India News

By Robin Gomes for Vatican News

June 13 : “80 percent of the small and marginal farmers said that their income is reduced after Covid-19 outbreak,” says research conducted by Caritas India in 18 different states of the country.

In an online meeting on 6 June 2020, Caritas India shared the results of its two studies on internal migrants and small and marginal farmers during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The meeting was attended by Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, the President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the Presidents of the Regional Bishops’ Councils, and Forum Directors across India.

The pandemic lockdown has created an unprecedented situation, which has impacted every section of society, with migrants and small farming communities paying a heavy price.

The loss of livelihood was very tangible not only in urban areas but also in rural areas during the lockdown, with serious implications on people's lives.

Migrants’ livelihood

The Caritas India study showed that as much as 95.2 percent of migrants surveyed lost the means of their livelihood. Around 10.6 percent have lost a family member in the pandemic.

When the Indian government ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 24 to prevent the spread of Covid-19, millions of daily wage earners, many of them migrants, were suddenly caught off-guard without any livelihood, food and shelter.

States such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are the main sources of migrants who are mostly employed in construction, factories, domestic work, textiles, brick kilns, transportation and agriculture.

Caritas India presented the rapid research on distressed migrants to gauge the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on the livelihood of the migrant community. The study focused on basic needs, livelihood, the rights and entitlements, discrimination and exploitation of migrants.

The study was conducted in the 10 most impacted states of India - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam.

Figures show that 28.7 percent of migrants do not want to return to the cities. 32.1 percent expressed willingness to return when the situation is back to normal, while other 31.3 percent are undecided.

The education of migrant children has also been hit hard, with around 46.4 percent forced to discontinue their studies.

Under the government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), only a meagre 6 percent could find employment, whereas 37.8 percent were disqualified because of the lack of job cards.

Source : Vatican News