2. The Commerce
The IT & BPO Sector are two of the top four largest industry sectors in my city. Being in such close proximity to them, knowing what happens there in almost a regular fashion, I have some not so great outlook on the job security of people working there.
Given the dire situation of PPE for Medical Staff dealing with this pandemic in India at large, it is safe to assume, at the time of writing of this, that we are going to fall short, by a huge margin, of ICU beds, ventilators and the like.
Most staffing in these two sectors happen from suburbs, small and large towns across the nation at most of these IT and BPO companies. It’s the “city life” dream that is used to attract them. I wont go too much into the mental stress they are put under for no fault of their own.
Now think about the second and third paragraph of this post in tandem. Most of these people already lead incredibly stressful lives, have little to no access to good medical help for physical ailments let alone psychological ones. These companies are going to incur losses over this period and are going to look towards cutting jobs. This will continue until things stabilise.
But the damage will already be done. We’ll end up millions without a job, hopeless, under incredible stress, with no access to medical facilities. The companies which employ the IT & BPO companies here will remain unaffected. I am betting there will be another country all ready to setup such an industry of their own to attract these companies. And once they do, the millions will keep growing in count.
All of this can be avoided if we can act now. And act now we must. For these millions are amongst our friends, our colleagues, our family or we depend on them in one way or the other. And while you’re at it, call everyone else, your friends and family. Make sure they are doing okay, because these lockdowns can and will have an effect on everyones psychology. Stop ignoring the mental effects of this pandemic on people around you and yourself.