Written by Ujjesha Singh, a grade 12 student

“We shouldn’t want to go back to normal. Normal wasn’t working”, goes a popular saying.

True this is. Normal was definitely not working for the world, where we suffered from overpopulation, poverty, climate challenges, forest fires, endangerment and extinction of other living organisms, to name a few.

To talk about my country India, with 1.3 billion people and not enough to ensure for them, we have certainly squeezed the oxygen out of our nation’s lungs.

Now the virus has given us an opportunity to see where our country was headed. We are being given a blank sheet of paper to rewrite India’s future on. Our country has been trying to bridge the gap between developing and developed for years. Now we finally have come closer to the end of the race that we have been running since the mid 20th century.

Hopefully, with focus shifting from China, India is poised to become the base for many multinational corporations. It is out hope that production will shift here. We must use this to our advantage – it is imperative that the government and external affairs ministry use this to fuel the economy.

India’s GDP forecast had been commendable in the beginning of the year. However, Covid19 has caused the world economies to crash – India has also fallen with them.

But, I believe that our country possesses the unique ability to rise like a phoenix from this fire.With Eastern states declared Coronavirus free and the majority of citizens following lock-down rules, the virus has been contained to a large extent. We could have possibly been in a far worse situation but thanks to the farsightedness of all officials involved in the lock-down decision, we are far better off than the supposedly developed nations.

Our country can reach the status of developed in a decade or two but only if the correct steps are taken in the current situation. If we effectively manage to attract MNCs and foreign investment by providing incentives, we shall take a step towards the long walk of growth and development.

The rest resides on the skilful shoulders of my generation. It is up to us to lead the nation towards becoming one of the most powerful in the world.

For now, let us take note of Indian brands and products and shift to those while educating ourselves with the correct information. This is a blessing in disguise, it is up to us to find and utilise this to our maximum benefit.

The golden bird has a chance to fly again and soar higher. Let us be the wind underneath its wings.

(With inputs from IMF’s latest webinar chaired by Raghuram Rajan)

Written by Ujjesha Singh  – a grade 12 student of Modern School.