The New Normal: how to survive a new world order

Written by Dushyant & Osama Manzar

This is the introduction of the book The New Normal: How to Survive a New World Order

Internet and more specifically social media have, for the first time in human history, enabled that a substantial part of the debate and discourse around every single event is now recorded and stored for posterity. When an earthquake happens, people think about tweeting before they think about leaving the building. We all know the horrible side effects of social media. Hate news, fake news, the effect it has begun to have on our attention, our relationships, our society, and our democracy. But we forget that it has also done a fair bit of good. It has democratized access to information to a significant extent, hasn’t it? A layman sitting in Uttar Pradesh can read a Facebook post or Twitter thread from an epidemiologist sitting in New York.

At least a section of the society can get live alerts from the World Health Organisation. Be that as it may, more often than not, the end result is that there is a lot of chaotic noise and very little calm reflection. There is a lot of ‘opinion’ but very little old school analysis. There is a lot of saying and very little listening. In such a time it has become more important than ever to listen to experts. To expand our attention horizons beyond 280 character. In this anthology, we have attempted to put together a cross-section of experts from the world of business, law, economics, internet governance, communication, journalism, public policy, and more. We have been able to persuade them to pen their thoughts on the key learnings we need to take away from the unprecedented crisis we find ourselves in. 

Dr. Amir Ullah Khan goes straight to the heart of the matter and asks the most hotly debated if not most pressing question of our times- what will happen to democracy. How will Covid-19 affect democracy and elections? Will the global slide downward continue, or will there be a silver lining? Dr. Abu Saleh Shariff and Amit Sharma put forth a unique and equituous employment methodology. Employment generation was the #1 crisis before Covid-19 and one which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This methodology offers a specific and scientific way of creating employment. 

Dr. Ameeta Mulla Wattal talks about the present and the future of our futurechildren and their education. She argues that both teaching and learning will have to be radically re-imagined and that technology is just one part of this process of re-imagining. Anriette Esterhuysen shares fascinating insights about the journey of global internet governance and the path ahead. In her essay, she has written something which gave us a lot of pause: “The shift from the preoccupation with the harmful use of the internet reflected in debates on the regulation of content and use, to widespread recognition, even a celebration, of its positive potential. Even legitimate concerns about pandemic-related misinformation do not overshadow the sense that we would be so much worse off without the internet.” 

Arun Maira frames the challenge far more ambitiously than a mere shift and acclimatization to technology. He says that human aspirations will have to fundamentally change. At first glance, this may seem like too tall a hurdle to surmount but he leaves us in no doubt that this is the only path to take if humanity is to survive. While everyone is consumed with shifting to digital, Deepak Maheshwari says that digital has to be taken to a workshop and overhauled first, or to put it in his words, ‘rebooted and retooled’.

Durga Raghunath has shared with as a fascinating peek inside how Zomato identified and dealt with the challenges the pandemic presented and leveraged its strengths not only to save its business but also to help society fight better. Experiences of the kind she has shared will be taught in B-schools for years to come. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan makes a case for something as elusive as a vaccine for Covid-19 these days: optimism. He passionately argues that all isn’t lost and there are plenty of silver linings in these dark clouds.

Dr. Madanmohan Rao writes about something that even the World Health Organisation is repeatedly struggling with- communication in a crisis. He shares a valuable checklist to tick off if you want successfully and clearly communicate during a crisis. Mani Chander sheds light on a topic there has been little to no discussion on the risks that a complete shift to ‘work from home’ poses in terms of sexual harassment and the inadequate legal regime governing the same. Seema Chishti’s essay reminded us of Gandhi’s talisman. She argues that economic thought needs to center the welfare of the Migrant worker if we want to rebuild our economy/country/society. Seema Pathak takes us on a journey far away from our ivory towers into a panchayat in Bihar and gives us a reality check about the reach of digital and the work that needs to be done. Somen Mishra, like Ms. Raghunath gives us a peek into the changes that the glorious world of cinema is bringing about and it isn’t just about ‘watching from home’.

We have essentially written about the same concept and value but from different lenses. That value is justice.

We hope dear reader that this anthology will inform and educate your world view as much as it did ours. We hope it will help all of us prepare better for what we are faced with and what lies ahead.