Urgent Relief and livelihood support to Affected Families
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown, employment, livelihoods and income of large sections of the people have got severely impacted across the country. With more than 80 percent of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector, the lockdown has hit them the hardest.
Of the sections most affected are the unskilled labour engaged in informal sector activities in the urban and peri-urban areas, such as artisans, daily wage laborers, unorganized construction sector workers, migrant labour, small vendors, internally displaced people, women headed households, physically challenged small producers, small and marginal farmers etc.
With the threat of the pandemic looming large, the living conditions of these sections have considerably worsened, due to lack of mobility and loss of access to essential provisions, safe drinking water and medical assistance. Many of them are facing imminent hunger and destitution.
Manikpur and Bargarh region of Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh have a large proportion of tribal people among their population, making them even more vulnerable. Many people here rely on the weekly haats (market) to buy their daily essentials for home. Adhering to the guidelines of physical distancing, these weekly markets have also faced closures, leading to hardships in sourcing necessary items for daily use.
Most of these villages have ration stores, however due to the lockdown; they are inadequately stocked owing to the disruption in supply. The available products are also poor in quality and there has been a surge in their prices. Due to the sudden halt in economic activities, the farmers do not have enough cash in hand to make transactions to access the day to day utilities. Many were compelled to exchange their agricultural produce at very low prices to buy essentials from the nearby shops.
This report chronicles interventions of ABSSS to provide relief to the families of children associated with Child Fund India Project.