Coronavirus

The information technology industry has been the hallmark of the Indian growth story since the 1980s. The Indian IT sector has relied heavily on non-home markets for demand and resources and built deep global ties using co-location with clients, enabled by international travel and temporary on-site migration, acting as a key mechanism in developing “cognitive proximity.” However, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to make international travel and migration more restrictive and costlier, maybe for a long time. The paradigm shift creates significant barriers for IT firms to be able to maintain cognitive proximity with its clients and could adversely impact their global competitiveness.

Odisha, in spite of a poor public health system, did well in managing the pandemic in the initial month. This is on account of three reasons. It drew from its now globally recognised swift disaster preparedness and management aimed at zero casualty. It adopted a proactive, as against reactive, course, which in itself is a difficult proposition in such an uncertain and dynamic scenario. It took lessons from success stories and challenges based on happenings elsewhere.

COVID-19 and the resultant lockdowns have severely curtailed the mobility of persons with disabilities, restricted their ability to seek basic necessities, healthcare, and assistance. Uncertainty on the disbursement of financial protection schemes meant for persons with disabilities have exacerbated their existing financial precarity. At this juncture, obstacles in accessing healthcare should be identified, facilities should be made affordable, and financial support should be exclusively planned for persons with disabilities to save them from the dreadful risk of the coronavirus and its aftermath.

Countries across the world are relying on trial-and-error interventions to arrest the COVID-19 pandemic. But, even as health systems are close to breaking down and economies are flailing while underprivileged citizens are battling unprecedented social and financial catastrophes, most governments are failing to provide appropriate social security and relief.

Neo-liberalism’s claim of being the vanguard of individual freedom works as the basis of popular support for education system reforms, which aim at making society receptive to the principles of free market. In the process, contents and methods of teaching–learning are redesigned to build public consent for those reforms, while the real objectives are to possibly ensure a steady flow of skilled human resource for the market. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant changes in the education system are being used to increase acceptability of the reforms.