pet animals abandoned as strays by some owners fearing their lives with a myth and wrong perspective of science and the disease. The weight of the virus is measured at 0.85 attograms or 0.85X 10 to the power of 18 grams or about one-millionth of a trillion grams. An approximate measurement of the virus which infected more than 4 million people is not even 4 grams in total. The 4 grams of virus can bring 4 million people and the entire humanity is on its knees with a few grams of the virus. The total economic loss due to COVID19 USD 4 Trillion and above asper Asian Development Bank. We are already witnessing the world’s worst economic recession, while the world is moving towards operations through virtual mode which is a wave of new normal.

When life is spinning between the existence and economical needs, people need to pause a bit and relook the ways to sustain simple living satisfying the need of the hour rather than looking at luxurious lifestyle and accumulation of material wealth which may not protect you from breathlessness created while the virus is in the air. Social distancing, personal and societal hygiene has taken a driver’s seat for the survival of people and then the economy. This killer disease also taught lessons to the religious preachers that the biggest temple to pray is in your heart not elsewhere. When life and existence are threatened these religious places may not give a shy of relief. You need to be strong mentally and physically to go through situations and pandemic like this instead of blame games. In the end, wisdom and love will survive is the key point. It is a known fact that we are all connected to the source only thing is we have amnesia to feel the same and face the situation with that strength and overcome this also. The global lockdown and restricted mobility also reflected an interesting thing for self-introspection. Billions of luxury cars parked across the globe with dried battery unable to start should ask a relevant question whether these are really needed and how did we manage for two to three months without these? Food for thought. Many of us stopped using air conditioners fearing for life when the news broke out that it may facilitate the virus to set in your body. It is imminent the world has become hunters of life. Something good surely comes out of even worst situations should be the attitude. This virus outbreak is a real game-changer. The new situation brings out something creative which was sleeping inside us and it is a time for awakening and act state.

The world has witnessed the giant economies collapsing and in dire straits in all parameters while facing this pandemic. While economic growth is critical for a country to be branded as superpowers and powers, it also necessary to address certain basic needs of the citizens. It is not only about social security measure of filing a petition for unemployment allowance or any other material thing which to be claimed. While there are many other things related to social security provided to citizens. At the ground level Primary Health and Education must be certainly in place to save the society.

A disease of this magnitude can be contained only when the basic primary healthcare is fully in place with heart and soul and people understand and work cohesively to achieve the same. The second important factor is Education which gives an impetus to understand, communicate and work towards common goals. It is not about your engineering and innovative brains but it is all about networking properly to contain the disease and take a consultative approach for a common problem. I am proud to mention that the state of Kerala is the best example of the world community. We should not bring in petty politics while taking the example. It is all about the ability of people to cope with a pandemic like this. It is all about working as one single team. Ability to take on challenges when the whole world has become fear mongers and sulking with helplessness. There is a huge mindset change required across the globe. Individuals have to realign their priorities in life.

Organizations have to realign to strategize plans may be to count the calendar of business for Business to 8 months instead of the 12-month cycle to provide a quarter for contingencies like this, which will continue to happen every now and then. Universities, educational institutions and Regulatory authorities must also make a huge shift the yearly calendar is drawn. Look at Blended Learning and Online focus with Good Quality Content and Delivery. The Evaluation system should also improve in pandemic situations like this as an alternate plan.

This pandemic also indicated the resistance of humanity to make changes and better prepared for disasters like this which are created by us. We all need to be blamed for the situation, it is the entire humanity which created the situation by degrading environment, expanding material wealth luxury beyond our needs and wants and then cribbing. We create pandemic like this and then create a vaccine to protect ourselves. By the time we do research and trials and bring out a vaccine another new or mutated one springs up. Why can’t we address the basic issues of not degrading the environment, destroying nature, building concrete structures, buying appliances, vehicles beyond our requirement?

Humanity has stopped walking and keeping fit and doing physical movements which the creator thought would be done by the equipment called body with lots of internal highly connected subsidiary organs. We under the guise of convenience and growth perspective outsourced everything including thinking. Now, at this epidemic juncture a battle of all the battles. Precisely, an existence battle now we want to look at this precious life seriously without realizing the pain the potter has taken to create a unique one. That is you and me. Karma Yoga of Bhagavad Gita states in verse 4 of the chapter I quote “ Inaction is not acceptable. By forsaking the work no one reaches perfection”. The action we need to take in this pandemic is to remain safe and ensure others are safe in the society, keep the social distancing and hygiene norms intact and start working with alternate modes and methods even during lockdown period by doing your karma.

We need to live with Covid19 or any other future virus. Lockdown for some period will contain the spread for sure and once we reopen economies we will have newer challenges to manage situations – That is a new wave of new normal. Organizations, universities, public services, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing setups healthcare industry, travel, tourism etc., must take all hygiene precautions including investment in proper cleaning of in house facility. This will be applicable to governmental agencies, public services. Means, economies have to allocate more funds for healthcare, social security measures and education by cutting down the budget on other portfolios. The pandemic effect on cities like New York, Mumbai being commercial capitals crumbling also indicates the unmanageable situations in such times. European countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK also indicated vulnerable and helplessness during this pandemic though these countries are advanced in many ways. Comparatively, Asian countries handled it better despite being underdeveloped or developing economies by definition.

The NEXT BIG PANDEMIC after Covid19 is going to be UNEMPLOYMENT. You can already witness seismic waves all across the globe, due to which higher unemployment issues are rising in all parts of the world. In a country like India, where the migrant population supports the economy started migrating back to their villages and hometowns. You will soon find shortages of skilled manpower due to this reverse migration effects. The states in India which took care of the migrant population retained such skills. Balancing the rural and urban spread is going to be a major challenge to India. A new model of the economy is to be rebuilt. Most of the world economies big or small will shrink and the success of turnaround will depend on the sustainability factor and resilience of people and the business houses to adopt and adapt to newer changes and opportunities with the constraints of healthcare which is currently prevailing. The cost advantage of China now moving towards the erosion of faith by many countries of the world due to an unreliable factor with China during this Pandemic period in particular. India can become a factory for the world if it is able to maintain quality and maintain service level agreements and open for FDI by further encouraging investment as it is a rare opportunity to make use of.

Following opportunities will surely emerge in these situations in the sectors mentioned:

1 – Online Education/Coaching

Though India is the second biggest user of online behind the US, it has not capitalized the opportunity to grow. MOOCs are existing for over one and half decades and many universities especially the USA started delivering quality online courses. However, the Indian system of Education always resisted online education as inferior in quality. However, during this COVID19 pandemic suddenly the whole of academic fraternity started looking at Zoom, Google Meet, FB Live, Webinars, Microsoft and Siemens Applications to conduct Online. Finally, a FORCED CHANGE was imposed on so-called superior academic fraternity. Most of the organizations shifted to Working From Home Concept. TCS went on to the extent to have 75% of their workforce operating from Home by 2025. Regulatory Authority like UGC, Universities and AICTE should have realized this a decade ago to introduce Blended learning as a quality option. Better late than never. Now the regulatory authorities should not focus on huge infrastructure investment and Inspection policy instead they must focus on developing good quality web content, online resources ( like the beginning made by AICTE in Swayam portal). Branded Institutions like IIMs, only some of them like IIMB, IIMA, and IIMC have seriously moved towards courses through online with good content and a very few private players in this field provides great opportunity. The challenge will continue to attract faculty who are able to deliver seamlessly on any platform backed by quality content. Should we invest heavily in building infrastructure and classes or make only practical mandatory in Labs and practical rooms and shift more towards online mode are the questions for Regulatory authorities. When organizations are thinking of bringing the investment of infrastructure and move towards working home, why not Academics move towards Blended learning and invest more on Quality technology and content to give a better forward-looking experience.

2 – Digital and Online Content Writing & Management

This is another area where opportunities will grow multiple times. Every organization from every sector will start building even operational content apart from information which is meant for Public and Customers and to Internal team to enable working from home. Therefore, some of the ERP access which is linked to the website will be made much stronger for easy and faster operations. Some of the concept built by e-commerce may be replicated It will be digitization and digitization all the way.

3 – Giggers Economy

The aftereffect of Pandemic will continue to create havoc in every single economy of the world. There will be specific opportunities in specialized skills of shorter duration. It could be consultants or even intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs in some new sectors and skills. But most of the economies will change the hiring pattern and most of the workforce will also prefer gigging rather than permanent employee status due to lack of opportunities and their own passion for freelancing.

4 – Manufacturing in specific Areas

As the world’s biggest cost-effective factory China will lose its share and credibility, many countries will shift their bases to a country which can be trusted in the long run or shifting the base to their own countries will be the next course. In many cases the labour and establishment cost, the investment will force them to shift to the next best option in which case, India may get an opportunity to expand the manufacturing hub.

5 – Startups

There will be numerous opportunities. But most of them will be in and around health care. A few to mention- manufacturing and marketing of Sanitizers, Cleaners, Disinfectant sprays, hand wash, Masks both surgical and general masks and specialized masks. The recent Covid19 experience in the US exposed the health hazard for health workers who have worked without protective equipment due to which lives were lost. There will be a huge opportunity for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). This market is expected to grow along with sanitizers and disinfectants. There will also be a huge growth in Artificial Intelligence ( AI), IoT ( Internet of things) as even public services and government services will be though downloadable apps. The startup opportunities will immensely increase in Drone technology usage. The government ban on drone operation is eased out now. As social distancing will continue for years to come, manufacturing and marketing drone technology and machines will fetch market even in the Public Works Department like Health, Corporations, Municipalities across India. India has a large amount both the parents working and even globally packaged food and ready to cook industry is expected to grow both for hygiene and time constraint. As social distancing will continue for a longer period the loss on restaurants and hotels will move towards this safer option so that a variety of hotel eating can be given to a customer without ambience experience. You will also notice a shift in food consumption pattern both from health and hygiene point of view. Personal fitness Equipment is another area which is expected to grow. As social distancing is the norm of the day, people who are fitness conscious will start buying steppers, smaller treadmills and gym equipment. Any startup in this area is expected to grow. The world will also witness better Facility Management Services growing – be it upkeep contracts or cleaning services which are capable of using more machines and hygiene products of good quality as a composite package as offices and malls will be regulated to maintain higher hygiene standards.

6 – E-Commerce

In the age of social distancing, this industry is expected to grow and expand further. Organizations like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, eBay will provide opportunities for employment and Supply Chain Management ( SCM) partnership opportunities. More and more local hubs will grow to serve the growing demand. There will be more of technology usage even in e-commerce and drones may be used for delivery. There will be ample opportunities in E-commerce. In fact, during the COVID19 lockdown, many local shops have moved to telephonic orders and time slot for social distancing. You may very soon have localized apps which will be used by a pool of vendors ( Kirana stores) and door delivery which has already started.

7 – New Credit Business & Financial literacy

The global economy will require 6 months to one year to figure out how the economy will shape up. Both Consumer Demand and employment are going to pose a major challenge to all. Therefore, Individuals, small traders, small scale industry even MSME’s will need fresh liquidity to grow. Therefore, once the lockdown restrictions are eased out and the economy is reopening there will be a huge need for credit. The traditional way of creditworthiness assessment may not work. The lending companies which make the first move in alternate creditworthiness evaluation will make huge progress to capture the market but it is with an added risk. Therefore, higher rates may come into play to hedge. The credit period across the industry will reflect an extension from the normal 30 to 60 days to 120 days. Lenders will have to educate the borrowers as to how to grow business by timely repayment and increase the creditworthiness to expand.

A simple conclusion on this COVID19 Novel way of New Normal is to adapt to new changes happening around us. It is a waste of time to get lost in a labyrinth of our own making and planting the seeds of anxiety. Instead of worrying, we must get moving with new opportunities and avenues opening for us. As the book Zen The Art of Simple living states “ Get in touch with nature. Find happiness that is right at hand, Create a miniature Garden in your mind”