Following the lockdown due to the corona crisis, migrant labourers from a large number of cities reached their villages in the tribal-dominated Southern districts of Rajasthan. After three weeks of lockdown, only a marginal increase in the pandemic cases among these areas is a matter of relief.
However, the impact of this lockdown on the normal life of these remote and disadvantaged villages is ambivalent. In villages where there is an atmosphere of fear about the disease, rescue methods like social distancing are also being observed by the people.
The tribal areas of Southern Rajasthan suddenly begin to evacuate after the festival of Holi. Till the onset of monsoon, people go to the cities and rural areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and work there as daily wagers. When the first rain occurs in the village, people come back to their homes and prepare for the Kharif crop.
This year’s story is different. After Holi, a large number of people went to work out of which about 70 per cent struggled and reached their village somehow despite the lockdown. Those who have not been able to get out of cities or from their places of work in the first five days of lockdown are now stuck. Corona is widely discussed in the villages while people are wrapping up their pending job in their fields.
Tribal areas are the most confused about the announcements of lockdown as well as financial assistance.
Ramesh, who runs a small grocery store in a remote village in Udaipur district, said: “People in the village feel that the financial assistance that has come into their accounts because of corona would go back to the government if they do not withdraw it quickly. Because of this, people are coming to the bank service centres in panchayats.”
However, it is also a fact that cash money in homes has also dwindles due to prolonged lockdown. Mahua and other crops are not being sold so the cash flow has gone down and also there isn’t any daily wage work available.
Outside the Bank Service Centre, a young man waited with his pregnant wife. The young man said that he works as a labourer in the vicinity and that supports himself through daily wages. He has not got any job for the last 20 days since the lockdown. He does not have cash money to take care of his wife. A day earlier, he has received a message on mobile that Rs 500 have come to his wife’s account.
Both of them had walked to the bank service centre from home in the morning and found that the centre’s operator had not yet come. The young man made a phone call from his phone. On other side, the operator replied: “There is no internet, come tomorrow.” There is a good facility of bank service centres in these areas, but sometimes due to network constraints, people have to make two or three visits to get money from their accounts.
Sixty-year-old Teja lives in the village with his family which comprises his wife, a 20-year-old daughter with her one-year-old daughter and Teja’s 16-year-old boy. A few days before Holi, the entire family was working in Himmatnagar, Gujarat.
The whole family was going to work because the family did not have any means to support itself in the village. Before Holi, Teja sent his wife and daughter to the village and stayed back at Himmatnagar to work with his son. As soon as the lockdown was declared, Teja sent his son to the village too and stayed back.
Teja did not get his wages from the place where he worked and so he had to wait. Two days ago, when the one-year-old fell ill, Teja’s wife raised Rs 200 against her standing wheat crop fodder and had the girl treated.
The second case is of 45-year-old Gautam and his family. The lockdown has created more difficulties for Gautam, who had lost one leg in an accident during work two years ago. His family subsisted upon his wife’s wages. Due to the closure of the village work, the wife has not been able to go to work for nearly a month. The family could have generated some income by selling Mahua and wild fruit Timaru, but since the local market is closed, there is no buyer.
Gautam’s family is currently surviving upon some ration provided by the people in the neighbourhood, but his wife said: “How long can we survive like this?”
The comfort offered by the village the local youth are working to address the misconceptions associated with the epidemic and take new initiatives in times of the corona crisis in the village.
Shankar, who lives in Mobi, a colony of 60 houses on the border of Udaipur district, started a small grocery store at his home on Holi. Earlier, he used to erect electric poles.
Two years ago, Shankar had met with an accident and now cannot do much physical work. In this time of corona crisis, Shankar is not only supplying kirana and basic ration needs for about 60 families of Mobi village through his shop, but is also playing an important role in imparting to the villagers the correct information related to corona.
Shankar, a class ten pass out, said he understood all the precautions related to corona, including social distancing, through social media and is now imparting the same to the rest of the village. Shankar is also providing ration loans to needy families.
Similarly, 15 youths from Kerpura village, mostly migrant workers from the village who are currently in their village due to lockdown, are doing everything possible to protect the village from the disease. So far, these people have been entrusted with the responsibility of spraying disinfectants to protect village against corona.
While the people are facing problems in withdrawing money due to the limited banking services at many places, young Gautam has been providing prompt services to hundreds of families of his panchayat for the last 15 days regularly from morning till dusk by operating the bank service centre.
Gautam said: “All private e-Mitra and bank service centres are closed in the locality, so there is a lot of movement of people at the centre operating in the panchayat. After the lockdown, the centre is witnessing 70-100 transaction daily. An average of Rs 2 lakh is being disbursed every day and the number of daily transactions due to lockdown has increased by about 30 per cent. This service has become a major facility for the villagers.”
