Edits | July 1, 2021

Retrospectively speaking, January 2020 must have been the best year or quarter for most businesses in India. Even if those businesses were making a loss, they were funded by the banks and governments were behind them. 14 to 16 months of the pandemic has changed many things beyond proportion and imagination. What is to come could either be more dreadful or a new way of living, one’s perspective will hold the key. The most troubling factor during the pandemic has been government policies all around the world. Being in a state of flux the top government officials and politicians are unable to decide what is best for the country. Also the political opposition during these times have receded due to reasons of health failure, financial failure and the like.

In India even corruption has taken a backseat since there are not many tenders being floated and not many political party leaders being able to conduct business. And the bars are closed, so no DESHMUKH style robbery. Most of the movements by NGOs and agencies have taken a backseat. Pollution has been at its all-time low, the weather has been strong and the harvest has been rosy, all being topped by lower consumption. Silos are overflowing. Hence an entire economy and a system of working which depended upon unreasonable amounts of consumption has had to revert itself in order to survive. To say that it will be survival of the fittest will be wrong since the fittest pre-pandemic had a different fundamental, or was a different animal in this corporate world. People most affected during the pandemic are young student-children just out of school, employees at their first job and government servants recently have joined waiting to be assigned work. The next big losses would be policies and law which were invented for many subjects pre-pandemic but those subject matter do not exist anymore. It will take a good amount of time to learn and understand how new life will be led. If the third wave was to strike India, it should be of a lesser proportion than the second in India, since people are prepared and also the governments are prepared to create an emergency war-room.

Hopefully the war room will play out properly and not be limited to mudslinging between political parties. The biggest loser during the beginning of the pandemic era has been the government and political parties, which is quite clear. All over the world the parties which are in power have to remain in power no matter what their compulsion. And the amount of investment which has gone into public sector companies all around the world will have to remain intact so that the wealth of the nation remains intact. This is a certain paradox to the way we live life since most of the systems and law is designed to change, whenever there is a problem or need of the hour. During the pandemic populations of the world are stuck with the same set of rules, regulations and the elected government that they may want to dislodge.

CA Divesh Nath
Editor
Woman’s Era
LinkedIn: Divesh Nath