Lagatar24 Network
New Delhi, Jan 18: Working from home during the Covid pandemic has its advantages, but it has also placed a “triple burden” on working women, according to President Ram Nath Kovind.
In a message to young Indians published in the Manorama Yearbook 2022, he claims that women already bear the weight of both paid and “unpaid work,” i.e., home chores.
“On top of that, as children attend school from home, their learning has to be supplemented by the parents, and that task usually falls on the mother,” President Kovind writes in the letter, titled “Arise, The Future Beckons”.
“The new stress on family time should be welcome for male employees, so that they can share some of the responsibilities of their partners. In any case, studies show that hard work in itself can be even counterproductive and as the number of hours spent on work goes up, productivity comes down in some instances.”
The pandemic has also taught us “exactly those things that will come in handy for climate action,” according to the President.
The epidemic has been an unprecedented disaster, but it could also be a foreshadowing of a far larger crisis on the horizon.
“Climate change is no longer a matter of scientific research and policy discussions; its impact is already tangible, and we are fast running out of time to keep global warming within feasible limits.”
The decade of the 2020s, he says, could turn out to be the most decisive point. “The situation is dire and pessimism won’t be out of place, but I remain hopeful.”
President Kovind’s hope stems from the fact that “we have seen what we are capable of when our collective existence was threatened by the coronavirus. COVID-19 has shown what humankind can do if all nations join hands and are guided by nothing other than concern for our common future coupled with respect for science”.
On career opportunities, he writes: “As average Indians in your twenties, the question of career is bound to be uppermost in your minds. Under social imperatives or under peer pressure, many of you often equate a ‘career’ with a ‘job’, preferably with the assurance of its continuity till superannuation. That is understandable. India’s bureaucracy and public sector both require talented, hardworking youngsters.”
But, as President Kovind points out, a job does not have to be in the government or the public sector. “Our private sector has made a significant contribution to the development of wealth for all of us, and it will take skill to propel India’s economy to new heights.”
He emphasises that a career does not have to imply a job.
“In the new century, many of our deeply held notions of ‘work’ were anyway undergoing changes, and COVID-19 only hastened that process. It forced movement restrictions and lockdowns on us, paralysing economies around the world. As a result, there were job losses and salary cuts, but there was also a rise in the ‘gig economy’,” he says.
“In this brave new world, a brave new generation of youngsters is demanding neither jobs nor the financial stability of normal nine-to-five work, but a rightful acknowledgment of and recompense for their distinctive qualities, for their creative vision, for their skills.”
“Instead of safety, their preference is for flexibility. Instead of closing their options, they are exploring more alternatives.”
Along with the gig economy, another recent development, according to President Kovind, is work-life balance — a time when hard labour was the most important factor in many countries, organisations, and sectors is over.
The yearbook includes writings by Shashi Tharoor, Suresh Prabhu, and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, among others, in addition to the major events of 2021.
