Loss of income and livelihood are among the top concerns for rural communities struggling to cope with the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, according to a new study conducted across 10 states.
The study conducted by the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) and IIMPACT, an NGO, is based on a survey conducted in over 4800 households in over 900 villages in Rajasthan, Haryana, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Jharkhand.
According to the study titled ''Emerging Challenges in the post-COVID context'', the loss of income and livelihoods, availability of food and drinking water, and impact on children's education have emerged as the top immediate concerns of communities in Rural India during the pandemic and lockdown phase of 2020.
''While only 17 percent could retain their job or primary source of income during the lockdown, 96 percent of households surveyed have not been able to build resilience for sustenance beyond 4 months. At least 15 percent of the households identified reverse migration as one of the key issues that are likely to disrupt the socio-economic fabric,'' the study said.
''Out of every 10 households, four households were unable to sustain themselves even for a month without external support and almost every 3rd graduate from the rural communities in these states worked as domestic help, daily wage labor/migrant labor,'' it added.
The study has recommended policy instruments be designed that address challenges associated with increased informalisation and precarity of jobs across skill categories in rural India while pressing for the need to revisit the universal employment guarantee scheme to account for variable skill levels and capabilities of the rural population given the current context of education and skill development initiatives.
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