It is no secret that our country is facing a very difficult situation. BOI Industries that were in place are at a standstill. Construction activities have died down. Trade is limited to fuel and essential food items.
by Professor N.T. Sohan Wijesekera
Part 1: Survival
Controlling the Rebellion
The deadly COVID 19 is continuing its devastation of our life styles. Many say that this is natures retaliation for the harm that we have caused because of our greed. The COVID 19 is making us prisoners in our own homes. In this trying period everyone must be told about the “rule of three for survival” and request cooperation.
The nature is exercising its force against a rebellion. The tamed ones will be pardoned, some will be disciplined and pardoned, the rest will be condemned, but not until all rebels are rounded and locked down. During this lock down its important to survive and perfect our mind through the practice of positive thinking.
Food Security
We all are aware that a healthy mind is in a healthy body. I am elated to note the commencement of a cultivation drive by the government of Sri Lanka which has looked at the distribution of seeds, how to plant and use fertilizer etc. This has to be considered from the point of view of an urban dweller, who would have to opt to potted planting which requires pots, soil and fertilizer. Making the condominium dwellers to grow during lockdown situations will also ease their boredom. Ensuring success is in the hands of the agriculturists and other subject specialists. Vegetable cultivation is a vital matter for survival during the lockdown. Growing green leaves must be the first choice because the harvest can be reaped in weeks. The importance of growing from home was sufficiently covered in my previous articles. The key point is for the government to increase television programs etc., to show how to grow vegetables in pots and in the back yard.
However, attention must now focus on the distribution of dry rations, vegetables and fish. This has two aspects. One is the service to the community and the other is the assured income to those who are making a living by supplying rice, vegetables and fish. A poor delivery system and corrupt middle men would not only break the backbone of farmers and the fishermen, but also deteriorate the confidence of consumers. This is the time for the government to establish a lasting food delivery system by winning the faith of consumers, middlemen and producers.
Water Security
Another point that I had highlighted in my previous articles was the water supply. Notice of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board in yesterday’s (4th April 2020) news clearly shows an impending water crisis. The caution by NWSDB indicates that there is a resource crisis. It is likely that this is not about the water in the rivers. State must evaluate the critical items associated with water treatment and immediately issue notices to control the use. Do we know whether we would receive adequate supplies for a reliable delivery of freshwater? If our ship which is stranded in the middle of the ocean has only a limited supply of water, then our options would be to control what we have and commence rainwater harvesting. The public can bury empty plastic bottles with tiny holes to store rain water for farming. Garden soils can be kept moist for plants to flourish. The government must immediately appeal to those with private wells to share their water with neighbours. This would support the supply of water for those who have no access to safe groundwater.
Health Security
The Government along with its armed forces is demonstrating a committed service by supporting the doctors and the health service personnel combating COVID 19. Media reports indicate that the testing, identification and quarantine operations are gathering momentum. Present concern is the support available to regular patients who require hospital services and regular medicine supplies during and after curfew. The government is making a committed trial and error approach with regards to the supply and delivery. It may fervent hope that the delivery services may ensure an equitable distribution before the community starts to panic.
Sinhala and Tamil New Year
Scheduled dates for the celebration of this important event is around the corner. Though most of us have not been told, we are aware of the necessity to let go the celebrations. Video celebration is an option to cheer up during self-isolation. However, most people in the back of their heads must be hoping that they would get the opportunity to do a quick run or they could take leave from essential services to visit their loved ones. By looking at the behavior of Sri Lankans during curfew, this is a very likely event. It would be insane for us to allow such movements during this time. Instead of allowing people to pin hopes, the state must act explicitly. The authorities must take quick action to issue a ruling to postpone any such intended visits to greet their loved ones. This is a time to make sacrifices and the government must decide and declare what is best for the country. Early action is necessary because It is fair to provide sufficient time to accept the solution.
Part 2: Revival
State of Economy
It is no secret that our country is facing a very difficult situation. BOI Industries that were in place are at a standstill. Construction activities have died down. Trade is limited to fuel and essential food items. We do not hear about our exports. Most of the work force is without wages. Rupee is getting devalued. Banks are piling interest on loans. Public is getting worried about a regular income. This is the current situation that needs no calculations to understand the gravity. It is time for the government to impose limits on the bank charges and margins during currency transactions. However, it must be emphasized that this is the time for the economists to move forward from the commonly made “motherly statements” and provide hard numbers by adequately considering the tangible and intangible costs and benefits. They should leave financial analysis to the accountants and carryout economic analysis as eye openers for the president and the cabinet of ministers. This is the time for the economists to show their true colour.
Working from Home
Working from home which commenced in mid-March has now consumed nearly three weeks. It is a time for a postmortem. Concept of working from home originated overseas was imported and applied to our country. It is prudent for us to evaluate the acceptability of this method to our country which is a fresh middle income state. We cannot expect a 100% success. A percentage close to 50% would be a great achievement. Efforts of the state can be seen from the numerous work from home circulars originating from the office of the president. Let us take a moment to perform a situation analysis. This is a data scarce situation. Hence let us discuss the most likely reality.
Working from home to be successful, there should be infrastructure, internet facility, software, data and bandwidth. What percentage of our work force has access to minimum infrastructure? Even a smart phone with sufficient memory is a rarity. Internet and data are still luxuries. We have not attempted methods such as, flexible working hours, working from many offices etc., as precursors to “Working from home”. Therefore, we have to set aside the intention of getting meaningful work from a good portion of our workforce. This is a good time for the government to at least collect data from each and every public and private sector agency in order to make an assessment and then get ready for the future.
For the time being, let us assume that the logistics are in place. Then the next is about “Work”. “Work” must identify the objectives, tasks, intended outputs and time allocations. “Work” needs to recognise tasks that have to be executed by each team member and the temporal sequence of delivery. This means quantification of efforts. Quantification of efforts will automatically point to the need to evaluation of output quality. According to my knowledge and experience, most Sri Lankan organisations and especially the government and semi-government organisations do not have online task management systems. In many developed countries, each employee should account for their time and deliver quality assured outputs within the agreed time period enabling an organisations to measure performance and improve productivity. In case time targets cannot be met, the teams and organization can carry out performance review and hence improve the delivery
In our country, at least the top management who are conversant and equipped can be asked to list the tasks in hand, prepare time sheets and assign work to each employee. Though this will be a trying exercise, the time is opportune for us to put the place in order. The government must urgently send a directive to all senior managers of Ministries, Departments and Corporations to identify their tasks, human resource requirements and time targets. Tasks and time limits must be assigned at least down to the middle manager level. In a setting where this had not been practiced before, these attempts will act as an eye opener. On the other hand, recognition of work schedules will assure enhanced productivity at places where such systems were already in place. The government can evaluate the agencies that already had such systems and then display those as examples to others.
The Revival
The situation created by COVID 19 will last several months but not several years. During this period the Sri Lankan government must start the recovery. As at present, the reactions indicate that most of us are at a near zero level. In order to reach full recovery, each sector must identify its revised objectives, recognize the tasks, assign resources and commence working. During this “work from home” period if the Sri Lankan government can ensure that the ship is on course then we will definitely win the race to full recovery. The work from home directives discussed above will be the litmus to capture the state of the nation. We would at least know who does the work, how many are there to monitor the progress and whether we have the right Key Performance Indicators in place. We need to carry out a holistic planning exercise or else we will face the Hambantota Harbor syndrome where we had the harbor without ships.
Our revival must be well planned, well directed and carefully monitored. We must carry out adequate brainstorming within all sectors to ensure that they are functioning at critical level and our resources are optimally utilized. At this situation we may not be able to utilize resources optimally. If we attempt to use them reasonably well, then we can easily optimize them under normal condition. We must listen to the pulse of the outside world and act with commitment. We will not be the same world after the COVID 19. Everyone will have to rethink about the meaning of life. We will be assigning much more value to human life and the environment. We will ensure self-reliant systems. In very simple terms, the world will re-look at happiness and will re-define “Happiness”. Containment will be the motto. Under such circumstances we need to find out our options for full economic revival.
A recent report by the Asian Development Bank identifies innovation as the core to development and growth in the Asia Pacific region. It goes on the state that sustained innovation requires an educated and skilled work force. Basic education systems need to provide a mix of hard and soft skills that combine the likes of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with learning to promote critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. In this, the importance of on-the-job training cannot be sidelined. Institutions must train their employees to enhance innovative capabilities. The government must evaluate ministerial and departmental plans to ensure such characteristics are adequately embedded. The time is ripe for us to make most of our “work from home”.
Professor N.T.Sohan Wijesekera is a Senior Professor, University of Moratuwa and the Chairman, Construction Industry Development Authority
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