Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took to networking site LinkedIn to speak to young professionals that adapting to new technology in the times of COVID-19 can help create new business models and lead to the engagement of a large segment of Indians, including the poor, with technical solutions.
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“COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking. Our response and conduct, therefore, should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood,” said Mr. Modi, adding that this has to be so, as the virus has affected across class, communities.
The Prime Minister said that he too had been adapting to changes in his working style and professional conduct. “Most meetings, be it with ministerial colleagues, officials and world leaders, are now via video-conferencing,” Mr. Modi wrote on LinkedIn.
The need of the hour is to think of business and lifestyle models that are easily adaptable, he added.
“Doing so would mean that even in a time of crisis, our offices, businesses and commerce could get moving faster, ensuring loss of life does not occur,” Mr Modi said.
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Today, the world is in pursuit of new business models, he said, adding that India, a youthful nation known for its innovative zeal, can take the lead in providing a new work culture.
The most “transformational impact” of technology, he said, often happens in the lives of the poor. “It is technology that diminishes bureaucratic hierarchies, eliminated middlemen and accelerated welfare measures,” he said giving the example of his own government’s push, since 2014, of Jan Dhan Yojana, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Aadhar linkage.
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“This seemingly simple connection has not only stopped corruption and rent-seeking, which had been going on for decades, but also enabled the government to transfer money at the click of a button. India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual, can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world,” the Prime Minister said.
Logistics were only seen from the prism of roads and highways, but these two can be worked out from the comfort of one’s home, Mr Modi said. “Let us rise to that occasion and seize this opportunity,” he said.
He stressed that efficiency, adaptability, inclusivity and universalism should be the watch words of the “vowels of the new normal.”
