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Challenges and Strengths in the Time of Covid-19
Challenges and Strengths in the Time of Covid-19

April 30, 2021

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India along with the rest of the world witnessed unprecedented times during the Covid-19 outbreak, which had a monumental impact on the lives of people. Being the second-worst hit country, India is suffering with nearly 17 lakh cases and 2 lakh deaths, also surpassing the USA to report the world's largest single day tally of cases, amounting to around 3 lakhs. These horrifying numbers continue to climb. While in the middle of a health-crisis, India in the past year faced a multitude of challenges, but the pandemic did not come without a silver lining.

Challenges: 

  1. Healthcare: The outbreak of Covid-19 imposed a significant amount of stress on India’s already compromised healthcare system. Presently, people scramble and beg for basic necessities like hospital beds, oxygen and medicines, while there’s an acute shortage of the same. This sector which was financially fragile even before Covid, is now adversely affected and under pressure of people’s increasing needs which are only met by inadequate resources. However, this grim situation might worsen if the challenge is not dealt with immediately and effectively. 

Covid-19 also exposed the defects in the system and the lack of facilities. Currently, India’s doctor to patient ratio is 1:1700 and bed to patient ratio is 9:10,000 in contrast to WHO’s 1:1000 and 4:10,000 respectively. Both government and private hospitals were unprepared to combat the virus, as they faced the burden of deploying an army of professionals and equipment to ensure systematic treatment and safety of the patients, control and prevention of the infection, infrastructure to hold the affected persons and their isolation, and so on. Furthermore, owing to the unpredictability of the virus, experts were unable to carry out data prediction, generate data models and make accurate inferences. 

  1. Economy: With the onset of the lockdown in 2020, the economy was brought to a disruptive halt with a contraction of 24.4% in June followed by a further 7.3% shrinkage in July-September, pushing the country into a deep recession. Tourism, aviation and hospitality were among the worst hit sectors, bearing a 20% reduction in domestic travel and a 75% reduction in international travel. There was also a 50% and 35% reduction in revenue earned by the hotels and restaurants respectively. These restrictions also directly impacted trade, resulting in a slowdown of both domestic demand and exports. As expected, small businesses also received a major blow. According to a survey by Dun and Bradstreet, about 82%  of small businesses were negatively impacted and 70% believe it will take them nearly a year to recover demand levels prior to Covid-19. Arun Singh, a Global Chief Economist, also adds that “the rate of recovery of India's commercial enterprises, and thereby the economy, will be determined by the strength of the recovery of small businesses.
  2. Employment: India faced a surge of unemployment, especially among the poorer sections of the country. It is estimated that approximately 22-25 million laborers and 200 million migrant workers in India were severely affected due to the virus. According to CMIE data, women formed about 13.9% of the job losses India witnessed in April 2020, and while during November many to most men recovered their jobs, women didn’t. Employment rates have also been very volatile, with 8.35% in August to 7% in September and rising to 9.06% in December. This has discouraged people from entering the labour market.

Strengths 

  1. Advancement of AI - With digitalization following the pandemic, sectors like healthcare and education saw a significant intervention of Artificial Intelligence. For Coronavirus management, apps and drones were utilized for contact tracing, identifying mask violators, facilitating crucial treatment plans by repurposing medicines, detecting infections, providing online consultation, using robots for deliveries and disinfecting public spaces and so on. New technologies like these are facilitating our safety and are here to stay. 

In the education sector, smart-learning powered by AI is in full swing, especially with the seamless transition into online education. Digital content and learning softwares have become the norm, making learning more holistic and comprehensive. 

  1. E-Commerce: With the need to physically distance, the reliance on online shopping increased objectively during the pandemic. Retailer giants like Big Basket, Grofers, Dunzo and Amazon saw a surge in orders. “Customers want to avoid stepping out unless it’s very critical. We are helping customers who are stuck in that situation, and we are able to play a small part in helping (cater) to their needs,” said Gopal Pillai, Vice President for Seller Services at Amazon India.

Several Indian start-ups like Unacademy and Nykaa, crossed the $1 billion mark in valuation. Vaibhav Lall, Founder, Khojdeal, told The Sunday Guardian: “Over the last 5 years, the Indian e-Commerce industry has witnessed an upsurge and there is significant headroom for future growth too. This growth will be spurred by an increase in internet usage, smartphone penetration & the pandemic, and will propel the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of the Indian e-commerce industry to grow to $100-120 billion at a growth rate of 30%.” The pandemic has been predicted to uplift the e-commerce market to around $85 billion by 2024. 

The years 2020 and 2021 confronted the people of India with a predicament that has been arduous to deal with. However the ray of hope comes in the form of advancement and growth. We hope for everyone to safely emerge out of this pandemic stronger than ever. 


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Dr. Vikram Kumar

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