Webinar by Department of Commerce in collaboration with IQAC-LSR, 29.5.20
The Department of Commerce in collaboration with IQAC-LSR, hosted a Webinar on the morning of May 29th to discuss and deliberate upon the research conducted by 9 students of the Department under the guidance of the esteemed faculty comprising of: Dr Sunaina Sardana and Ms Jyotsna Arora on the topic of ‘Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on India’s Low-Income Working Class’. The occasion was graced by the esteemed presence of two very distinguished experts- Professor Ms Madhu Vij (Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi) and Researcher Ms Ratna Sudarshan (an illustrious alumnus of LSR, DSE and the Cambridge University, London).
After a brief introduction of the Team and the expert panel of speakers for the audience by Dr Sunaina Sardana and a detailed presentation of the research Methodology and Findings by the students who had worked together, Professor Madhu Vij was called upon to share her valuable inputs. She emphasized that this pandemic is a completely different scenario because it has a ‘human aspect’ to it. The entire event is like a black swan moment; a World War 2 where we don’t know who we are fighting and a crisis of this magnitude and proportion makes this task a lot more difficult and complicated for the parties involved to handle.
The Professor believes that whether it is the Government, the business houses or other stakeholders- it is a time for all of us to reflect on our strengths and weaknesses. It is evident that businesses have been making losses, there have been a multitude of lay-offs and large salary cuts, however, one cannot entirely blame the corporate sector. These are all unique scenarios. While it is true that the way a leader reacts in a situation like this actually reflects how much they care and also that leadership in the time of the Coronavirus pandemic would never be forgotten, but at a time like this companies too are using it as an opportunity to trim their staff and downsize and cannot be entirely blamed for it. Professor Vij underscored that one phrase which sums up the entire situation is ‘rebuilding and regaining confidence’. It is not a restart but a reset that is imperative at this stage and the biggest challenge is for the weaker section of society which is the focus of our study and discussions. For this low income segment with little or no savings, it is a vicious circle and when they are rendered jobless, the lack of savings and no regular source of daily income pushes them and their families into a struggle for basic survival with uncertainty as to the duration of this misery aggravating their plight.
Prof Vij went on to explain that while we need to plan for the short term in these uncertain times, our perspective should always be long term and there are various alternatives for the same using the ‘What-If’ scenario modelling. She then eloquently went on to say that we should think of this pandemic as a ‘Creative Pandemic’, a situation when we try and find out solutions for all sections of society. She elaborated that the way forward is to keep oneself updated, equip ourselves with modern skills which are in demand, improvise on our existing skills and adapt ourselves to emerging technologies; the essence being in keeping oneself relevant in the changing times.
The floor was then handed over to Ms Ratna Pandey Sudarshan who again began by applauding the team. She then went on to giving some very practical suggestions about the study scope and methodolody. For example she advised drilling down our study by occupation and gender for more specific insights and policy initiatives. She explained that while it is good to have a macro-consolidated picture of the entire scenario, however, different types of informal workers are exposed to different vulnerabilities at this time. She expressed how the weak health infrastructure of our country and the lack of access to medical facilities for the masses got exposed in the on-going pandemic. She stated that this pandemic has really brought into the discourse, the need for investing in healthcare infrastructure across the country.
Ms Sudarshan appreciated the fact that the team had included the aspect of psychological and behavioral concerns as part of their Study and had actually been able to draw out some conclusive outcomes regarding the same. She illustrated that this pandemic has brought forward two main concerns- one pertaining to health and the other pertaining to the economic situation and their effect is different on different strata of the society- while the front-line health workers are more susceptible to the health issues; the professional working class have the privilege of working from home and not being exposed to the infection thus keeping the mortality rate low. The worst-hit however are the workers with insecure employment, the marginalized section- there is a lot of heterogeneity even within this section and this has resulted in a huge economic impact- again a reflection of the pre-existing vulnerabilities and inequalities highlighted by the lockdown.
Ms Sudarshan then highlighted the difference in impact of this crisis on some specific categories of workers in the informal sector:
The domestic helps for example, may not be able to travel to or even if they are able to may not be allowed inside by a lot of households temporarily. However, most of them will eventually resume work either in the same houses or some other.
For the home-based workers, mainly women, and a part of the Government sector, they were primarily involved in specialized jobs, say embroidery work on finished garments- adding high value to make upmarket dresses. The demand for this work particularly goes up during festive season and marriages but this section of workers too are affected in view of the new norm of social distancing and fear of touch. It is true that a few of them have started stitching cloth masks now to earn a living but the income they earn by stitching mass items like masks is of course much less than what they would otherwise earn by doing the highly skilled embroidery work they are proficient in.
For the construction workers, the demand for their work would depend on investment in construction projects and even then, the more skilled workers would secure work first. Thus, each sector and each category of workers has a different recovery and growth trajectory and there would be a massive re-adjustment in employment patterns.
Ms. Sudershan then went on to depict the entire working strata as a continuum with the full-time regular workers on one side and the precarious daily-wage earners on the other end of the spectrum. She further highlighted that access to benefits from the employer is almost non-existent for the temporary workers. She emphasized that it is our duty to think what the nature of response should be to such vulnerable sections in a pandemic of this sort.
She stressed that while the immediate need is for food and money but this is not a solution- it is a mere palliative in the present situation of extreme distress. It is our responsibility to think of a long-term strategy – to reflect on the nature of work being offered to people, their levels of earnings, regularity of their work and then focus on ensuring a reasonable number of hours of work, access to healthcare services, housing and social security when they age and are not in a position to work. It is ironic, she said, that we invite people to our cities to construct our homes but how many of these people have a reasonable place to stay for themselves. She believes that the Government definitely has a role to play in this movement towards change by providing basic social security, portability of benefit of ration card-a change from family entitlement to individual entitlement and so much more. But the bigger role to play in this movement is for the households. She emphasized that it is for us to reflect on how we treat the people who work for us. If we wish to reduce their vulnerability, we need to change the attitude of the community towards them. This in turn, will also address the issues of trust.
Hearing the views of both the experts on the current situation as well as their take on the way forward was indeed very inspiring and on the whole the Webinar proved to be an extremely enriching learning experience, thoroughly appreciated by all.