Impact of Covid 19 on Rural India

The COVID19 pandemic has affected most countries in the world. India is among the top three affected nations. Although urban areas were affected first and hit harder, rural India has not remained untouched by the pandemic. Now the COVID19 cases are increasingly getting reported from semiurban and rural areas which are particularly vulnerable due to inadequate health services and lack of media attention. The pandemic has impacted rural community in more than one ways. During the lockdown agricultural operations closed due to lack of labour, inputs, transportation and off take of produces leading to loss of income among farmers. Migrant workers from rural areas working in urban locations lost their livelihoods and most of them shifted back to their villages bearing all kinds of hardships resulting in increased unemployment in rural areas. Rural artisans could not sell their artefacts, poor and destitute found it difficult to meet their both ends. Government of India announced economic revival package of Rs. 20 lakh crores including Rs. 1.70 lakh crores as part of Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana to mitigate the hardship faced by people and to revive economy and businesses. Union and State Governments , district administrations, Panchayats, Civil Society Organisations have come together to halt spread of COVID19 in rural India and minimise its adverse impact. This book has chapters based on analytical and empirical studies on impact of COVID19 on various dimensions of rural India, contributed by experienced scholars and practitioners from across the country. Chapters describe challenges,opportunities and responses and also prescribe policy and operational measures to enable rural community deal with this crisis better and to be prepared for any such disaster in future. Book will be very useful to scholars , media persons , researchers and policy makers interested in rural development and also disaster management.