Articles by Vindhya Jyoti

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), like other places across the world, was forced to hit pause in late-March 2020 with the onset of COVID-19, putting a complete halt to life as it was. The lockdown caught people off-guard, with no food or income to fall back on for millions of the region’s poorest. With governmental support kicking in only weeks later and still leaving many people outside its ambit, uncertainty was high.  Looking back at those weeks, what stands out is how the city came together to support its own. While the pandemic unleashed a massive humanitarian crisis, it also…

This is the second story in a multi-part series on the pandemic and its impact on people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, YUVA, a non-profit organisation, attempts to understand the challenges they face in accessing relief and assesses the rights-based approach to benefits. When the pandemic magnified insecurities of vulnerable populations, youth groups across the city rose in response, spearheading multiple efforts for timely relief, access to information for communities and more.  “In March 2020, as part of the COVID-19 rapid assessment survey by Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), I visited a family where a woman was feeding…

This is the first story in a multi-part series on the pandemic and its impact on people in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, YUVA, a non-profit organisation, attempts to understand the challenges they face in accessing relief and assesses the rights-based approach to benefits. Savitri Tai is a migrant worker living in the Vashi Naka rehabilitation and resettlement colony. “Our work has stopped, we have no food. The government should either provide us food or let us resume work,” she said. Her vulnerabilities are echoed by almost every informal sector worker, continuing to fight everyday battles not just with the coronavirus…