The world is going through an unprecedented situation. Nevertheless, life will go on and how the paradigms will shift is what we are focusing at for present. Given the global Coronavirus outbreak, we are faced with the ‘New Normal’ in all aspects of our lives. This first Virtual Dialogue of the FICCI-KAS ‘New Normal’ series was titled ‘Global Pandemic: Future of Work’. The series aims to cover topics of strategic, geo-economic and contemporary relevance to stay connected and ideate on vital issues and concerns of today’s challenges faced by the society.
The first Virtual Dialogue took place on 20th April 2020 on Zoom platform and was attended by people from various fields, ranging from academics, industry and even the public sector.
The webinar commenced with the Opening Remarks by the Secretary General of FICCI, Mr. Dilip Chenoy, whereby he introduced the distinguished panel and welcomed the participants. The session was moderated by Ms. Suhasini Haider, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu, who mentioned that the multi-dimensional challenges created by COVID-19 will tell us as to see how adaptable and resilient people are. Commenting about the need of the hour to bridge the gaps in terms of food supplies, water availability, security, and access to medicines and healthcare, Ms. Haider added that it is time to focus on the new SDGs- Social Distancing Goals.
As the world grapples with the pandemic, education and work have taken the path of digitalisation whereby the institutions are trying to find out ways of conducting sessions and meetings online. The online sessions might prove to be an insightful and engaging experience whilst inspiring young minds to learn more. However, many people are still working assiduously to catch up with this new system of “work online” as there is a lack of technical know-how.
Ambassador Mohan Kumar, Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Vice Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, envisaged the need to build a hybrid model where increasing number of people will work from home which will vary from sector to sector and further stressed that COVID-19 will have an impact on future, especially on those activities necessitating physical presence.
Talking of a slow segmented revival of the economy post COVID-19, the Chairman of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Mr. Sunjoy Joshi, remarked about the need to upscale connectivity, re-organize businesses and create norms for managing supply chains, in order to adapt to the New Normal.
Subsequently, Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director, UNESCAP South and South West Asia Office talked about dis-incentivizing industries and sectors to move towards Artificial Intelligence and to include robot tax, revenue from which can be used for funding for social security and future protection.
This was followed by insights and comments of eminent intellects like Ms. Dagmar Walter, Director, South and South-West Asia Office, International Labour Organisation (ILO) who highlighted the importance of social dialogues for better solution and Dr. Rajat Nag, Distinguished Fellow, NCAER and Distinguished Fellow, Emerging Markets Forum, Washington, DC, who stressed on incentivizing higher education and skills development. He also emphasized on the work-life balance for women where greater realization is needed with regards to balance between office as well as house work.
While digital medium of work is booming, it is also bogged down by several deterrents such as aspects related to accessibility, availability and affordability. There is an urgent need to focus on the issues of paucity of resources like smartphones, laptops and even internet connection as well as bandwidth as a digital resource. On this front, Dr. Balveer Arora, Centre for Multilevel Federalism, Institute of Social Sciences, enunciated aspects related to uneven advantages of schooling at home, lack of social capital and uneven distribution of infrastructure facilities. He further mentioned that future of work should mean equal access to jobs and equality for citizens and pointed out the importance of investment in the healthcare sector.
Mr. Deepankar Tiwari, the Managing Director, India and South East Asia, Area9 Lyceum, talked about the importance of learning and skill development, wherein he noted that there is a spike in interest from the manufacturing sector to transition their blue collar or labour workforce from low skilled to high skilled labour workforce.
Alluding to the macro-economic impact of the pandemic, Prof. Ashish Bharadwaj, Dean, Jindal School of Banking and Finance, Executive Director, Office of Rankings, Benchmarking & Institutional Transformation (ORBIT), Founding Director, Jindal Initiative on Research in IP & Competition (JIRICO), O.P. Jindal Global University, expressed that the universities will have to scale up. Though amid the current unprecedented scenario with the lockdown, virtual platforms with video conferencing are truly a blessing, the outbreak has stung a lot of students and educators - there will be a huge loss for the students who will have to bear the repercussions for quite a while. According to the statistics, about one-fifth of the world's population accounts for students who would be affected by this COVID-19 Pandemic.
Mr. Rene Van Berkel, UNIDO Representative, India Office, through his video message for the FICCI-KAS Virtual Dialogue, elucidated the uncertainty of the present situation and the dilemma faced by various sectors as well as the issue of global value chains. He also shed light on the positive side of pandemic including climate change, biodiversity as well as the growth of the E-commerce sectors.
The session was concluded by Mr. Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India, KAS, who quoted the German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel in his speech describing the fight against the Coronavirus as a serious and Germany's greatest challenge since the end of World War II. However, Mr. Rimmele, in his address, enunciated that it is a time that demanded solidarity, responsibility and partnership while seeking new ideas and solutions.
We don’t know how long it might take for the situation to become normal, but we need to ensure innovative, user-friendly and sustainable reforms and measures on digital and analogue levels.
Covering various spectrums and domains of the “New Normal”, the webinar proved to be an enriching experience.