The constitution has formulated a directive principle that holds that it is the state’s utmost duty to take care of the health of the people. Work from home is undoubtedly a worthy notion of mending the concern of social distancing. However, it has hampered the psychological health of the people as the volume of work they need to accomplish is exuberant, affecting the normalcy of life and causes loss of well-being. This proves that the click of buttons can increase the nation’s economy but infringes on the rights of the nation’s biggest asset- Human Kind. From the total budget by the Health Ministry, only 0.5% of the total is allotted to the mental health of the citizen.

As per an online report,[1] “it is the slowest GDP growth since quarterly data became available in 2004, as the country imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 24th aiming to contain the spread of the coronavirus.” If the nation is not able to increase the pace of growth of the GDP, then what is the use of foregoing the employment of the people and making them suffer during the scenario of a natural pandemic. Although, there have been several schemes and laws passed by the government to make the digital India concept workable. Hence, it is a peak point to realize that though the tertiary sector gives the people liberty to work from home, it is still unable to engage the 70 % population of India that continues to work in the primary sector.

During the time of the pandemic, where the portrayal of society is such that one can make money while sitting on their couch, but this is not the correct depiction of society. It is becoming tough for people to make the two ends meet.

Therefore, this brings us to the question: are the government’s measures to make earning money a click away really right to its rationale? The simple thing that we have to understand is that it is not only that we have to adopt technology but also have to get adapted to it. The firms during this time have laid off many of their employees, and most of them are either the ones who do not know how to use technology or do not have access to it.

The first thing that the government should have done is to utilise the technology to make the citizens know about how to use it. This would not only have helped to combat the pandemic but also supported the growth of the economic condition of the nation.

By laying off the employees, though the companies have tried to save money, it has only weakened the employees’ mental health and made them fragile. In a situation where a company working through online medium has 1000 employees who works extensively for almost 8 hours in a day. The company laid off 20% of the employees which directly will increase the work of the present employees exceeding their legal working time from more than 8 hours.

This will not burden the employees and disturb their mental state preventing their right to legal working condition and right to healthy working conditions from being infringed. For a labour-intensive nation, it would have been a better thought of not to laying off the employees but give them work on half-pay basis.

Hence, together with the help of the MNC’s, private companies, and the government, this pandemic can be over by not giving a significant bash to the companies’ human asset on which the economy is dependent. The right use of technology will decrease the problems due to the virus and be helpful in the longer run.  

Therefore, a click of technology can combat the pandemic and will not lead to infringing the people’s right if the click of the button is made with knowledgeable and thoughtful minds who know how to utilize it to its maximum strength. It is not that we use technology but with live with it. The government can not infringe the right of people to pursue any lawful profession and also cannot take it away from them during the time of global crisis. The intervention of government is important to check that the law of layoff is followed.  

“What the world needs now is solidarity. With solidarity we can defeat he virus and build a better world.” – UN secretary-general, António Guterres.

[1]  GDP Growth annual https://tradingeconomics.com/india/gdp-growth-annual

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge