Even as tragedies stemming from the current wave of Covid-19 pandemic unfold in Indian cities, less visible ones have started emerging in t...
Even as tragedies stemming from the current wave of Covid-19 pandemic unfold in Indian cities, less visible ones have started emerging in the villages. Rural India is no longer just a receptor for returning migrants in the current wave, it is already a site where resources and coping mechanisms have been stretched. Accounts coming in from the field point to the times of distress that will quickly turn into a catastrophe of unimaginable scale, if not addressed immediately.
An unfolding crisis
Unlike the previous exodus, returning migrants are now more likely to be not only carrying the disease with them but also a very different attitude towards it. They are returning after months with limited or no income and diminished nutrition. Having gone back to cities only recently, they are also returning with far fewer economic resources.
Most surveys have documented the relative disadvantage of migrant households being able to access public safety nets either in their origin villages or destination cities. Throw in the lack of basic health facilities and personnel, test results taking a week to come, lack of oxygen, brittle supply chains that all rural residents face and one can sense the storm, even from a distance.
Civil society organisations working in rural India...
