Economy

Apprehension grips the agricultural heartland of Punjab as the new Rabi crop waits to be harvested. Labour shortage in the farms due to the coronavirus lockdown is, of course, a major worry. Farmers are clueless on what is in store for them, once harvest begins on April 15th, the date fixed by the state government. “I have not faced conditions of this nature in my entire life, nothing is sure anymore,” said Jagseer Sandhwan, a farmer owning 15 acres of land in Sandhwan village of Faridkot district. The government has set a procurement price of Rs 1925 per quintal for…

Baisakhi, the harvest festival, falls on April 13th. Fields across the country have turned a glossy gold with the Rabi crop—largely wheat, mustard, chana and barley, to be harvested in Punjab, Haryana and UP where it will begin during April 15-20. Only this time, machines, not men, the traditional backbone of Indian agriculture, will handle the harvest. As their vegetables lie unpicked and abandoned, farmers are worried how they will harvest the wheat, who will fill the jute bags with grains and load them on to the tractor trolleys, and who will unload them at the mandis, and above all, who will…

We have lived through a lockdown for over 15 days now. While a lot of us are concerned about not being able to order food online, R Nambiyar* (57) is worried about the fast emptying containers on his shelf of supplies. Another week, and the shelf is likely to be wiped clean and he has no money even to buy rice and dal. Nambiyar is one of the economic victims of COVID-19, as the pandemic has left him jobless. Uncertainty over food and income in the city led him to quit and go back to his hometown Edamelaiyur, a village…

The coronavirus outbreak has hit Himachal Pradesh with a triple whammy. With the state having closed its borders before the national lockdown, the tourism industry, on which lakhs of livelihoods depend, was completely shut down. While initially just three positive cases were reported, with one death, and a manageable number of foreign returnees requiring surveillance and tracing, the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi has caused a sudden increase in the number of positive cases even as health authorities scramble to trace primary and secondary contacts of those who had visited Delhi. The third whammy is the potential catastrophic disruption of…

As the coronavirus outbreak shows no signs of abating any time soon, the economy of every nation, first world and third world, is in virtual free fall. For India too, COVID-19 is not only a public health challenge, but also an economic challenge that needs to be tackled on a war footing by the Central and state governments. Restricted cargo movement, weak supply chains, lack of liquidity in the markets, heavy cross-border movement by migrant workers and many other factors have added to the pressure on the economy. With relief packages aimed at the middle class and the poor being…

Chitra*, a senior worker at the garment manufacturing company ­­­­­­­­­­­­Shahi Exports, is uncertain about her future. Chitra’s line manager has told her that she would not get her wages until the lockdown ends. Ever since garment factories as well as leading fashion retailers downed their shutters, Chitra has become one among the over four lakh garment factory workers in Bengaluru who may lose their wages. Given the possibility that the lockdown may be extended, the workers are more vulnerable. For the month of March, Chitra did get her full wages of Rs 10,500 in her bank account; but many factory…

With close to 2000 active COVID-19 cases reported across the country, India is under a total lockdown for 21 days that started March 24th. Prime Minister Narendra Modi strictly called upon citizens to stay at home to contain the spread of the novel virus through social contact. Maharashtra, with one of the highest reported positive cases, has imposed Section 144 in order to fight the virus, banning the gathering of five or more people and closing down everything with only the exception of essential services. However, the testing rates remain worrying in India with only around 21 people tested per…

With close to 2000 active COVID-19 cases reported across the country, India is under a total lockdown for 21 days that started March 24th. Prime Minister Narendra Modi strictly called upon citizens to stay at home to contain the spread of the novel virus through social contact. Maharashtra, with one of the highest reported positive cases, has imposed Section 144 in order to fight the virus, banning the gathering of five or more people and closing down everything with only the exception of essential services. However, the testing rates remain worrying in India with only around 21 people tested per…

Siddhakka, a street food vendor aged around 70, has been working in the Peenya Industrial area for 14 years. She had come to Bengaluru due to drought and agricultural distress in her home village. Her daughter, who was deserted by her husband, had no means to earn as she lacked proper education. She has been entirely dependent on Siddakka, and lives and works with her. Food vending is the only livelihood for this mother-daughter household. The current 21-day nationwide lockdown has made people like Siddakka, who already live on the margins, more vulnerable. A telephonic survey of informal sector workers,…

On an endless stretch of National Highway 58 (NH-58), a batch of over 200 migrant workers, arriving all the way from Ahmedabad are intercepted at the Rajasthan borders. The officials manning the borders, who are short-stocked on testing kits or thermal screening devices are insistent that the ‘returnees’ produce ‘Health Certificates’. The repeated claims of the migrants, including women and elderly, that they are natives of the state are insufficient to secure them safe passage back to their homes in South Rajasthan. Since the nation-wide lock down on March 24th, the reverse-migration of semi-skilled and unskilled workers ‘on foot’ --…