It was somewhere in December when most of us were settling in for the winter holiday season that we started to hear about a virus spreading in some part of China. By January 2020, Indian media had locked in on the virus and soon Covid-19 rose to the headlines. At the time of writing this, there are over 6 lakh infected worldwide and over 1000 detected in India. The numbers are climbing alarmingly.
India reported its first case of Covid-19 in January among returnees from the epicenter of the outbreak. The cases recovered and we were happy that the virus had been put in check with no new case in India for almost a month, while each day, the contagion reached new shores across the world. By the first week of March, however, our sense of vulnerability became real as new cases were detected, all with a recent history of overseas travel. The counter started ticking faster each day, as compounding started to play.
The government of India started with advisories and restrictions on people traveling from the epicenter of the outbreak from January 17. People arriving from countries with reported cases of the outbreak were being screened and quarantined if needed. This is when some cases were reported in the media which caught my attention.
There were instances of people being uncooperative during the screening and not disclosing their travel details accurately beyond ports of entry and exit. Positively tested cases or their co-traveling family members were reported of not only violating self-quarantine but recklessly absconding by train to their native places, jeopardizing the entire containment effort. What were they thinking? For sure, these people understood what was asked of them and why. As well as the impact of non-compliance. They didn’t belong to the cross-section of the demography which was impervious to facts of the contagion.
While the State pushed for social distancing, even its representatives and other public figures were blatantly flouting the prescription.
How can we explain such apparently nonchalant behavior? This is an important question. If we can better understand the mechanics of behavior, we will be wiser for the days ahead.
Knowing what is right doesn’t mean much unless you do what is right – Theodore Roosevelt.

Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system including the brain and the spinal cord. Neuroscience is interdisciplinary and works closely with other disciplines of study like mathematics, computer science, chemistry, philosophy, psychology, and medicine.

Consumer neuroscience is the application of neuro-scientific approach to consumer behavior studies. Consumer neuroscience is an emerging field of study that integrates psychology, neuroscience, economics and marketing. Consumer neuroscience attempts to understand how a consumer makes choice leading to final purchase.

Neuroscience is gaining fast momentum in consumer behavior studies because researchers have expressed dissatisfaction over the outcome of conventional survey methods. By implementing neuro-scientific methods the marketers intends to obtain information that cannot be known through conventional market research methods.

The general belief is to trust what a customer does than what a customer says. The ultimate aim of consumer neuroscientists is to decipher why consumers behave the way they behave and know their probable future behavior. Likewise the motive of every marketer is to understand consumer behavior towards marketing strategies and design marketing plan to suit customer preferences.

Neuroscience Toolkit

Most popular and widely available toolkit to study consumer neuroscience are mentioned below:

• EEG (electroencephalogram): This is used to detect brain-based signals that can relay information about consumers purchase intentions when exposed to external stimuli.
• Eye tracking: Eye tracking is used to examine consumer attention when presented with various brand/product alternatives in the environment.
• GSR (Galvanic skin response): GSR measures and registers slight changes in the responses of skin conductance of the consumer after his/her exposure to a marketing stimulus.
• fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance): It is employed to map brain activity of consumer through detecting changes associated with blood flow in the body.
• Facial Coding: measures the voluntary and involuntary movements of facial muscles, participants are exposed to investigation stimuli.

The list of tools/apparatus used for consumer neuroscience is long, attempted to mention only the popular ones. Depending on the financial viability and outcome required consumer neuroscientists may employ relevant tool or combination of tools.

The fascinating outcomes of neuro-marketing is yet to be realized, however it is emerging as a reliable tool to global marketing companies to know their customers in various cultures. Such consumer research will help bridge the gap in consumer understanding for companies operating in cross-cultural environment.

In India neuroscience research is still in nascent stage and its potential is yet to be realized here, barring few start-ups and some multi-national companies, consumer neuroscience research is yet to find some takers among the corporate houses. High cost involved in setting-up labs or outsourcing such services may be the reason for not using neuroscience as popular market research method.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/how-neuroscience-can-help-global-companies-bridge-the-gap-with-indian-customers/articleshow/57818955.cms

Most of us would have sat through PowerPoint presentations where the right mix of content delivery and attention-grabbing slides was not achieved. That is how one sees the death of potential proposal through powerpoint even before it takes a shape. This article focuses on tips and tricks to make your slides appealing and help you leave the desired impact to push your proposal.

Figure 1: A poorly designed slide

I’ve found that a good structure to the talk is the best way to convey point across. The outline view in Microsoft Word is designed to give an overview and is a good place to start. Outlining the presentation makes it easy to concentrate on the topic and content, without being waylaid by details like colour and animation. The entire outline can be ported to PowerPoint using the send to PowerPoint command.

Figure 2: Outline view of MS Word

Do make use of the layout view in PowerPoint to keep the slides consistent. A large variety of layouts are available to suit any need. Use a clean sans serif font which will be readable from a distance. Use sentence case and do not reduce the size of the font below 22 points.
Make your sentences brief and to the point. Ideally, everything should be bulleted and no bullet should span more than 2 lines. Use simple words to cue you and keep the audience engaged.
Be careful about colour. Remember that projectors do not reproduce colours faithfully so try to test the colours on an external display. Avoid using too many colours for fonts and keep it consistent through the presentation.

Figure 3: The colour wheel – Colours opposite to each other go better together

Use illustrations charts, graphics wherever feasible. Source your pictures carefully and make sure they’re of a good resolution. A graphic that breaks up into pixels on the screen or appears skewed reflects poor preparation.
Remember to omit any unnecessary details so that you can stick to the time. You should never have to stand in front of an audience and skip through slides. Plan it so that the presentation carries the right amount of detail for the right amount of time.
Learn to use the presenters view of PowerPoint to practice. This allows you to see the slide, your own notes and the time, on one simple screen. A number of shortcuts are available to jump from slide to slide, show a black or white screen, see headings of slides bracket open (Ctrl-S). So you can jump neatly from one slide to another.

number+ENTER	Go to slide number
A or =	Show or hide arrow pointer
B or PERIOD	Display black screen / return to slide
W or COMMA	Display white screen / return to the slide
CTRL+P	Show pointer / Pen mode; E to erase
H	Go to the next hidden slide
CTRL+A; CTRL+H	Redisplay / hide  hidden pointer
CTRL+M	Show / hide ink markup
CTRL+T	View task bar
CTRL+S	All Slides dialog box

Figure 4: Some handy shortcuts while presenting

A good set of slides is important to keep the audience focused on the matter. Of course, the content and other skills matter as much. I hope the above points will help you make your presentation subtle yet powerful.

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

In today’s fast paced digital marketing landscape, marketers are all looking for innovative ways to tap customer and engage with them to provide a better customer experience. Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to create effective dynamic marketing strategies and improve sales and marketing efforts of the business. In fact without AI, it will be difficult for business to survive in competitive landscape and stay ahead in competition.
What is AI and how it is enhancing marketing efforts
As per the survey conducted by TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) of 835 companies in 2017, AI is most widely used by companies across various functional areas of organization, particularly to discuss about marketing AI could beneficial in following ways as shown in the diagram below

Artificial intelligence in marketing (AI Marketing) is a tool for leveraging customer data and AI concepts like machine learning, deep learning to predict customer behavior and their next move to enhance the customer experience and journey.

Below are the examples of leading brands which, successfully implemented AI in Marketing

1. Nike has launched an online store based on augmented reality and projection systems that allows customers to design their own sneakers in-store. The system displays the design on the blank shoes then the chosen designs are printed on the sneakers and available to the customer in about 90 minutes. This customer engaging feature serves two purpose one to collect data about customer preferences for sneaker brand and second it drove sales.  Further this data is analyzed with machine learning algorithms and Nike design its future products and deliver personalized product recommendations to the customer through different digital marketing tools.

2. Starbucks use mobile app and its loyalty card to collect and analyze customer data. It uses predictive analytics technique for data analysis and sends personalized content through marketing emails and messages to customers. These content include recommendations when they are approaching a local store also suggest offers to increase the customer’s average order value.

3. Alibaba a retail giant has opened a physical “Fashion AI” store in Hong Kong with aim of streamlining the fashion retail experience to the customer through the use of Artificial Intelligence.
4. Southeastern Europe’s Mobile Gaming Company  is also using AI to convert players from the free version of its game to paid version.

5. BMW’s has launched AI-enhanced sports car this is designed for those who values exclusivity and early adoption AI technology. The AI enhanced technology first learns about its driver and then automatically systems are adjusted to enhance cabin experience to suit an individual. BMW’s focus on connected cars and technology-enabled cars is to keep its customers brand loyal.

To summarize, AI is most widely used for customer targeting, to get customer insight and thereby anticipating future customer purchase and presenting personalized offers accordingly. It improves upon media buying and monitoring social media comments to determine overall brand affinity and issues. Advancements in Artificial Intelligence are offering companies, better ways to enhance customer engagement, customer experience and brand loyalty.

Image Source:

Here’s Why AI in Performance Marketing is Here to Scale

https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-companies-are-already-using-ai

 

Technology has made us a global community in the literal sense of the term. Mankind now has a completely integrated information marketplace capable of moving ideas to any place on this planet in minutes. Ideas will flee from manipulation or onerous regulation of its value or use and no government can restrain it for long.

Human experience has shown that every technological change brings with it some unforeseen problems, taking advantage of which the law breakers explore new techniques to perpetrate their criminal activities. Internet is one such grey area, which has given rise to the menace of cybercrimes. The computer based global communication system has crossed the territorial borders thus creating a distinct field for online activity warranting global attention.

As a saying in criminology goes – “a crime will happen where and only when the opportunity avails itself.” Until recently, we were aware of only traditional types of crimes like murder, rape, theft, extortion, robbery, dacoity etc. But now with the development and advancement of science and technology there came into existence machines like computers and facilities like internet. The internet has opened up a whole new virtual heaven for the people good and bad, clever and naive to enter and interact with lot of diverse cultures and sub-cultures, geography and demographics being no bar. The very same virtues of internet when gone in wrong hands or when exploited by people with dirty minds and malicious intentions, make it a virtual hell. Stories of copyright theft, hacking and cracking, virus attacks and plain hoaxes etc. have mounted up in the last few years. It is fascinating to study cyber offences like cyber hacking, cyber fraud, cyber pornography, cyber terrorism, cyber stalking, cyber ragging etc. and also the European, UK and Indian approaches towards these offences.[1]

Despite such a great influence of computers and internet on day-to-day lives, the fact remains that only a fraction of people know what computer and internet is all about? There is a paucity of systematic study which elaborately discusses the basic concepts of cyber world like meaning, evolution, generations, types, characteristics and major components of computers; forms of networks, history of Internet in India, services and limitations of Internet etc.

Internet in the present millennium has become all pervasive and omnipresent. Internet in a sense is analogous to the high seas which no one owns yet people of all the nationalities use it. Cybercrimes have emanated from development of Internet or in simple language we can say from computer network. Cybercrime is an inevitable evil having its origin in the growing dependence of mankind on computer in modern life, the reason being that computers despite high technology devices are extremely vulnerable. Thus, whenever any crime or criminal activity takes place with use of computer, it constitutes a cybercrime. It is for that reason cybercrime is defined as an unlawful act wherein the computer is either tool or target or both.

Cybercrimes are such harmful activities in the cyberspace which may cause damage to a person, property or even the state or society. . there are many cybercrimes which are being committed by offenders all over the world using computer technology. Being radically different from the conventional crimes, the law enforcement agencies find it difficult to tackle cybercrimes with existing infrastructural mechanism because of lack of adequate knowledge about the computer operating system.

The ‘Cyber Manthan’ has bestowed many gifts to humanity but they come with unexpected pitfalls. It has become a place to do all sort of activities which are prohibited by law. It is increasingly being used for pornography, gambling, trafficking in human organs and prohibited drugs, hacking, infringing copyright, terrorism, violating individual privacy, money laundering, fraud, software piracy and corporate espionage, to name a few.

A legal framework for the cyber world was conceived in India in the form of E- Commerce Act, 1998. Afterwards, the basic law for the cyberspace transactions in India has emerged in the form of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which was amended in the year 2008. The IT Act amends some of the provisions of our existing laws i.e. the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; the Bankers Book Evidence Act, 1891 and the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Though since 2000 the IT Act is in place in India for curbing cyber crimes, but the problem is that still this statute is more on papers than on execution because lawyers, police officers, prosecutors and Judges feel handicapped in understanding its highly technical terminology.

Due to the global nature of this crime it is required to have policing at international level as also active cooperation of the international community. The European Convention on Cybercrime, 2001 was one of the many praiseworthy attempts to tackle this crime, as it laid down guidelines to be followed by the member states in combating cybercrime. The convention not only dealt with the changes and improvements in the substantive part of criminal law but also referred to the procedural aspect which must be taken into consideration while restructuring the existing law to meet the current needs of developing technology. Out of variety of crimes, the convention chose ten specific cybercrimes and urged the member states to include them in their information technology laws and provide a concrete mechanism to fight against them. The crux of the matter is that uniformly accepted standard cybercrime preventive laws should not vary from place to place. In other words, uniformity is ensured with reference to substantive cyber laws of various nations.

The countries which have updated their cyber law to suit the needs of developing computer technology are notably, United States, Canada, Australia, Japan Germany and other European countries. So far as India is concerned, it has introduced a comprehensive information technology law by amending the principle Information Technology Act, 2000 by the I.T. (Amendment) Act, 2008 w.e.f 5^th February, 2008. The amending Act has inserted as many as 15 new cybercrimes which are punishable under the I.T. Act.  Apart from these crimes, as many as 21 provisions has been added in Indian Penal to include within its ambit, certain criminal acts relating to cyberspace and electronic media; e.g. Sec 29-A which specifies that where the words ‘record’ or ‘document’ occurs in the code, it shall include an electronic record or document.

The scope & extent of cyber crimes is also other problem which is extremely alarming. The threat which started as simple form of Hacking done by some computer geeks for fun has now taken one of form as Cyber Terrorism, which need no special explanation about level of devastation which it can create. Extent of cyber crimes have went from few Thousand Dollar financial losses to Billon Dollar losses; from privacy threats to big multinationals to each and every individual today having a smart phone with them today.

Broadly speaking, the law enforcement agencies all over the world are confronted with four major problems while dealing with cybercrimes in a network environment; which are technical, legal, operational and jurisdictional in nature.

Technical challenges are cybercrimes such as; hacking, stealing data, espionage, exchange of pornographic material, blackmailing etc involve detection of source of communication which is a complicated task. Therefore, the cyber criminals find it easy to impersonate on the internet and hide their identity.

Further complicating cyber crime enforcement is the area of legal jurisdiction. Like pollution control legislation, one country cannot by itself effectively enact laws that comprehensively address the problem of internet crimes without cooperation from other nations. While the major international organizations, like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-8, are seriously discussing cooperative schemes, but many countries do not share the urgency to combat cyber crimes for many reasons, including different values concerning piracy or espionage or the need to address more pressing social problems. These countries, inadvertently or not, present the cyber criminal with a safe haven to operate. Never before has it been so easy to commit a crime in one jurisdiction while hiding behind the jurisdiction of another. Though the issue of jurisdiction in cyberspace cannot be settled spontaneously, but still a global effort in this direction is the need of hour.[2] The researcher has made an attempt to exhaustively analyze these jurisdictional riddles and has suggested the evolution of a uniform international law applicable to transnational cyber crimes.

The legal challenge emerges from the fact that cyber criminality is no longer confined to the developed countries alone but it has assumed global dimensions in recent decades. The conventional legal techniques of investigation of cybercrimes are inadequate particularly, in case of cross country crimes. The problem becomes more complex because of lack of any universally accepted definition of cybercrime.

The operational challenges faced by the law enforcement agencies because of lack of adequate cyber forensic technology for dealing with cybercrimes constitute another in-road which renders it difficult to collect and preserve sufficient evidence against the person accused of cybercrime, thereby resulting in his/her acquittal by the court.

The jurisdictional challenges impending the efficient handling of cybercrime investigation result out of widespread inter-connectivity of the computer networks and the supporting infrastructure such as tele-communication, information dissemination on website etc. In case of cross-country cyber dispute or crime, the problem often arises as to the law of which country would be applicable to the case in hand.

Hence, all such matters of new cyber crimes and problems involved give rise to new bulging dimensions to cybercrimes. How far national and international efforts are compatible in dodging them is to be seen. Meanwhile a regular cyber space citizen should take proper precautions and care to avoid nasty loss of property and life too by becoming the victim of cybercrimes.

  Top 5 Job Skills to achieve success in 2020

The world is evolving and moving fast, acquiring new and relevant skills is essential to be able to make our mark in the Corporate world. The Companies of today need employees to have strong skill sets to be able to add value and handle complex tasks.

Image credits: http://dawgen.blogspot.com/2017/11/research

Data Analytics: has emerged as one of the most critical skills for the coming decade, the understanding, use and application of data for business decision making and analysis

Design Thinking: this skills helps us to apply creativity, challenge assumptions, innovation and problem solving to work and business, it fuels the integration and assimilation of a business requirement, engages people into a panoramic or 360 view of work and the world. It relates decision making and impact on business and its environment.

Critical Thinking: makes us view and review work with a critics perspective, it helps us understand what has been done, how it has been done, what influenced it and what can be done better. It builds a unique analysis from the view of an outsider, basically similar to stepping out of the frame and reviewing wok done.

Emotional Intelligence: it is the strongest skill to help us manage emotions for self and others, as Daniel Goldman rightly shares in his theories, it helps to build strong and lasting relationships and work in harmony with our environment. It is essential for people management and to achieve success in life and at work.

Collaboration: working together joins the best qualities of each individual and binds them together, working alone limits our ability to achieve the best solution. Collaboration is the key for organizations to move ahead and business needs us to pool our resources and abilities to achieve our targets.

 

 

While many would say it is a fad – a short lived trend, “Sustainability” seems to be factoring in rather than out in international fashion weeks. More and more brands are thinking what changes they should incorporate in existing systems to make brands eco-friendly. Starting with collections inspired by “Biological” and “Natural” inspirations (flowers, animals, trees and foliages…) to Recycling old garments or rejects of industry into new Green Avataars…. to choosing natural fabrics instead of polyester or acrylic, we can see all in the latest Spring Summer shows of Paris, Milan, London as the Trend of the Trends.

If this was not enough many chose to make the Event of Fashion Week sustainable – holding ramp walk in their own studio, re-use sets of last shows, using natural day light than usual glaring focus lights, to some brands actually NOT showing at all in fashion weeks. NOT showing in actual makes some sense if we calculate the cost of holding such events from one city to another versus the declining numbers of serious buyers that you get to see in front rows.

Some bloggers were of the view that Shows are not interesting any more. The curiosity to see the new collection is affected by actual samples, look book, show-peeks and other material that is sent by brands to influencer home just before the show so as to make social marketing and Instagram posts look perfect !

To counteract media criticism of lavish sets and luxurious model Fashion Weeks have given separate space or slots to Ecologically Positive and Ethical brands. In India, we are still to see how it is interpreted with Fashion weeks still continuing with their same style of holding shows. However, many Indian brands are using natural handwoven and hand printed textiles in their collections when sustainability was nowhere in the International buzz.

Zero C 

Below is a short summary of what SS 2020 offered us:

Stella McCartney presented 70 percent of her SS 2020 collection in recycled polyester, organic cotton, Raffia, hemp and it was termed as the most vegan collection of her career. Particularly noticed were her Vegan Leather shoes. Similarly, Luxury brands Victoria Beckham and Tommy Hilfiger set the bars even higher in sustainability aspects using cruelty-free materials in everything from bags, to hiking shoes and rain boots. Lewis Hamilton was the face of sportswear brand of Tommy Hilfiger as the British sports star also publicized his vegan diet as life-changing experience. T-shirts and Polos of the collection were made from 100% organic cotton and Reversible jackets RE:DOWN (Regenerated and Rejuvenated down).

Stella McCartney’s SS 2020 story – From Plant to Product

Prada is trying to use 90 % of its fabric from sustainable fabrics basket. Milan 2020 fashion week evidenced this shift, but not with a caution. As its creative head Miuccia Prada said –“Ending Consumerism will not be a part of fashion system as yet.. we must be careful about what we say..”.

Fashion giants Versace and Gucci have not used fur in their collection for past many years. And, many are looking forward to vegan leather as an alternative to leather. Animal cruelty is a big “NO NO” in the fashion world now.

Armani created a capsule collection of 100% recycled polyester for its brand Emporio Armani in FW 2020 Milan week. The watches, accessories, shoes and jewelry are also from regenerated or organic materials. Retailers in Milan are more and more into Positive and Green brands as was seen more in menswear collections of 2020.

London Fashion Week 2020 Spring Summer took lead in socially responsible and ethical business front by announcing Queen Elizabeth II award for sustainable and eco-friendly British designer. It is one of the main Fashion Weeks to go “Fur Free” last year.

Many eco-friendly new fashion start-ups were given a special space to emphasize concern for the environment. If one goes to home page of brand VIN + OMI we see top headings talking about ethical practices. Their models are not epitome of perfection in what we understand by “professional” look, rather the shoot looks like a make shift set where apocalypse survivors are posing in front of camera. Some more names to look out for are – RILEY STUDIO, AV, HANNA FIEDLER, and UNAJI.

Many brands are portraying sustainability in fashion by producing collections in home towns rather than through supply chain. For example, Riona Treacy brand is proudly announcing their in-house design and manufacturing in UK with cutting down on plastic packaging totally.

Green Carpet Award in Milan 2020 Fashion week encouraged sustainable brands giving chance to small and young designers working with ethical practices.

Whether sustainability is a conceptual need or a strategy to woo the green concerns of Generation Z only time can tell. For now, we know that brands are adopting this strategy as a USP in international and national media. We hope to see more and more zero C shows in coming years.  Or, one could see more of what Swedes did – Cancel the Fashion week 2019 in Stockholm due to sustainability concerns.

Given this volatile global environment we should think seriously about introducing sustainability subjects more in our design curriculum in India.

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanneshurvell/2019/09/30/sustainable-fashion-brands-dominate-london-fashion-week/#b27647510aeb

Milan Fall/Winter Fashion Week 2020: How sustainable will it be?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanneshurvell/2019/09/30/sustainable-fashion-brands-dominate-london-fashion-week/#68856d210aeb

https://www.hannafiedler.com/

http://www.vinandomi.com/

https://rionatreacy.com/

https://www.lofficiel.at/en/fashion-week/stella-mccartney-ss20-sustainable-eco

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/fashions-long-road-to-inclusivity

OUR SUMMER 2020 COLLECTION’S JOURNEY FROM PLANT TO PRODUCT

 

 

 

 

The agricultural sector’s contribution to the inclusive growth of the Indian economy is unique and encompassing. It is the largest unregulated sector feeding 1.3 billion population. This poses a major challenge to food security to meet the skyrocketing demand. The pioneering work in the latter part of the 1960s had helped to achieve a breakthrough in the agriculture sector, popularly known as the Green Revolution; with its prime focus on the agricultural inputs to improve the yield levels. Of all the inputs, water and energy hit the top of the priority list due to its scarcity and unreliability in supply.

India’s irrigated area has expanded at a steady rate during the last few decades. But incidentally, groundwater in India took the front seat pushing all the other players behind due to the intensive installation of tube wells since the 1970s. Although groundwater development brought considerable economic growth and diversification in rural areas, the consequences of negative groundwater draft due to overuse posed a greater concern for socio-economic equity threatening rural livelihood. Yet another dimension adding to the problem of groundwater development has been the highly skewed access to electricity and inefficient pumps. This has resulted in wastage of up to half of the country’s freshwater and energy.

Most of the inefficiencies have their roots in the mispricing of electricity. This is very much evident from the historical moves in the mid-1970s and 1980s, as many state governments had shifted away from the metering of electricity sales to agricultural consumers and introduced giving power in flats rates in the beginning and eventually ended with free power, primarily to seize a powerful vote-bank. Thus leads to energy and water wastage, over-pumping and inefficient selection of crops. This resulted in a chain reaction and vicious cycle of events that have ended in illegal connections; thefts and more importantly steady deterioration of electricity infrastructure. This neglect gave rise to mounting debts in farming communities leading to suicides.

Mitigating the Crisis

After having acquainted with the problems related to the two important inputs used in agriculture, it is pertinent to cull out solutions from various sources and methods. Management of groundwater resources in the Indian context is an extremely complex proposition as it deals with the nexus between human societies’ livelihood and the physical environment. Today’s competing demands on water and energy urge for rational management in an integrated and holistic fashion. India needs a radical shift from water resources development to water resources management by restructuring and strengthening its institutions for better service delivery and resource sustainability.

Scientists are of the view that Indian agriculture has about 36 percent of energy-saving potential. By a mere technological augmentation and innovation can put many systems in place. These innovations can be termed as Demand Side Measures (DSM) involving the judicious application of few simple strategies namely delayed crop transplantation, sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, conjunctive development and use of surface and groundwater, efficient pumps, etc. these simple are very easy to administer and monitor. DSM is a beneficial manipulation in the use of resources for achieving desirable demands by deploying simple techniques for conservation. The purpose of DSM is not only the reallocation of water and energy from irrigation; but, also set a long term objective to gain efficiency and productivity in Indian agriculture.

But for an impulsive success of DSM, it is required to be complemented with an efficient pricing strategy to achieve the financial and efficiency goals in the agricultural sector. It has to be noted that here pricing of energy has to be done simultaneously for better results. If water is made available free of cost, then the utilities do not recover for its services, which subsequently affect the quality of its services and finally, the burden will be on the poor farmers. Herewith some of the changes in the water sector by strict enforcement by regulations as well as the proper governing mechanism locally enforced and managed can create wonders.

While addressing the issue of cost recovery one must not forget the plight of the farmer. There is a sound inter-linkage between the prices that the farmers gain on the goods and pricing on energy and water. The right price for the produce would certainly induce the farmers to pay for the inputs used and an incentive to conserve water and energy. Therefore, it is up to the governments, in co-operation with major stakeholders, to choose the proper mechanism to provide the funds necessary for sustaining the system and meeting the needs of the poor by various methods like targeted subsidy and by providing minimum support price to the produce. This is two-way circular criteria; if this system is efficiently implemented then most of our problems can be effectively solved.

The management of water is not just building a physical edifice; but, it is about building the relationship of society with its resources. This resource has to be used most considerably. As Gandhiji puts it, God has provided for everyone’s basic needs and not for his/her greed. One can understand that the present impending crisis is man-made and born out of the seed, called greed. The triangular issue of economic imbalance- unlimited wants, limited means and maximizing the satisfaction- can be solved only if the ceiling on desires is adhered to. Gandhiji’s principle of Trusteeship works here as a handy tool. To be precise, one has to look beyond the materialistic gains in solving problems of this kind. In other words, each human being is expected to behave responsibly with a self-commitment to be a trustee of other fellow beings and the natural resources bestowed with. This approach will certainly put an end to the present-day crisis of water, energy and food production and lead the people and economy to sustainable development.

Technology has evolved as one powerful tool and enabler that has changed human perception, behavior and significantly their lives. World has witnessed series of inventions and innovations since 18^th century which has transformed human lives and business. These transformations have been ornamentally termed as Industrial Revolutions. At present the world is reaping the benefits of Industry 4.0 (or fourth industrial revolution).

The Previous Industrial Revolutions (first to third)

 The first Industrial revolution started at the end of 18^th century which primarily reduced our dependence on animal power and bio mass. Mechanization and steam power has replaced agriculture from center piece of economy and given the baton in the hands of manufacturing.  A century later second revolution occurred leading to significant breakthroughs in the form of electricity, oil& gas explorations, chemical synthesis primarily ammonia and the boss of all- communication. The third industrial revolution begins in the second half of 20^th century and major inventions were electronics, telecommunications, and computational prowess. The interesting observation in these revolutions was that there was a gap of century or more among the first three revolutions. However, the fourth revolution termed as Industry 4.0 started in less than 50 years of time gap and interestingly world has begun working on Industry 5.0; shrinking time line to less than a decade.

Industry 4.0

The fourth industrial revolution is the initiation of ‘cyber –physical systems’ unfolding new capabilities for people and machines. The technology is embedding itself into societies, human bodies and connecting devices and machines together. Some example of technological advancements of industry 4.0 includes machine learning; 3D Printing, connected devices (internet of things), smart factories, and genome editing, cryptographic methods like block chain are drafting new approaches to governance.

Industry 4.0 have offered tremendous opportunities to the business world by offering them huge volume of data collected through connected machines as well provide them with useful insights and patterns by analyzing the same. This helps business to optimize their operations and prioritizing the areas of attention. It is expected that by 2025 a quarter of world GDP will come from digital technologies like AI or cloud computing. The innovations brought by Industry 4.0 will bring more access to digital environment with long term benefits to scale, efficiency and productivity.

So much to achieve and leverage from yet evolving technologies of Industry 4.0 but humans are hungry for more and better and in less than a decades time world is introduced to the concept of INDUSTRY 5.0.

Explaining Industry 5.0

Industry 4.0 is already using advance technology, high end digitization, interconnected device with an aim to generate increased productivity with greater safety, quality and reduced waste. Then, the question arises what is the difference between Industry 4.0 and 5.0. Here is the answer:

Industry 5.0 will take the personalization of products to next level. Industry 4.0 allows you to work with and train your manufacturers but with Industry 5.0 businesses can allow the customers to customize their products. For example you can create your car with thousands of different variables by choosing from various mini websites like its color, interior, shape and lots of inbuilt features and app. Voila, you got delivered a car having best of features and more specifically what you desired. Take another example in medical field Type I diabetes measuring devices uses technology one size fits all and medical professional try to adjust and  tweak the system of an individual by prescribing insulin doses. If we move to Industry 5.0 it provides individuals an app that follows their metabolism and produces a smaller, more discrete and robust device that’s custom made for the individual. So, for such patients it’s a life changing experience.

So Industry 5.0 focuses on the cooperation between human and machine. It is like Human cognition working in harmony with machine computing. Industry 5.0 brings human back to the center stage of production to work with collaborative robots leading to mass customization and delivering personalized products to every customer. The workplaces become bigger safer and allow freedom of design to work. The advanced stages of Industry 5.0 will allow the flow of real time seamless data between the field, the manufacturing process and the design. And the best part Human touch is back to the manufacturing.

It could be added further that the heroes of Industry 5.0 will be cobots and intelligent software applications. Collaborative robots are programmed to interact with humans in shared workforce. This use of artificial intelligence will facilitate employment rather than eliminating it. The collaborative dimension is the base of next revolution which is near and sure to come.

Is the world ready to welcome Industry 5.0?

One may be right to question the power of law as an interdisciplinary and normative tool that can lead a social change thereby redeeming lives in the process. It may be pertinent to revisit the Sophist challenge to justice in Plato’s ‘The Republic’, where the dialogue unravels why men behave justly? Is it because of the notions of divine retribution or do men behave justly because it is good for them to do so or is it because the mighty wish to subjugate the feeble? In light of this, the importance of a just Ruler (the State) in the present times is necessary, the lack of which would result in an impending disaster.

 

These are the most uncertain times most generations have witnessed; several economies in the world are at a standstill and the most basic human right, i.e. the right to freedom of movement, has been snatched from citizens. What does this story tell us? Are the citizens of most (even the most developed) nations not aware of the imminent danger that the novel corona virus, the Covid-19 poses to lives, economies and the future of the world as we know it. We saw the Italians singing in their balconies, we saw China’s graph flatten but what we conveniently skipped was the number of coffins piled up in Italy’s funeral grounds and the strict lockdowns imposed in the Hubei province in China.  

 

Why was it necessary for the State to intervene with fundamental rights of people in most countries in the world, including India? It was not because the State envisaged subjugating the feeble nor was it the might of imposing “divine retributions”, in the present scenario, the only viable reason seems that the subjects of the State simply are unaware of the right thing to do. The lockdown is not out of choice of governance or to redeem an advantageous ulterior motive (as challenged by many), the direct causation only indicated towards the absurdity of its subjects. The state has to use enforcements and the tools of reprimand to ensure the safety of its public, including the safety of the reprimanded. One is forced to look at the videos of Italian Mayors, requesting, or rather threatening the public to stay inside lest face the wrath of enforcement agencies and the flock of students celebrating spring break in Florida, USA. Closer to home, the gathering of thousands of migrant workers near Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border signifies the requirement of State intervention in the face of lack of protocols and awareness.

 

In the times to come, the imposition of these lockdowns will have tremendous undesirable and/or desirable effects on the growth and development of healthcare, small and medium sized businesses, financial economies, capital markets and more importantly the way we lead our lives. At the very least, the lesson each one of us can derive out of this is to never let the State be left with no other choice but to curtail our very basic rights, only to right a wrong exacerbated by our own incongruities.