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

Rural india, villages, men, old, elderly, senior citizens, coronavirus, covid-19, healthcare, lockdown, jobs, poor
Premium

India's rural economy comprises both farm and non-farm sectors.| Photo: Bloomberg

Rohit Inani | IndiaSpend Goa
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 wave hit India this February, tens of millions of workers such as Ram had barely managed to recover from the

First Published: Jun 03 2021 | 12:14 PM IST

Explore News

To read the full story, subscribe to BS Premium now, at just Rs 249/ month.

Key stories on business-standard.com are available only to BS Premium subscribers.

Register to read more on Business-Standard.com