Professor Ruchi Shah, Lead – Industry Engagement offers advice to students as they start their virtual summer internship program. IILM University has provided work from home opportunities for its students ensuring an uninterrupted academic year. Experiential Pedagogy is an important aspect of learning at IILM University.
According to a Mckinsey report, the spirituality among the Indians is decreasing while consumerism is on a rise. For the very same reason, India is now known as one of the biggest market places in the world. The things which used to be luxury for our grandparents and parents have now become necessities for us. Also, our parents used to buy things for a lifetime but we buy things for just a few years or even for just months. This kind of shift in temperament is visible in various other studies also as when the whole world is now moving towards contentment we are still on the path of dissatisfaction. On the one hand, when the entire world is moving towards spirituality Indians are tilted towards consumerism.
The world has moved beyond mere economic development to the well-being of individuals. Presently, the growth of a nation is just not reflected in terms of GDP growth figures rather it is being measured in terms of happiness index. Since 2012, the United Nations have also come up with a study on the happiness of people across countries each year to recognize the happiness quotient of people and their well-being in place of economic development only. Since the beginning, India consistently ranked at the lower strata of countries in the world’s happiness ranking. The same story continues even in this year also as according to World Happiness Report 2020, the performance of India is very dismal in terms of ranking on Happiness Index as it ranked at 144 out of total 156 nations much below than the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka which are ranked at 66, 92, 107 and 130 respectively.
In the World Happiness Report, the main factors considered for the Happiness Index of individuals are the social environment and the ability to make decisions of life. At present when India is urging to be recognized as the ‘Spiritual Guru’ of the world it is the time when we need to dig out the learnings from our own old and probably forgotten literature to improve our ranking by increasing the well-being of Indians. India, a land of sages has a very rich source of wisdom in the form of religious and philosophical literature. India is a country that had philosophers who themselves have not gone through with any formal schooling and even they don’t know the art of writing but they have given us the mantra for content and satisfying life. Considering Kabir Das, a mystic poet, philosopher and saint of fifteenth-century who himself mentioned as illiterate as in his own words about himself ‘Masi kagad chhuyo nahi, kalam gahyo nahin hath’, he clearly said that he neither touched the paper nor hold the pen in his entire life but have given a wonderful message for a satisfying and happy life.
On consumerism, we can take a lesson from the work of Kabir as ‘Maya mari na man mara, mar mar gaye sharer, asha trushna na mari kah gaye das Kabeer’, the meaning of this verse is very apt that if we go for desires then will never be able to fulfill all instead we will lose ourselves by mere running behind them. Desires are like hallucination and they are never-ending, individuals can keep on fulfilling one the other will keep cropping up the very next moment which leaves us dissatisfied and discontent. So, the lesson which one needs to take that one should always look for needs not for desires because needs are limited which can be fulfilled and can be satisfied while desires are unlimited, and falling prey to your desires is like being in a vicious cycle which has no exit route.
Furthermore, Kabir also said, “Saain itna deejiye, jaame kutumb samaye. Main bhi bhookha na rahun, sadhu na bhookha jae”, with this he wants to convey that don’t be part of a rat race of earning higher and higher which will keep disturbing you and will not let you be satisfied. The desire for higher earnings will keep you in stress and dissatisfied so instead pray to the almighty for the earnings which are sufficient to meet your needs and to look after the needs of your dependents.
So, if we follow this one simple advice of Kabir to be content and don’t be a victim of our desires then one neither feel dissatisfied by comparing oneself with others nor one feels like losing control on ones’ own life. The aggregate of our feelings of contentment will surely reflect and will have a much-improved ranking on happiness index with the use of learnings of our rich cultural heritage in terms of literature.
Now the biggest question is ‘Which side you want to be?’ To be part of the rat race of consumerism or to follow the path of spirituality, guided by sages for ages. To get more on the subject can approach at kumar.saurabh@iilmgsm.ac.in.
Dr. Kumar Saurabh
Assistant Professor-Finance
IILM Graduate School of Management
Source: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/company-socially-responsible/
Ah! Marketing and its relentless endeavour of profit maximisation! A marketer would not mind making the world one hoarding and splashing its ads everywhere (how do you like seeing automobile, electronics, movie, lingerie etc. ads splashed across on every inch of trains, aeroplanes and their cabins, beautiful scenic highways, public spaces…?)
In the process of bringing a firm’s products and services to the end consumer, a marketer has left no stone unturned acting like a magician casting a spell on the consumer’s mind to spend, buy its products and justify whatever its selling. In this endeavour, the marketer has by and large ignored adherence to ‘virtues’ and ‘philosophies’ like ethics and responsibility towards society. Marketing is increasingly creating and encouraging artificial or false needs (Apple Corp. limiting supplies to create perception of high demand, cosmetic companies coming out with non-essential and expensive products), promoting discrimination (fairness creams, size zero body size) floating false promises (fairness creams, deceitful packaging or excess packaging, flu vaccines that really don’t work etc.) intensifying materialism, hoarding and greed (EMI offerings for luxury products, brand endorsements that pushes consumption etc.) All this kind of irresponsible marketing will impact an organisation negatively, damage the reputation/brand-name, bring slump in sales and profits, mistrust in shareholders, legal disputes and many more.
Ethical issues do influence marketing, its planning and long-term sustainability of the organisation. Ethics, as defined by Peter Stanwick and Sara Stanwick in their book ‘Understanding Business Ethics’ (2013), are values that individuals use to interpret whether an action or behaviour is acceptable or appropriate. It is very important for organisations to respond to ethical issues in their marketing strategy. Marketing mix should compliment ethics and social responsibility to be called as a responsible marketing that considers and honours the long-term benefits of its customers.
When a company vows to practice best interests of society in both short and long term, it practices responsible marketing. Responsible marketing is a philanthropic philosophy and includes many related marketing concepts like cause marketing, green marketing, environmental marketing and social marketing.
The responsible marketing process of an organisation has to be guided from the very start by ethical practices with focus on customer and societal needs and well-being. The marketing process should end with fair and enriching value creation of the business for their markets. Trend is changing now and increasing number of organisations and companies have become socially and environmentally aware when it comes to planning and implementing their marketing strategies. More and more companies are going ‘green’. During the Covid-19 pandemic we witness many companies promoting ‘social distancing, hand washing and stay at home’ practices. Online portals like Amazon, Nykaa, Myntra are selling only essential hygiene and health protection products. Uber and Ola ride services practiced hygiene and promoted adherence to social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. Local kirana and grocery stores adhere to rationed supply and social distancing through the pandemic lockdown.
For businesses that embrace responsible marketing practices, there are many distinct advantages. It provides financial advantages like tax-cuts and other incentives provided by the government, instills faith, goodwill in the market especially in the customer base and improves public relations. Companies gain more business as customers appreciate social responsibility. Responsible marketing will gain more and more leverage especially post COVID-19, because it promotes respecting the planet and each other as there will not be one without the other.
Keywords: Responsible marketing, social marketing, green marketing, marketing trends, COVID-19, ethical business.
About the author: Shahana Qutab is a doctoral research scholar of Social Marketing at IILM University, Gurugram, India.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to work remotely while continuing to successfully deliver is more pressing than ever before. However, Remote accessibility to stakeholders has opened many avenues to multi tasking and enriching vivid experiences through various tools and platforms. While skill updating and online trainings will orient the outcomes towards greater good at lesser cost. This blog will help us understand where we are on this journey and the role of academia to provide the fundamental bedrock on the emerging megatrends leading to Classroom 2.0. B-Schools are leveraging multiple learning channels for their MBA classes and are increasingly focusing on hands-on project-based training and social learning for digital skilling.
In the light of changing trends across Industries, the following three skills have emerged as a focal point of Industries across domains. The top management college including IILM has reinvented the wheel by incorporating the relevant content ,increased collaborations with MOOC’s and project based trainings.
Remote Infrastructure: Cloud-native applications to support cloud based AI workloads and AI-powered business models are reducing mean-time-to-respond by less than half. At IILM, students are trained on optimal value of digital technologies that emerges from interconnected and interdependent applications.
Virtual Communications: This includes how companies are dealing with the impact of the disruptive technologies on their talent development strategies. In addition to defining what digital skills are, the Best B-Schools are working hand in hand to train students on these skills and how key skilling metrics are measured. At IILM, the course curriculum is based on “Outcome based Learning” and thus we are leveraging the stakeholders’ contribution in updating the course curriculum.
At IILM, Digital skilling is core to organisations’ strategy:
Digital skilling has become an integral part of organisations’ overall business strategy and organisations are making efforts towards seamless execution of these strategies. At IILM, students are encouraged to build FAQ based fresh content, write blogs. They are trained on affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, building a self brand with a focus on SEO tools and analysis. Google digital garage has now emerged as an authentic source of up skilling.
We believe in building ‘composite’ capabilities:
There is a shift in organisations’ requirement from only technical capabilities to ‘Composite’ capabilities comprising technical skills, professional skills, and domain knowledge. We have an edge on our Learning Development Program where faculties are the torchbearers to the holistic development of professional skills.
Managing Stakeholder Expectations: We believe in 360 degree feedback from our stakeholders. This thrives us to diligently gather the valuable inputs from stakeholders. A change post COVID-19 has revived industries with fastest growing nine digital technology areas including three foundational technologies – Big Data and Analytics (BDA), Cloud Computing, and Cybersecurity – and six advanced technologies – Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), 3D Printing, Robotics, Blockchain, and Immersive Media. To ensure a future ready workforce, we are increasingly collaborating with MOOCs, training providers, other enterprises, and government for both skilling and credentialing.
Dr. Shweta Nanda
Assistant Professor- Marketing
Since Ancient time women have been regarded as goddesses because of the roles they adopt, from being a daughter to wife to mother to grandmother selflessly agreeing upon for the wellness of family. Their status although is perplexing to many, where sometimes they are considered as second gender and sometimes as the superior ones. This has been the only known constant change in women’s life. Ancient women and women of now are still known and regarded for possessing feminine like qualities, off which the top ones run from modesty to elegance to selfless to doer than a speaker and the ones who possess it well are mostly favored.
Men in past century feared women for being emotionally strong and bodily dominant, especially at the time when the biology behind menstruation was unknown and when all one could just see is how powerful a woman is, to be able to procreate, loose so much of blood and still be healthy. Then came the time when the extraordinarily yet uniquely customs and traditions set in and swept away the earned status of women. In Asia Purdah system, Dowry, Sati sub leveled the status of women and propagated female infanticide and foeticide, in Europe the perceived notion of true lady like features such as the ones dressed in corset with the expected feminine qualities were much favored while in mid eastern Burkhah system which still prevails, is fancily appreciated and widespread. Quite contrary to what it was like in previous century’s women in 21st century seem to have adopted so many new roles. They have set out new boundaries, bolding up to new challenges and are trying to make their space up in the social scenario. Women in 21st century, projects themselves as duly competent to the gender counterpart. Large number of women admissions in professions that earlier restricted them to join in due to their lack of physical strength, mental ability, social ineptness, immovability etc are now openly recruiting and applauding women for outperforming in those professions. Women are now joining politics, media, military, multinational companies, sports etc adopting leading positions constantly proving to the world that they are wrongly mistaken with their prejudice notion of restricted abilities. All of this has indeed changed the status quo of women externally. Women are given the status that they have longed for a long time. Even at home many women are now able to sail through the demands of personal and professional life. With measures like feminism, women empowerment, women’s rights and groups protecting women’s rights has ensured that women’s social stature is safeguarded and they can present themselves worthily. Hence it can be duly noted that women in today’s century is much more aware of their rights and status in the society and is trying their best to be able to match up with the growing nation’s advances and present themselves professionally at front.
Amidst this ideal situation where women are comforted and at peace professionally the real deal is when the number of successful women (personally and professionally) is counted, they are surprisingly very few in number. Besides what till date is preset for every women is their personal, professional, social, political, societal role which has been decided and unanimously agreed upon. These roles are further reinforced and are imbibed upon by our elderly ensuring that what has been previously followed is not challenged upon. Further more in a population which comprises of crore of people, 50% of it is women. It is astonishing to quote how very few women have acquired the top positions despite of being talented, how very few women manage to continue with their professional life after they get married or how few of women join work post maternity leave. Parallel to this, a report by APA claim that woman as compared to men is more susceptible to anxiety disorders (Yonkers, 2001 and Hoffman, 2011). If we were to see the happiness and life satisfaction it correlates well with the professional and personal satisfaction of the individual. Claiming that women have reached the success ladder professionally and are working and moving towards independence which earlier was taken away from them but what is really still making them so unhappy and discontented? Some might say that every woman is fighting a battle some are fighting battles at home, some are fighting battles at workplace, while some are fighting even tougher battles but aren’t men fighting the same battles is the real question. If we were to look at the proportionality of the battles men fight which may or may not be as aggravated as women’s especially considering the previous centuries in mind but men have their own battles like earning good, supporting the old parents, unrealistic portrayals of men by media etc now these battles are often overlooked since the world is attuned to look at the problems of women. Thanks to movement for men which recognizes the battles men faces too. Paying little or less heed to the existing congruence of the problem which men and women almost face parallel, what really needs to be stressed upon is who has better adaptability to cope with stress? Who is weak emotionally? Who has been trained to be independent? Who is not able to deal with daily life stressors and subjecting oneself to conditions because of not being able to cope with it?
There is one unidentified element that has inevitably skipped generations and till date plays vital role in the changing stature of women centuries by centuries- “The unrealistic expectation and fear of independence” which was highlighted by Collette Dowling, New York psychotherapist in her book called “Cinderella Complex”- derived for fairytale version, highlighting the psychological dependency issues in females. The commonality between the previous centuries or centuries today is how women is guided on what to do, how to do making them unconsciously assured that even if they go wrong someone will fix it up for them. Hence giving rise to dependability issues, mostly psychological which then takes many forms from emotional to financial to male oriented to society stimulated. Now this can further be acclaimed from the reports presented by psychologists and psychiatrists who have worked closely with women suffering from stress or are domestically abused. Few researchers tried to claim it through their researchers how women are never trained to be dependent (Wilson (1978), Wang (2007), Saha (2016) and Chastine (2019) and all they are looking for is a ‘knight in shining Armour’. Furthermore adding to the commonality, women in both the centuries strives to achieve independence which women in today’s world have achieved but what has got unnoticed is despite of being independent professionally women are not able to achieve emotional and psychological independence. It is the need of the hour to understand how women can be free emotionally and psychologically so as to achieve and fight in the real world and win the real battles. It goes unsaid that the nature of women’s status is subject to change depending on their social roles and the way they are brought up. Despite of some women being lone survivors or pretending to be one still seeks dependence in day to day lives being constantly assured that they have someone to look after and to fix everything which later manifests real life problems like marital conflicts, domestic violence, divorces, increased number of stress and anxiety issues because woman have been trained to listen and not speak up.
While it is hard for any women to accept that they are seeking dependence it is important for any women to first understand and connect with oneself and the challenges they face-
Despite of being able to closely relate to it some women unwavering reject the idea of seeking dependence and might openly propagate the Independence they have earned professionally being naive to understand that being Independent professionally doesn’t mean being independent from Mind.
References
Chastine, V., & Darmasetiawan, N. K. (2019, March). Cinderella complex on working women. In 16th International Symposium on Management (INSYMA 2019).Atlantis Press.
Dowling, C., & Dowling, C. (1990). Cinderella complex. New York: Pocket Books.
Howell, H. B., Brawman-Mintzer, O., Monnier, J., & Yonkers, K. A. (2001). Generalized anxiety disorder in women. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 24(1), 165-178.
McLean, C. P., Asnaani, A., Litz, B. T., & Hofmann, S. G. (2011). Gender differences in anxiety disorders: prevalence, course of illness, comorbidity and burden of illness. Journal of psychiatric research, 45(8), 1027-1035.
Saha, S., & Safri, T. S. (2016). Cinderella Complex: Theoretical Roots to Psychological Dependency Syndrome in Women. The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN, 2348-5396.
Wang, Y. H., & Liao, H. C. (2007).The Psychological Dependency Syndrome in Women of Taiwan-An Exploration of Cinderella Complex. 台灣醫學人文學刊, 8(1&2), 25-36.
Wilson, M. L. (1978). College women and the Cinderella complex. Educational Horizons, 56(3), 137-139.
Indian Market is experiencing its worst nightmare since financial crisis of 2008. There has been a series of events which has led to the Downfall of Indian Economy since 2019. India was already facing challenges with the banking sector having huge Non Performing Assets (NPA) with Scams of IL&SF Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), whose defaults on its payment obligations led to a liquidity crisis in the shadow banking sector, had posted a staggering net loss of Rs 22,527 crore in 2018-19 (FY19) on a standalone basis, as against a net profit of Rs 333 crore in the previous year, according to the company and DHFL Bankruptcy scam putting deposit holders with overall exposure of Rs 6,000 crore and at risk of losing their savings.
These events impacted the banking system as a whole -after which two major banks came in the limelight.
First being the fraud of Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited (PMC) that the PMC bank allegedly favored to the promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) and allowed them to operate password protected ‘masked accounts’. It is found that around 21,049 bank accounts were opened by bogus names to conceal 44 loan accounts. The bank’s software was also tampered to conceal these loan accounts.
This bank fraud case was busted by a bunch of women employees of the credit department of the PMC bank. These employees told to the RBI that they were aware of the ghost accounts. When this case came in the light; then customers of the PMC bank rushed to the PMC bank to withdraw their hard earned money but they were refused to give their deposited money and withdrawal limit is set by the bank. Further the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sealed the assets of Rs 3,500 cr of the HDIL group.
Followed by the fall of the 5th largest private sector lender… “Yes Bank” had loaned more than its net worth to companies that were unlikely to pay back the type of firms and sectors to which Yes Bank was lending resulted in the start of the crisis. According to one estimate, as much as 25% of all Yes Bank loans were extended to Non-Banking Financial Companies, real estate firms, and the construction sector. These were the three sectors of the Indian economy that have struggled the most over the past few years. And Yes bank got exposed to the toxic Assets.
The investors were already alarmed of the grey patch Indian banks were going through, but these events made them loose confidence. Had the Government and RBI start seeking for resolutions amid many concerns heading into 2020, the event that no one expected was the outbreak of COVID-19—
A Coronavirus that first emerged in the populous city of Wuhan, China, and which is now proving to be both more infectious and virulent than the common flu. Impact of this on global economic growth has been huge. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has halved the global gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2020 due to Coronavirus. “The current restrictions have impacted most economic activities like travelling, consumption, etc. Manufacturing Industries impacted due to supply chain disruptions and this in turn will delay capacity additions and Capex spending. This event caused a massive crash in the global markets with drying up of liquidity and a complete halt of economic activity in various parts of the globe. The pandemic event has caused a dent in the real GDP growth of various developed and developing markets.
Making things worse is the crude oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which has injected volatility into other assets. “Earlier, only the equity and debt markets were impacted by the Covid-19 scare; now the commodities and currency market are in turmoil due to the crude oil war. After a crash of this magnitude, market confidence usually does not come back soon.
Fall of Market Indian Indices:-
If the Benchmark indices fall more than 20% from their peak, it is defined as a bear market. With the Sensex and Nifty down by more than 30% and we are deep in bear territory now. However, very few Indians have the courage to invest right now. An online survey by ET Wealth reveals that only one out of six investors is planning to buy aggressively at this stage .it is heartening to note that a large number of investors have not lost heart. They may have lost a big chunk of their investments in 2020, but they are not planning to go away. While the spread of Covid-19 is the main worry right now; investors are more worried about the economic impact of the lockdown. Experts say these fears are not unfounded, because it is not a financial market problem that can be addressed by monetary policies like rate cuts, quantitative easing or a fiscal stimulus. The real issue is the worldwide lockdown. “The economic pains triggered by Covid-19 and lockdowns are expected to last longer than the previous financial market crisis.
In the current phase, foreign investors are exiting the market, the net amount of Rs 59,377 crore was pulled out from equities and Rs 52,811 crore was withdrawn from the debt segment by the FPIs in the month of March 2020, which translate the total net outflow of Rs 1,12,188 crore, which comes after six consecutive months of investment by FPIs since September 2019. At the same time, domestic institutions have poured in Rs 55,595 crore. But if the markets continue to fall, even domestic investors may start exiting.
RBI & Govt. announced to few measures:-
To calm the nerves of a stock market gripped by bears and to help liquidity conditions in the economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Shaktikanta Das cut key policy rates on Friday 27-03-2020. This rate cut intervention by RBI has come after central banks across the world announced rate cuts to stave off a corona virus-related recession. the repo rate and reserve repo rate cut by 75 basis points and 90 bps, respectively (100 basis points/bps = 1 per cent). The repo rate now stands at 4.4 per cent and reserve repo rate at 4 per cent. The Reserve Bank will conduct auctions of targeted term repos of up to three years’ tenor of appropriate sizes for a total amount of up to Rs 1,00,000 crore at a floating rate linked to the policy repo rate . CRR reduced by 100 basis points to 3.0 per cent This would release liquidity of Rs 1,37,000 crore in banking system and many other policies to infused and boost the market confidence .
Impact on Industries and man power:-
The nationwide lock-down to battle corona virus pandemic is likely to result in huge job losses, pay cuts and freeze on hiring over the next few quarters, thereby giving blues to India’s already distressed employment in India.
Based on the best available estimates currently, there could be an estimated job loss of 10-12 million, across travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. The manufacturing sector is directly dependent on how soon the government lifts the lock-down, thus enabling people to go back to work.
Other worst-hit sectors are automobile & auto-components, MSMEs, consumer durables and capital goods sectors. These sectors will face the greater burden of the slowdown. India’s economy is expected to slow down to 2% from the current around 5% levels, while many other major economies of the world are going to be in the negative zone. The revenue loss in tourism, travel and hospitality sectors is pegged at $21 billion. With fear, uncertainty and doubt looming large on the future of the businesses across various sectors, one of the worst-hit sectors like hospitality sector has already terminated services of contract workers. Out of an estimated 20 million workers estimated 20 million workers engaged in the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors; an estimated 50% jobs will be affected.
As the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide topped one million with half of humanity now under lock-down and over 10 million jobs lost in two weeks in the USA and an estimated 11 million European workers have lost their jobs -this is clear that it has impacted Global Job losses as a whole. This particular black swan event has made the countries take a call on either safeguarding the economy which is at a complete standstill facing humongous economic loss or safeguarding the human capital.
Mini B. Daniel
Associate Professor of Communication
Introduction: We are the second largest nation in terms of Elderly population after China. The magnificence goes to improved medical facility and community healthcares services. How so ever, elderly are also well thought out to be the most vulnerable population against physical and mental illnesses and cognitive impairments. With the increase of the elderly population there is also a need to address the issues related to the vulnerabilities affecting them. “Vulnerability” tends to indicate the factors that can add on to the possibility of adverse outcomes both physically and psychologically. Due to this, they widely need to be assessed on physical ailments, past medical history and ongoing medication. There is also a need to assess them with basic cognitive examination aided with screening for various psychiatric disorders.
Researches studies have shown the ones with significant co morbidity and functional impairment are presumed to have lesser life expectancy as compared to the ones with good functional status i.e. independent in terms of activities of daily living (ADL’s) and without co morbidities i.e. diabetes mellitus, cancer, heart failure, oxygen dependent lung disease etc.
With this there is a high need for planning appropriate interventions and treatment plan for the accurate understanding of the potential risk factors during old age. Many of them despite being conscious about the fact of suffering from cognitive, psychiatric or physical problems would still not seek assistance.
Factors making the elderly prone to health risks and hazards: Research studies have cited the role of both internal and external factors that can lead to such risks and make them vulnerable. The internal risk factors would include increasing age, female gender, physiological co morbidities, substance abuse, mental illnesses, cognitive or sensory impairment or impairment in the activities of daily living (ADL’s) and malnutrition.
External risk factors on the other hand would include lack of social support from family and friends, staying alone, too much dependence on care givers, lack of finances, and unpleasant past life events.
Suggestive measures and Counseling for reducing vulnerabilities: Preventive health care measures become more complex as people age. Physiological decay and complications stand out to be as one of the most important reason for illnesses and ailments. However, the role of life style factors also cannot be denied. Physical inactivity, stress, malnutrition lack of social support etc also affect the ageing process.
A number of preventive therapies can be administered to help the elderly regain their physical and mental health. To name a few nutrition counseling which aims at eliminating Trans fatty acids form food to prevent against coronary heart disease. Instead, focus should be shifted towards healthy diets with rich fat like the Mediterranean diet, moderate alcohol consumption and non smoking. A higher level of physical activity is also an essential prerequisite for decrease in mortality. Similarly exercise counseling is the other form of preventive therapy that helps to prevent osteoporosis and obesity. The therapist would provide training for regular exercise weight reduction and weight maintenance program. The elderly are also taught about the benefits of physical activity. Tobacco and smoking cessation counseling is the other form of therapy that is provided to both the primary smokers and the ones exposed to second hand smoke which can make them prone for cardiovascular health risks.
Conclusion: Identifying the vulnerable elderly and assessing the health hazard is an essential process under social policies and issues. Additionally it also holds relevance to understand the causes and consequences of such cognitive and physical dysfunctions. Thus an attempt should be made towards understanding both the sources and consequences of vulnerability. The focus should be to ensure that all the elderly get an access to the counseling and guidance centers and can sustain and maintain healthy forms of life style.
Foreign Universities experience a huge influx of International students each year, these student numbers are integral to the revenue model and the overall profitability of the Institutions. A large majority of these students are from affluent families in the Northern region of India. The students from the capital city of Delhi and the National capital region mostly enroll in Universities located in the UK, USA, Europe and Canada for the Undergrad and graduate programs.
The current crisis has posed a big problem for these students and their families, the pandemic will ensure that travel across borders will not be possible. Parents will feel safer to have their children study closer to home and mostly within the Delhi NCR region. The Foreign Universities may have offered admissions to several students but they will not be able to join them physically, although they plan to start online classes, but it won’t be the same feeling. The fee charged by the Universities is a huge amount and online classes from a remote location will not suffice student expectation. Another concern is that the timeline for the current situation is bleak and the future is uncertain. The above scenario might infact lead to a reverse flow to students to the top leading Universities in the Delhi, Gurugram & Noida belt.
Which Indian Universities will have an edge In the Delhi NCR region and will end up attracting these students to their campuses:
International Collaborations & Mindset: Universities that have historically been imparting International degrees and programs from India, they definitely have an International mindset and are equipped to handle student requirements. Also the students can easily transfer their credits after one year to any University of their choice.
Centrally located campuses: City campuses will surely gain in this situation, as students will not be moving to hostels and far off residential campuses.
Well networked peer group: Universities and campuses that are engaging students from the DLF Golf course areas and centrally located in Delhi or Noida will have a huge traction for these students, as they can network and study with a peer group they relate to
Globally benchmarked curriculum: Universities that deliver globally benchmarked courses, have strong intellectual capital and have a legacy in education will be the first preference
Boutique campuses: that cater to a niche segment of students and not mass universities will be the only option to choose from.
The choice for the students is only limited to a few and most will try to be able to secure seats in these Universities in India. The whole dimension of education is changing and government universities may not be in a position to offer the infrastructure the customer desires.
The world would have changed; dramatically after COVID settles down ; like the AVENGERS Endgame or an X Men movie the time-line for the future seems to have altered.
The world economic order would have changed, the social interaction, recreation, education and even relationships would have undergone a transformation. The most pressing question is – what will be the new normal?
I am listing some trends that have taken centre stage in these uncertain times, and might possibly become the new normal in a post-COVID world too-
Social Distancing –
Concerns on safety today will get people used to meeting less and interacting more through technology. There was a time when everyone felt that technology and apps were irritants and interruptions; they have now become the basis of any information and communication. Even “Social Distance” marriages are getting formalized and celebrated online!
Productivity & Efficiency –
Meetings on Zoom, Microsoft teams, Google Duo is making people understand that even through distances trade & commerce can happen… it is difficult to learn all of it immediately , but work from home and learn from home will be the new drivers of various business models . Enterprises and students are realizing that unnecessary travel, meetings at brick –mortar locations apparently has been a drain on “human energy & finance”
An Exploding Digital Economy –
The digital connect for commerce will be the way to go around and possibly the time of a global currency, “contact less exchange of value “will again take route. The penetration of smart phones and mobile connections which is over 80% globally is set to grow https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/us-global-mobile-consumer-survey-second-edition.pdf.
Sweden has already started exploring digital currency, even before COVID took centre stage, it will only gain more traction. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cenbank-digital-sweden/sweden-starts-testing-worlds-first-central-bank-digital-currency-idUSKBN20E26G
Disruption in Industry Structures & models –
Travel agents will perish at the hands of sites like booking.com, Expedia and so will any industry which has middle-men as an integral part of their model. https://disruptive.asia/covid-19-digital-disruptor/
Businesses and industries will be struck by creative disruption and even creative destruction.
Education will possibly evolve & have new online models, where the best of University education will be available from home and companies will build their recruitment along these lines, factoring in the practical experience which would be brought in by guest lectures and interactive gaming.
Shifts will happen from discretionary spending to essential spends, brand trends , online news will become the norm and so will be the association with social causes. Distribution reach will not be the key anymore, as market places like Amazon will help innovators reach to the consumers.
Consumer Behaviour Shifts –
Consumer behaviour will evolve and buying sentiment would change ; and it would be even more difficult for brands to build & retain leadership. Testimonials will drive consumer opinion and purchase patterns. Every consumer holding a mobile connection will need to be targeted individually and the product, pricing will become extremely customised. Possibly the only thing which will remain constant is the “brand look & feel”. Gen Z, Baby-boomers , Silent generation all of them being poles apart in their buying behaviour , will further experience “distancing” as companies will strive hard to have “Audience Specific Marketing “ & product offerings .
The question is, are we preparing for it? Psychologically, technologically & upgrading our skill sets? Are we enhancing the skill sets of the ecosystem we live in , work in ?
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