For more than a month now, there has been an unrelenting increase in the number of covid-19 cases and deaths due to it. It has a debilitating impact on the lives of people and the economy also. Every day, the relatively higher number of Covid-19 cases are added up to the tally which has already reached 255888 while death toll nears 3500 mark. The increasing cases forced the government to go for the lockdown and as on May 19, it completed twenty-one days in succession.
It has already stretched health care facilities and some say it is on the brink of breaking point. Also one key way in which this crisis is getting reflected is in the unemployment figures.
Many people have had a severe impact on their earnings while others lost job altogether
As per data released by a private research group— Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) — the unemployment rate in the country has more than doubled in the March-May period this year as the pandemic’s second wave flattened the country.
As per the weekly unemployment figures released by it, the rural populace has also borne the brunt of the pandemic and the resultant restrictions this time.
While covid-19 cases are only rising, it has started to pinch given the fact that the pandemic has already hit the global economy hard, increasing poverty in practically every country, reducing employment and pulling people down from middle-income groups into low-income groups and in some cases to the brink of poverty.
The unemployment situation appears grim and new jobs are going to be very scarce. In such a scenario, there is an urgent need for measures to heal the economy and support those whose livelihood has been severely affected.
The pandemic has not only incapacitated large businesses, small and marginal traders alone but has also hit the individual incomes of daily wagers as well, rendering them incapable of paying EMIs on various vehicle, housing and other small business loans. Also affected, rather worst, are those associated with the transport sector. Government has announced some measures for registered daily wagers as well as those linked to the tourism sector. There is a need to look into alleviating the pain of the transporters long with artisans and marginal agriculturalists. The transporters are already tottering due to the shutting down of the business and its incumbent that the government takes a holistic view of the situation and come up with long and short term packages to revive the economy.
