Covid badly hit economy, people alike: Speakers

Ongole: The speakers at the UGC-sponsored two-day national seminar on 'Impact of Covid-19 on Indian Economy', held at the Acharya Nagarjuna University PG Campus in Ongole observed that the virus has badly affected the economy last year and people faced many problems as the social and economic systems were damaged.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day seminar organised by the Department of Commerce and Business Administration on Wednesday, Collector Dr P Bhaskara explained that the Covid-19 threw the small and medium farmers into losses and impacted the MSMEs, and health sector greatly. As the lockdown was imposed throughout the country, it affected the imports and exports more and businesses faced a huge crisis.

He added that the banks suffered from the scarcity of cash and failed to support transactions by the customers. The Collector said that the district administration followed the guidelines released by the State and Central governments and implemented them efficiently. He said that the government system worked well to see no inconvenience was caused to the public and provided the groceries to them in time.

The former special officer of the ANU PG Campus, Dr N Venkateswara Rao presided over the seminar and said that the Covid-19 ruined the social and economical system in the country. He said that it affected everyone from the villages to the metros to the capital of the country, from the workers and labours to the entrepreneurs and industrialists in the nation very badly.

Retired Professor of Department of Commerce and Business Administration at Acharya Nagarjuna University, GV Chalam opined in his keynote address that the Covid-19, which was identified at Wuhan has proved that more immunity should be developed even for the world economic system for a healthy society. He said after the pandemic, the people are not in a state to help their neighbour due to the fear of their own future.

AKTPU OSD Dr KVN Raju said that the pandemic hit the poor, Dalit and downtrodden people very severely and they are deprived of receiving medical help from some doctors.

On Thursday, B Padmaja presided over the seminar while the chief guest, director of Nagarjuna Educational Institutions, V Ram Prasad that due to the pandemic, many people lost their jobs and are still suffering due to it. He advised the students not to disappoint by temporary problems, but aim to achieve greater positions in life.

Former special officer of PG Campus, Dr Sanjeeva Rao advised that everyone must protect himself from the Covid and shared some immunity-boosting tips.

The seminar convener, special officer of the ANU PG Campus, Dr Krishna Banana said that due to the harsh impact of the Covid on the productive and industrial sectors, the farmers, workers and other labours suffered from meeting their minimum needs. He observed that the hoarding of groceries by the black market also increased in the prices and affected the traders and business people also. He informed that they received about 100 research papers from various scholars across the country for the seminar.

The department of commerce and business administration faculty Dr K Sivaji, J Arun Kumar, Ravindra Kumar, Vijaya Vanitha, Haribabu, Koteswari, district NSS program officer Dr Mande Harsha Preetham Dev Kumar, placement officer G Ramu, Dr P Venkata Rao, Tandava Krishna and scholars and guests from other states also participated.