How the Pandemic has affected the Vulnerable Populations
COVID-19 has struck hard and has enveloped the whole world in its vice-like grip. It has brought in its wake adverse consequences for people and societies such as the dislocation of people and the closing of avenues of economic activity. Further, it has brought terms like lockdown, social distancing, and quarantine into the mainstream conversation. In addition to being a public health emergency, the pandemic had its ripple effect spread all across the globe. It triggered arguably the worst global recession the world has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As governments rallied around the world to stop the spread of the contagion by enforcing lockdowns, it was the vulnerable population that bore the brunt. With limited or no social security network to speak of, most of these people started facing uncertain times with only doles from the government or people to sustain them. Let us discuss how COVID-19 induced lockdown and other measures affected the vulnerable populations.
# Lockdown induced job losses: As lockdown was enforced across the world, including the largest one in India, businesses and economic activities came to a virtual standstill. With people not able to visit their place of work, companies couldn’t meet their deliverables and resorted to retrenchment. Since every form of activity related to sectors like real estate, construction, education, retail, hotels and restaurants, airlines, logistics, transportation, warehousing, and others coming to a halt, the people running such organizations or jobs had to close down resulting in massive job losses. The real brunt of the lockdown fell on the migrant workers who had run out of savings and were forced to trudge long distances along with their families in tow. This sorry spectacle had brought massive human suffering to the fore.
# Growing indebtedness: With practically no source of income, the jobless people have been forced to take loans at a high rate of interest to meet various household expenses for food, clothing, education, and healthcare, among others. And in the absence of any livelihood or social security net, they got further sucked into the spiral of indebtedness and penury. There are fears that people belonging to the marginalized and vulnerable sections may fall into slavery, prostitution, and trafficking. And in the absence of any societal assistance, their condition is likely to go from bad to worse.
# Expenses on health and education: The pandemic has disrupted education and increased the expenses on health. The vulnerable population sans any resources found it next to impossible to continue their quest for education and avail an affordable healthcare. Children have been one of the affected vulnerable sections with around 44 to 66 million falling into extreme poverty and most of them ended up bearing the burden of sustaining their families. This situation has taken away from them the opportunity to pursue education.
# Anudip’s role in providing succor: The pandemic has hit more than 40 million migrant workers who are faced with the prospects of hunger, a prolonged spell of unemployment, and indebtedness. To minimize the impact and provide succor to such families, Anudip, the noted non-profit organization, has been raising funds to provide ration and essential supplies to more than 50,000 workers. Anudip is geared to supply 3 months of ration and essential supplies to such families with saturated or nil resources. It is upskilling at least one member of a migrant family through skill development training. The organization is supporting vulnerable communities by giving them access to medical preparedness using digital tools.
Conclusion
The unprecedented humanitarian crisis due to the impact of COVID-19 needs redressal on a war footing. Organizations like Anudip are doing their bit to provide succor to needy families. However, given the immensity of the requirement, people need to come forward and donate generously through trusted and experienced non-profit organizations like Anudip. To know more, dial 8373069592 or send an email to publicrelations@anudip.org.
