COVID-19/RURAL

says, adding that one can fight diseases but not rumours against the protein-rich diet. The demand for his broilers started reducing immediately and became zero by the third week of February. He sold some at `15-20 and distributed the rest for free before shutting the farm. In Punjab, poultry farmers have culled more than 20 million birds as the supply chain of feed took a hit. On March 30, the Centre in its letter to states clarified that chicken and eggs are safe to consume. “It was a much delayed reaction,” Dhandha says. He has incurred a loss of `1 crore and is not able to restart the business since.

The lockdown has also impacted the country’s 73 million dairy farmers, most of whom depend on one or two cattle. Milk procurement centres in villages have either shut shop or reduced procurement due to less demand. “Some 10-15 per cent of the total milk produced across the country used to go to restaurants, commercial offices and hotels which are now shut,” says R S Sodhi, managing director of AMUL, a cooperative dairy giant. “Even if milk reaches processing units, they are struggling to run at full capacity due to lack of labourers,” he adds.

While AMUL claims it has reduced its

Tea factories across the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, remain shut due to the coronavirus-lockdown. Yet workers pluck the leaves on time to maintain vitality of the plants

procurement, Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd has reduced its collection by one-fourth. In states like Uttar Pradesh, private dairies have reduced procurement by 50 per cent. “There is a sharp dip in the demand of pasteurising milk. We are now diverting most milk for products manufacturing,” says Jay Agarwal, managing director, Gyan Dairy, Uttar Pradesh.

In their attempt to stay afloat, farmers in Punjab have stopped providing expensive feeds to cows to reduce their yield and save on expenses. On March 31, milkmen of Karnataka’s Belagavi district poured 1,500 litres of milk into an irrigation canal as they had no way to sell it.

In an email interaction with Down To Earth, Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, the US, says, the pandemic has already disrupted the rural economy because of the lockdown and this was to some extent, unavoidable, given the potential for casualties without physical distancing. “But we are still early in this epidemic and there will undoubtedly be more disruption, which will have to be ameliorated through government programmes and transfers to the rural poor.”

MOHAMMAD IDRISH, a rickshaw puller in Noida is eagerly counting days. He is determined to go back to his family in Shekhpura village of Bihar’s Purnia district once the government lifts the lockdown. Though he has been away from his family for the past several years, the lockdown has shaken him to the core. “Here I am alone with no income and very little food provided by relief centres,” Idrish says. He is not the only one contemplating an escape. A recent submission made by the Union government to the Supreme Court suggests that of the 41.4 million migrant workers in the country, more than 2.5 million are living in relief camps and shelters and 9.93 million are being provided food (see factsheet on

Most of them would start moving towards their towns or villages once the lockdown is lifted or relaxed, resulting in the second wave of mass exodus and adding to the rural burden.

“There is certainly a high likelihood for the coronavirus to have made its way into rural India through migrants returning home. There will be cases and deaths in rural areas that will not get reported because testing is not available widely,” epidemiologist and economist Ramanan Laxminarayan, who directs the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, US, tells DTE. “That said, we do have a challenge also in urban pockets, including housing colonies and slums. So, we should keep our eye on both.”

But protecting the fragile economy of a largely rural country is an even bigger

India’s fiscal package of `1.7 lakh crore to help people tide over the lockdown fails to impress when compared with other economies