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| COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE PLIGHT OF INVISIBLE | | |
Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
India has surpassed China’s COVID-19 tally when the no. of corona cases crossed 85,000 in the country. China’s officially had put the no. of confirmed cases of corona virus as 82, 993. Less than 100 peoples are now undergoing treatment across China which recorded 4,633 deaths and at the same time 76,000 patients have been discharged from the hospitals after recovery. United states of America tops the tally with more than 14 lakh cases followed by Russia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain with over two lakh cases each and France, Germany, Turkey, and Iran having one lakh cases each. India with second largest population in the world next only to China have however managed to keep the no. of cases to less than one lakh till date. The country responded to this attack by deadly virus by a series of lockdowns starting from March 25, for a three week period till April 14; then again the lockdown was extended till May 3 and now till May 17. It is likely to be extended further, but with relaxations and certain guidelines. There is no doubt that India had no choice other than the lockdown to avoid the colossal toll the virus could take on lives, or at least buy time as the country, with our poorly equipped and historically underfunded health system, prepares to face it. COVID-19 has largely hit each and every section of the society. Social distancing was advocated and practiced to contain the spread of virus. It definitely has shown good results but it seems to be hitting people even more than the scare of the deadly virus. In spite of media connectivity, peoples are getting highly restive and agitated. Masses of people trapped in fear and uncertainty, many of them high on anxiety, depression and frustration has lead to a volcanic situation which can be triggered off with any little provocation.
A section of the society which is and expected to hit hard by this pandemic and that is largely invisible is the women, particularly rural women which are given woefully very little attention. The pandemic has brought with it violence against women. The recent report of the United Nations regarding women is an eye opener for all of us. The report titled COVID 19 and ending violence against women and girls has reported that since the outbreak of COVID-19 violence against women and particularly domestic violence has increase manifold in many countries. In France case of domestic violence has increased by about 30 per cent since lockdown on March 17. Such cases have also been reported from countries such as Canada, Argentina, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. In Argentina, emergency calls for domestic violence cases have increased by 25 per cent since lockdown (The Tribune). In India too, the condition is more or less the same. The National commission for Women has recorded a more than two fold rise in gender based violence n the national lockdown period. The total complaints from women rose from 116 in the first week of March to 257 in the final week of March (NCW). This is perhaps men at home take out all their frustration on their wives.
Salary cuts, joblessness and sitting home idle have already put these men on the edge and feeling frustrated, they find no better person than their wives to take out all their frustration.
Another worrisome issue pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic is the situation arising out of the reverse migration of peoples from cities to the villages. In the absence of suitable employment opportunities, the male members of the rural areas leave their villages and come to cities to find a job in cities in industries and factories. The women folk are left to take over the responsibility of household works as well as the fields. Millions of men have migrated away from their villages in the country. More than 450 million Indians have reportedly migrated within the Indian continent in lurch of employment and higher income. The non remunerative agriculture sector in which a large majority of the rural population is engaged forces the marginal and small farmers to come to cities to get some work to have a decent living. While some of the migration is permanent, some is temporary. People usually agricultural labourers come to other states in times of peak agricultural season. They work there for three to four months and then move back to their homes. This process has been going on continuously throughout the years. This no doubt helped them to get their children educated and live a dignified life, but it also increases the workload of the rural women. Besides taking care of their own children and her parent in laws; they have also to take the responsibility of the farm and livestock.
With wage employment opportunities drying up and the industries and other manufacturing being shut up; they are left with no option except to return to their homes. It is almost sure that rural households which were dependent upon the earning of the family member who had migrated will have to bear the brunt of this reverse migration. With no outside income support and limited employment opportunities in the rural areas, the women may go for distress sale of their assets like food grains, livestock and land holdings. They may also be forced to take loan from local money lenders at a huge rate of interest. This loan they will be unable to pay and finding themselves trapped in the debt, they will have to commit suicide one day. What is more serious is that programmes like MGNREGA which had provided the women folk especially to get paid job in their villages has also been put at halt due to the pandemic. When women earn, their control over the household decision making improves, she becomes economically and socially empowered. Now with men back at the helm of affairs, things definitely are not going to be good for the women folk.
It is also well known that there is also a huge gap in the access to nutrition between the two sexes. In times of covid-19, there have been reports that the women eat last and eat least
nutritious diet which might increase the incidence of malnutrition among the women folk ultimately affecting the new born or yet to be born babies. We need policies and strategies that could help build resilience among the rural women folk. It must be ensured that women are not at the receiving end and they have access to quality nutritious diet. In the absence of wage employment; they can be organized into self help groups and be provided credit by the banks. Using this credit they can start their own micro enterprises, earn and become economically empowered. |
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