It was only in movies so far that
we witnessed hordes of people getting affected by viruses of a highly dangerous
kind and that impacted the society like never before. Corona so far is
apparently not in the same league like its counterpart in films, yet has created
a scare like never before impacting global societies regardless of the economic
or power strata those infected may belong to. Corona the great leveler has
impacted the developed world more than the underdeveloped and has gone further
in infecting many of the high and the mighty too besides the masses at large.
Lockdown, a word that was since
used only with reference to industries whenever they faced an economic crisis or
a labor upheaval has now become applicable to countries with many going under
lockdown in the fond hope of recovering from the ghastly impact of the deadly
virus of the twenty first century. And
apparently a complete lockdown that would lead to social distancing is the only
solution. Perhaps if many of the nations that are presently leading the number
of infections had acted as promptly and as boldly as India acted, the overall
scenario might have been much more conducive.
Yet what needs to be faced would
be faced and the price that would need to be paid would be paid. There is no
escaping this hard reality regardless of the scale of the wealth and the power
that different nations possess.
There is always light at the end
of the tunnel and sooner or later we would have moved ahead of the era of the
coronavirus. And why not, the resolve to successfully win this battle against
the scourge of the virus is visible so boldly in India and in many other
nations.
And therefore there is also a
need to look beyond and initiate preparation for the same as soon as the impact
of the virus starts showing a declining trend. Often there are hidden opportunities in even
the darkest of circumstances and we need to look for them even if it is akin to
searching for a needle in a haystack.
Travel and tourism is one such
area that has the fastest and the biggest multiplier effect on the economy and employment. With almost all international and many domestic flight curtailed across
the globe, it would be some time for the traffic to pick up even after the
virus passes away. I really do not see international travel reaching the pre
corona levels even two to three years after complete recovery, primarily due to the apprehensions that many of us would now have whenever leaving the shores of
the motherland. The impact of the corona and the almost complete shutting down of the airlines
across the globe, perhaps for the first time ever is indeed a turning point in how tourism would indeed take
place in the future.
And the solution lies in planning during this period for exploiting
domestic tourism to the hilt, an exercise that would
continue to pay rich dividends for all times to come. Let us start creating a desire to explore the richness of our own country. Let people see their own India with its finest collection of tourism destinations, hardly explored due to the false yet widely prevalent notion that tourism is generally about
long distance and mostly beyond the shores travel. A very aggressive dose of publicity
and promotion that has the rich culture of the nation at its core and
development of tourist infrastructure like signages, interpretation, souvenir
shops, last mile connectivity and way side amenities needs to be planned and
quickly implemented to enable taking the full advantage of the opportunity that
lies within despite the scourge of the virus.
The transport infrastructure in
the organized sector like the railways, airlines, buses would need to be very
quickly brought back to life and in full swing. The lull period can be utilized
in carrying out thorough maintenance of the fixed infrastructure, improving passenger
facilities in the moving or flying infrastructure and carrying out much needed
systemic improvements that almost all organizations vie for. We need to
appreciate that despite the restrictions that corona has imposed on human
beings, such blatant freedom to maintain and improve the generally very heavily utilized infrastructure would hardly ever surface in future. Obviously easier
said than done, yet the moot point remains that this exercise should remain on
the radar and genuine efforts can be made to find ways and means to do that.
Similar strategy needs to be examined
for other industrial establishments, factories and service sectors. This is the
time, and a very precious one at that for carrying out improvements that
otherwise would not be possible for availability of infrastructure in an
unutilized state.
Let us all remain positive, for
positivity is the biggest asset especially in a downcast scenario. And we are blessed by a government
that is doing the best that is possible and acting in a manner that is the envy
of even the developed world. And that gives many of us the confidence that together
we shall overcome the challenge of the present times and emerge much stronger
in the future.