On the Road to Healing

In the backdrop of this unprecedented crisis all across, with almost everyone experiencing pain and suffering, witnessing or hearing about the loss of lives, and industry leaders grappling with the continued challenges of ensuring safety and business continuity, I connected with my industry colleagues at FICCI. We came together to share our experiences, reflect upon our expectations, and discuss solutions.

Over the past few weeks, I had many opportunities to connect with my colleagues from the industry - either to check on their wellbeing or to share the grief of having lost a common acquaintance. However, witnessing the emotions of people who have accumulated maturity with experience and contributed selflessly to the development of the industry, society, or country at large, was one of the difficult moments for me to be chairing the forum and eventually summing up the outcomes.

The highlight and a consistent message coming in from almost all members was the expectation from the government for accelerating the vaccination drive by way of measures that rapidly increase the supply and distribution of vaccines. The recommendations spanned from opening the sourcing to increasing suppliers to prioritizing the field service and manufacturing workforce to balance lives and livelihood.

The discussion continued on measures related to business continuity, regional and vertical-specific impact, tactical and momentary expectations from the government, as well as how organizations are keeping the wellbeing of people as a priority. However, the most difficult part of every reflection, unlike in the first wave was how almost everyone shared their grief and expressed condolences for several departed souls. Precious lives being lost of people who have been contributing immensely to the industry & society.

Many of them had so much of life in them and there was so much of life ahead of them and almost everyone had an endeavour to create a better and brighter future for the industry, either by contributing to technology development, accelerating policy advocacy, or expanding the horizons to set newer benchmarks.

No reflections can be enough and I take a moment to share my condolences for the departed souls and pray to the almighty for them to rest in peace. The void can never be filled and the loss for the industry having lost such talent is irreparable.

The need of the hour is to stay together, rise together and overcome this together. Past is witness, whenever individual’s challenges, opinions, or interests are aligned with the larger societal cause and when that becomes the common and ultimate objective, only then individuals, organizations, communities, or humanity has successfully overcome the biggest of adversities and created a better future for generations. In doing so, we also need to extend our concern, care, and compassion to all the people around us. Especially to the ones in need. We at FICCI will continue to amplify the voice and I urge the industry leaders to continue to expand their efforts to support and save every life possible.