TEDxKanke, has been organising a Webinar Series titled ‘The Rise of a New World’ which started on May 2 with speakers from various fields. The speaker for the event on May 16 was Professor MJ Xavier, Founding Director IIM Ranchi and the talk was titled Skill and Strategy for the post Corona world. City based entrepreneur Vikas Hirani was the event moderator.
The series is slated to host more than 10 speakers in one month from the fields of technology, innovation, leadership, creativity and art and culture both nationally and internationally. The sessions are being streamed live on the facebook page fb.me/tedxkanke20.
The Professor spoke about past pandemics and the recovery patterns including factors responsible for a speedy recovery. He also shared his insight on the impact of lockdown and the new normal after COVIDD- 19.
“Currently, we are probably the fourth worst affected country and have already taken over China in the number of cases. The world has come to a standstill several times and also recovered as crises always lead to a recovery. There might be a U- shaped recovery where the economy declines sharply and takes about two years to recover. In a Y-shaped recovery, one set of industries like retail will recover faster while airlines and tourism will be slow,” said Xavier.
“The primary factor responsible for a speedy recovery is consumer confidence. In India, number of cases per million is very low so consumer confidence has not gone down very badly and we are likely to bounce back quickly as compared to USA, Spain and Italy who have been beaten very badly. The younger demographic profile also plays a vital role. Relief packages for the poor are also very important and rightly the government has announced a lot of those,” he added.
Emphasising on the impact of lockdown, Xavier said, “Lockdown has given time to people to rediscover their talents, introspect about healthcare, the planet and life in general. Food habits and outlook towards the environment might change to form a healthier lifestyle.”
“In the next two years, job scenarios will change, salaries will decline and working hours will increase. In the long run, India has huge advantage to change the trade scenario with manufacturing shifting away from China opening a multitude of start up opportunities. Online teaching is becoming a norm and a lot of courses might become a blend of physical and virtual teaching. Development of ecosystem should be a focus with IITs and IIMs setting up things together,” he added.
While answering Dr Narayan Bashyam, General Manager, Specon LLC question on the social impact of learning, Xavier said that group activities and working in teams can happen virtually as well. Students can also be linked from across the globe to work on similar projects which will also magnify community development aspect.
IAS Sunil Barnwal, Government of Jharkhand also raised a question on bringing people’s confidence back to which the Professor said, “Confidence building will happen gradually as the lockdown is lifted. People with stable income are more comfortable than urban poor and rural population. The latter groups will need to get into the habit of hygiene which will happen only when money is put into their hands,” he stated.
Rajeev Gupta, the curator of the event said, “The idea behind TEDxKanke Webinar Series is to bring people together to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our changing world and to inspire ideas and action for a better future. The lockdown and social distancing has inspired us to take the event online and reach out to more people, keep them inspired, positive and ready for the new world post Covid19.”
