Alliances against COVID-19 – 70 quotes of the week from India’s coronavirus battle
In this fresh compilation series, we present inspiring quotes from the week of April 20-26 that frame India’s coronavirus health challenge, and preparation for industry recovery.
Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle (see last week’s post here). Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.
The coronavirus crisis is shining an uncomfortable light on the lack of preparedness of the healthcare system in many countries around the world. It is also dealing a body blow not just to companies but entire industries. Cross-cutting alliances across the country and between nations are the need of the hour.
In India, the needs of migrant workers need to be urgently addressed as the country crosses more than a month under lockdown. While many states and organisations have announced relief schemes, there needs to be a more effective interface in accessing them.
This pandemic is a collective crisis, and saving lives and reviving livelihoods are the priorities of society. India is rising to the challenge – from urban to rural communities, a number of inspiring and frugal solutions are springing up.
Work from home is throwing up new ways of collaboration, provided trust and discipline can be maintained. Startups are coming up with innovative partnerships, though many face challenges of inadequate financial runway. Firms across the board need to adopt more positions of sensitivity and responsibility as they aim to survive and revive in the ‘new normal.’
In response to the crisis, YourStory has set up the Resource Centre for Startups and SMBs. When worry, fear, and misinformation are spreading, this online resource helps set the record straight through expert advice, business tips, wellness practices, and workflow suggestions. See also our pick of 60 quotes on coping with a crisis.
Wanting to help those who are helping us by doing their job, highlights the strength of humanity. - Atul Satija, GiveIndia
It is easier to accomplish the impossible than the ordinary. - Ken Kragen
These are times that have shown humanity the necessity of moving towards a more sustainable lifestyle. - Sivarajah Ramanathan, Nativelead Foundation
Every person is a soldier in this battle and also leading the battle. - Prime Minister Narendra Modi
There are many NGOs working to come to the aid of the urban poor, however, tribal families and residents of lesser accessible areas have been equally hit. - Geetanjali Chopra, Wishes and Blessings
87 percent citizens believe their income in this financial year will reduce in comparison to the last 12 months. - Sachin Taparia, LocalCircles
More than 92.5 percent of migrant workers have lost up to three weeks of work due to the current lockdown, over a million workers are in relief camps, while around half a million have walked back to their homes. - Tarun Sinha, OLX India
This pandemic is a collective crisis, more so for the daily wage workers who have been rendered without work and therefore meals. - K Ganesh, Growthstory
A lot of schemes that have been rolled out by the government, banks and other ecosystem players. But there isn't one place to access all this information. - Pradnya Godbole, deAsra Foundation
If we need to really solve the problem, we need to collaborate, create collectives, and take solutions at scale. - Ravi Venkatesan, GAME
The challenge in front of us is ‘can we save every life currently at threat by the virus.' - Dr Vishal Rao, HCG Cancer Centre
Doing over 300-400 tests a day is a challenge for a technician; you get lots of false positives, and cross contaminations is bound to happen. So, it’s important to have multiple centres. - Shesheer Kumar, Huwel Lifesciences
As evident, not everything can be washed with soap or cleaned with alcohol-based hand sanitiser, like face masks, currency notes, edible items like vegetables, and other personal protective equipment (PPEs). - Vinay Seth, Genisup India
Rural self-help groups have quickly mobilised themselves to make masks and other essentials. Because, they know it will be in demand for a long time now. - Manisha Panwar, Government of Uttarakhand
There is a greater demand for touchless alternatives by hospitals, hotels, coworking and large office spaces. - Rohin Parkar, Spintly
At a given time, it is seen that drones disinfect 50 times more area than traditional methods. They are more efficient, avoid cross infection, and keep human operators out of harm’s way. - Prem Kumar Vislawath, Marut Dronetech
The next wave of growth for healthcare in India would come from Tier II and Tier III towns. - Vivek Tiwari, Medikabazaar
The crisis is worse for healthcare workers and police personnel who must choose between caring for pandemic victims and caring for their own children. - Kunal Malik, PlanetSpark
Telemedicine is making a very positive contribution to healthcare during the pandemic, and is being used by the people not just for coronavirus-related queries but also for other medical conditions. - Alexander Kuruvilla, Practo
The reduction in air pollution in China caused by this economic disruption likely saved 20 times more lives in China than have currently been lost due to infection with the virus in that country. - Marshall Bruke, Stanford University
India is very heterogeneous. Any recovery is highly contextual and dependent on many factors. - Sharon Buteau, IFMR
Working from home with kids underfoot, in an emergency situation like this, requires you to maintain harmony, however possible. - Suman Agarwal
With video conferencing becoming a common form of communication, everyone wants video conference-enabled digital boards and facilities. - Mallika Valluru, Radius Edutech
Trust your teams while providing them guard rails with the flexibility to deliver clearly defined targets. - Neha Bagaria, Jobsforher
Constructive discussions are happening at homes to upskill women so that they can start working. While working now on household chores, men are getting upskilled too! - Shivananda Koteshwar Shivoo, Synopsys
The best team productivity tool is called trust. - Ashwini Deshpande, Elephant Design
Today, as our physical spaces shrink, our virtual spaces are expanding. - Rahul Gonsalves, Obvious
People, businesses, and governments around the world have changed the way they spend, move, communicate and travel because of COVID-19. - Caroline Gorski, R2 Data Labs
Recession is the best time that can be utilised to create a startup economy. It is only possible if we have a strong accelerator network. - Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, 9Unicorns
The startup ecosystem is coming together to address a possible solution for COVID-19 with Boonbox, freshboxx, Docketrun, LinkEZ, and printylx. - CM Patil, Deshpande Startups
As an entrepreneur in for the long haul, you must think broadly in terms of fostering an ecosystem where you are an important player, but not the only one. - Pavan Soni, Inflexion Point
You may be lucky to have a well-funded VC backing you. But if you have the extra cash in the bank, it is a good position to be in. - Sanjay Nath, Blume Ventures
To tide over this period, the government can advise banks to provide low interest working capital loans to startups. - Rahul Garg, Moglix
Running a startup is not very different from how scientists perform studies. - Shambhavi Naik, CloudKrate
Designers by nature are creators and passionate about a million things. We tend to work on several side projects or passion projects. - Seema Seth, Studio Sky
The conversations in design now range from our eagerness to help with the problems around us, the concerns around what’s next, and approaches to keeping our tribe alive, active, and inspired. - Jay Dutta, DesignUp Festival
Most of the OEMs will be going slow on electric vehicles in the next couple of years as they plan their recovery. - Greg Moran, Zoomcar
Green and clean eating trends will dominate the F&B space post COVID-19 as consumers have become more conscious about their food choices. - Chef Souvik Gupta, Loft
Online learning is a safe option in these risky and uncertain times. - Vamsi Krishna, Vedantu
Today, this situation has put teachers and parents in a place where they have no option but to go digital which they were initially hesitating to. - Vinay Sharma, S Chand Group
Online card games and digital e-sports have seen a higher uptick in the past few weeks as people look for ways to pass time indoors. - Roland Landers, AIGF
The extreme market volatility caused by COVID-19 has brought an unprecedented number of investors and traders online. - Kailash Nadh, Zerodha
In the digital, real-time world you need to first gain trust from the borrower if you are to attract creditworthy look a likes to your platform. - Rahul Agarwal, Snapmint
For lending institutions, the innovation is about finding new lending opportunities and creating a new, low-risk portfolio. - Neel Juriasingani, Datacultr
With drones being developed and businesses such as e-commerce logistics, being urged to follow contactless delivery to customers, the near future could bring us drone delivery. - Saahil Goel, Shiprocket
Airlines are in survival mode. They face a liquidity crisis with a $61 billion cash burn in the second quarter. - Conrad Clifford, IATA
The big worry is that funding for the arts is under grave threat. Both artists and institutions are suffering. - Manasi Prasad, Indian Music Experience
Most restaurant owners who survive this crisis will spend six months to a year recuperating, and to return to business as usual. - Karan Tanna, Founder of Ghost Kitchens
COVID-19 has created an unexpected and unparalleled situation, especially in smaller markets, and has impacted the purchasing power of many households. - Vineet Rao, DealShare
Across the country, there is a demand for essentials due to the lockdown. In these extraordinary times, companies need to rise to the occasion. - Kabeer Biswas, Dunzo
Kiranas will come out of the COVID-19 crisis stronger. Unfortunately, they have a very bad share of mind and wallet. - Ashish Jhina, Jumbotail
With ecommerce giants, unable to meet the demands of the consumers, consumers are now completely relying on kirana stores. - Kumar Vembu, GoFrugal
Around 25 to 30 percent of kirana store sales are in home delivery, and that will go up. - Ashish Jhina, Jumbotail
Services like sanitisation will need to be added to the SoPs. - Abhishek Chandrashekar, Royal Brothers
In such a scenario, cracking a deal is going to become all the more difficult and one has to be very tactical in one’s approach to land a good deal. - Naman Sarawagi, Refrens.com
Electronic procurement ensures the farmer's safety and health, follows social distancing measures, and also avoids overcrowding in the physical mandis. - Amith Agarwal, AgriBazaar
To establish a pandemic-proof business continuity model, organisations need to focus on two key building blocks: the technology core and the organisational culture. - Sachin Bajaj, HCL Technologies
Cost, scalability, accessibility, and simplicity are the four prime factors that SMBs will consider on top priority to plan a cloud migration. - Puneet Arora, AutoFurnish
You have to be paranoid, design your systems with the right principles in mind and proactively look at security instead of taking a reactive approach. - Ankit Solanki, ClearTax
This period of crisis and volatile global geo-politics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and India should not squander it. - Vamsi T Mohun, IFIT
Rather than playing catch-up, India must be ahead of the curve in the post-COVID world. - PM Narendra Modi
The best brands combine ‘commerce, customer, and conscience’. - Giles Lury, The Value Engineers
If you invest in people during tough times, you will earn their loyalty for the long term. - Kaur Sidhu, Simba Quartz
The times are uncertain, and there is a requirement to put into place short-term goals. - Urvi Aradhya, K Raheja Corp.
Those that survive will be large businesses in a decade. - Vinod Muthukrishnan, Cloud Cherry
Brands need to figure out rapid prototyping, remote execution and very lean shoots to ensure social distancing. - Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Wakefit
The new mantra will be conserving cash to survive, and (companies will have to prepare for this) by sharpening the blade. - Sanjot Malhi, Matrix India Partners
There are organisations who flipped their online and offline strategies to respond to the challenge of social distancing and lockdown. This is expected to be the new normal post the pandemic. - Vishal Narula, PwC India
By continuing to digitize the physical and humanize the digital, businesses can bridge this gap successfully. - Kayzad Hiramanek, Bajaj Allianz Life
The old world and the old businesses with it have gone. There will be a need to spot and work towards new adjacencies in this new environment. - Amit Somani, Prime Venture Partners
This is the time to establish new partnerships in case the existing partners are facing issues. - Valliappan Kumarappan, PinkBlue.in
Brands will need to think about a triple win – being good for business, good for people (customers), and good for society and the environment. - Giles Lury, The Value Engineers
Having meaning and purpose will take the forefront, along with the need to be authentic and true in business and in life. - Anthony Lopez, Lopez Design
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
Edited by Megha Reddy