Its hard to believe its only been two months now since India announced a lock down with never-seen-before travel restrictions. Work from home is a norm now that almost seems to have universal acceptance. Predictions pour in every day on what will be the new normal, when the pandemic will stop and if businesses can ever go back to the way things were before.
As with all change, there is resistance and a call for somebody – the Government, the rich, those with better resources, to bail out those who are not. As a developing country, any dole outs made by the Indian Government will eventually be paid for by its taxpayers – the largest group being ordinary salaried employees with automatic payroll tax deductions.
So far, most of the relief measures announced only postpone the inevitable – moratorium on loans, extensions in compliance and a wait-and-watch approach to assuaging any financial or economic problems that are bound to flare up as time progresses.
If there is one lesson we should all learn, it is to change with the new norms. Doing the same things we did before may not give us the same results as before, and opportunities in the new world will be grabbed by those who are willing to continuously innovate to reduce costs and add value.
Its time to embrace the change and why should laws / the authorities not use this as an opportunity as well. Most laws in India are based on English laws drafted in the 19th century and have not caught up for the 21st Century, let alone the post-covid era.
Those drafting the law look at old books and how these were interpreted when tasked with bringing in new legislation. While this is based on good intent – nobody wants to trip while walking the same path again, paving the new law with the old stones in the same way, only means that history will repeat itself. Starting with the problems of today and trying to fix these may help instead to bring in real change.
Use the comments section to talk about any laws that you believe need change and why.
