Back to the roots

The whole country is currently on a “pause” mode and for good reason. We have to fight the Covid-19 calamity together and each one of us has a sacred national duty to follow the government's advice. Lockdown is good but we are hoping that the government is also building capacity for mass testing, quarantine, isolation and treatment, possibly also a preventive vaccine, rapidly and all over the country. Indeed there is some encouraging news on this front.

What happens when the lockdown is gradually lifted? It will be time to think about the future, especially on the production and export fronts. More importantly, we have to think about the millions of workers in the unorganised sector — who may be scared to return to big cities — and a large number of small and micro entrepreneurs who have lost their livelihoods. A low-hanging fruit could be large-scale production of cottage industry products, handicrafts and handlooms etc, which can all be done in small isolated units, in semi-urban areas. This can be achieved using local raw material and without involving too many people either in the production units or in the value chain. There is a huge domestic as well as global demand for such Indian products; in fact, we have in the past enjoyed big markets almost all over the world for Indian products before the Chinese invasion with very low pricing in almost everything destroyed our advantage. With all the necessary emphasis on sustainability and accounting for the expected crippling effect of the pandemic, it is time to think of going back to the roots.

Krishan Kalra Gurugram