With the coronavirus or COVID-19 having impacted around 20 million people around the
world, being 2 million from India itself, life is not the same as it used to be and it is a pretty
obvious fact that it won’t be the same even post Covid! While the digital movement began
quite early, digitalism is a religion today, and the “covid-kaal” has pushed this religion
deeper into our lives, so much that any and every step that we take is a digital one. From
zooming clients and students to neighborhood WhatsApp groups, digital platforms have
become the only way for many of us to work, study, get fit or be entertained. School?
Digital! Shopping? Digital! Office? Digital! It won’t be wrong to say that Digitalism has gone
on to become a MAJOR part of our lives and is the new “ism” in our lives for sure! Now if we
really get into the depth of it, the coronavirus despite being deadly and shutting down
everything, has also provided new opportunities or maybe led us to a new path where we
are shifting from the old age culture of ‘physical’ presence to ‘online’ presence!
Speaking of India, on 1st July 2015, was launched the “Digital India” campaign by the
government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and
knowledge economy. It was launched in order to ensure that the government’s services are
made available to citizens electronically by increasing internet connectivity or making the
country digitally empowered in the field of technology. Also, we’ve been hearing the term
“Aatmnirbhar Bharat” quite a lot these days, it is a vision of making India a self-reliant
nation. A financial package of 20 lakh crores was announced by the Prime minister to ease
the coronavirus distress under the Aatmnirbhar Bharat abhiyan. This financial package is
10% of India’s GDP. This will help India in reviving the economy focusing on land, labor,
liquidity and laws that will benefit farmers, taxpayers, MSME’s and cottage industry. He
further stated that global brands were once local too but when people started supporting
them, the brands became global. As per him, India’s self-reliance will be based on five
pillars- economy, infrastructure, vibrant demography and demand.
Digital India is hence an important part that’s going to pave India’s way towards selfreliancy.With the initiative of Digital India, there have been numerous job opportunities in
new markets as well as increasing job opportunities in existing markets. Businesses had to
face what’s being called the biggest shock in decades, however many businesses had started
new innovative ways to reach their customers whether it’s through establishing their
market on online platforms or advertising their products and creating more reach. Ebusiness is surely going to make a real climb in the near future (based on the current
situations). Even the small-scale businesses are being provided with opportunities under the
digital India campaign, and it further helps them in many ways, majorly because it’s cost
effective and helps in better communication and faster decision making. E-governance,
information for all, electronics manufacturing, IT for jobs, early harvest programs are just
some of the pillars covered under Digital India. This global pandemic has showed us the
advantages of buying and promoting Indian goods and services. We now know that relying
on other countries would just be putting ourselves at their mercy. To avoid this situation, it
is important that we become self-reliant and reduce our dependence on other nations.
Emphasis on “Vocal for local” must be asserted and we must promote Indian market to turn
into a well-established international brand, that will in fact boost our economy. The prime
minister of our nation, Narendra modi mentioned in one of his addresses, that India plans to
convert this crisis into an opportunity and strengthen its fight by becoming “aatmnirbhar”.
Investments in several sectors like telecommunications, IT, will encourage the young
entrepreneurs to come forward with their innovative ideas post Covid and in turn will
increase job opportunities for the youth. Dedicated packages to aid the small-scale
businesses would help them take a real shot at the business, with government aid and
companies investing in small-scale enterprises, the brand value of Indian products would
increase dramatically.
While things are now getting back to what’s the new normal, India is moving faster than
ever to stand on the top, on its own, perhaps a new beginning in a post pandemic world.
BY- HARSH BHARDWAJ
