Covid will change much in its wake. Apart from all the destruction that it did to global economy, and will do further, this pandemic will teach us much that can later benefit the systems. It is an uncanny attribute of disasters that they hew new paths, provided we draw lessons, and heed the hints. In this pandemic the online medium of interaction, and work, emerged as a new avenue. Initially we thought that it was just an attempt to put things on a ventilator till the actual breathing became possible. But sometime into it and many realised that this could become actual breathing. Many organisations in the corporate sector discovered a new opportunity in this. Online mode of work was found to lessen the burden on organisational resource base. Besides it increased the efficiency of the person who did it from home, and did it online. So it was better economy, efficient time management, and enhanced productivity. What else could have an organisation asked for. But unfortunately the government sector in our part of the world has a contrary mind. This mind is not just anachronistic, it is downright obscurantist. We have still people here, even in this lockdown, asked to be present in offices and work right under the gaze of officers. One wonders why our officers don’t want to draw from this wonderful avenue, and make their offices smart, and work smarter. The reasons for this are rooted in psychological attitudes. The baggage that has been handed down over decades to our officialdom is not letting their minds open up. They still are chained to the thinking that it is the atmosphere of command that makes one an officer. That is why they are not yielding to new forces of technology all that easily. On the one hand we are extending lock down in J&K, with the sole purpose of breaking the chain. On the other hand we don’t work on long term measures by finding out how many in our offices – in Secretariat, in Directorates, in Colleges and Universities, in Hospitals, in Banks and in other offices – can be asked to work from home for a longer period of time. Our administration should be more keen on making room for vendors, and shopkeepers to resume their activities, rather than ensuring that the staff is physically present.This mind set must change.
Potential of working online
