India will turn 75 in 2022, a landmark year. Very few backed India in 1947, when literacy was 12 per cent and average life expectancy was 32 years, whereas in the year 2021, that we are going to say goodbye, literacy rate is 77.70% and life expectancy 69.66 years (2019). India has come a long way and it still has some distance to go. We are a ‘work in progress nation’. As the year 2022 approaches, various thoughts arise in our minds, such as how the year will unfold and what obstacles we may encounter in the following year.
The passing year 2021, has given us many constant challenges and they are going to continue in the short and medium terms in the year 2022, that we are going to welcome.
We have to look for rapid transformation and the possible alternatives to overcome them. We cannot wait until the conditions are perfect to begin but we have to begin to make the conditions perfect. As if 2020 and 2021 weren’t unpredictable and challenging enough, there is no doubt that 2022 will be another year of tests. When we have to think of 2022 probabilities, we cannot keep the corona pandemic missing from the pages of the year 2022, which is resonating for the last three years on the world horizon.
The pandemic break was a period of introspection. We are involved with many responsibilities and in the face of increased stress due to the pandemic, the priority lies to promote care for the emotional and mental health of the masses that has become essential.
Last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. Let these words of wisdom, grace, positivity, and motivation inspire us to have our best year 2022.
The coming year will also test our commitment and resolve in our ability to galvanize and build trust within and across communities to address the multitude of challenges that demand we work together.
In 2021, we failed to distribute vaccines, treatments, and therapies for COVID-19 equitably or efficiently. 2022 must be the year that we close the massive gaps in the global pandemic response.
A devastating number of people have slid back into poverty as a result of the compounding effects of COVID-19.
Many of these people live in fragile conditions. There will be no return to the status quo ante after COVID-19, because the pandemic has changed too many things.
The challenge for the coming year is to move forward by redesigning and reimagining the domains of work, politics, public health, and economic policy.
In 2022, citizens will need to find ways to hold their leaders accountable and to rebuild institutions and public trust. COVID-19 is transforming the economic rulebook for 2022. India, which has shed 32 percent of its middle and upper-middle classes combined, could finish 2021 with a gross domestic product that’s 5.2 percent smaller than it would have been without the pandemic (www.atlanticcouncil.org). According to the Oracle Workplace Intelligence report, forty four per cent of Indians said they were impacted financially in the pandemic and 37 per cent said that they experienced mental health issues.
In 2022, people need to trust that going back to work will genuinely improve their lives. Getting to that point will require action by both governments and we people. Investment to help remedy the disruption in education caused by COVID-19 is crucial.
Millions of students were kept out of school as a result of the pandemic. Establishing programs to help students catch up and gain the skills and training needed that will help them get better jobs. COVID-19 accounted for 46 percent of all job losses during 2020 and as per report of Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, over 10 million or 1 crore people lost their jobs because of the second wave of coronavirus. It added that 97 per cent of households’ incomes have declined since the beginning of the pandemic last year. The people who lose jobs find it hard to get employment.
The year 2022 is a period of introspection. The purpose of one’s job, career and life has come into sharper focus. The meaning and importance of time, health, family, and means of pushing life smoothly requires re-evaluation in the year we are going to welcome. Employee attrition is 20 per cent in India and it’s unlikely to ease off in 2022.
In-between the lines, the most required attention in the year 2022 for common man is to budget their income.
The beginning of a new year is a great time to get finances in order and make monetary goals.
In this direction we must look over the money spent in the outgoing year and see where we might have spent too much.
This will ease our life in the year 2022 and we must plan a monthly budget.
Concluding, on this New Year, may you change your direction and not dates, change your commitments and not the calendar, change your attitude and not the actions, and bring about a change in your faith, your force, and your focus and not the fruit.
May you live up to the promises you have made and may you create for you and your loved ones the happiest New Year ever.
