Current Affairs Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Topic: COVID-19 and Impact on Urban and Rural Poor

Why in News?

• ‹According to the report compiled by Hunger Watch, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has left the urban poor in India poorer, more hungry and with less nutrition than their rural counterparts.

Key Highlights of the Report

• ‹A large section of rural residents could cushion the blow of pandemic-driven economic disruption due to foodgrain via the public distribution system (PDS). The urban poor’s access to such ration, however, was minimal.
• The social security schemes also had a relatively better coverage among the rural poor as rural areas had better access to PDS rations. A larger proportion of households in urban areas did not have access to ration cards.
• Incomes reduced by half or a quarter for more than half the urban respondents while it was a little over one-third for rural respondents.
• Similarly, a decline in nutritional quality and quantity was more among the urban respondents as was the need to borrow money for buying food.
• Overall, levels of hunger and food insecurity remained high, with little hope of the situation improving without measures specifically aimed at providing employment opportunities as well as food support.
• The figures in the Hunger Watch report are alarming, especially when seen in conjunction with the recent rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data.
• The NFHS data has shown either a worsening or stagnation in malnutrition outcomes such as prevalence of stunting and wasting among children and high levels of anaemia among women and children.
• The food insecurity has prompted more people to enter the labour force (around 55 per cent increase in the labour force among the respondents).
• It also noted a silent rise in child labour as well.
• The economic crisis was deepening as people who lost their jobs were yet to find replacements and little had been accomplished after the lockdown for the revival of livelihoods in the informal sector.

About the Report

• ‹Hunger Watch is a loose collection of social groups and movements. It came together for a periodic study of the actual status of hunger, food access and livelihood security among various disadvantaged populations in the wake of the country-wide lockdown in March 2020.
• This is the first report of the collective, based on interviews with 3,994 households across 11 states. The data was collected in October 2020 and compared with pre-lockdown levels on the same parameters.