Covid has left Delhi dwellers poorer: Report
nNEW DELHI: A new working paper on behavioural change and job loss during the lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Delhi has shown that mask usage quadrupled, frequent hand-washing became nearly universal and time spent indoors doubled compared to precovid-19 days in Delhi’s slum clusters.
The working paper, by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the University of British Columbia, surveyed 1,392 respondents including construction workers, drivers, salaried workers, skilled labourers, domestic workers and street vendors. The impact of the lockdown on their income and employment was unprecedented in the slum clusters of the Capital, the researchers found.
The respondents’ weekly incomes dropped by 57% on average, as the working days reduced by 73%, the research showed. By early-may, the weekly income fell to zero for every nine out of 10 surveyed people. Around 35% of them reported accessing the Delhi government’s food assistance programme.
The Delhi government has set up at least 500 assistance centres across the city to provide access to food. These centres appear to have been well-placed, as the average distance between the individuals in the sample and the nearest government assistance centre was about 640 metres, researchers found.
The same team of researchers was carrying out a study on the impact of air pollution on residents in the slum clusters for the past one and a half years, which is why they had pre-covid 19 data available for preventive measures such as the use of masks.
Banita Paik, a domestic help who lives in Tughlakabad village, a Covid-19 containment zone, said: “All of us (family of four) bought masks immediately after lockdown from a medical store. We are washing hands regularly and not interacting as much with neighbours but loss of income is a huge concern, even more than Covid-19 right now.”
During the first week of November last year, the Delhi government distributed five million masks to its residents to help people defend themselves against PM2.5 (fine pollution particles) concentrations, which often surpassed 300 micrograms per cubic metres, 30 times higher than the standard limit prescribed by the World Health Organization. The researchers found that the mask usage increased in the weeks following the government distribution of masks but it did not reach 35% of the sample. In contrast, it has become nearly universal during the pandemic.
“If we want to understand what came out of the lockdown, one potential benefit is behaviour change. But we have to see if people can continue this for at least a couple of years till a vaccine or treatment is available. The impact of the lockdown on people’s incomes has been massive. About 35% of the sample reported accessing food assistance which is quite large because you would assume that many will not need food assistance. Our sample mainly consisted of people who earned on average Rs 3,000 a week. But this highlights that food assistance mitigated a crisis. The Delhi government should scale up this scheme,” said Dr Ken Lee, executive director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago in India (EPIC India) and the lead author of the study.