‘Covid-19 crises not going to vanish soon, need to learn to live with it’

CHANDIGARH: Industry captains, global think tank and various state governments are of the view that Covid-19 crises are not going to vanish any soon and there is no other option but to learn to live with it and utilise the opportunity in capacity building.
These views were expressed by a cross-section of leaders from both government and industry during the global online initiative - Beyond the Lockdown : An Online Summit - organised by Assocham in partnership with The Times of India, on Saturday.
Haryana’s deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said industry and lifestyle is definitely going to change in the post Covid-19 scenario. “We cannot lift all restrictions on May 18 morning. All states have their own concerns,” he said. Listing enormous opportunities for companies to invest in Haryana, Chautala advocated the need to lift restrictions gradually but warned that there should be a restriction on international flights and movement for some more time. “India can learn from the pre and post-world war scenario in Germany. India can come back shining,” said Chautala.
Acquino Vimal, deputy chief of Mission in Embassy of India in Beijing, said when the Covid-19 pandemic started in January from China, the rest of the world was not prepared to deal with it. He added that now production has started in China and it would take little more time to get the industry back on track in India. About the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 crises, Vimal said that one should not put all eggs in one basket and should focus on diversification.
After the trade war between the US and the China, India should have gained but it has not, expressed industries minister of Odisha Dibya Shankar Mishra. He stated since the industry is closed and the mining operations are shut, the labour force has returned to home states. “The hardest thing now is to build labour’s confidence and bring them back to work so that the industry can start,” he emphasised. Mishra added that all states should work in cooperation with the central government and India should grab all those companies coming out of China.
In post Covid-19 scenario, parameters of the industry will change completely, opined Mekapati Gowtham Reddy, industries and commerce minister of Andhra Pradesh. Reddy underlined that the need of the hour is to create security among workforce and create demand in the market by putting money in people’s hands.
Amrit Sagar Mittal, chairman of Assocham North Regional Development Council and vice chairman of International Tractors Ltd (Sonalika), stated that Covid-19 has become part of people’s life and we need to fish out opportunities out of it. Emphasising on creation of demand by putting money in farmers’ hands as 60% of our population lives in villages, Mittal suggested that the Union government should also procure other crops on minimum support price as is being done in case of paddy and wheat.
As Israel is focusing on cutting-edge technology, the country is eyeing more opportunities in India, said Maria Nemenmen, deputy head of the Mission, Embassy of Israel in India. Similarly, president of Latvian chamber of commerce and industry Aigars Rostovskis said though Latvia is a small country but it has great potential and is looking forward to cooperation with India in information technology and other sectors.