COVID-19 Induced Lockdown How is the Hinterland Coping? A study by - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

COVID-19 Induced Lockdown – How is the Hinterland Coping? A study by a group of socially concerned citizens to understand the impact of COVID19 lockdown on rural households. Based on Crowdsourced Data

Crowdsourcing data and translating questionnaire – Contributors Mathi Rathnam Abdul Ahad Falahi Dharmendra Chandurkar Pradeep Siby Munnar Sini Rakesh Ahmad Kabeer Dou Simte Megha Rao Pradnya Dhote Amal Roy Emlon Tirkey Mahboob Pranadh P Smitha Maria Thomas Evita Das Amit Tandon Mithun Louis Prathibha Ganesan Sowmya B Amrit Kaur Geetha K Wilson Mizanur Rahman Pratiksha Khanduri Sreejith Mohammad Abdul Ananthalakshmi CS Gopal Krishnan Raghu M Sridhar A Mohon Satra Rahul K Jose Annu Anna Kuruvila Gururaja Rao V Sriram A Herison Fernandez Rahul Puthenveedan Anoop Sivan Mrityunjay Basak Sumagna Bhowmik Aparna Unni Jay Dongare Mundhir Mambra Rajaneesh P Sumeetha Ayyappan Raja Rajeswari K Arai Verahu Therie Jeffrey Immanuel Nachi Sushma Prabhu Aravindhan Nagarajan Jiju Puthenveetil Narayani CS Rakesh PC Tarika Narula Arun Murali Ranjini Basu Jisna Jose Kaippinkil Navneet Anand Vaishali Kashyap Rohan D. Chavan Ashlesha G KA Shaji Neelam Rana Fernandez Vandana Singh Nevin Thomas Rose Scaria Benoy Mazumdar Kapil Agarwal Vasantha Rao Bhavya Thrissiva Nidhi Bansal Rutuja Sabane Karthikeyan R Veena Maruthoor Sampat Kale Bindu Kori Rao Kavi Kumar Nilabh Kumar Venkatesh B Nimmy Rose Joseph Samrat Kasbe Bornali Borah Krishna Priya Venkiteswaran C.S Sanju Soman Charmaine Lakshmi Narasimha Kumar Nipin P Vidur Shresth Satyanand Mukund Chichuan Naik Lakshmi Vinukonda Nirmalya Choudhury Vijayendra Kadlabal Christie Maria James Nithin Chavan Sayanti Sengupta Lekshmi M Vineetha Venugopal Deachen Spalzes Madhuri Mondal P.V. Venugopal Sharon WG Vivek Coelho Mangesh Kshirsagar Phulmani Daimary Baro Sheeba Rajasekharan Deep Adhvaryu VVS Rao and many others… Manoj K Poonam Argade Dev NC Shivakumar

Objective of the study • A rapid assessment of the effect of the COVID-19 induced lockdown on the rural households. • What are the various coping mechanisms undertaken by the rural households? • Assessment focused on: • Food security, • Change in expenditure pattern, • Readiness for the forthcoming Kharif season, • Drudgery faced by the women in the household, • Asset sales etc.

Approach to the study • Given the extraordinary situation we are in, the sampling strategy followed was guided by factors like Spread, Speed and Simplicity. • Spread – A wide geographical coverage. • Speed – Had to be completed within a time frame – effects could change over time making pooling of data difficult. • Simplicity – telephonic interview – also the interview had to be kept short – we used free and open access tool (KoboToolbox) – closed ended responses – covering only must ask questions – a dipstick study.

Geographical spread • 542 Households, 18 States, 90 Districts, 176 Talukas, 262 Villages • Data collection took place between 26th April and 5th May 2020 States/UTs Num of Districts 250 Maharashtra 22 Tamil Nadu 14 192 200 Assam 5 Number of Households Kerala 12 150 West Bengal 3 100 Bihar 7 72 68 63 Odisha 3 41 39 50 21 Punjab 7 18 15 12 Nagaland 3 0 Others 14 Total 90

Key attributes of surveyed households • 88% of households reported having migrant members, but few households (23%) migrants have returned. • More than a one-third of the surveyed households reported dependent members (young children, bedridden, persons with disability, senior citizens, pregnant women, lactating mother). 45 38 40 34 35 30 % of households 25 23 20 15 10 5 0 HHs where migrant members have HHs with lactating/pregnant HHs with senior citizens/persons with returned (n = 479) women/children below 6 years (n = 538) disability/bedridden patients (n = 534)

Workload within the household • Already an increase in drudgery among the women members in the households with returnee migrants. • Only few households have returnee migrants – significant chunk are now returning/ will return HHs with migrant members = 479 70 64 60 50 % of Households 40 35 35 31 30 30 19 17 20 16 10 0 More trips to fetch water More time to fetch water Increase in demand for More time in collecting fuelwood fuel/fuelwood HHs with migrant members returned HH with migrant members not returned

Existing food stock is depleting fast • More people depended on Kharif 2019 for their food grain requirements than the Rabi 2019-2020. • Kharif food stock is depleting fast 1/5 th already used up their stock, 1/3 rd would deplete stock by June 2020. • • Migrants are yet to return in most families – once they come – more pressure to the already depleting stock. • Focus on increased food provision through PDS and cultivating food crop in Kharif 2020. Kharif Stock will last till 25 21 70 20 59 60 55 % of Households 50 15 % of Households 44 13 39 40 10 9 10 30 7 20 5 5 3 3 10 2 1 0 0 Depended on Food Grains Stocked from Have some food from Rabi (n = 464) No Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Kharif Last Year (n = 487) Yes No Surplus

Preparedness for Kharif 2020 is low • A quarter of the surveyed households have seeds for the upcoming Kharif. Less than 1/5 th have Kisan Credit Card. • • Less than half of the respondents were of the view that they would get crop loans. • Make provision of seeds and credit for the upcoming Kharif season – put money in the hand of the people. Have seeds for Kharif (n = 445) 23 Have Kisan Credit Card (n = 483) 16 Will get crop loans (n = 424) 45 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 % of households

Reduced income from dairy and poultry • Rumors first and then lockdown have adversely affected the income from dairy and poultry. • Almost 50% of surveyed households sold milk – 58% of them have reported a reduction in sales. • More than 57% of surveyed households are into poultry – 60% of them reported reduction in sales. 60 58 60 50 % of Households 40 30 20 10 0 Reduction in milk sales (n = 268) Reduction in poultry sales (n = 309)

Coping: Immediate adjustments for food security More than 2/3 rd of the households are eating fewer items and 40% have reduced the number of meals. • Nearly 1/3 rd households are borrowing food grains from others in the village. • • PDS working for the majority – 81% received food through PDS. Reduction in the number of items (n = 537) 66 Reduction in the number of meals (n = 537) 40 Borrowed food grains in village (n = 534) 30 People in the village gave free food (n = 485) 16 Received food items through the PDS (n = 520) 81 Received Take Home Ration (THR) (n = 183) 46 Depending on village market for food (n = 538) 78 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 % of households

Coping: Postponing of discretionary expenses taking place Nearly 1/5 th of respondents in households shared that its possible that children might dropout. • • Postponement of ceremony and downscaling of ceremonies is high. • Nearly half of the respondents postponed purchase of agricultural tools. 50 47 47 45 40 38 35 % of households 30 25 20 18 15 10 5 0 Children Dropout possibility (n = 425) Postpone Ceremony (n = 377) Cut Down Guest List (n = 320) Postpone Agri Tool Purchase (n = 379)

Coping: Borrowing/Mortgaging/Selling of assets is taking place More than 1/4 th of the families depended on family networks for borrowing. • • Borrowing from moneylender also reported for more than one fifth of the surveyed households. • Mortgage of household items has started. • More than a quarter have sold liquid assets like livestock. Borrowed from money lender (n = 535) 21 Borrowed from extended family at 0% (n = 539) 26 Mortgaged household items (n = 538) 17 Sold goat/sheep/duck/hen to arrange money (n = 488) 26 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 % of households

Coping: Sale of productive assets has started • Has implication on the long term economic base of the households. • Expected to happen when a shock/stress has a prolonged/intense effect. More than 1/5 th respondents already sold dry cattle • • 13% have mortgaged the land, close to 10% have sold in-milk cattle • Land sale has started though low 25 22 20 % of Households 15 13 9 10 4 5 4 0 Sold Agri Tool (n = 398) Sold Dry Cattle (n = 386) Sold In-Milk Cattle (n = 385) Mortgage Land (n = 450) Sold Land (n = 450)

Summary (1/2) • Households have depended on Kharif stock more than Rabi – but that stock is now depleting. • Households are coping with the shock by eating less food and lesser number of times and with large dependence on PDS. • Need for increased food support through PDS and promotion for food crop cultivation in Kharif. • But preparedness for Kharif 2020 is low – need for public support in terms of seed provision and credit for Kharif 2020. • Large chunk of migrants are yet to return – but already the increased workload within household enhances the drudgery faced by the women.