Group Discussion Topics

1- Women make better managers agree or disagree?

Points in favour – Women are better managers than men:

 Women are more patient and composed while making decisions. It’s because of

the way women are raised.
 Be at homes or offices, women manage their work flawlessly. Hence they are
good at multitasking.
 Women are more flexible and can adapt to any situation or adversity. It’s
because they are taught from childhood to adjust to the situations.
 They are good time managers. As most of the women today manage work and
home, they can prioritize their time well.
 Due to the way they are raised in general, women are better listeners and give
importance to minute details too at work.
 In general, they’ve coherent minds, are punctual and are dedicated to their work.
These inbuilt qualities do make them better managers than men.

Against – Women are not better managers than men:

 Most of the women are emotional and soft-hearted. That’ll not be suitable at all

times, especially for the role of a manager. many time, the position demands
them to be tough.
 Women tend to take calculated risks. At times business persons need to choose
risky paths.
 As many women are emotional, they tend to take things personally, which can
result in biased decisions.

Conclusion:

The differences between women and men managers exist because of society’s way
of raising men and women. Women were encouraged to be empathetic, kind etc. Men
were taught to be harsh and demanding. Now the situations are changing. Both boy
and girl children are being raised equally. Hence with time, the differences between
men and women in any field will not exist.

2- Social media is a boon or a bane for the society?

Background :-

 Facebook, Twitter are the examples of social networking sites (SNS).

 Social networking was started on the internet in the form of generalized
online communities to group the people having same interests and to
share their ideas.
 As of 2016, 45% of the world’s internet users are on social networking
sites.
  Now, there are lots of social networking sites for specific interests.

Positive Side :-

 We can keep in touch with friends in today’s busy world.

 We can improve ourselves by sharing our ideas, information and
knowledge with those, who have same interests, even if they are so many
miles away from us.
 Teachers and professors are making groups on SNS to extend classroom
discussion, to post assignments, tests & quizzes and to assist students
with homework.
 Many companies are developing interactive communities that connect
individuals to share business needs & experiences.
 Students are connecting with employers via LinkedIn kind of SNS for
job opportunities and internships.
 We can find our friends easily, if we lost contact.
 Generally social networking sites have a positive atmosphere. For
example, Facebook doesn’t send notification, if someone is removed as a
friend. So there is a least chance for the person to know that.

Negative side:-

 People are increasingly comparing their lives with others that are
projecting their life as perfect. This decreases happiness levels and also
can lead to self-esteem issues.
 Privacy is a big drawback of SNS. Some people are using other person’s
personal information for malicious intentions.
 Addiction is another big drawback of SNS.
 Lot of SNS users are preferring online conversation rather than face-to-
face. It’ll effect communication skills, relationships and even mental
health.
 There is a high risk for children and teenagers from cyber stalking.
 Gossips and rumors spread soon.
 Spending in front of computer for long hours creates many health
problems
 Conclusion:-
 Social networking sites are a boon. It depends on how we use
them, whether to improve ourselves or to degrade. But children and
teenagers must be guided by their guardians because they can easily be
manipulated and affected by cyber threats.
 We should not disclose too much personal information because its risky.
Life will be great, if we spend less time on social networking sites and
more time in the real world.
 3- Your Views on bitcoin/ Cryptocurrency

Every new technology has its own advantages and disadvantages for the world.
At first, I will discuss the advantages of Cryptocurrencies:
I) It is a decentralised system which means it eliminates intermediary people like banks, financial
institutions that charge for transactions and who keeps track of each and every transaction done by
us.
Now let's talk about disadvantages:
I) Lot of people don't have prior knowledge about crypto.
II) It can be used by terrorists for reinforcements.
It will have a future if it is regulated by laws.
Introduction:
Cryptocurrency is the virtual currency that enables us to make money transactions without a
governing body (eg: RBI in India).

Advantages:

1. Helps in better economical development in a country like India.

2. No need of seeking permission from a governing institute to make transactions.
3. Faster money transfer.

Cons;

1. It is not under any governed body so chances are that there might be illegal activities that can
cause us risk.
2. Employment opportunities of the bank sector decreases.
3. Lack of awareness about cryptocurrencies among the public.

What can be done:

1. Educating the public about cryptocurrency.

2. Enhancing technological accessibility so as to practise usage of cryptocurrency.
3. Ensure to have a strong set of rules which prevents fraud activities.

Conclusion.
In a nutshell, chances are that cryptocurrency can be a future revolution. It can become widely
used flexible currency in future by overcoming the few setbacks mentioned above.
 4- Coronavirus Impact on global economy
 The spread of Covid-19 pandemic was ever faster than the world could imagine.
The alarming speed infected millions, carrying the world economies to a
standstill, causing largest of the economic shocks that the world ever saw.
 The recession during this time was deepest across the globe and developing
countries faced irreparable vulnerabilities. The focus shifted to public health
systems and not much of the work of governments could be diverted to growth.
Each country was engaged in countering the impacts that the coronavirus
brought with it.
 But by the end of March 2021, there were no winning economies but there were
only fewer losers in global economies. The world was on a recovery path by the
third quarter of 2020 as the restrictions lifted.
 But, the second wave of virus came to Western Europe earlier than expected
during final quarter of 2020; it hit India hard by the end of first quarter of 2021,
devastating the lives of people from around the country.
 In other parts, the pressures went down due to the vaccine breakthroughs and
better lockdown measures. Although the world is on the way back to normal they
are counting the costs.

Here is an overview of how coronavirus impacted each section of economic

Global Shares Fluctuated

Stock Markets saw very big shifts and affected the value of individual savings accounts. Dow
Jones, and the Nikkei,all saw huge falls while the covid was on rise after March 2020. By the
year 2021 Asian and US stock markets recovered.

Central banks slashed interest rates to make borrowing cheaper, easy and revive the
weakening markets. By the months April and May of 2021 set in, the negative impact of the
outbreak gradually fell to taper off, only with the exception of a few countries like India and
Taiwan. Asian markets were the ones affected the most during one year of pandemic.
Jobs Lost
An innumerable number of people lost jobs or saw income cuts during the pandemic as the
companies struggled to cope up with the downsizing market demands.

 Unemployment rates went up even in financially well countries like America. 

 In the United States, the proportion of people out of work reached 8.9%. This indicated an
end to the job expansion opportunities not just in America, but all over the world.

 Tourism and Hospitality came to a halt suddenly and have not opened up yet.

 New job opportunities are also too low in many developed countries like France, Spain, and
UK, etc.

According to ILO, “there was an extraordinary global employment loss in 2020 of 114
million jobs relative to 2019”.

Countries in Recession
Although IMF predicted global growth of @5.2% in 2021, the only economy that grew was
China, by 2.3%. The last year had harmed the poor and vulnerable to the maximum, and
millions were pushed to poverty. The restrictions triggered a global crisis leading to the
deepest global recession from the times of the Second World War.

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of the countries came under intense
pressure. Millions were left without meals, households were compelled to take harsh
decisions on household spendings, lives and livelihoods were upset. While the virus is here to
stay, effective treatments and vaccinations will facilitate transitions of post-pandemic
economy

Travel and Tourism Industry Crumbled

The travel industry was completely devastated due to pandemic. Business trips, holidays, and
travel decisions were canceled by customers. Tighter restrictions during travel lead to a huge
hit on the number of flights globally, and there is still not much of hope for recovery in this
year. Hospitality also remained shut for a very long period, with millions of jobs lost and
companies going bankrupt. The forecast for 2021 was better, but by this time millions of
dollars were lost. Travel and hospitality will take a long time to return to the normal pre-
pandemic levels.

Retail Footfalls Were Lowest

As the shoppers stayed at home, people preferred shopping online. Online shopping grew
large in numbers. Bit brick and mortar, grocery shops, malls and retail stores did not see
footfalls. Online market grew drastically, and there was a new baseline for e-commerce sales
which will grow beyond expectations from here on.
The high street went in pressure calling for store closures. In near future government will
have to take measures for the reinvention of high street in future. Research suggests that
consumers will not be willing to visit stores any sooner, so companies are anxious about
returning to the store model. Not many of the customers are willing to travel for shopping.

Pharmaceutical Companies among the Winners

Billions of dollars are pledged on Covid-19 vaccine and treatment-related companies. Shares
of some vaccine developing companies like Moderna, Novavax, and AstraZeneca shot up.
The stringent lockdowns of April and May in 2020 lead to a steep 11% slump in drug sales.

Worst was the condition of anti-infectives and other acute segments because the visits to
clinics and out-patient departments of hospitals shrank. In 2021, however, the pharmaceutical
industry was prepared for the production and distribution of important drugs to battle the
second wave of the pandemic.

As 2021 set in this became a winning industry as the vaccine doses were being distributed by
this time and demand for other drugs also increased shooting up the sales.

On a positive note, businesses can use this opportunity to build back. With the paradigm
shifts in consumer expectations, businesses can do much better by tackling global issues.
There is activism as brands are also taking social actions. Businesses now talk about purpose
and responsibility rather than sustainability. This trend is not going to fade away any sooner.

5- How effective virtural learning is?

Theme:

 COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the rise of E-learning. This situation led to

debates on whether e-learning is a good alternative to classroom learning.

Pros of E-learning:

 Due to COVID-19 pandemic, students are not able to attend schools and colleges.
Even in this situation, they didn’t stop learning. This was possible due to the e-
learning option.
 A few girl children and differently-abled children are not attending
schools/colleges due to lack of facilities there. E-learning is a boon for them.
 E-learning gives flexibility. Even if we miss any class, we can listen to it later.
 Students can repeat the lesson many times if they didn’t understand the
concepts.
 Through e-learning, teachers can explain the concepts using animations or other
technologies, so that students can understand the concepts much clearly.

Challenges of E-learning:

 In the classroom, students will not only learn the subject but also interacts with
other students and thereby make friends. Classroom influences the overall
 personality development of students. With e-learning, students will be deprived
of this opportunity.
 As students have to look at screens continuously, it can strain their eyes.
 With e-learning, teachers may not be able to focus on all the students, which will
be possible in the classroom. Teachers may not also understand whether
students could grasp the concept or not.
 The classroom environment is lively in nature, whereas sitting in front of a
computer or smartphone to listen to the classes will be boring.
 Even in this 21st century, some people do not have internet facility. So, e-
learning deepens the inequality between rich and poor.
 E-learning may not create as much  seriousness as classroom learning . So,
students may not be motivated enough to listen to the class.
 Not all parents are technologically educated  to help their children in case of any
issues.
 If the device has other apps such as youtube, students may become distracted.
Several students are already suffering from smartphone addiction. So, parents
may not feel safe to leave the children unsupervised.

Conclusion:

E-learning is super beneficial for students as well as teachers, especially in

this COVID-19 pandemic situation. But it cannot be a sustainable alternative to
classroom learning. It can only be used as a supplement. Moreover, internet
access should be available to all, so that every student can utilize this
opportunity.

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Economy of India

6- Is Social distancing is new normal ?