Lockdown Ponderings (v.1)
It's Day 3 of the COVID lockdown! While I miss going out to restaurants and interacting with my colleagues in person, what is surprising to me is how easy it has been to stay within an enclosed zone. I must caveat this by saying that being in a large house in a small town (my mother in law's) certainly makes it easier than if I was in my regular environs (apartment in Chennai).
PM Modi has to be the best communicator in the world. Both of his speeches showed a deep understanding of the current psyche of the nation and what they wanted to hear + needed to hear.
It has been distressing to see the migrant workforce / daily laborers having to undertake long and arduous journeys back to their villages, with very little cash and hardly any food. I hope the government steps in with food supplies on major national highways.
It also highlights that the time has come for labor reforms in India. If the Government loses this opportunity to undertake comprehensive labor market reforms, they would have missed a once in 100 year opportunity. We need to have more flexible labor markets that will encourage employers to take on permanent employees and invest in them. At the same time, there has to be a comprehensive unemployment security blanket, rather than just the regular dole.
There are several articles about how animals and birds are enjoying this respite and how the pollution levels have dropped. Can we not move to global model where there is a month of "lockdown" each year? A return to simpler things. In any case, most businessmen will budget for 11 months of revenue and 12 months of cost moving forward. This might be the solution for global warming as well.
As work from home becomes the default, we will get used to it and I hope that this will have the positive side effect of developing smaller towns and encouraging companies to base employees in offices in small towns or allowing them to work remotely. Reducing the stress on cities and providing a wonderful alternate lifestyle to people.
How little we actually need!
PM Modi has to be the best communicator in the world. Both of his speeches showed a deep understanding of the current psyche of the nation and what they wanted to hear + needed to hear.
It has been distressing to see the migrant workforce / daily laborers having to undertake long and arduous journeys back to their villages, with very little cash and hardly any food. I hope the government steps in with food supplies on major national highways.
It also highlights that the time has come for labor reforms in India. If the Government loses this opportunity to undertake comprehensive labor market reforms, they would have missed a once in 100 year opportunity. We need to have more flexible labor markets that will encourage employers to take on permanent employees and invest in them. At the same time, there has to be a comprehensive unemployment security blanket, rather than just the regular dole.
There are several articles about how animals and birds are enjoying this respite and how the pollution levels have dropped. Can we not move to global model where there is a month of "lockdown" each year? A return to simpler things. In any case, most businessmen will budget for 11 months of revenue and 12 months of cost moving forward. This might be the solution for global warming as well.
As work from home becomes the default, we will get used to it and I hope that this will have the positive side effect of developing smaller towns and encouraging companies to base employees in offices in small towns or allowing them to work remotely. Reducing the stress on cities and providing a wonderful alternate lifestyle to people.
How little we actually need!
Comments