Take Five and Set the Pace

Context: Recommendations related to five opportunities available with India so that it can shine brightly in a post-pandemic scenario.

• Healthcare

• Indigenization of R&D: enhancing manufacturing capabilities, capacities of hospitals, and making India a leader in innovation.

• Sanitation and public hygiene

• Changing public behaviour: Masks are already being accepted as a ubiquitous accessory in public places. Investment in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) should be made to include the weakest link.
• It is contingent upon each individual to maintain a minimum standard of basic hygiene.

• Broadening Swachch Bharat: investment in large scale, multi-channel campaign leveraging Public Health Centres and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA). 

• Intra-governmental collaboration

• Spirit of collaboration: Stronger coordination, cooperation and knowledge-sharing between states and within states, also between leaders of diverse ideologies to strengthen the federal structure and ensure decentralised governance.

• A Paradigm shift towards Veganism

• Zoonotic Danger: Largely zoonotic nature of epidemics has fueled the shift towards vegetarian diets. India with its 30% vegetarian population can lead the way.
• Other Factors: including climate change, animal abuse, etc. also promotes the desired shift.

• Capitalizing on global value chain diversification:

• Evolving de-Globalisation: Reduction of dependence on China and diversification of supply chains to other markets. (For e.g. Vietnam took the advantage of US-China trade war by absorbing the flight of manufacturers from China)
• India’s advantage: of being a democratic nation makes it more attractive than China or Vietnam to the investors. The multi-alignment stance at a global scale makes India a trusted partner worldwide.