April 22, 2020 | Adamas University

Coronavirus Pandemic Covid 19: An Analysis

Introduction

India is fortunate to be one of the last few countries to experience the terrible effects of Coronavirus Pandemic. China was the first country to face the hazard but being an advanced nation with advanced technology, better medical facilities they implemented strict measures to contain the coronavirus, they managed to get the contagion under control, but failed to control the transmission of pandemic to other nations. There are 22,97,712 infected all over the world currently with 158,202 deaths from Coronavirus Pandemic Covid 19 an extremely contagious and transmissible virus spread through droplets, sneezing or contaminated objects left by infected individuals throughout the world.

Impact of Covid 19 all over the world

Statistics published by John Elfiein on April 12, 2020 confirmed the outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic in 210 countries throughout the world. The virus had infected 1,780,684 people worldwide and the number of deaths had totaled 1,08837. The most severely affected countries reported were USA, Italy and Spain with USA having 533,088 cases, Italy with 152,271 cases, Spain with 163027, France 129654 and the UK had crossed 7899 cases. Within a span of a week, there is a huge spurt in the number of cases all over the world, the Times of India the daily newspaper on April 19, 2020 reported that USA witnessed 716,883 infected and 37,659 deaths, Spain with 191,726 infected and 20,043 deaths, Italy with 175925 infected and 23,227 deaths, France with 1,49,146 infected and 19,345 deaths, and the UK with 1,15,300 infected and 15,497 deaths, The numbers are deadly and threatening. USA and Italy imposed a complete lockdown too late to prevent and reduce the transmission of the Covid 19. In Italy it is not just the virus that has killed and still is killing patients, it is the gush of patients that has left the doctors flabbergasted and forced hospitals to decide who they should save and who they should ignore and allow to die unattended. The list of countries reporting Covid 19 outbreaks is growing daily. 185 countries all over the world are facing the threat and no region can claim to be immune from the Pandemic. Lakhs of people all over the world have died and many more are fighting for their lives in hospitals.

Impact of Covid 19 in India

According to the Times of India, the daily newspaper Covid 19 outbreak in India touched two grim milestones on Sunday April 19, 2020 with the number of cases crossing 15,712 and death toll going beyond 525, recording highest single day rise in numbers at 1266 on Saturday April 18^th, 2020, Delhi reported a huge jump with 186 new cases, Maharashtra having 328 new cases, Gujarat with 280 and Rajasthan 122 new cases, UP with 71 and Tamil Nadu 77. Doctors and hospitals on a daily basis have been dealing with a huge gush of Covid 19 patients, there are patients testing positive, there are patients who need to be hospitalized, there are those who require ICU care and ventilators. With limited resources available healthcare units have been struggling to cope and respond to the outbreak.

Coronavirus Pandemic Covid 19: its effect on human mind

The enormity and eccentricity of this coronavirus pandemic has left us bewildered and panic stricken. Staying in a lockdown for almost a month we are confronted with a whirlwind of alternating feelings. Its magnitude and atrociousness has provoked myriad responses and emotional reactions including fear worry, grief and cohesion. On the one hand I feel fortunate enough to live in a pleasant home with a space that gives me sunlight and peace; on the other hand this confinement has evoked a sense of being limited. The coronavirus crisis has given us an opportunity to think about others, feel connected with others and more importantly become aware that everyone on Earth is exposed to this danger. Time has given us the opportunity to empathize and identify with people who are less fortunate.

There are many who share a cramped overcrowded single room with others, there are many without a proper job. There are thousands of urban poor, daily wage earners and migrant workers who have been left stranded are desperately wishing to go back to their work. There are those who live in slums or pavements, many who are homeless. There are those who have more than two children to take care of, feeding them keeping them engaged. People who are domestic help, daily workers or laborers in factories or working at construction sites are now dependent on others for their basic meals and rations. These less privileged cut off from social and economic protections are facing terrible consequences. For these people who are experiencing social distress and for people like us, staying at home has become a compulsory step to protect one another from the deadly corona virus.

Coronavirus Pandemic Covid 19: An Analysis

Human race is confronted with the mortal danger of being perished. Covid 19 has treated the rich and the poor, the privileged and less privileged on equal basis. The corona virus disaster is carrying with it a potential threat to the entire global population and at the same time is teaching us a lesson to get united. Each individual has the capacity to harm or safeguard the other. The wellbeing and safety of all depends on the extent to which each individual becomes aware of his/her inescapable responsibility to help the other. Boris Johnson an affluent world leader and any insignificant powerless person both have the power to make a difference and bring about a change. The coronavirus crisis is an imperative to promote global solidarity based on mutual help, interdependence and fundamental equality of all human beings. Equality and dignity of every member of human race should be recognized and guaranteed, the relationship between people, between nature and human, between human and the ecosystem should be re- established and society should be rejuvenated and renewed.

What does it take to succeed in the Professional World? A Note on Emotional Intelligence

What does it to take to get through a job interview? How much skill does one need to become successful in his/her professional field? What makes a leader in today’s organizations? There is no one-dimensional answer to any of these questions. In today’s world, it is quite difficult to get a job, let alone sustaining it and becoming successful. Needless to say, it is just not academic and technical skills that can guarantee success in any professional field. Rather, a more significant role is played by a set of psychological attributes that can equip an individual with more sophisticated ways of dealing in a professional setup, better interpersonal skills, better coping strategies in the face of a crisis and even superior leadership qualities. Emotional Intelligence is just one such quality.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

The concept of Emotional Intelligence has been in existence for almost a century, although not understood in the same way we conceptualize it today. In 1990s, this concept emerged as a separate attribute with the highly acclaimed works of Peter Salovey and John Mayer (Click here). They defined Emotional Intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.” (Salovey and Meyer,1990). According to them, the concept of Emotional Intelligence includes four different components: (i) Emotional perception, (ii) Ability to reason using emotions, (iii) Ability to understand emotion, and (iv) Ability to manage emotions (Fig 1).

Fig 1. Components of Emotional Intelligence

Perceiving emotion includes observing, understanding and acquiring information from non-verbal gestures including body language and facial expressions. Imagine talking to your supervisor. Non-verbal gestures like eye-blinking, gaze, mouth expressions, common gestures like fidgeting or clenched fist and movements of arms and legs give out a lot of information about the emotion of the other person. For example, maintaining eye contact means that the person is paying attention while prolonged eye-contact can be expressing a threat and not maintaining eye contact can be imply that the other person is distressed or somehow uncomfortable. Again, constant fidgeting implies distress, nervousness or even boredom. The second step, that is, Reasoning with emotions can help us decide and prioritize what to attend and react to at a certain moment. This is a crucial step for regulating our own emotions. For instance, imagine facing an interview. Individuals paying more attention to their own anxious feelings will fail to attend to the interviewer’s questions altogether. It is therefore, essential to decide which particular emotion we should focus on at a specific point of time. The third step involves the ability to understand emotions. Our emotional expressions often carry differential meanings. For example, an angry behavior of the supervisor can be due to dissatisfaction with other’s work, or it can also be because of some other personal conflict. Reaction to such emotional expressions of others takes you to the fourth step, which is, ability to manage emotions. This includes regulating one’s own emotions and responding optimally to others’ emotions. For instance, in the face of a crisis, a person high on emotional intelligence will be able to react appropriately to others so as to deal with the situation effectively.

Emotional Intelligence and Professional Success

How does Emotional Intelligence guarantee professional success? There is no dearth of studies suggesting that employees with higher emotional competence are far more successful than others with only cognitive competence. In explaining the specific role of emotional intelligence in prediction professional success, personal competence (managing oneself) and social competence (managing others) needs to be acquired (Cherniss & Goleman, 2001; Click here for more information). This process involves developing four important skills (Fig 2):

Being self-aware: This involves being aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses. This ensures taking control of one’s own actions and decision making process.

Fig 2. Process of enhancing Emotional Intelligence

Self-regulation: Individuals who are high on self-regulation have higher emotional maturity, manifest higher emotional control, are generally proactive, highly flexible in any situation and are focused on achieving success.
Social self-awareness: This requires an individual to be aware of other’s needs in order to manage those adequately. Individuals having higher social self-awareness tend to be more empathetic and understanding towards others.
Relationship Management: To be able to manage relationships in a professional field involves having good communication skills, ability to convince others, inspiring others and providing good guidance to others.

Can Emotional Intelligence be developed through training?

Indeed one can increase his/her Emotional Intelligence through training. There exists a whole range of research dedicated to the development of such training modules for enhancing one’s emotional intelligence. These training modules include differential tasks designed to help individuals become self-aware, learn to regulate their emotions, respond appropriately to other’s emotions and manage relationships successfully. Some of these techniques involve making individuals recognize their strengths and weaknesses through one-to-one coaching and providing feedback, arranging discussions and motivating them to share their experiences, short lectures, group discussions as well as role playing.

What are the benefits of enhancing Emotional Intelligence?

Having higher level of Emotional Intelligence have been linked to the following benefits in a professional world:

Higher social competence and great communication skills
Greater likelihood to get through an interview
More successful leadership skills
Better stress management in a crisis
Great interpersonal skills and relationship with co-workers and supervisors
More likely to get promoted in comparison to others with low emotional competence
More successful decision making in any situation

Concluding Remarks:

The concept of Emotional Intelligence, although is a relatively new construct in the domain of Psychology, has a very wide implication in different areas of research and applications. The reason being that, emotion constitutes a very significant portion of human psychology and defines all our thoughts, processes and behavior. The professional world places lot many demands on an individual, both in terms of cognitive competence and social competence. Being emotionally intelligent defines our unique identity and therefore, sets us apart from robots and humanoids.

References:

Cherniss, C., & Goleman, D. (2001). The emotionally intelligence workplace. How to select for measure and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups and organizations san Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185–211. https://doi.org/10.2190/DUGG-P24E-52WK-6CDG

Relevance of Mechanical Engineering Studies in Every Sector

Mechanical Engineering is one of the oldest engineering branches which produce graduates for leadership positions in core sectors like manufacturing, automobile, power plant etc. The studies associated with this branch are getting smarter day by day to be acceptable in every sector in engineering field. It has been come out form the orthodox shell and becoming essential for every technological innovation. Mechanical Engineering is a study combining physics and mathematics to design, analyze, manufacture and maintain mechanical systems. Here are some basic interconnections of this study with other engineering disciples.

Structures are made by the civil engineers may experience vibration, thermal stress and other stresses due to abrupt loading, naturally or synthetically. Those need to be monitored periodically using mechanical engineering studies. The famous Eiffel tower produces its own electrical energy using a wind turbine which can produce 7 GW energy per year roughly. Vibration causes for installing the turbine on the structure, 130 meters above the ground, a mechanical consulting company Getzner is looking after this, they have installed bearings for the turbine to minimize the frequency of the vibration and restrict it to reach to its resonance. Vibration simulation can be done using the knowledge of Computational Fluid Dynamics in ANSYS Workbench software using multi-physics. For any kind of large structures, two important phenomenons are there to be monitored. Temperature which expands the metals in a structure causes thermal stress generation and another one is wind, which provides large horizontal forces to the structure leads to bending as a structure is fixed at the base. Measurement methods for monitoring those natural impacts which can’t be controlled will be provided from the mechanical engineers using high end metrological devices and CFD study

A wind turbine is being installed on Eiffel Tower, Paris [Source: www.popularmechanics.com]

Rankin cycle is used in mechanical engineering study in a power plant to generate electricity from hydraulic energy. This is to be noted that we cannot get electrical energy directly from a power plant be it thermal or hydraulic. First, mechanical energy is to be produced using turbines and then using a generator or dynamo electrical energy can be produced for using through distribution. This is very clear that to produce electricity, knowledge of basic thermodynamics is required, so in UG study of Electrical Engineering, one paper based on Applied Thermal Engineering must be there for the aspiring electrical engineers. Structures and other parts of motor, generator and other electrical devices like rotor, stator, windings, rings and brushes are made of cast iron, mild steel, magnesium, copper etc. The one, who deals with the working principles of those electrical devices, must know the effect of those materials on their working. Now a days, smart materials are being used energy harvesters. These mechanical studies are important in electrical engineering field as well.

Rotor part is being manufactured

3 Phase Induction Moto with winding (Used Material: Copper and Mild Steel)

As Mechanical Engineering studies has adopted additive manufacturing, it has become popular in electronics engineering field as PCB boards are being designed and manufactured using 3D printed technology. Autodesk has provided another simulation tool named Fusion 360 where additive and generative manufacturing systems can be designed and simulated. Various sensors are being used and calibrated for measuring temperatures, pressures and other parameter for fluid flow, boilers, mines and other systems. A clear understanding of mechanical engineering studies are required to develop logic of those sensors using arduino.

PCB is being manufactured using 3D Printed Technology (Additive Manufacturing) [Source: www.robohub.com]

In Robotics, the arms and other hardware are manufactured using modern edge manufacturing processes using different materials depending upon the rigidity and weight of the robot. A robot is consist of links, joints and end effectors those can be designed and analyzed on the basis of degree of freedom which requires the basic knowledge of Kinematics and Dynamics in Fusion 360, CATIA, Solid works, NX by Siemens etc which are the pure design software based on mechanical engineering knowledge.

A robot is being designed in Autodesk’s Fusion 360 [Source: www.twitter.com]

Manufacturing sectors are adopting AI, ML for creating efficient operating model for their business. The computer science engineers who are current dealing with Artificial intelligence, Machine learning and data science in manufacturing sectors must have clear idea about machining time, failure theories, tool life, plant layout, operation research etc.

Bio-Medical studies also have two major subjects named bio-fluids and orthopedics. Both the areas demand the knowledge of fluid mechanics and mechanism of links and joints. Even the study of blood circulation through heart can be explained better using pump theory and conservation of mass theory.

The smarter mechanical engineering studies have been accepted and merged to other allied engineering studies as well. Those are Acoustical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Marine Engineering, Railway Engineering etc.

Mechanical Engineers need to tighten their BOLTS and continue contributing to every sector for a better and safer world.

“A vibration is a motion that cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go.”

Is Mechanical Engineering a Lost World?

One of my relative’s daughter opted out of the JEE counselling process last year as she was offered a seat in Mechanical Engineering. Of course, she had her own strong reasons:

Mechanical Engineering doesn’t possess that charm anymore
Job prospects are poor with a degree in Mechanical Engineering
Being a girl, I don’t prefer to work alongside heavy machineries

I never intended to tear her down for her decision. However, I decided to utilize the free time of hers during this lockdown period, and unlock her mind to the scope and versatility of the contemporarily rich field of Mechanical Engineering.

Mechanical Engineering doesn’t possess that charm anymore

Enjoying the luxury, comfort and functionality of a modern automobile; sitting in a cool room and sipping a cool pack of kiwi juice delivered from a distant part of the world preserved through HVAC system; accessing the latest versions of utility products, clothes, medicines, food, shoes mass produced through smart manufacturing; savouring the enabled dexterity while playing the video games blessed by the motion sensor designs; utilizing robots to sanitize the house- Isn’t it really charming to be a part of the driving technical team of Mechanical engineers who conceptualize, design, fabricate and maintain such real life products/processes.

Further, the charm is to rise up to the right occasion. Worldwide, Mechanical Engineers have joined hands to design and develop COVID-19 response related products. A contributory effort towards product realization in terms of detection kits, disinfection robots, laser cut disposable face and eye shields, rapid prototyping of masks, PPE respirators, anti-microbial coating in medical equipment, trolley mounted large area sanitization equipment, UV sanitization handheld devices, automatic mist based sanitizer dispensing units, and many more in the pipeline.

Job prospects are poor with a degree in Mechanical Engineering

The famous Thomas Industry Insights, a service wing of Thomas International, upholds the fact that Mechanical Engineering has a much bigger engineering canvas, mainly due to the field’s smooth blend with the other areas of professional study. A recent survey by Times of India brought out the expanding prospects of Mechanical Engineering cutting across geographic boundaries and disciplines in the industry sectors to name a few:

Industrial Design, Aerospace, Automobile, Electronics, Marine, Defence, Consumer Goods, Construction, Materials and Metals, Energy & Power.

Remember the video of the song ‘This Too Shall Pass’ by the American rock band OK GO. The song was played with the band members singing alongside a giant Rube Goldberg machine whose parts were synchronized in time with music. In a recent TED talk, Adam Sadowsky, the American entrepreneur, described the features of the gigantic machine as a marvel of Mechanical Engineering. Special effects in the films heavily rely on Mechanical engineers specialized in computer aided design and prototyping. The point I like to hit home is:

Mechanical Engineers have a big demand in entertainment sector.

A recent survey projected 11% growth in the jobs for Mechanical engineers by 2026. Mechanical Engineering graduate job opportunities span the professional roles including:

Designers, Technical Managers, Analysts, Business Operators, Technical Sales Managers, Project Managers, Technical Inspectors, Software Engineering role in product and service-based companies.

In particular, National Design Policy (2007), Indian Design Council (2009), and CII published India Design Report (2018) envisions Design Enabled Indian Industry, thus, opening up further job avenues. Moreover, with the Make-in-India campaign in place, the empowerment of the manufacturing sector shall see the big players setting up their manufacturing plants in India. Additionally, alternative career roles exist in government organizations, Public Welfare Departments, banking sector, and consultancy.

The need of the hour is to choose an effective Mechanical Engineering programme, amongst the various offerings, which delivers the right skill set. Graduating with experiences in the latest trends in the field will, in turn, pave the path for a lucrative career in industries along with better scopes for switching-over career roles. Undergraduate experiences on traditionally rich Mechanical Engineering programme need to blend with the modern day demands of expertise in:

Design Engineering, Smart Manufacturing, HVAC Engineering, Micro & Nano Engineering, Smart Materials, Welding Engineering, Electric Vehicles, Bio-mechatronics, Automation and Robotics, Artificial Intelligence Applications, IoT enabled Mechanical Devices, Energy Systems Engineering.

The underlying fact is that the industry is ripe with opportunities but there is a shortfall of skill set, industry is presently looking for, among the candidates graduating with Mechanical Engineering degrees. It’s high time; an aspirant develops awareness and chooses the right programme to give a scintillating start to his/her career.

Being a girl, I don’t prefer to work alongside heavy machineries

It is not very unusual that girls have a feeling that it is brawn (boys perceived to have a marginal advantage) that matters in the field of Mechanical Engineering. Notion is ripe that girls fail to manage the production line when she gets into an industry. Perceptions are viral that Mechanical industries are highly gender biased. This is 21^st century, and it’s time to break these stereotypes.

It needs to be understood that Mechanical Engineering is not all about oil spills, dirty hands and dirty apparel. Mechanical Engineering is not only about Machines, and a common Mechanic who repair things. Who else can defy the misconceptions better than the leading women Mechanical engineers?

Lila Poonawala- Padma Shri awardee professional Mechanical engineer who acted as the chairperson of Alfa Laval India and TetraPak India.
Karen Nyberg- An American Mechanical engineer and NASA astronaut.
Alba Colon- She hailed from Spain and ruled the Stock Car Auto Racing as the Programme Manager of General Motors.
Kate Gleason- She was instrumental in giving birth to Gleason Corp. which is one of the world’s top providers of gear manufacturing machines, tooling, and technologies.
Priya Balasubramaniam- An engineer with a background in Mechanical Engineering, supply chain management, marketing and software engineering. She is currently the vice president of Core Technologies Operations and iPhone Operations at Apple Inc.

Nowadays jobs are based on talent and are not gender biased. It is no wondering that while scouting through any job site, the search results yield a large number of companies hiring female Mechanical engineers. Companies like Cummins India, leading technology innovator in turbos and fuel systems, hire female Mechanical engineers to be a substantial part of its workforce. With Government policies endowing certain privileges to companies with equal sex employee ratios, girls are always welcome to Mechanical field. Being a Mechanical engineer, girls have a bigger basket to choose from:

Design and Analysis, Vehicle Integration, Electromechanical jobs, Quality Assurance, Planning and Purchase, Vehicle Inspection, Software Development, Project Management, Technical Consultancy, Entrepreneurship.

Mechanical Engineering is a stepping stone for specialized fields of Aerospace Engineering, Automobile Engineering and Marine Engineering which are proven to be the exceptionally preferred destinations of female graduates. With its attraction of a work-life balance, research & teaching has also received big thumbs up.

Redesign your thought process, fuel your think-tank, and gear up for a journey to the prospective and vibrant world of Mechanical Engineering.

Flatten the Curve, Raise the Line and Beat the Corona virus

SARS- CoV 2 corona virus is now the cause of an outbreak throughout the world with the name of “COVID 19”. This corona virus has led to a pandemic that threatens everyone therefore the basic concept and knowledge about this pandemic situation is known to all of us. But how to treat the situation, what are the strategies applied in this direction, what are the possible ways to overcome this problem, these are some ongoing thoughts of everyone’s mind. So here is a good news that Yes! We can fight the pandemic. If we follow some strategies, we all can fight and win over this situation. Most importantly, this time is not to be panic but it’s the time to unite together against the pandemic. Before understanding the strategies we must know about the epidemic curve.

Epidemic curve: In case of pandemic, every single individual is on a great risk to get infected and a number of new outbreak cases are being reported with every passing day. So the epidemic curve represents the new outbreak cases by the day of onset of the disease to understand the present condition. The overall shape of this curve helps us to observe the current situation and to understand the type of outbreak we’re dealing with. The X-axis of this curve represents ‘the time (date)’ whereas the Y-axis represents the number of new outbreak cases. There is also a horizontal line parallel to X- axis which represents the capacity of the community health care system that means the hospital capacity including beds numbers, available staff and other important measures available for patient care. So in general condition the curve should not go beyond the threshold line (fig a).

But what happens when it comes to a pandemic? A pandemic results a sudden rise in the number of patients. Today, many countries have met this critical situation when the community health care systems are leading to less availability of resources for a proper treatment of all types of patients at the same time as they are already operating close to the capacity line. We can visualize the progress of a disease outbreak over time by observing the changes in the shape of epidemic curve. Whenever a pandemic occurs, it is believed that the infectious agent spreads very rapidly and the curve can rise and cross the line. In this critical situation, the healthcare system can no longer meet the needs of COVID-19 patients as well as all the other types of patients and at this point the mortality rate starts to rise quickly as people are unable to get the best care and outcomes. For these reasons, health care systems have to fellow two strategies to save a large number of lives. These strategies are as follows:

Strategy 1: Flatten the Epidemic Curve

To achieve the first strategy the rate of infection should get slower and in this case the epidemic curve will be observed flatter than the normal situation (fig b) and this is called flattening the epidemic curve. It does not mean the infection will not spread among but a flatter curve assumes the same number of people will get infected over a longer period of time so their

Key factors to flatten the curve:

a). Social distancing: Now a key factor to flatten the curve is social distancing, which refers to measures aimed at reducing close contact between people. This is why governments are closing schools, non-critical businesses and other places where people gather like sporting and social events. By limiting interactions between individuals, we can limit the spread of the disease. This is why it’s so important to educate as many people in the community as possible through online education, news articles and even social media posts.

b). Practicing good hygiene: Apart from social distancing, there are a number of key behaviours that you can do to help, like practicing good hygiene by washing your hands frequently and cleaning frequently touched objects and surfaces.

c). Isolating in confirmed and suspected cases: as well as isolating in confirmed and suspected cases.

While Health Care Systems are doing their part to help flatten the curve, they also need to meet the increasing demand. This is raising the line of our health care capacity.

Strategy 2: Raise the line

The strategy 2 is all about to increase the capacity line of health care systems in term of hospital beds, staffing, available equipments and all possible care which should be provided to the patient. As the demand is increasing day by day, many countries are unable to provide all facilities to patient suffering from Covid-19 as well as other diseases. Now the question is how to increase the capacity of heath care systems? Yes, the infection is spreading with a great rate and the suspected patient visiting to hospitals may be a carrier of corona virus and can be infectious to other patient present in hospitals as well as for health care providers.to avoid these problems and to increase the capacity there are some important steps taken by health care people:

Discharging healthy patients from hospitals as quickly as possible
Cancelling elective procedures and ramp up staffing
Health care providers are arranging acute facilities to deal with the waves of corona patients.
The supplies of protective equipment should remain adequate throughout the pandemic.
Health care providers should figure out ways to provide online health education opportunities.
Health care providers should see patients with home care and telemedicine.
Hospitals should make every effort to keep corona patients separate from non corona patients to reduce the chances of intra-hospital spread.
Not only patients but health care providers should also get proper care and personal protective equipment like N95 masks.
Ultimately the curve should be kept below the capacity threshold to ensure the resources will be equally available for patients.

These two strategies are proving themselves as the best option during the rising magnitude of corona infection. Few points to remember always are:

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY: THE TREND IS HERE TO STAY

The term ‘Diplomacy’ is the conduct of relationships, using peaceful means, by and among international actors, at least one of whom is usually governmental.

The ICT revolution has affected all facets of life, including International relations. Diplomacy as a means of foreign policy has also being altered by this revolution. This article inspects the notion of digital diplomacy, focusing on the use of digital media in the pitch of diplomacy and how countries are operating these tools in the quest of their foreign policies. It examines the prospects and challenges ahead and how the nations are faring during this COVID-19 crisis in this field.

Evolution of Digital Diplomacy

According to Stephen Cohen, Diplomacy is the “engine room” of international relations. It strives to preserve peace and aims at developing goodwill towards foreign states and peoples with a view to ensuring their cooperation or, failing that, their neutrality. Although, the traditional mode of conducting diplomacy, that is, interactions between representatives of sovereign states remains crucial, in today’s interconnected world, individuals and organizations—not just countries—play a larger role in international affairs.

Benefits

When used properly, digital diplomacy is a persuasive and timely supplement to traditional diplomacy that can help a country advance its foreign policy goals, extend international reach, and influence people who will never set foot in any of the world’s embassies
The advantage of social media provides the opportunity to reach citizens of other countries in near real-time. Social media platforms also provide spaces for interaction, increased engagement, and thus furthering the goals of diplomacy.
Digital technologies can be particularly useful in public diplomacy in the field of information collection and processing, in the field of consular activities, and for communications during emergencies and disasters.
Digital diplomacy does not always require financial investments. On the contrary, it is often aimed at reducing costs

Risks

Ironically though, for policy-makers, instant dissemination of information about events both far and near is proving to be as much a bane as a bounty.” – Richard Solomon, President of the United States Institute of Peace and a former US Foreign Service officer
Information leakage, hacking, and anonymity of Internet users is in rampant
Issues of cyber governance, Internet freedom, and cyber warfare and cyber security
Further division between have’s and have not’s- During a recent virtual meeting of the Warsaw International Mechanism — a U.N. climate initiative — a Sudanese representative was unable to participate because of low bandwidth.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

The first foreign ministry to establish a dedicated ediplomacy unit was the US State Department, which created the Taskforce on eDiplomacy in 2002. This Taskforce has since been renamed the Office of eDiplomacy, which has more than 150 full-time social media employees working across 25 different offices, about half of which are dedicated to ediplomacy-related work.
UK Foreign and Commonwealth office an Office of Digital Diplomacy that is involved in a range of ediplomacy activities.
Sweden has also been active in the promotion of digital diplomacy, especially through the online communication strategy of its foreign minister Carl Bildt (2006-2014) who became “best connected Twitter leader”.
France indicated in 2008 that its soft power relied on digital technologies
Germany turned to ICT platforms to crowd-source opinion and new ideas from the public that fed into its 2014 foreign policy review
Israel has matched its aggressive traditional diplomacy with one of the most active digital diplomacy units in the world, which has worked hard to influence the outcomes of US-Iran nuclear talks
In 2011, Russia overtook Germany as Europe’s largest internet market with over 54 million monthly users and is rapidly growing. Russia is one of the very few countries where the local search engine (Yandex) and social network (VK) beat foreign rivals in free unhindered competition. At a meeting of ambassadors and permanent representatives in June 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin designated digital diplomacy among the most effective foreign policy tools. He urged the diplomats to use more intensively new technologies across multiple platforms, including in the social media, to explain the positions of the state.
A Twiplomacy study, conducted a global survey of the presence and activity of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions on Twitter, which released in April 2015 analyzed 669 government accounts in 166 countries and revealed that 86% of all 193 United Nations (UN) governments have a presence on Twitter, while only 27 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia-Pacific, do not have any Twitter presence.
In Africa, despite the apparent embrace of the new technologies by a large number of Africans, digital diplomacy is not yet catching on. According to an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Report in 2013, Africa was the fastest growing region in terms of mobile broadband. Although, nowadays, more and more African foreign ministries. (MFAs) are embracing the internet and social media and using them as tools for the achievement of foreign policy goals, the percentage of African countries maximizing the potentials of digital diplomacy is negligible. Many African leaders do not have Facebook or Twitter accounts.

INDIA’S Ranking

India has been ranked in the top 10 nations in terms of its digital diplomacy performance by Diplomacy Live, a global research, advocacy, consulting and training platform.
India’s high ranking is despite a relatively modest budget for public diplomacy and is the only other country apart from Mexico to feature in this list
The MEA’s Official Facebook page, with more than 1.2 million followers is second only to that of the US State Department amongst Foreign Ministries (excluding its companion page ‘Indian Diplomacy’ which alone has some 850,000 followers).
MEA is available on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Flickr, Soundcloud and with these combined platforms it has a followership in excess of 4 million and an average monthly reach in excess of 20 million.
The MEA also has a unique Mobile App, which has garnered more than a 150,000 downloads on Android and iOS platforms, and which is now being revamped to accommodate new technologies.

TOOLS

Digital diplomacy is diplomacy equipped with a range of new tools. The main tasks of diplomacy are still to observe, analyse, report and act with the goal of promoting a country’s interests.
It is about using the Internet to meet the goals of diplomacy. But the digital environment offers new ways to communicate and opportunities to express yourself.
This requires a new approach and constant adaptation for everyone who works with diplomacy. Obtaining information, which traditionally takes place via embassies, permanent delegations and temporarily posted diplomats, can now be helped along by digital information sources, such as social networks, microblogs and search engines.
Digital channels can also be used to inform governments, international organisations and others of a country’s position on a certain issue.

Digital Diplomacy during COVID-19

Offering consular assistance to citizens stranded abroad.
Acquiring much-needed equipment from other nations including ventilating machines and protective gear for doctors.
Fostering international collaborations through which scientists can jointly search for a vaccine to the corona virus.

Challenges during COVID-19

Corneliu Bjola and Ilan Manor of USC Center on Public Diplomacy opined that this is the right time for nations to focus on building national image. They gave example of China and South Korea, nations throughout the world had closed their borders, imposed quarantines and sought to secure medical equipment. Citizens are online comparing their nation’s handling of the crisis, to that of other nations. Diplomats can now use social media to document their nations’ successful efforts to contain the corona virus outbreak while upholding their national values.

They added example of China. How they gradually spearheaded their international image amidst this crisis. During December of 2019 newspapers first reported on a deadly virus in China. Reports tended to portray China as failing to curtail a mere “flu.” Next, news articles depicted China as an oppressive state welding peoples’ doors shut. Now China has been heralded as the victor of corona while its doctors are dispatched to Italy and Spain. China has also sent medical gear and equipment to the EU. The fact that the world is emulating Chinese social distancing measures augmented its international image.

Fighting Misinformation

Corneliu Bjola and Ilan Manor said that the corona crisis is also a digital misinformation crisis. Conspiracy theories, lies and falsehood are shared digitally within and between nations. Some of the social media platforms have launched their own information centres to educate the public about the crisis or to contain disinformation, but their effectiveness remains uncertain especially when disinformation is spread by influential media or political actors.

Diplomats must dedicate digital resources to tracking and neutralizing fake social media accounts thus limiting the spread of such theories. Fighting disinformation is crucial as conspiracy theories erode trust in government, reduce faith in legitimate media and breed suspicion and fear of other nations. They are thus the very undoing of diplomacy.

THE ROAD AHEAD

The pandemic has rigorously tested MFAs’ ability to tender timely and valuable consular assistance, to defend the national image of their countries as the crisis soared, and to counter the digital disinformation spread by an fretful public or by tactically minded actors. At the same time, it has showcased the call for MFAs, once the crisis is over, to sketch the accurate module, prepare themselves to reflect digitally “out of the box” and set off upgrading their digital knowledge, tools and strategies so that they will be better equipped to face the new global challenges, which may come sooner than expected.

Reference: ‘Digitising Diplomacy: Is it here to stay?’ An interactive JAIR webinar session with Rushali Saha on April 18, 2020