NEWS

The impact of the pandemic on livelihood has persisted far beyond the lockdowns , found a survey by the Azim Premji University, in collaboration with nine civil society organisations

WHAT IS IN THE REPORT

• Without greater support, factors such as the long period of depressed earnings, lower food intake and debt/sale of assets will continue to hamper the ability of households to recover from the pandemic
• Survey covered 2,841 households in settlements in 33 wards across eight zones in Bengaluru
• Workers in a wide range of occupations such as drivers (cab, auto, and others), daily-wage earners (construction and others), domestic workers, and factory workers (garment and others) were surveyed
• 41% of workers surveyed had no work and another 21% had reduced earnings even in January and February 2021. By October 2021, 11% had still not recovered from job loss and women were impacted more
• In January and February 2021, earnings remained 10% below pre-COVID-19 levels. The report also said that 40% reported lower food intake during COVID-19.
• Relief measures have had a mixed record of reaching the urban poor. While the public distribution system (PDS) had the widest reach, cash transfers fell well short of what is needed
• 55% households with BPL cards had received more than regular quantity of grains since the second lockdown, while another 32% got additional grains for at least a few months
• The percentage of households getting supplementary nutrition or alternatives from anganwadis and ICDS during COVID-19 (conditional to families with a child below 6 years and those with pregnant/ lactating mothers) went up to 38% from 24% (pre-COVID-19)
• In addition to continued extra rations from the PDS, more cash transfers, as well as the implementation of an urban employment guarantee programme, are urgently needed