Society, Culture, Religion and History

Through no fault of their own, migrants were forced to leave the cities after the government imposed a Covid-19 induced national lockdown in late March. After losing their work, fearing they would run out of cash and food they trudged back along with their families to the villages in search of humanity, food, and a place to live.

Uttarakhand’s rural areas are marked by massive outflux of people and it is believed that rural migration may alter the state’s political geography.

As per the findings of an NREGA tracker launched by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) the lockdown saw a record spike in jobs under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the challenges to the youth as regards employment opportunities. The policy steps taken by the government have led to a slowdown in economic activities, leading to loss of jobs and mass unemployment.

Akbarbhai (35), a Maldhari (semi-nomadic cattle herder) is struggling to survive as the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus has hit demand of dairy products badly and led to prices crashing in Bhuj. He lives in Gandhinagari, an informal settlement in Bhuj that is home to around 30 cattle herders. His joint family of 15 members includes his two brothers and three sisters.

Uncertainty - the pervasive feeling that all of us have been living with from the middle of March 2020. It's the same in our partner villages in Odisha and Jharkhand. Communities we work with have been facing and overcoming uncertainties all through their lives. But this time, the crisis has put unusual stress on their abilities to cope.

It is an annual episode that plays itself out. Assam is, once again, reeling under flood – loss of human and animal life, severe damage to agricultural crops, property, millions of people displaced from their homes, absence of flood preparedness or early warning systems, delayed relief action by the government and the silent apathy of the mainstream media.

When the first positive case of Covid-19 was reported from Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, known for its narrow lanes and compact housing, a sense of panic gripped the nation. And the fear and panic were not unreasonable given the extraordinary characteristics of this slum.

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.

Bihar’s annual floods are right around the corner and there is a fear that the flood hazard will collide with the Covid-19 pandemic and amplify it in a manner that emergency responses to both will get disrupted. The state’s strategy to mitigate the effects of flooding needs to be updated in light of the deadly pandemic.