Help Our Country Strengthen Its Core By Contributing To Covid Relief Programs

By Author: Neha Naayar
Total Articles: 1
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After World War II, the novel Coronavirus pandemic is the biggest threat to the entire world in all respects affecting livelihoods, lives, and economy. This virus has changed the very fabric of all lives, in the way we interact, the way we do work, and reshaped economies and societies. While everyone is adversely affected, it is the poor who have been hit majorly by the effects of this pandemic.

While health and medical officials are struggling to contain the virus and save lives, it is getting increasingly difficult for the neediest ones to sustain themselves in the face of COVID-19. Let us understand how coronavirus has heavily impacted the poor sector in India and why it is essential for all of us to become part of various COVID relief programs run by different NGOs.

How COVID-19 has Resulted in Increased Poverty

From April 2020, one-third of the global population has experienced restricted movement in many ways. The coronaviruses' wide range of impact has revealed that the world is extremely interconnected. The more vulnerable groups due to the difference in socioeconomic structure have been hit majorly ...
... with their means of livelihoods diminishing massively. At an all-India level, approximately 150 to 199 million people have become poorer due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.

The Indian economy shrunk by 7.3 percent in 2020 which is the greatest contraction since India’s independence.

There has been a net loss of 7 million jobs in one year i.e. from February 2020 to February 2021.

On average there has been a twelve percent loss in household incomes where the middle class and poor have been affected more harshly and the loss percent is higher than the average.

With the second wave at the start of 2021, loss of life and livelihood got even more severely affected.

The overall increase in poverty level is between 15 to 20 percent which brings around half of the country’s population below the poverty line.

In the rural area, before COVID-19, around 35% of people (265 million people) were poor but the number rose to 50 to 56 percent making the headcount between 381 to 418 million people.

In urban India, approximately 36 to 46 million additional people have gone under the poverty threshold.

In rural areas, the occupations which have taken the most severe blows are self-employed agriculture, casual laborers, and non agriculture.

As the number of poor rises in the country, it will lead to demand shocks in the country's economy which will further result in contractions in our GDP growth.

Statistics Show Immense Effect of Coronavirus Pandemic on Rural India

With a slowdown in the economy in the urban areas, the ripple effect has been huge in rural India. A significant portion of income in rural areas comes from daily wages and migration. With massive layouts and scarce relief measures, villagers are being pushed to return to their villages. This also increases the risk of the spread of the virus.
There is a decreasing demand for broiler chicken in Jharkhand which has affected the poultry farmers badly. The rate per kg of chicken has gone as low as 20 INR per kg where the regular price used to be 90 INR per kg.
In some regions of Tamil Nadu, rotten vegetables can be seen due to a partial breakdown of the transport system.
Rural haats of West Bengal, Odisha, Charrisgarh, and mandis in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are being closed down which has made it difficult for smallholder farmers of these regions to sell their produce.

Protective Measures To Safeguard the Poor Must be Encouraged

Civil society and the government need to take measures to stop massive economic fallout due to this pandemic. Several NGOs are also working towards Covid relief programs in the following ways:

Food aid - Supplying ration and food baskets for 50 days to support vulnerable and poor families to cater to their nutritional needs.
Mass awareness campaign - Raising awareness amongst rural people on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus that includes tackling myths and stigma about the virus.

Protecting COVID warriors - NGOs are supporting doctors, frontline health workers, nurses, police personnel, sanitation, and other workers by providing them PPE (personal protection equipment) to ensure they can safely continue delivering their services to COVID patients.

Oxygen concentration and medicines to poor COVID patients - By providing high-flow oxygen concentrator machines, NGOs are supporting medical facilities in giving adequate support to those patients who need supplemental oxygen.

Setting up COVD care centers - Some NGOs are also setting up temporary COVID care centers where the poor can easily access nutrition, care, and treatment.

Donate in COVD relief Programs to Stabilize Our Nation

When we thought that COVID was about to end, the second wave hit us badly, and now the third one. In such a continuous pandemic situation, all of us need to rise up to the occasion and contribute in whatever way we can. By helping Tech Mahindra’s COVID relief program you will be supporting millions of poor in providing them dry ration, cooked meals, PPE kits, masks, basic life support ambulances, and much more. Tech Mahindra is relentlessly working towards supporting those who are most susceptible to this virus and its effects such as elderly people, migrant workers, daily wagers, sanitation workers, people with disabilities, and many others.