Second wave dents rural economy leading to knock-on effect on recovery

With several state governments announcing local and state-wide lockdowns, economic impact would not only dent rural households' fragile financial health, but rural consumption is also decreasing

Ramesh Ram, 31, is listed as a textile industry staff worker in the administration's database of migrant workers in south west Bihar's Kaimur district. But for the last three years, Ram has worked as a contract labourer among the tens of thousands employed at the Alang ship-breaking and recycling yard in Gujarat, making enough to get by.

Today, Ram is back in his village, with no work, no capital to till his small parcel of land, and living in penury with his family of six, which includes three young daughters aged 6, 8 and 10.

Even before the second Covid-19