Ajay Kumar Mohapatra
The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted miseries on the entire world population. India has witnessed massive migrations from urban to semi-urban and rural areas mainly due to unemployment for certain populations and the luxury of work from home (WFH) for the rest.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the effectiveness of the WFH system of working adopted by most IT sector firms as well as those in other sectors in addressing the typical problem of urban congestion of the primary metropolitan areas in India. Many governments have failed to tackle this efficiently due to the employment generating capabilities of the urban areas.
Before the first lockdown came into effect and all offices shut down in a week’s notice, the idea of a remote workplace was unthinkable for many MDs and CEOs. The basic thought behind it being the Indian environment doesn’t support a remote workplace policy. But with extended lockdown in the country, the entire IT industry was forced to adopt a full scale WFH model of working. Advancement in optical fibre and emergence of local service providers during lockdown have paved the way for a digitally connected India with higher broadband speeds achieved even in Tier-3 cities. With some minor disruptions in the initial months, the entire setup was ready for a decentralised and distributed workforce in the IT industry. The communication infrastructure build-up in semi-urban and rural areas during the first phase of the pandemic has eliminated problems with internet speed and connectivity which are the heart and lungs of the IT infrastructure.
India witnessed urban migration of the masses in the early 21st century. Most of this could be attributed to the expansion of the IT industry. This is evident by the rise of Hyderabad and Bangalore as new metropolises of India. At present, Bangalore is the third largest urban agglomeration in India.
Rapid urbanisation has been a pressing issue for the past few decades. The population density of megacities is somewhere around 5-10 times of Tier-2 cities. This rising population leads to class divide and economic difference between two areas of the same cities.The crux of the first wave of the pandemic was borne by these urban areas. Drainage and waste management are already a problem for municipal corporations. Unhygienic conditions have made them breeding centres for diseases such as dengue and malaria. Lack of ample healthcare facilities by the government has made the economically backward population stand in long queues for medical consultations.
The government has always overlooked the urbanisation issue over its revenue generation abilities and the depiction of growth to the world. Steps taken to decongest urban settlements only included building satellite cities in the suburbs. Although it is successful in developing infrastructure, it leads to traffic-induced pollution due to increased travel time to office. Even if some IT companies are crawling up in Tier-2 cities, most people refrain themselves from shifting places due to limited professional growth opportunities.
The pandemic-induced status quo will be a positive reinforcement on the environment as well as the available resources for the metro cities which experience substantial waste and water management issues.
Immediate relief as already witnessed in current terms are – i) Reduction in waste generation; ii) Reduction in noise and air pollution brought by reduction in traffic; ii) Reduction in total water demand of the urban areas. Some auxiliary benefits would also include better urban planning capacities and rationalisation of real estate prices which were pushing through the roof. Work fatigue and ineffectiveness are common side-effects to long term WFH solutions as the Indian population loves to socialise over workplaces. This can be mitigated by leasing out workplaces in smaller cities providing a socially conducive environment.
With organisations like TCS weighing in the option of permanent WFH, it would highly benefit the already exhausted megacities of India. In the author’s opinion, the future of the IT industry should be to spread out to centres in each state instead of being concentrated in a handful of cities. Organisations or even employees can make best use of smaller or open/leased offices instead of huge technology parks for an even distribution of talent and economy throughout the country.
The writer is a Big Data Engineer. He can be reached at ajaykmyy@gmail.com