Yoga practice in times of the Covid-19

The growing trend of a healthy lifestyle involves physical and mental health and people began to take care of their fitness which is a clear indication that they are attending various types of classes offered by clubs, gyms and wellness centers.  One of the forms of activity that is increasingly appealing and appearing on the offer of such places is yoga. 

The situation in the world and the announcement of the global COVID-19 pandemic led to the fact that many such places are closed and people could only exercise at home.  Though some of the fitness centers are opening now with a bit of caution but yoga is still such an undemanding form of activity that you can easily continue practicing it without leaving your home.

Yoga has been put on the list by the UNESCO committee cultural heritage.  Yoga also has a lot of health benefits. It helps in maintaining high posture and strengthens muscles, improves the work of the heart, improves the work of the respiratory system as well affects mental health.  The psychological value of yoga is lowering stress level, turnover in the fleet with depression or anxiety.  Yoga meditation also helps people in their inner realization, leads to experiences of the state of freedom and discover nature. 

Yoga is practiced not only by young people but also mature people, regardless of gender or social position or professed religion.

Health is an important concept.  WHO emphasizes that if you want to understand what health is, you should look at it much more broadly, because it is not only an antonym of disease but the mental state of a person, their relations with other people and the environment. 

Health can be distinguished in four ways:

1. Physical health -the proper functioning of the body and its systems and organs;
2. Mental health and health within it: - mental - the ability to think clearly and logically, - emotional health - the ability to recognize feelings and express them appropriately; ability to cope with stress, tension, depression and anxiety;
3. Social health - the ability to maintain proper relationships with other people and fulfil social roles;
4. Spiritual health - in some people it is related to religious beliefs and practices, in some it is related to maintaining inner peace.

The greatest influence on our health is the lifestyle which shapes human health by following:

• Diet
• Physical activity
• The ability to cope with stressful situations and
• Adequate sleep

The obvious question does arise what is the benefit of yoga practice during the coronavirus pandemic and the related lockdown?  it is found that the various forms of practice yoga are conducted online according to the most popular and used tools and technologies like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.  

BENEFITS OF YOGA PRACTICE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Asanas yoga poses can be divided into several categories: standing, sitting, forward and backwards bends, twists, inverted, lying and balance positions, and they all matter in the prevention and correction of body posture defects, especially in school-age children.

Prevents diseases such as asthma or chronic bronchitis.

Breathing exercises, the circumference and capacity of the chest can be increased, which means that with one inhalation, more air gets into the chest, thus improving the breathing capacity of the body.

It offers psychological benefits.  The practice of asanas improves one’s mood and introduces one to a state of well-being.

By learning to calm down thoughts and a restless mind, you can be happier and live longer.

Regular yoga practice improves coordination, reaction time, memory and even IQ.

It helps in treating depressive symptoms.

It can be able to relieve tension and lower the cortisol levels that usually rise under stress.

During a pandemic, it is important not to give in to stress or feelings of anxiety when people find themselves in extremely unique situations. Yoga has a positive effect on people suffering from anxiety and reduces the level of stress. All the anxiety associated with the epidemic can lead people who are less manageable with stress to depression. Yoga is recommended as an antidote to stress.

Yoga improves well-being and mood, which is worsened by the global situation caused by the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yoga practice, above all, makes the vital capacity of the lungs increase, and the blood is better oxygenated, which improves the functioning of the immune system.

Pranayama benefits to calm the mind, which leads to its increased sharpness and efficiency.

When a pandemic situation is very stressful and makes people anxious, it is important to find inner peace.  The practice of yoga leads to a deeper understanding of one’s nature and an increase in self-awareness which is important to learn to be more patient and forgiveness. 

Primarily, yoga can be practiced without leaving home, alone, without any special requirements, equipment, clothes or additional costs. It is extremely easy nowadays because the Internet allows you to do exercises online.

Many teachers or instructors conduct such classes through live broadcasts on their profiles on social media, e.g. on Instagram, Facebook or via webinars using e.g. the Zoom application. Yoga can also be practiced using applications installed on the phone or using the popular YouTube website.

In the era of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is exposed to more stress related to caring for their health and the health of their loved ones, losing a job, increased responsibilities, more time spent at home, lack of exercise or omnipresent restrictions that prevent normal functioning in society. 

The situation is completely new, as is well known, physical activity promotes good health, improves mood and reduces the level of anxiety.  In that midst, yoga comes as a rescue as one of the forms of physical activity, which helps in breathing and meditation.  It impetus a positive effect on the physical and mental condition of a person. 

The most vulnerable to the virus are the elderly, seriously ill and easily stressed people.  Practicing yoga or even in online gives relaxation and breathing exercises, introduces the participant to a state of well-being, and also maintains the immune and respiratory systems in good condition.

No doubt, yoga practice during the coronavirus pandemic gives immense benefits to the people.  The quality of online yoga practice, which has become an alternative to sports and stationary activities. 

In toto, by practicing yoga – improves posture, strengthens the muscles, increase flexibility, reduces anxiety, reduces the amount of body fat, improves metabolism, put in a good mood, cheer, improves the heart rate, soothes the mind, helps to combat depression, improves concentration and increase chest circumference and capacity. 

Can do parents perceive the schoolbag problems?

The status of children on health has a significant effect on the future health of society.  Thus, monitoring the health status of society is essential along with education and prevention.  No doubt, the school environment should be considered as a wide set of stressors in the human ecology field.  Good health status can be influenced by changing lifestyles, which is obviously lead to quality of life. The more closer to the lifestyle the higher percentage of correct attitudes.   

There has always been a talk on the problem of overloading children with too heavy schoolbags and do the parents know about the effect of the mass of carried school supplies on body posture, health status and how is the importance of physical fitness?

There has been a lot of questions relating to child to carry overloading bags to school.  The pertinent ones are:

• The Weight of a schoolbag carried to school?
• The child's schoolbag will be carried -- by the accompanying person, by the child in his or her hand, on a bicycle?
• The child has a faulty posture while carrying the schoolbag?
• Is child healthy in general?
• Child spend how many hours on physical culture?
• Prefer a tablet instead of a schoolbag?

It is assumed that a four-kilogram mass of school supplies carried by their children.  This suggests greater concern for child’s [boy/girl] body posture and their health also.  Most of them prefer to commute to school by themselves only, though some of the parents do accompany them but the margin is little. 

It has been observed that poor awareness of the role of physical fitness among boys, girls and parents.  Thus, it is important to have cognitive skills and correct body posture.  Probably, 3 and 5 hours per week spent on improving physical fitness.

Al  lot of debates are going on overloading children with too heavy schoolbags and how it can be seriously affected them.  It leads to various dysfunctions, including the spine also.  The postural defects among children and adolescents from primary and secondary schools are seen and aware of the negative impact of the faulty posture.  One should have knowledge on the prevention of postural defects and how it entrusts negative impact of too much weight of a schoolbag on posture.

In the 1980s, it was recommended that schoolbags should weigh less than 11% of the pupil’s body weight [5], whereas orthopaedic doctors suggested that its mass should not exceed 10% [6]. Currently, it is recommended to carry schoolbags lighter than 10% of body weight [5]. However, many students carry heavier schoolbags [5,7].

Researchers demonstrated that carrying a schoolbag heavier than a pupil’s body weight significantly affects body statics :

• If the schoolbag is heavier than 10% of body weight, it may reduce the forced expiratory volume
• A schoolbag reaching 15% of body weight causes a change in gait speed if the pupil’s body weight is [9]
• A weight higher than 20% leads to significant changes in gait patterns if the pupil’s body weight is [10]
• A schoolbag weighing 15% body weight naturally affects the body’s moves if the pupil’s body weight is [11]

Whilst it is interesting to note that some researchers suggested that there is no evidence that these deformations resulted from carrying a large mass of schoolbag.

Now the concept of child’s learning has changed a lot.  The conventional learning only with a tablet or conventional learning at school and learning at home with a tablet or tablet as supplementation of conventional learning.

However, it is noticed that a few parents allow the possibility of conventional learning at home and learning with tablet at school, but most of the parents are not accepted learning only with a tablet.  The parents are of the opinion the learning method should be physically carried on with a child’s schoolbag and are consent with material and methods.

Thus, it is important that parents should know the health status of their children.  They believe that the child will carry a four-kilogram schoolbag, will learn conventionally [without a tablet] and spent about 2 hours on improving physical fitness. 

Whenever we are talking about the schoolbags concerned with children, the two things are going with sync i.e. body posture and physical activity.

No doubt the physical fitness is a core factor in the prevention of static postural disorders, keeping in mind the [child’s overloading with too heavy schoolbags] and it is kind of orientation of the children's lifestyle.

Simple exercise at home during Covid-19

As the world is shaken by the spread of the virus corona, which is later known as Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).  It is believed that COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that affects a patient’s lower respiratory system. 

Though the number of vaccines has come out to cure or prevent the spread of COVID-19, one of the ways believed to be effective to prevent COVID-19 is by improving the immune system so that one can fight the virus if it enters one’s body.

A strong immune system is a good defender against the COVID-19 virus. Regular exercise is a way to keep one’s health and fitness and to maintain a strong immune system. 

Several studies show that physically active individuals are stronger against viral and bacterial infections than those who are not physically active.  Physical exercises have been proven to protect individuals against cognitive problems and depression.

Therefore, routine exercise is important during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Regular physical activities and exercises are crucial factors that determine the quality of life.  Not only do these activities maintain fitness and improve the immune system to prevent COVID-19 infection, but they are also critical in maintaining muscle and bone integrity.

Outdoor exercises are deemed to be beneficial for mental health during the pandemic. However, outdoor activities bring the risk of COVID-19 contagion. Hence, those who wish to do outdoor exercises need to be more careful and bear in mind to work out individually, away from the crowd. Outdoor exercises like running, jogging, walking, or cycling can be done during the COVID-19 pandemic but group exercises such as basketball or soccer are clearly not recommended. One can do other forms of exercise or physical activities, as long as they are not done in groups.

Indoor exercises are important because regular exercise has been proven to have a protective function against various chronic illnesses, from physiological illness such as cardiovascular diseases to neurological illness such as dementia and depression.

Physical activities have been proven to cause relatively big physiological changes in the immune system.  It has been recommended to do exercise training that improves cells mediated by immune functions and to reduce the risks of infection and autoimmune diseases in the elderly.

Studies have consistently shown a decrease in the levels of upper-respiratory illness in physically active individuals or on those who are fit. 

One can do several exercises at home during the Covid 19 pandemic or when practising social distancing.  Since most countries in the world enforce lockdown in their regions, it is almost impossible to do outdoor exercises. 

3-5 times per week physical exercise could be performed, in moderate intensity for a duration of 30-45 minutes. Two types of exercise can be performed at home through a series of simple workout i.e. aerobic exercise to maintain or enhance cardiovascular capabilities and anaerobic exercise to maintain muscle and bone strengths. These simple exercises are easy to do but highly beneficial for improving the immune system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outline some of the alternative exercises to do at home during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Stair climbing at one’s house can be an alternative exercise during the COVID-19 exercise. 
• Jumping jacks are an exercise to strengthen leg muscles, improve coordination, and enhance cardiovascular capabilities.
• Jump rope is a simple exercise to do at home. This exercise is performed using a 3- to 4-meter rope, depending on one’s height.
• High Knee exercise can strengthen thighs muscles, abs, and cardiovascular in the long term.
• Push up is the perfect exercise if you want to strengthen your upper body.
• Sit up is a good exercise to strengthen and tighten abdominal muscles.
• Leg raise exercise aims to strengthen and shape abdominal muscles, especially lower abs.
• Step up is an alternative exercise to strengthen thighs muscle.
• The plank exercise is simple, yet functional and practical, posture. There are many benefits of doing plank exercise, not only to strengthen the abdominal muscles but also to strengthen other muscles all over the body.
• Chair dip exercise is to strengthen the arms, shoulders, and chest.  This exercise can be an alternative to do at home because it only needs a chair as equipment.

There are many options of exercise that one can do at home. Some of the exercises one can do at home including: stair climbing, jumping jacks, jump rope, high knee, pushups, sit-ups, step up, plank, lunges, squats, mountain climbers, chair dips, and leg raises.

No doubt, these exercises are pretty simple, can cover your needs to stay healthy and fit during social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic. These exercises consist of cardiovascular exercises (heart, blood vessel, and lungs), muscular and bone-strengthening exercises, and joints strengthening exercises. Routine exercises in moderate intensity will keep you fit and healthy to enhance your immune system to prevent COVID-19 infection.

Generally, these exercises do not require special equipment available in gyms.  These can be adopted at home-based alternatives of exercises without a partner or special equipment.  Doing medium intensity exercises routinely will improve the immune system.

Value of Pharmacists

The pharmacist is a vital element enabling the efficient planning and management of the healthcare workforce.  It is a trusted profession.

It has long been recognised internationally by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Keeping in mind changes in population demographics, the increasing prevalence of long-term conditions, should be advanced in technology and medicine and need the support of the health workforce at large.

In line with international trends, many extended pharmacist roles and services are proposed published by International Pharmaceutical Federation [FIP] in 2017 guide Schools of Pharmacy.  The curricula of Pharmacy have been redesigned in recent times to ensure that graduates can fulfil roles expected of them currently, but also those expected of them in the future.

Those who are in the field of pharmacy/ recently graduated pharmacists have expressed dissatisfaction with the profession despite the apparent coordinated and considered approach from government and pharmacy stakeholders.

Generally, pharmacists work in a variety of settings, but most typically in community pharmacy and hospital.  It should be borne in mind that motivation is playing a pertinent role in the pharmacy and to have a  keen interest in health’ and ‘A desire to work with and help people’.

The most common general reasons given for leaving a health profession are low remuneration, a lack of professional development and educational opportunities, weak regulation, unsatisfactory working conditions, high stress levels and low job satisfaction.

The young aspirants/currently are in dissatisfied with pharmacy because of the professional environment’, ‘lack of career pathways and opportunities’ and ‘underutilisation of pharmacists’ skills and knowledge’, ‘lack of recognition of pharmacy from government, other health care professionals, or the public’, ‘inadequate remuneration for services provided’ and ‘lack of consistent and effective representation of the pharmacy profession, too many pharmacy graduates each year; and not having their ideas taken seriously.

Whilst it has been noticed the perception of people about pharmacist changed.  They are seeing them as shopkeepers/ having commercial interests/ retail assistants that override health best practice.  Though “Doctor knows best” and their support actually helps to maintain the norm and people do take it seriously and keep the spirit of best practice. 

It is important to explore the reasons for people entering and leaving the profession since this profession is playing a crucial role in health and mankind and ensure it meets community needs.  One should know the value of a pharmacist.  This needs more focus and a better understanding of those individuals who completed their pharmacy undergraduate degree or aspirants to make a career in this noble profession.

In order to improve the consistency and effectiveness at a higher level, the national pharmacy advocacy and training body should come together with the pharmacy regulatory body to step up and represent and promote services.

It has been seen a lot of pharmacists have left the profession because there is no room for growth and scope.  Need of the hour is there should be a system to improve career pathways and opportunities and it should be challenging enough to keep pharmacist engaged as a profession.

The pharmacist should not be constrained but more in participative nature so that they can play a decisive role on which they are working on.  By allowing them can bring the culture of doctor-pharmacist-people connectivity which is beneficial for any profession or as a country.

There must be a necessary line between doctor and pharmacist. Because both are dealing with health care problems and there should be more integration between the two. 

Now the concept of the pharmacist has changed just playing the whole gatekeeper of medicine's role and dispensing medicines the future of the pharmacist role should be headed is managing patient cases where doctors diagnose and then hand over to pharmacists to manage the medicines care.

While talking about the mechanism to improve the system that does not mean this profession is not much to offer.  The pharmacist is a young profession.  There is a lot of young people in the profession and there are so many good ideas and willingness to change and how to do things better and improve.  There are many pharmacists who possess the appropriate skill mix to support the expansion and development of new models of care and to offer higher level medicines optimization. 

Those having a keen interest in health, science or a desire to work with and help people are the most common reasons for choosing to study pharmacy.

The process of mentoring is another factor that can lead to qualified pharmacists.  In a Canadian study, the quality of mentoring was identified as an influence on advanced pharmacy practice and mentoring has been comprehensively discussed in the recent work of Desselle, et al. and Mantzourani, et al.

The common discussions are reported dissatisfaction with the professional environment, the lack of career pathways and opportunities, and under utilisation of skills and knowledge.  It can be more in tune with a better work environment, competence development and professional career development.

It is high time now the Pharmaceutical Society should forge ahead and bring out some recommendations for action like mentoring and another alternative model of pharmacy service delivery and remuneration. Also, there should be a future-focused policy associated with to specially deal with workplace pressures.

Chess as a school subject

In this world-changing scenario to keep pace and preparing the child for life is getting more and more complicated. 

When we are talking about social values such as honesty, cooperation, discipline, foresight, and purposefulness, can we say the benefits of chess aims to develop these qualities?  It is imperative to know the importance of the ability to learn and the role of chess as a school subject. 

To get rid of the intricate situation, the only stable value is the ability to learn.  Since we are in the midst of current socio-cultural transformation thus, one needs to be provided with ongoing educational changes. 

The involvement of chess in education is an essential step. It is of great importance in the development of our country.  Chess is beneficial not only for mind and cognition development but teaching children significant features for future life.

While implementing chess it should be directed in two ways.  The first one must look at the attitude of stakeholders towards chess as a school subject and the second direction is to study the abilities, skills and values developed with the help of chess.  In that process, elementary school children should be chosen to start with to assess and discover the influence of a chess subject. 

If one can analyse chess can develop the required values, the creation and algorithmic thinking, foreseeing, influencing the situation, and assessing the importance of education by developing imagination and creativity.  In addition, chess is developing a specific quality i.e., to make good decisions and develop divergent thinking. 

Usually, it has been seen that current problems make individuals give up the final goal, but chess helps always to remember individual targets and focus on priorities.

Chess is adorable, an instrumental value used for self-perception, which is widely accepted by the family and society. 

It also makes it possible to create and develop values such as understanding the necessity of working with others, that is to say, cooperation, responsibility, honesty, discipline, farsightedness, and understanding possibilities of different problem solutions.

It is to be believed that those who are learning chess have pleasure with mathematics since it reflects the influence of the understanding of the subject, behaviour and thinking.

It is noticed that children who solved chess problems easily have a more qualitative cooperation value.

It is assumed that chess as a subject like Chess game has a royal influence on the development and of royal qualities, the revival of moral values and t promotes the development of willpower to win.

In the current situation, children are lacking good values like honesty, cooperation, discipline, foresight, purposefulness.  Unfortunately, the reality, these children constitute a considerable number.  For this reason, it is suggested that the schoolchildren faced educational difficulties and by focusing on the chess progress development it can bring a possible change towards the subject difficulties.

Only to incorporate chess as a school subject does not mean that we have achieved the goal.  It is important that teacher should know how to inculcate chess among the children and there should be cooperation between parent-teacher-child to develop the value system. 

It is right to state ‘chess as a social value’.  To bring chess in the primary school children as one of the subjects will certainly bring a potential change and develop schoolchildren’s thinking. It keeps the brain young.

Though this is a new concept to bring in chess as a school subject, on the other hand, one should know the importance and role of chess. 

No doubt the attitude of stakeholders towards chess as a school subject is also determined the pathway.         

After the analyses, it is quite clear that chess promotes the creation and development of children’s linguistic-logical and algorithmic thinking. The ability to foresee, influencing the situation, assessing the importance of education by developed imagination and creativity.

Thus, the involvement of chess in education is an essential step. It is of great importance in the development of our country.

Working from Home is a Norm

It has been witnessed that the number of people working from home (WFH) during 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  To lower the risk of spreading the virus, national governments across the world require people to WFH.  There has been a radical increase given this new situation, societies, organisations and workplaces across the world are now seeking “the new normal” including the “future of work” and the “role of the office” in which WFH is the norm.

No doubt, WFH is now even more important than before. Given this unique situation, people’s experiences of WFH during the COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages and disadvantages of working across distances and cultures have to be identified and to understand the differential impact of WFH on people’s lives.      

It has been observed that digital technologies are in demand and forced changes within the organisations, which has also generated distance work, including telework, remote work and WFH.  In the midst, we have seen time, space and/or culture constitute the distance between managers and employees. 

Whilst it is evident that several factors both positive and negative may be associated with the experiences of WFH and telework, and such factors need to be considered equal and independent. 

When working across distances or when managers are separated from employees by either time or geography, it may be difficult to safeguard employee well-being and performance.  In practice, the emphasis has been on how to take care of people’s well-being and mental health when WFH. 

There have been mixed reactions WFH.  Like control over work patterns [i.e., less time in meetings, fewer interruptions, more breaks], catching up on work and being more productive, better work-life balance and reduced commute time, atmosphere, own food and the ease of contacting people and connecting.  On the other hand, one can face hard to focus, unsure of what to do, missing food and the benefits of going to work, missing colleagues, d poor physical work conditions in the home office.

During WFH the tag line is used “I do not expose myself to the risk of getting a disease”.

Broadly, here is an overview the advantages and disadvantages of WFH.

Advantages

• Contribute to lowering the risk of spreading COVID-19.
• Work-life Balance.
• Get time to focus on my work without interruptions from other people.
• Possible to do some other work that does normally not have time to do.
• Not have to spend time in long meetings.
• Work Efficiency.
• Can take a break when he/she wants to.
• Can be close to my family and friends.
• Work Control.
• Like the atmosphere in the home better than at work.
• Eat and drink your own food.
• Have no one looking over/supervision.
• Save on the normal commute time.
• Do not expose to the risk of getting a disease.
• Chance to break my old habits and change my routines.
• Easier to get in contact with people than normal.

Disadvantages

• Home office constraints.
• Do not get to see colleagues or other people.
• Need physical equipment that is not accessible at home.
• Need data or documents that are not accessible at home to do the work.
• Find it difficult to keep focused on the work when alone.
• Don’t know what kind of work one should exactly do.
• Work uncertainties.
• Miss the food or other benefits that have at the workplace.
• The financial problem for not to be at the workplace.
• Get disturbed by other people in the home.
• Miss getting out of the home.
• Inadequate tools.
• Do not get enough exercise because of not at the workplace.
• Work from home is not as interesting as enjoyed at the workplace.
• Afraid not enough work to do from home.
• The physical conditions in the home do not afford a good working environment (adjustable table and chair, enough light, quietness, good monitor, etc.).
• Requires more effort due to abnormal routines.
• Feel tired of the computer to a greater extent than when at my workplace.
• Concerned that there are work tasks which one wants to do but cannot do from home.

It is to be found that for some people with high levels of socio-economic security could have reduced stress and increased mental health and wellbeing due to changes to education and work activities, suspension of commuting and potentially increased time with family. 

Now, most of the people are working from WFH and the post-Covid-19 offer an opportunity to rethink and maybe start creating new ways of thinking to meet the increased demand for efficiency and flexibility. 

Perceptibly, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the world of work and organisations.  The new work conditions seemed to be appreciated but it has certain positive and negative.  It has been drawn out the overall distribution of people’s experiences and how the advantages and disadvantages of WFH during the early weeks of the pandemic can be grouped into.

Comparing gender, the number of children at home, age and managers versus employees in relation to these factors provided insights into the differential impact of WFH on people’s lives. This will certainly help the organisations understand where the action is most needed to safeguard both performance and well-being. Since WFH is the norm amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it is relevant to know the people’s perception and to identify merits and demerits and investigate their importance for well-being and performance in knowledge work

Climate Change - A huge threat

Amongst the global environmental issues, one that has figured consistently is climate change.  Keeping in mind the scale and enormity of the challenge is so high that all countries feel bound to discuss the global climate and to explore solutions before it becomes a threat to the world.

No doubt, it requires urgent and immediate actions by the entire international community.  There should always be discussions across countries to generate a possible approach.  Though the Paris Agreement of 2015, is embodied it proves to be inadequate because of its inability to push the world towards target-oriented ambitious actions. 

Whilst Global Climate Change is a challenge for India, the question is can India play any role in advancing international actions to meet the challenge of climate change? 

India’s role in the Paris Agreement on climate change in securing international consensus is well-recognised. For India, climate change represents not just an issue of emissions reduction, but also looks at how it can manage the adverse impacts on its populace. 

G20 in 2022, when India assumes the role of Presidency, will therefore have to envision the challenges and to compute of securing a global consensus on future actions despite diverse approaches of G20 countries and align them to stabilize the climate below to a certain degree.

The Paris Agreement instructs that the developed countries have the responsibility to lead, emerging economies like India which are members of G20 have to demonstrate an equal degree of leadership in vision and actions.   Though this process has been deferred due to the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is widely held scientific and political consensus on how to contain the emission and if there is global warming then how we can curb the level of 1.5 degree. 

Even before consideration for the Paris Agreement had started, India was amongst the early countries that pledged to a voluntary goal of emissions intensity reduction.  So, India’s role is prominent and significant for the global efforts to address climate change.

It is assumed that in 2050 the share of low-emission final energy in the transport sector rises to at least 35–65 per cent while the energy demand in buildings would need to be halved. In an earlier session, there has been the general backdrop of the discussions on global strategies for addressing climate change.  Though, the UN Secretary-General even convened a climate summit of the heads of government to discuss this matter to the pursuit of the climate stabilisation goal and how to explore them. 

In the Paris Agreement, it has been agreed upon that all countries keeping in mind the national circumstances, prepare a long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategy.

It is a challenge for India and not so blessed, since many developed countries like Germany, France, UK and Japan have the advantage of being early movers with access to cleaner energy resources and technologies. 

India is on track to achieve at least two of the 2030 targets i.e., emissions intensity and renewable energy generation capacity in full measure.

One should understand that the energy efficiency programmes initiated through regulatory and market-driven policies have helped reduce the energy intensity of the economy as well as emissions from industrial processes.

It is important that India should have a clear plan to address emissions that emanates from sectors that are growing fast like industry, transport and building/ infrastructure sectors.

Interestingly, in 2019 at the climate summit held, in their independent national capacities India and Sweden, encouraged to jointly organise a business leadership group tasked with goals to address the emissions in the industrial sector.  Further, India can collaborate with other domestic and global stakeholders to suggest options and initiatives for growth.

If one is thinking about how to convert the results into CO2 emissions and make a beginning for CO2 trading, the existing scheme PAT [Perform, Achieve & Trade] is currently dedicated to achieving energy efficiency goals under the energy efficiency regulations.

As all carbon-intensive sectors keep growing, thus it is important that these specific sectors need to be in the mainstream in order to achieve the climate goal.  

A supportive framework and international cooperation are needed to accelerate the major economics are as follows:

• All large industries having the desire to accelerate to low or zero-carbon technologies in the relevant sectors may be encouraged to join s based on the best available technology.
• Countries that may be interested in promoting decreased carbon intensity in the industrial sector through specific schemes.
• A Coalition of industries and countries could be formed aimed at promoting technology solutions through working groups and partnerships.
• The upcoming meeting of G20 in 2022, provides an opportunity to India as well as other member countries of G20 to express and renew their commitment to framing and launching a long-term low carbon strategy.
• It is out of place to mention that global climate change presents a huge existential threat to the world and requires that urgent and immediate actions are taken by all members of the international community to arrest global warming. 
• Since India is a leader of the global south and as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, the challenges implicit, have to be implemented seriously and meaningfully. 

It is important that India should come up with a long-term low emission development strategy preferably before the Global Stock Take (GST) in 2023.  During the course of the GST, the low emission development strategies can become the main core of the discussion, for assessment of the impact of proposed actions on global goal and, to the extent possible, for revision of future targets.

The huge technological transformations in the energy and other systems can modify the global emissions and thus meet the global goal of stabilising the climate.  

Covid-19 to protect global health

According to the US Centers for Disease Control , Ebola, bird flu, and now Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are on the rise. As everyonand Prevention, research suggesting that outbreaks of infectious diseases such as SARS, MERSe is gripped with coronavirus for almost a year and to get rid of the novel coronavirus is a bit challenging.

In the current scenario, the Covid 19 is a wake-up call to protect planetary health. 

It is presumed that as humans continue to infringe on animal habitat and the interaction between humans and wildlife as a result, frequent causes of such infectious diseases are occurring which can induce environmental degradation.

As per WHO 2020 “COVID-19 is a contagious respiratory and vascular disease and is currently an ongoing pandemic which has already infected about 63 million people world-wide and resulted in 1.5 million deaths as of late November 2020.” 

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the unprecedented repercussions, have clearly shown the implications of infectious diseases on not only human health and well-being but also on economies and employment even in remote locations. 

Studies revealed that the COVID-19 virus causes a respiratory problem to an individual which may be influenced to the extent of air pollution.  Absorption of the COVID-19 virus on airborne dust and particulate matter from air pollution could also a factor to contribute long-range transport of the virus.

The urban pollution, habitat destruction and role of climate change are the solely factor of spreading Covid-19.

Lockdown

Lockdown is a good step to destabilize the channel of spreading the virus of Covid-19, though it is a temporary respite for the environment. 

As most of the countries followed lockdown and social distancing, it has been noticed that environmental parameters showed an improvement as pollution levels decreased, energy use dramatically reduced, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell. 

It seemed like good news for the environment due to the recorded decrease in pollution due to national lockdowns but that does not mean that climate change is slowing down. Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the gas that is primarily responsible for trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, are up from 413 parts per million this time last year to 416 parts per million now.

Plastic Usage

One can understand the global waste crisis and its magnitude from the radical growth in the manufacturing and production of PPE kits which the pandemic has necessitated in the past many months.  Countries such as India with less waste management capacities have also been producing PPE kits.

According to estimates by WHO, frontline workers, on a monthly basis would need 89 million medical masks, 76 million examination gloves, and 1.6 million goggles. 

During the pandemic period, we have seen a great demand, production and usage of plastic.  Products such as disposable wipes, cleaning agents, hand sanitizer, disposable gloves, and masks, PPE kits being sold and thrown away in unprecedented volumes.  As a consequence, the waste generation resulting GHG emissions and reveals how we disregard and inattention to environmental implications when dealing with emergencies.

It is found that 50% of the countries are conducting more than 10,000 tests per day and lack of stringent regulations and failure to systematically dispose of testing kits will not only increase the risk of infection but also increase plastic pollution.  It leads to ecological hazards and the government should take sustainable pathways while dealing with the Covid-19 crisis.

Waste Disposal

Generally, protective materials such as gloves, masks, or expired medicines used by the masses are disposed of together with domestic waste and garbage. The United Nations Environment Program’s recommendation is that the population should separate these materials and points out that the safe handling of biomedical and healthcare waste is essential for the health of the community and the integrity of the environment.  It also suggests that local authorities assign municipal operators for the collection or specialized waste management since waste management can lead to an intensifying crisis which could cause a rebound effect.

On the International Day for Biological Diversity, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres stated: “COVID-19, arising from nature, has highlighted the intimate connection that exists between human health and our relationship with the natural world.”

Biomedical waste generated by hospitals and by self-care, such as medical packaging and contaminated masks, gloves, and used or expired medicines must be properly handled by management and if it is mishandled will jeopardize the environment and human health.

Now, it is a huge challenge for the waste management industry to manage and handling of plastic waste due to reduced recycling activities in this period.  If safety issues are not adequately addressed, human health can be put at high risk.

Ocean Pollution

Globally, it is known that all polluting materials find the ocean as their final destination.  In the context of COVID-19, research conducted by the World Economic Forum showed that waterlogged masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles, and other biomedical and self-care waste were already found on beaches and seabeds in Hong Kong which can be detritus in the marine ecosystems.

It is to be considered that any activity carried out on land will have a significant effect on the ocean–coastal region, threatening not only the health of the great ecosystem but also the biodiversity of the marine environment.

To link freshwater to the ocean a Global Environment Facility Program has been started known as the Global Program of Action under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program. The main thrust of the program is to establish the link between basins and coastal management, particularly in areas affected by the quality, use, and availability of fresh water.

Inequalities

The COVID-19 pandemic not only reminds the world of declining planetary health but also bring infuriate inequalities and vulnerabilities and expel the myth that “everyone is in the same boat.”  Inequalities in terms of lack of safe housing and inadequate access to affordable food aggravate the risk of respiratory conditions, heart diseases, and diabetes.  Unequal access to affordable healthcare is another barrier. 

As Oxfam’s Interim Executive Director Chema Vera said, “COVID-19 is the last straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers. Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe—ten times more than the UN says is needed to stop people going hungry.”

Recommendations

• Factoring climate change in planetary health is essential.
• A systems-level approach from companies and governments on a global scale is required.
• Balancing the COVID-19 response with wider health needs to prevent.
• Each local or municipal authority needs to develop risk-based contingency plans.
• Businesses should invest more in sustainable innovation

Conclusion

To deal with planetary health approaches multiscale issues should be related to environmental quality and human well-being.

Lack of measures adopted by governments in addressing this unsurmountable issue.  To overcome the pandemic, we cannot ignore the larger picture of long-term environmental and humanitarian consequences.

To maintain the balance of social equality.  According to the study carried out by United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and UNDP, the main consequence of COVID-19 pandemic will be a “profound social inequality, distribution of long-term resources and equal opportunities in different dimensions,” the latter two presenting themselves as great challenges to face.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call, and the government must take active and visionary leadership which embrace a safer planet and a promise of improved health for all.