Recovering vulnerable communities should be in top priority post Covid-19

Prof. Rahul Ghai, Dean, School of Development Studies, IIHMR University

The ongoing lockdown witnesses a successful execution because essential industries like agriculture, food processing, healthcare, and education are working continuously to cater the Indian population. However, the same lockdown has adversely affected the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities across the country such as migrant laborers, waste pickers, artisans and sex workers. The post Covid-19 recovery will see that the foremost action should be taken on rebooting economic activities where development agencies and professional will play a crucial role in bringing back the life of affected people on track, said Mr. Vijay Sardana, Techno Legal Expert, Corporate Advisor & Trainer, and Member, Board of Studies, IIHMR University who was speaking as an expert at the webinar organized by IIHMR university, Jaipur on the topic — “Role of Development Agencies & Professionals in Post COVID-19 Recovery.”The webinar was moderated by Prof. Rahul Ghai, Dean, School of Development Studies, IIHMR University and attended by 370 participants.

He further said that post lockdown, there will be a change in the priorities of people as they are under complete lockdown and family, surrounding, and the realization of wants and needs, will be the influencing factors that the aggression towards life will not be same as it was earlier. Till now, people had only listened to such stories but now they are experiencing it, therefore mindset will get automatically changed. There are suicidal tendencies among young professionals, worries among daily wagers, loss of jobs among migrants back to their villages amid lockdown. These are some crucial area where development agencies and professional can play a vital role in binding the society both mentally and physically which can be done by planning strategies from now onwards and observing changes in the society and contributing in distributing the right things to the society as there will be lot of work but limited resources , hence need to implement low cost models of development.

Prof. Rahul Ghai, Dean, School of Development Studies, IIHMR University said that the global development community must be at the forefront of responding to the rapidly escalating humanitarian needs around the globe – saving lives and so much more, through this pandemic and beyond. Their expertise to handle grass root level management and coordination is the key to ensure faster recovery.