Warangal: Coronavirus forces people to brace technology

Warangal: With no respite in sight from coronavirus-inflicted misery, apparently it has become necessary for the administration and people to embrace technology. Buttressing the fact that 'necessity precipitates change', the coronavirus lockdown is forcing a radical change in the society with various government institutions depending on technology to dispense the administration.

Confined to four walls in the face of coronavirus scare, people who were hesitant in the past, have started to embrace digital ways of doing everything – from healthcare to education, online meetings while working at home to online education and procuring essentials at doorsteps.

With as many as 15 areas in Warangal city are virtually sealed off, the Urban district administration has started telemedicine service for the denizens. With this, the people can avail of the services of a physician and a psychologist by making a voice call or video call.

The judiciary had already gone online to avoid crowding at courts in view of COVID-19 scare. The District Court has been allowing petitions seeking directions through video conferencing for advocates to deal with urgent matters such as bails and injunctions.

Kakatiya University (KU) is the latest to jump on the bandwagon of using technology. It started online classes to its students using free social networking sites that all video calling. Speaking to The Hans India, KU Registrar Prof K Purushotham said: "Our faculty started online classes to keep the students engaged with their academics until the lockdown was lifted. Especially our focus is on students belonging to semester IV or outgoing batches."

Admitting that it was not mandatory for the students to attend the online classes as all of them have the access to the laptops and smartphones, he said that the initiative is to prepare as many students as possible for the exams.

On the other hand, the police department which already using the technology in crime prevention and detection, has introduced citizen tracking applications to keep a tab on the movement of motorists. The Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation has pressed the services of drones to speed up the spraying of disinfectants in colonies from where a sizable number of people with coronavirus positive hail from. Elsewhere in Eturnagaram town in Mulugu district, the police deployed drone surveillance to monitor the strict implementation of lockdown.

"Although there have been many major technological innovations such as the internet, email, pagers, and smartphones in last three decades or so, it took a while for the common man to embrace the technology. In the face of coronavirus scare, it has become mandatory for the people to make use of technology in their day to day life to get things done," J V S Akhil Yadav, a software professional, said.