 Ah, global connections here on a given Monday afternoon. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Think Tech. And we're doing global connections today with Kartiki Mishra, who joins us from Varanasi, India. Hi, Kartiki. It's been a long time. Yeah, Jay, it's been a long time since I did the last video in June, 2019. So it's first in 2020. Okay, well, it's nine months anyway. Nice to see your smile and face. So I want to catch up with you. Let's see, last time I looked, you were in business school in Varanasi. Can you talk about your academic career? Yeah, I was pursuing my VBA. I completed that. And now I'm pursuing my MBA from the very same institute in Varanasi. And so what are you specializing in? What is it that interests you? What are your courses like? I think I would like to specialize in finance if it's possible. It's in next year. It's not in the first year. So specialization will be in next year. So I will be taking finance in that. Okay, and you had some construction going on on your house, on your apartment, back the last time we spoke or two. Is that finished now? Yes, yes, that's finished. You're still living in the same place? Yeah, yeah. You know, there was a thing on television here about water in India. And it described a particular apartment house and I thought of you. It was a nice looking apartment house except they had no water. And so the owners of the building had to ship in the water in tanker trucks in order to supply their tenants with water on an everyday basis. Do you have that problem in Varanasi? I think we don't have that problem in Varanasi but in few particular areas of India, we do have that problem. In Maharashtra and in few other areas there is this issue of water crisis and we are trying to manage it. Yeah, well, you know, this is the 21st century. Welcome to the 21st century where water becomes more important, more dear, more expensive, more hard to find. And I think we see the future unfolding in India where water is hard to find. Well, you know, he left the United States for that trip with Prime Minister Modi just as the coronavirus epidemic was breaking in this country and it had wrecked havoc already in China. And people were saying, why is he doing this? Why is he leaving the helm of the ship when he has a crisis on his hands in the United States? And it was not clear that there was a significant benefit for going to India at that time. What are the people in India think about the benefits that Trump or Modi enjoyed by reason of that meeting? Yeah, basically, if I would like to say that it's more a style of diplomacy rather than it's more on focused on showing that United States and India are good friends. And this is the emphasis of that particular visit. Donald Trump, when arrived in India, he was very well received by the Indian people. The Modi government gave him a very grand welcome. So it was not just about Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi, it's more about United States and India and the relationship which we have. So that was something which we were celebrating. And it was a 36 hours visit, quite a small one in terms of relation. So it was a successful one, at least from my point of view. You know, there were disturbances, protests, street scene demonstrations at the time that Trump was in India. Can you tell me what all of that was about? Was that about the contention between Muslims and Hindus or something else? Look, government rolled out a build called NRC, it's particularly Citizenship Amendment Act, which stated that people from different minorities, countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will get a citizenship in India. And the only community which was not allowed to get a citizenship through this act was the Muslim community. So this was one reason that people are protesting against the CAA. And the other thing is NRC, which is called National Registration for the Citizenship. People are laying a directive without the illegal immigrants. So people are afraid. Basically the minorities are afraid that government might use a pool of Muslims. I think misconception is there between people. And that led to a protest in Delhi and that was going on. And that protest led to some riots in Delhi in during that duration. Yeah, and the other thing that has come up in recent weeks has been the problem in Kashmir where the Indian government has essentially shut Kashmir down, separated it from the internet and other barriers in Kashmir. What's that all about? And how do the Indian people feel about that? Sure, Kashmir issue is a very difficult issue for India since 1947. Kashmir was an independent country which joined India through an article of accession to the Indian Union seven back then. After that, we have some issues with parking regarding Kashmir. The stunt claims Kashmir and India claims Kashmir. It's a similar situation like Palestine and Israel if you know. So that's a kind of conflict which we are having. Kashmir being a special state in India, it was a granted, we have granted that state particular privileges which was under article 370 and 35A. And this article was revoked by the Modi government and it was on their manifesto since beginning that they said that whenever they will come to power they will revoke this particular article. So they revoked that and took prevent riots and protests in that particular Kashmir area which can become violent and difficult for government to handle. They put some restrictions on Kashmir but it's not like that. They are violating that particular human rights. Sometimes people say that human rights are being violated. So I don't say because terrorism was also taking place in Kashmir. So if we remove that article 370 and merge it with India in complete way, I think we will develop Kashmir and that's the point of the government. Many laws which were not applicable in Kashmir back then when that law was existing will now be implemented in Kashmir. So I can say that revocation of article 370 was a good step and it should be appreciated. Ah, okay. I guess in most issues you're gonna agree with Premier Modi then, huh? Look, Prime Minister Modi is from my constituency, my city only. He's member of parliament from my very same city of Varanasi. So I support it. Okay, speaking of Varanasi, I mean this sort of leads to the next question I have for you. There was a piece on television recently and we all know about the Ganges and Varanasi and people praying near the river and bathing in the river and all that. And one of the issues raised, which I suppose is not a new issue, is that that may not be all that healthy to do that. And I wonder if there's any steps being taken to clean the river, to clean the pollution, to avoid bathing in a river that could make you sick. And I guess part of that is I wanna know if you go to the river and you bathe over there. And the government is trying to do that. It's not since Modi government, it's back in 1980s from the time of Rajiv Gandhi. Till now, many governments are trying to curb that pollution in the Ganges River or the Ganga River. So you don't go down there regularly in Bay than the river then? No, I don't get the chance. Okay, and you wouldn't recommend that I come to Varanasi in Bay than the river, I guess. I don't recommend it, you can do that. Many people are doing that. No one is getting sick, you can do that. But I would like, I would be glad if you visit Varanasi, it's a very ancient city. And you will get a chance to see a lot of old things. Yes, I know. And you told me before that you will stay in Varanasi, right? That's your inclination to remain there after school when you take your MBA and get a job and make a career in Varanasi, yeah. That's great. Yeah, if that's possible, I will do that. I wanna turn to global health for a minute. We are suffering. This country is locked up in the coronavirus pandemic and so is Europe and there are cases in Africa, there are cases in South America. I'm afraid I don't know the status of the pandemic in India, can you tell me? Yeah, I think as for now 124 people are infected and there was a casualty of two. And the government is trying to take steps how to stop it, how to curb it. And visas on arrival and foreign travel is suspended April 15th from the side of government, it is issued. Other schools and colleges and public gatherings have been closed down till 31st March that no schools and colleges would be open, no gyms would be open, no public gatherings would be done. And government is trying to take steps how to stop that virus because it's spreading day by day. Each two or three cases come up every day. So government is trying to stop that. Are people dying? Yeah, two casualties till now. And how about you, have you changed your life about it? No, I think in Varanasi, there is a lockdown of colleges. So I'm staying at home currently. So as for now, it's not affecting, but if this carries on for long, it may affect education, it may affect businesses, it may affect tourism and various other sectors. The Corona virus will not only affect the health, it will affect the economy as a whole. We can see a recession if this continues in 2020. Yeah, well, are you washing your hands every day? Are you providing social distance, six feet or more to the people you meet? Are you worried? Yes, I'm worried and I'm washing hands. We have sanitizers and everything. We are taking proper measures, medical masks are there. And I'm avoiding that for public gatherings. So I'm taking my measures. It's not yet in Varanasi, no one is reported yet to be affected by Corona virus in Varanasi city. Is there testing going on as there is in other countries? Are test kits available? Are people being tested for the virus? Yeah, people are being tested. The people who arrive on airport or on any major seat boards are being tested. And people who are traveling basically on airports or any particular area from one place to another district, people are being tested. And government is trying to get as many as people possible to know what's the situation of this Corona virus in India. But as for now, 124 are there. And I think this count can increase in future. And Prime Minister Modi held a video conference recently, yesterday or day before yesterday on this Corona virus with eight neighboring countries, which we have, that how to tackle this issue. Are you closing borders? Yeah, we have closed the borders. So for example, the border with China is closed. Border with China is closed? You know, I'm impressed, even startled by your answer, it confirms to me that we really do have a global epidemic that India is so far away from the US and from Europe and Africa and South America. And you are going through the same process that we are. Day by day, event by event, advance by advance in the cases by cases, that's very, very interesting. But let me ask you something you referred to a minute ago, and this is really important for you as a business student. You mentioned that the economy of India will be affected. Is it affected now? Is there a slowdown now? Is there fewer transactions of goods and services happening in India and Varanasi right now? As for now, things are quite normal because the situation is under control. But if this thing takes place on a huge scale, if something like that happens, so then it will drastically affect, as for manufacturing in other sectors, the few sectors are being affected. That's not due to the coronavirus, that's due to the slow recessions which we are having. The GDP growth rate is now low. That's not due to coronavirus, it's due to previous steps and the slowdown in the global economy as well. The stock, there is a bloodbath in the stock market. It's drastically affected. You can see that stock markets are crashing in India. 2,000 points and 3,000 points and the government is trying to stop that crash of stock market. It is an economic impact on India. If not, control will lead to further implications. Well, it's a great concern. It's a great concern here for sure. Gather from what you say, it's a great concern in India as well and that means it's a great concern around the world. So I have a question I would like to put to you as a business student. A master's, a graduate business student, if you will. Let's assume that from a medicine and health point of view, from a contagion point of view, from a new cases point of view, this all slows down say in September, in the fall. Okay, and by that time, there will be substantial damage to the economy of the United States, the economy of Europe, Asia, Africa, maybe India too. Maybe India is right along with all the others. How long will it take? What will have to happen for the global economy to recover? What are the steps? What are the increments? What are the demarcations of a recovery? Demarcations of a recovery. Look, as for if thing goes back till September and we see a fall in consumer consumption of goods manufacturing and other sectors, one thing which is possible, which I can say that rather than focusing on global trade, what countries can do is focus on the internal trade between states, state to state. This will help the economy to sustain for a bit longer time, because population will be there, demand will be there, and few things which we can produce can, will be marketed. I think medicines and other issues, I think medical companies will benefit from this coronavirus, it's a very used possibility. And as for India, I can say that if this coronavirus continues in China, so it's unfortunate for them, but it's an opportunity for India that as manufacturing industries are being shut down in China, India can use this as an opportunity to shift that industries from China to India, because the cases are less, the threat is less, if it is controlled properly, we can have, I think, a growth by 2021, because I'm not seeing, and it's not possible that we can solve this issue in 2020. It's very big to solve it in a very small period of time. And as for vaccine, there is no such vaccine for coronavirus. The only thing is that we can take precautions. You talked about opportunities, and one of the things that struck me today is that people in this country are all staying home, different periods, different terms and conditions, but pretty much everybody's staying home, they're not going to work very much and they're trying to work from home or maybe not work from home, but what they are doing at home is they're on the internet, and you get two effects from that. One is you get a lot of demand on internet resources and maybe that's slowing things down, but the other thing is they are buying goods and services, especially goods, even food, medicines, what have you on the internet, they're buying them through Amazon. And so if I had to guess, I would guess that Amazon is doing well and it's probably a stock to watch, but I'm wondering if there is an Amazon in India, whether people are relying more on it than before and whether the same phenomenon exists in India? Yeah, Amazon is one of the functioning in India and there are some there are some in India. But the problem is that more or less even if we talk about online buying, it is of course not manufacturing but it's focused on industry, it's a very simple thing. It takes the goods from manufacturing and the diversity to the consumer. If manufacturing is really not able to produce goods and it is probably Amazon will send that to consumers if this thing takes place relating. So Amazon as for now is doing great but if this thing continues, even the manufacturers will face problem and Amazon will always problem because whatever things we buy online is produced somewhere in some part of the country in some part of the world. So if coronavirus is there, it will affect the global supply chain of commodity and goods. As for now it looks good, but if manufacturers are affected, if suppliers are affected, Amazon will also fail. How about food, Gaurdaki? Food supplies are there. In India, at least it's not a major issue yet but food supplies are there. Government has stopped the exports of few particular medicines. Food supplies are there, stocks are there. Government is prepared for everything. And as for global thing, I see that it should not grow. Coronavirus will affect if things go out of control but for now things are okay. Well, that's good to hear. I hope that's what happens in the US but it's not clear. The other, the last thing I wanted to ask you about is this, it was reported yesterday that the Trump administration approached a firm a biomedical firm in Germany called CURVAC, C-U-R-E-V-A-C, which ostensibly has candidates for trials for vaccines right now at the very early part of the pandemic. And the Trump administration allegedly tried to buy exclusive rights to the intellectual property of this CURVAC firm, which that was made public and a lot of people in the German government were very unhappy with it. And the deal, I don't think the deal is gonna happen. I don't think the United States should have or could have or would have been able to buy exclusive rights to a vaccine when the vaccine is so important around the world to every single country you can think about. In any event, I know that India has a lot of smart people who are skilled in biomedicine, a lot of smart people who could work on do research and development of a vaccine or some sort of viral medicine to deal with them, you know, the onset of the virus and also to vaccinate people and accolade them against the virus going forward. This is most important thing in the world right now for sure. And we know that there's been research in Europe. We know there's been research in China for sure. I'm not sure the level of research here in the United States, I think people are more focused here on medical treatment than development of vaccines. But I'm wondering about India. India has the capability to participate in this global collaboration to try to develop medicines and vaccines for a coronavirus. What have you heard about that? Yeah, the people in India are trying to develop a vaccine. It's on early stages and it's possible that we will develop a vaccine or it's possible that we may develop a vaccine in a year or so. It's on the very early stages, government is trying to research on this coronavirus firstly, then only we will move to the part of vaccination. And as for you said that intellectual property rights on such vaccines, it's not possible that one nation should hold with so much power on a particular vaccine which is a life-saving drug for so many people. I think that vaccine should lie with WHO and all the handling of that particular vaccine of cure-vac you were talking about should be on the side of the WHO that does the global needs rather than focusing on the benefit of a particular nation. Yeah, oh God bless, I hope that happens. But that does take me to one more thing I wanna ask you about. I know you follow American politics. You follow Trump and how people in India feel about him. And I wonder how closely you follow the American candidates and debates now between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. And I wonder how you feel and the people in your community feel about the presidential election who is leading and who should win and why? I think one thing which I noticed when Trump was in India and there was a channel of White House on YouTube and there is a channel of many Fox News and other channels on US media was working on that. So one thing which I noticed in the comment section was that most of the people were Republicans and who were commenting in the favor of Trump. They were saying that Democrats will not show this side of President Trump in United States. So this is one thing which I observed as on online media that Trump is having support in United States. It may not be visible but online it's not visible. Well, that's just all the more reason why I have to come and visit you in very Nazi. I have to talk to you about these things. I have to tell you about what my community thinks and who we are supporting and why. We'll see. We'll know a lot more in the next few months about how this is all unfolding. But I sure would like to have some time with you, Carnegie offline so I can tell you my thoughts about it. Thank you very much, Carnegie. I'm so glad we got back together again. Let's do it again soon. Things are moving faster these days and thus it's more important that you and I talk more often. Aloha and namaste.