“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” — Maya Angelou
The novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc across the globe compelling a third of the world’s population to succumb to a lockdown. Economies are under severe strain and as has been predicted, the impact of this pandemic may push some countries into depression. World leaders came together to announce aid packages and to spell out measures to help citizens of their countries cope with this unforeseen calamity.
Here in India, the three-week lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to contain the spread of the deadly virus to a significant extent and is a welcome move. Our already stressed economy received a major blow from the outbreak of this deadly virus. Financial markets and trade have been hit hard. Moody’s Investors Service has already revised down its growth projections for India to 5.3 per cent for 2020 from its earlier estimate of 5.4 per cent.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an economic package for migrant workers, the urban deprived and the rural poor on 26 March, as a relief for those expected to suffer most from the lockdown. This economic package, the ‘Prime Minister’s Gareeb Kalyan Scheme’ is worth Rs 1.76 lakh crore and will entail both cash transfer and food security – a much needed step. While the government is taking steps to provide relief, the need of the hour is for all of us to join hands to pull through these challenging times. We need to have compassion for each other and keep faith that all will be well.
It goes without saying that the issue in your hand contains features on Covid-19 and its impact on the Indian economy in the way of columns and opinion pieces by experts and economists of repute. The other big story in this issue is our annual feature on the Most Influential Women. We celebrate women leaders who have consistently evolved and overcome challenges to reach the top of their chosen professions. A large part of this evolution and success comes from their mindset – the mindset of achievers. Women achievers have a positive attitude and the ability to persevere in the face of stress. Read about all these exceptional ladies in our special segment on these Most Influential Women.
Of course, as usual we bring you all the regular columns and features that you look forward to. I do hope you enjoy reading this issue, just as much as we did compiling it.
Happy Reading!