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COVID has resulted in a huge economic impact across the globe. Lockdown to prevent the spread of infection has brought economy to a standstill, hitting the poor very badly. Hunger and poverty are a bigger threat than COVID-19 itself.

Challenges faced by the vulnerable population:

Sex workers, transgender and people living with HIV are facing a huge backlash from this pandemic. Since their livelihood is at stake right now, for them survival has also become a challenge with each passing day.

Transgender, who either beg or involve in sex work, are forced to stay indoors. Similarly, many sex workers who were involved in this trade to fend for their families, are also unable to take this impact as not all of them were prepared for this kind of a situation. Things are particularly difficult for sex workers and transgender who are HIV positive, live in extreme poverty and are suffering with no support. The ration provided in the ration shop is of a very poor quality and those living with HIV need to have proper food along with the ART medicines in order to improve their life span.

CFAR Support:

Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) has been working in Tamil Nadu since 2006 across multiple cities on different projects particularly media advocacy for vulnerable population, social inclusion of sex workers and transgender.

Between 2012 and 2016, CFAR also ran a single window near Rajaji hospital to help people access various Government schemes in Madurai.
CFAR identified over 200 highly vulnerable sex workers, transgender community in Madurai belonging to Betaniyapuram, Arapalayam, and Manjamedu Colony. We had approached Father J.M.Das from Kodaikanal who referred us to Fr.Michaelraj MSJE Trust, Madurai for support.

Since the Trust was already into relief work and they had already provided relief to many people, they came forward to support CFAR and provided a financial support of Rs.25,000/-

In order to ensure that most of them are benefited, CFAR decided to distribute ration for 52 families from Arapalayam, Betaniyapuram and Manjamedu @ Rs. 475 per relief kit.

Our former colleague, Ms. Rani who is also currently the President of Sri Lakshmi Pengal Munnetra Sangam, a Community Based Organisation of sex workers, helped in identifying the 52 most vulnerable sex workers, People living with HIV and transgender from Madurai.

She identified and negotiated with Sri Kannan Departmental Store, Pvt, Ltd located near Fatima College, Madurai and shared the bank details with MJSE Trust.

Once the money got transferred to the account, the shop took the responsibility of delivering the packs to Rani’s house.

 

Sharada Shinde lives with her son and two grandsons. She had to leave her work to look after her grandsons. Her son is the only earning member of the family. He worked as a daily wage labourer and managed to meet the daily needs of the family. Now due to lockdown, he is not able to go to work. “We have just been eating only rice for the last few days. Some people distributed dry food in our settlement but we did not get. We are happy that we got one-month food grains and grocery,” she said.

Women from Sahaya Single Window supported by Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) are doing humanitarian work for the most marginalized community, in urban poor settlements. Through the members of the Help Desk they prepared a list of 2354 families consisting of around 9416 family members who are in immediate need of food support from 27 urban settlements in and out of the project area.

During 7 to 19 April, 2020 the women with the support of Ashrya organization, Mashal organization, CYDA, Pune Municipal Council corporator, Solid Waste Management Department, Social Development Department, and Sadhu Vaswani Trust distributed dry food and grocery to 2970 beneficiaries from the most marginalized families, migrant, and construction workers in Pune.

Mahadevi Kambale, a construction worker, who lives with her daughter was getting regular work in the labour market and that was the only source of livelihood for them. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, all labour markets have been closed and Mahadevi also lost her earning. “Both of us do not even get two square meals in a day. We borrowed some wheat flour from our neighbour but their situation is also like ours. Now that we have received this dry ration we can manage food for a few days. With this lockdown our future looks bleak.”

“We have two sons but they do not look after me and my husband. My husband used to work as a watchman and due to lockdown he lost his job. He is a diabetic and also has High Blood Pressure. We do not have money to buy food grains and we could not get ration from any other source. Now that you have distributed the dry food and grocery we can sustain for a month. I thank all women from Sahaya Single Window for this good gesture,” says Chandrakala Nalawade.

Pooja More, a rag picker said, “My husband and I work as rag pickers. We have three sons and we work regularly to meet our needs. Due to the lockdown, we are not able to work and have no money to buy food. Since the past few days we have not been eating sufficient food. This ration you provided, will help us for at least fifteen days. There are many like us suffering without food. We request you to extend support to such communities.’’

In April 2020, Centre For Advocacy and Research (CFAR) team was approached by a group of Female Sex Workers, PLHIV, elderly and even men from urban poor settlements in Guntur to help them in providing food and health care, especially PLHIV who need nutrition support.

Shehnaz, Ayesha and Baji Bee, who have been associated with CFAR since 2011, came forward to support voluntarily and linked the PLHIV to the ART centers for drugs, medicines and health care support of other groups too. However, they also asked CFAR to step in for supporting dry ration to the communities. They also brought it to our notice that there were many migrant workers from Bihar who have been stranded in the outskirts of Guntur while on their way back from Chennai and Bengaluru to reach respective home towns.

Shehnaz (55) a FSW and president of Sri Mahila Sadhikarika Welfare Society, has been in the Media Monitoring, Community Mainstreaming, ART monitoring projects and has been actively participating in all the CFAR initiatives. She is one of the first groups of Para Legal Volunteers who have been trained by the DLSA through CFAR’s facilitation.

Ayesha (45), PLHIV and volunteer, lives with her two sons in Guntur. She has been associated with CFAR since 2014. She is a Para Legal Volunteer trained by DLSA and has been an active member in the ART monitoring and Media Monitoring programs of CFAR.

“Our FSW, PLHIV communities are extremely excluded from all sorts of inclusion programs. However, due to this pandemic and lock down they have been further excluded. And since most of them do not possess any kind of ration cards, we got in touch with some the NGOs and Organizations for support. But that was not enough, so we approached CFAR for help and were able to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized.” says Ayesha.

Baji Bee (32) is associated with the FSW, PLHIV groups in Guntur and provides linkages and health services through Government intervention. Baji, has been associated with CFAR since 2016, through OVC program and has been supporting CFAR voluntarily in all activities.

“As a part of our daily work, we get so many calls from our peers, PLHIV, elderly, poor for help. We could do a bit, but these communities need more support. The Government supports with some ration supplies and A.P Government is doing its best, but what is the use if does not reach to everyone? And not that every household gets the support since most of the people live in the slum have no proper documents. At the same time, we have come across some migrant workers from Bihar and have seen them suffer, so we and CFAR came forward to support these families, we might not cover everyone but we are willing to work to reach the most” – says Baji Bee.

The volunteers have visited the settlements, identified and enlisted the names of the vulnerable households. Based on the need and population, CFAR team along with the volunteers have approached the local donors, advocates and police officials to mobilize the resources to collect the dry ration, which is distributed at the end of the day to the beneficiaries. At the same time, the volunteers also linked the people to HIV, ART services, counseling based on the need.

Until April 22, as many as 90 households with 444 members have been provided with relief in 8 settlements.

Annam Ananthalakshmi, (45) lives with her children and husband who works in local cement factory. Her husband lost the work due to lock down. “ I do not have any sort of income now. Even feeding my children once a day has become difficult. We are grateful to this support. Now my children can eat twice a day. We are waiting for ration support from the Government, hope that will be helpful in the future.”

Thota Rani, (name changed) 28, FSW: “I earn my living through sex work. Now there is no work and all my sources of earning have been stopped. I got no support from any Government source, because I have no documents. This dry ration really helped me in this crisis, but I am worried about the future, and hope I get the same support till the situation is better.”

Kumari, PLHIV, 56: “I am a PLHIV and living with my husband, daughter and a granddaughter. Our source of income was daily work that has stopped due to lock down. We don’t get the ration also, whenever we go they say no stock. We are not allowed to get the ART medicines also. Baji bee helped us in getting the ART drugs and the support from CFAR is what I cannot forget ever in my life. I can at least provide some cooked rice to my child and grandchild.”

Ram Thakur, Migrant worker, Bihar: “We are a total of ten people in our group who are stuck in Guntur. We can neither go to our home nor can we go back to the places where we work. We are left with no supplies and money. We did not get any support from the Government and the locals also do not support us because we do not belong here. This is the first time, someone came to us and started listening to us. We are thankful to get this support and we are eating food to keep us alive, but we are ten members, the Government should come forward and help us.”

Jaan Bee, Elderly, 65: “I am an elderly woman and I recently had backbone surgery. I cannot got out to work. The only source of income was my husband work income as a daily labor. Now because of the lockdown, we do not have any source of income and are left with a very little money which I need for my medicines. I don’t get ration from the PDS, since I don’t have ration card. We are glad we get this support, but we request to continue this support and also help us to get a ration card.”

Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) received information on 15th April regarding a group of 8 migrant labourers from Jharkhand who were stuck at Chandragiri village in Ananthapur district due to the lockdown and needed immediate help as they were running short of food supplies.

All of these are daily wage labourers working and living near KIA Motors manufacturing plant, situated 80 km away from Ananthapur city. The CFAR team got in touch over phone with Manish Kumar, one of the group members.

Upon reaching the village, CFAR team found that the workers had received minimal support from the villagers (some rice) that, too, was stopped. The CFAR team approached and started coordinating with local NGOs, Revenue Department, DRDA officials and local civil societies to mobilize food grains and ensure the migrants got shelter, food and heath support.

After many attempts, one local NGO, Timbaktu Collective came forward to support the migrants. On 17th April an associate of the NGO Mr. Manikandan spoke to the workers and on the same day the NGO arranged dry ration, rice, wheat flour, dal, cooking oil, and vegetables for a week. Key person of the NGO Ms. Duhita and staff member Mr. Manikandan assured that they would send provisions to these migrant workers regularly till the end of lockdown.

On the other hand, CFAR also approached the local village Revenue Officer Ms. Sreedevi and apprised her of the condition of the labourers. She said that she had been working on arranging dry ration supplies to the migrant workers from different States who were stranded Ananthapur and they had helped 30 – 40 members in each village but she was not aware of these migrant labourers in Chandragiri village.

She said that most of these migrants are permanent labourers with KIA Motors and it should be the company’s responsibility to supply dry ration to them. CFAR team managed to convince her that these workers could not be cannot be denied the basic needs just because KIA motors was not supporting them. Ms. Sreedevi visited the village, interacted with the workers, and found that none of them had any ration card and, hence, it was not possible to provide ration to them from Public Distribution System. However, she and her team mobilized resources from the local villages, who arranged for dry ration and vegetables and with the support of the local police which was distributed to the labourers. Ms. Sreedevi assured that she would continue the support and also follow up with their needs from time to time.

After three days of continuous efforts by the CFAR team, Mr. Parthasarathi, Head, Farm Products Association responded to the situation and agreed to provide vegetables to the migrants. Timbaktu Collective and Rural Development Trust gave them dry ration kits.

Manish Kumar, “We came to this village in Ananthapur from Jharkhand, to earn a living. This is the only source of earning and our families are dependent on us. This pandemic and lockdown have drowned all our hopes and earnings. We are left with nothing, and from past few days we have been waiting for help and food. No one has come forward to help us. We have No work, No money, No Food. Now, we have received some sort of help and support from both the VRO, Timbaktu Collective and Rural Development Trust through the intervention of the NGO in Ananthapur. We are glad and confident that our needs are taken care till we start working again. We are not sure when would that happen, but we have a little hope now that the situation will be better soon.”

Reaching Out to Key Populations with Relief

On 21 April, Shamshad, frontline leader from the FSW community approached CFAR for help to two PLHIV who are in immediate of food and medicines.

1. Durgamma, 40, PLHIV lives in Bukkaaya Samudram village, with her daughter in law who has delivered recently, and is in need of medical help. Her son is job less due to the lock down. Durgamma herself used to work in a hotel but has lost her job too.
2. Lakshmi Devi lives with her husband, an auto-driver and a 15-year-old bed-ridden son. She somehow gets food support from ISKCON but has no source of income to buy the medicines for her son

CFAR team has linked both of them with the local donors and both of them are receiving dry ration and some monetary support for emergency needs such as medicines which is sufficient for a week or ten days. These two cases will be followed up by the team.

Shamshad, will also provide dry ration and some money to Durgamma to buy medicines.

 

Teeja Devi, resident of Swami Basti, Sindhi Camp, has restricted mobility. She has not got any pension for the last 13 months as she has not been unable to complete her documentation.

She has been facing lot of challenges due to the lockdown. “I am old and helpless, with my aching bones, how will I run around to collect alms? Our relatives ignore us. It is not their fault. How long can they continue to support us? The government also does not give me any pension as I do not have relevant documents. We sit here every day and some kind-hearted person helps us with food on which our survival is based.”

The CFAR team reached out to her and made sure that she gets cooked meal twice a day. She was also provided dry ration and vegetables thrice. Also, her pension has been activated, and she has started receiving money in her account.

In Jaipur, the CFAR field team has been reaching out to the settlements and providing awareness about both Government schemes as well information to stay protected from COVID-19.

More than 28,000 cooked meal packets have been provided to the most vulnerable section of the settlements on regular basis, including Transgenders and Persons with Disabilities (PWD).

Ramesh Bhaat (45) of Swami Basti and his wife are both disabled. Ramesh has been given a tricycle which he uses to commute while his wife stays at home with their two children, daughter who is eleven and son nine years.

The couple also receives Rs 1500 as PwD pension and 20 kgs wheat to support their basic needs. But since few months they were not getting their pension due to documentation issues. During lockdown they had no source of income, not even begging.

The CFAR team came to support the family and is providing them cooked mean twice daily in addition to dry ration and vegetables off and on. The team helped the family with documentation and the pension is being credited in his account.

Women take the lead:

Nafisa (37) is a single woman who lives with her daughter in Shakti Colony settlement. Member of CMC and SWFM member in CFAR, Nafisa’s husband left her for another women 10 years ago and she has been struggling to educate her daughter.

In these tough times, when one is dealing with their own problems she decided to help the most vulnerable section of her own settlement.
With the support of CFAR she is coordinating for food with BLO’s and police station and making sure that the most vulnerable 20 households in her settlement gets daily meals.

As a token of appreciation for her work, Nafisa was called in the meeting of all the BLOs and SDM, where she was assured full support by the SDM. Since then, she is being given the food packets directly for ensuring equal distribution to the most vulnerable households. Thus, she gets 20 packets of cooked meal daily at her home which she further distributes to the needy households. She also receives and distributes dry ration and milk packets.

But this appreciation has come with a cost for her. The local leaders are turning against her as they find it difficult to accept a single women deal with the departments, getting direct supply at her home, and helping people on her own.

One morning 50-60 people came at her house, and started demanding food and even accusing her of misappropriation of food packets. But, Nafisa refused to be cowed down and made it clear that she would distribute the food to needy ones before anyone else gets it.

Trained as a tailor in her younger days, Nafisa is now using her skill to stitch masks for the people in the settlement and distributing these free of cost.

“I have seen many people walking without masks, and say they don’t know where to get the mask from. Then I thought why can I not stitch masks and give it to people. I made 50 masks and distributed to needy people. Then many others came at my home to ask for more masks, I did not have enough cloth so I took some old clothes, washed them properly and made some masks, it takes 10 minutes to stitch 1 mask. I never refuse help to anyone.’’

Nikhat Bano (24) is another Corona warrior who is helping her people and community in her own way. Resident of Manoharpura Kutchi Basti, Nikhat is a divorcee.

“In our community, we usually wear burkha so our face gets covered with it. But it is not easy to cover the face with burkha every time. So I decided to make masks for me and my family members. Seeing us wear these masks, my neighbours also asked me to stitch similar masks for them. But I did not have enough suitable cloth, so people gave me their own cloth to stitch, till now I have made 150 masks and distributed in my settlement.”

Sugna Devi (46) of Jawahar Nagar Tila, was asked by her son one day to stitch a mask for him. But she could not because she did not know how to make one.

“Then my daughter showed me one video on youtube on how to make mask at home. It was easy to understand and I made one mask to begin with. It took me half an hour to do that. Then I started making more masks for my family members, two mask for each. Then my neighbours got to know that I am making masks at home, they also wanted some. I made 100 masks and distributed in my slum free of cost.”
“My daughter works as a domestic help in a nearby posh colony. When the residents there got to know of these home-made masks, they gave us an order of making 700 masks, 5 rupees per mask. In these tough times we got a source of income.”

Bhawna (40) has been living at Saragara Basti, Jodhpur for so long that everyone calls her Bhawnaji Bai-saa.

People respect her and go to her with their problems because they have faith in her. Hence, she feels it becomes her responsibility to help them as much as she can.

Bhawana is educated and committed for improving the condition of her settlement and ensuring that all those who live here do not face any problems as far as food, clothing and shelter is concerned. Her father was the village headman and from her young age, Bhawna used to attend meetings, go to government offices, meet with service providers.

“When the coronavirus infection was declared a pandemic, we all got worried for our livelihood. The most affected were daily wage workers, street vendors and helpers. They had families to feed and no money in hand.”

“I was faced with a similar situation at home. My husband passed away a few years ago and I have to look after four young daughters. For me also the question was how to make ends meet.”

So, Bhawna spoke to a Bhamashah (a donor) and requested him to give dry ration kits to the neediest families. She also coordinated with the Nagar Nigam and shared with them a list of families who required food. Once the list was approved, it was submitted it to the Nodal officer and food began to come.

However, the quality of food was very poor. “We could not eat it and the quantity was also less. My requested were not getting recorded so I lodged a formal complaint with the Nagori Gate Police Station officer and requested him to look into this matter in his capacity as the local monitoring officer for cooked food.’’

Monica, Misaal Sanitation Committee

Thirty-five-year-old Monica of Mavadiyon Ki Ghaati, had limited resources available with her when the lockdown happened.
So, she decided to first help the young and the old members in her slum.

“I live with my elderly parents, husband and three children in an underserved slum cluster in the heritage area of Jodhpur. I am a single child of my parents and have to take care of them as well. My husband works as supervisor at the Jodhpur airport.

I am a skilled tailor and Bandhej worker. As soon as the lockdown was declared, I used my skills to make masks which we gave to elderly men, women and pregnant women. Three other members of the Misaal Committee adept at stitching and sewing also joined me in this.’’

Once the masks were ready, the Misaal Committee members divided the households in the settlements and went door to door giving the masks, telling people how to use them, and sanitise them by washing in warm water and Dettol. They also shared videos of social distancing practiced on different parts of the city and asked our community to do the same.

A few days later, they realised that daily wage workers and street vendors in the settlement did not have food to eat. They had no ration cards and there was nothing they could do as they were not getting any work during the lockdown. Their limited resources were coming to an end.
“I made a call to the Mr Sushil Kumar, Sanitary Inspector and requested him to help us with cooked food boxes for these families.

Immediately lists were made and we began to get the food. Misaal Committee members helped in door to distribution to the needy families. With his help we also listed families who needed dry food grains and shared them with the Nagar Nigam and CFAR team for help in rations. Now we are listing names of workers and filing application for the stipend of Rs 2500 to these families so that they have some cash in hand for their daily expenses.”

Raju (25), Male Volunteer of Rajbagh Meghwal Basti takes pride in saying that they do not have a single coronavirus suspect case in the cluster.

“Our members are very helpful and they support the neighboring bastis also. In fact, Rukmini, a member of the Misaal Sanitation Committee distributed free masks she had stitched to neighbors.”

Working as a security guard in SDM Hospital in Jodhpur, Raju’s wife Sangeeta is a member of the Misaal Sanitation Committee and is presently staying at her parents’ house as the couple are expecting their first child.

“Having worked in the hospital, I have acquired a lot of information on preventive care in times of COVID 19. Many affected patients are coming to this hospital for treatment and I provide them all support and help even though it is not a part of my duties. Similarly, I have been disseminating information on preventive care in my basti so that we can all be safe and avoid any risk of infections.’’

Raju and Sangeeta have been involved in interacting with officials from the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation from day one. They have together coordinated with the Sanitary Inspector facilitated regular fogging and ensuring that waste is not piled up at any point in the settlement.

These days Raju is contributing to the relief efforts of the government and CFAR.

“We helped the Block Level Officials to enumerate the households that did not have ration cards. I also collected donations from friends and along with my brother made arrangements for providing cooked food to 35 needy families for a week. The Nigam is now sending us packed boxes which we are distributing to these households,’’ Raju says.

Neetu Devi (34) of Ravti Road Basti, Jodhpur is an ASHA sahayogini and member of Misaal Sanitation Committee.
“If I can help one family a day in this difficult time to get food and not sleep on an empty stomach, I am content,” she says.

Her mother is a nurse in Barmer and mother-in-law, a social worker. They have been her inspiration. As ASHA Sahyogini, she teaches children, women and men on the benefits of good health and well-being.

“When I got married and settled in Ravti Road Basti, my supportive family encouraged me to help the community. Slowly I began to enjoy this work. Along with my husband, we worked with the Nagar Nigam officials to get the roads and electricity poles renovated.’’

“After becoming a Misaal Committee Member, I began to stress on the importance of keeping our settlement clean and waste free. To reduce the threat of coronavirus infection, I went house to house distributing free masks. Food was also provided through Bhamashah (donor) and police station for children and elderly people from most poor families.’’

Nowadays, she is filling up application forms for all daily wage workers so that the financial assistance of Rs 2500 can be given to them. “CFAR and the MLA are both helping me in getting the forms together and sending them to the Nagar Nigam for approval. We have filled 158 forms and money has been credited and withdrawn by 35 families, others have not updated their passbooks as the areas is under the red zone and banks are not sending any messages to them.’’

Guddi Devi of Misaal Sanitation Committee feels feeding the hungry is a good deed, and God has chosen her to help others and hence, she cannot fail Him.

Guddi Devi (30) lives in Baiji Ka Talab, and is a role model for many women in Jodhpur. This ordinary housewife with an extraordinary go-get attitude did not wait for the government or CSO to help the dale wage workers, thela walas and poor tenants living in the settlement “When the lockdown began on March 22, my mother in law and I met the pujari of the temple in Baiji ka Talab. We requested him to use the donation and the chadawa for providing food twice a day to daily wage labour, vendors, destitute and needy families living in the basti,’’ Guddi also went door to door to collect donation and seek support of the women to cook food. Many other women also came forward, and they all took turns to cook daily. Some of them served food and others worked with the Sanitation Inspector to get the settlement sanitized, waste collected regularly. A team also worked to reach out to Bhamashah and individual people for donation and make contribution in kind including flour, rice, pulses, oil.

“When the Nagar Nigam began to supply cooked food through the Akshaya Patra kitchen we approached them and requested them for packets which we are regularly collecting and distributing to 40 needy families every day.’’

Combating lockdown in the country as also in Ajmer, (Rajasthan) the Hunger helpline started on 24 March– commencement of the lockdown. It has since helped in providing food to the needy and most vulnerable population.

Hunger helpline was started by Ajmer Administration to provide food to all those who are in need, and is managed by Ajmer Municipal Corporation in collaboration with Akshya Patra, under the chairmanship of Ms. Chinmaya Gopal, Municipal Commissioner, United Ajmer, MTTV India and CFAR nominated as task force members to support in running the helpline.

‘Sahaya’ Single Window facilitated the reach of food packets and dry ration to beneficiaries in six i wards with the active support of community volunteers.

Tulsi, Anju, Savitri, Parvati, Krishna, Rekha and Pinki, to name few, are members of Help-desks and volunteers representing bidi workers, daily wage workers, rag pickers, artisans, construction workers facilitating the food distribution while observing social distancing and hand washing techniques. There are a total of 120 volunteers from 28 settlements who are coordinating distribution of 400-600 beneficiaries daily.

These community volunteers do everything from readying the list and ensuring the delivery to vulnerable households such as single women, widow, people with HIV, people with disability, affected with tuberculosis and any other chronic disease and people like beedi makers and daily wagers who have no jobs and no earnings.

Nagfani slum is one of the most vulnerable slums in Ajmer city where the houses are located on the elevated areas of small hill and people have to walk around 2-3 kms up and down to get things. There are around 500-600 houses on the topmost part of the hill and hardly get any benefit at the time of lockdown nor do they have any money to buy ration and get gas cylinder to cook food. Hence, receiving cooked food is a great relief to them.

Who is making a difference?

Basanti Devi (60), a resident of Nagfani, used to get some money while helping at a confectionary. However, the shop, too, is closed now. `‘I walk slowly taking care not to fall from the raised areas in the slum. I go down daily to get something to eat, but thanks to the volunteers of Help-desk, who came to me, added my name in list of beneficiaries. From that day, they are providing me food packets daily twice a day and I have also received dry ration, which is really a great help to me in the present situation.’’

Anju, a Help-desk member of Gurjar Dharati, has been associated with the Single Window for the past two years. She lives in a habitat of mostly women headed households engaged in beedi making. When she heard about the lockdown, she made up her mind to help the people in distress and those hungry. Anju started making phone calls and made a list of the most needy households requiring food. Later, she also became part of the local food distribution team and was made responsible for food delivery in close coordination with district administration in her settlement. She is also working closely with the ASHAs in health vigilance, now she is a ray of hope for the people.

Testimony of a Migrant

Dilip, a migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, shares his travails and tribulations with us….

Dilip, belonging to Saleha village in Chhattisgarh, came to Ajmer district two years ago along with his family to work in Vishwakrama brick kiln on Ladpura village road, 25 km from Ajmer city. He and his wife work in the brick kiln. The couple live in a brick house next to the kiln.
Together, the couple make 900-1000 bricks a day for which they are paid Rs.160 and a weekly allowance of Rs. 300. When asked why they came all the way from Chhattisgarh, he narrated the struggles and hardships they faced back home.

“Although there are many factories and industries in Chhattisgarh where we can work, but I did not because I had to raise money to pay the lawyer fighting our case land dispute case in the court. If I had stayed back in my village or got a job nearby, I would have been forced to borrow money. No one would have lent money and I would have had to borrow from a moneylender at a high interest rate as I did for my marriage. I did this with great difficulty and it took me years to repay.”

Dilip has two brothers, but with both of them away and not supporting the family, he looked after his aging mother. His father passed away sometime back. In 2011 his mother fell sick and he had to borrow Rs 50,000 for her treatment, which again took him years to repay, and with great difficulty. He also recalls, with a heavy heart, how he had to borrow Rs 80,000 for performing the last rites and rituals of his father. He had borrowed the money from a private moneylender at a high interest rate. He said he had to do this to fulfil his duty as a son and to ensure acceptability in society.

Since there were no schools near the brick kiln, he sent his two children back to the village to live with their grandmother. Just as they were trying to rebuild their lives, the recent lockdown has dashed their hopes for a better future. The lockdown has come as a rude shock to him and his wife. He was not aware of the gravity of the situation and was completely unprepared for this nearly 5 weeks lockdown.

He said that he has not received any help from the government as yet, and as far as he knows there are no schemes for migrant workers in Rajasthan. He has no expectations from the government. He said the brick kiln owner is arranging food for the families residing there, but will deduct the money spent on food from the wages once the lockdown is withdrawn. It is also not clear when the brick kiln will open, if the lockdown extends till June end because all work at the kiln stops during monsoon. He is still in a dilemma about whether to stay back or return to his village. Either way, the scenario looks bleak. There are more than 50 such families and all of them feel shaky and unsure of what the future has in store.

When we assured him that we would support him and other families with a month’s grocery and hygiene kit, he was relieved and looked forward to building strong connections with us.

Community platforms and Help-desk members creating awareness on COVID-19.

A group of 12 Mahila Aarogya Samiti (MAS) members and volunteers of Nagfani decided to prepare IEC on creating awareness on COVID-19. They decided that visual IEC is more effective as its impact lasts longer. The colours and charts were arranged by the two anganwadi workers of the area.

The group members involved ASHA workers and discussed the advisories issued by the State Health Department and accordingly prepared the posters in simplified language.

Further, they decided to display the posters at the places where people could see these easily. The poster were displayed with support of frontline workers at 12 prominent places as food distribution points, ration shops, dispensary and corners of the streets.

Supporting through making masks

Members of the MAS of Gurjar Dharti, Anganwadi II found a way to support the community by making masks, for which they collected material including old cloth, and thread from nearby houses and made 500 masks and distributed free of cost with support of ASHAs and reached out to old people and people with disability as first priority.

Practicing safe hand washing techniques

Hemlata, ASHA worker of Ward 34, demonstrated hand washing techniques to Pushpa, Munni, Naurati and Kamlesh, the MAS members and in turn they trained other people in the settlement about hand washing technique. All 250-300 families are now following the hand washing practices with dedicated place assigned in the house so that it becomes a habit.

Pune, March 30: Even when they are overwhelmed by their own difficulties, these women and men are performing a number of tasks to keep others safe. Hundreds of women and men who are part of our community-based projects are playing a role in keeping people safe and helping them tide over the problems following the lockdown. They include around 185 members of the community management committee (CMC), 500 members of the Mahila Arogya Samiti (Women’s Wellness Committee), 125 help desk members, apart from around 10 ASHAs who are part of the community engagement work of the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR).

One such worker is Smita Sonde, a resident of Vishrantwadi, Pune. Smita, 35, suffers from breast cancer while her husband is a diabetic and suffers from tuberculosis. It was a struggle for them making ends meet and bring up their 14-year-old son. However, Smita is currently engaged with the helpdesk as she informs people “how to keep social distance, wash hands and avoid getting infected.” Smita’s chemotherapy is postponed and the family is short of essential food items, but she continues to be of service to others.

At the same time, CFAR is also keeping government departments informed about the ground situation with regard to a lack of income, shortage of food people are facing, along with rising prices.  A quick survey done by CFAR and its partner Sahayy Single Window, a women’s collective connecting people to their entitlements in Pune, has found that around 41% of building and construction workers (from a total of 312 surveyed) are finding it hard to feed themselves and their dependent family members. Most of the workers in the unorganized sector have lost their livelihood and do not have alternate financial support.

Many people have lost their jobs and wages. Mangal Shirsath, a 37-year-old domestic worker form Yashavant Nagar, says she her employer will not give her the monthly salary. Similarly, Rina Gavli from Shramik Vasahat, a domestic worker, and her husband, a security guard, have both lost their jobs and their wages due to the lockdown.

The Department of Food and Civil Supplies has announced it would give two months’ allocation of food grains to the people, but this benefit is available only to the holders of government ration cards. “The number of people outside the purview of cards is far greater than the ones covered under PDS and other schemes,” said Anand Bakhade, CFAR’s State Project Manager.

Even as they face the prospect of hunger, project members are doing their best to avert transmission of coronavirus in their community, says Anand Bakhade, CFAR’s State Project Manager. CFAR’s work is located in slum areas of the city which comprise 22,000 households and 91,000 people.

CFAR is working with the community and also with the administration to keep it informed of the people’s needs so that these can be addressed. CFAR has also written to the Ministry of Labour, and approached the Women and Child department and Food and Civil Supplies department to get their support in meeting people’s needs for food and medical needs. Help desk members also doing assessment of real need of most marginalized community and updating to the respective government authority as well as stakeholders.

Even as Smita is unsure of when she will get her next medical treatment, she is taking her work as a member of the helpdesk seriously. “All help desk members are working as warriors with the support of the government to save the lives of the most marginalized community,” says Smita Sonde.

CFAR recommends that people from underprivileged communities, irrespective of whether they have government entitlement cards or not, should be given grocery items, including soaps, while all medical treatment should be available to them free of cost.

Bhubaneswar: The helpdesks are still working, but the content of their work has changed. It is now about the threat of COVID-19 and how to keep oneself and community members safe.

Until recently, Pavasini Nayak, a helpdesk member from Eshaneswar Basti, Ward 14, was busy helping people entitlements such as pensions, citizenship documents like aadhaar cards, ration cards and health cards, to name a few. Now, it is mostly coronavirus since her prime responsibility lies in safeguarding the community from COVID -19.  Her main messages are now about washing of hands and social distancing. Using a microphone, she has reached out to around 280 households in her area.

Raising awareness

Other helpdesk members, Tiki Nayak and Sukanti Sahoo of Jokhalandi have done wall paintings on the prevention measures against the virus. Their messages have reached nearly 300 households and 1,200 members of their community.

The helpdesks – 23 in number – came about in a year as part of the efforts to help marginalised communities gain access to the benefits they are entitled to – citizenship rights, social security, food security, health care, and so on. Spread out in 77 settlements in 8 wards of Bhubanswar, the helpdesks are the hub of public participation and social inclusion. As many as fifty-six thousand people are connected to the helpdesks. Manned by women who work with communities to motivate them to seek their rights and entitlements, which would make their lives more secure, these women have helped hundreds of people get pensions, citizenship documents like aadhaar cards and health cards, to name a few.

Tracking people

The helpdesks are also tracking the problems being faced by the community. One of the residents has been identified as particularly vulnerable is Kankil Godam, a woman in Budhanagar Bhoi Sahi under-42 ward. Kankil is around 70 years old, and lives alone. She has two daughters who have been married for the past 15 years and is without support. She is now dependent on others for her survival but she has become even more vulnerable due to COVID-19 lockdown as she receives neither visitors nor help.

Another woman, P. Annapurna, is 60 years old and lives at Budhanagar Bhoi Sahi.  Her husband has passed away when she was 48 years old. She is childless, lives in a slum and depends on the monthly pension of Rs.500 and 5 kg of ration she gets from the government. That’s why she begs. But now she is in a precarious state as nobody is reportedly coming over to provide her food or any other facility.

In the current grim scenario caused by the lockdown, helpdesks are continuing to support communities. Menaka Kinner, a community reporter, has created a video on COVID-19 and has spread it among other help-desk members to raise awareness.

The help-desk members of Jokhalandi have sprayed phenyl in open drains. As a result, people have been saved from bad odour as well as flies and mosquitoes.

Jaipur: They may be down, but they are not out. Their social profile will not make heads turn – domestic workers, ragpickers, transgenders and daily-wagers – but their determination to make a difference will. In a city locked down by coronavirus, they are continuing to do what they did – educating community members about sanitation, keeping their areas clean, helping them to be safe from coronavirus infection.

Pooja, a contract worker with the Jaipur Nagar Nigam, lives in Valmiki Colony. She is one of few who has the right to move around in the city to keep it clean. Apart from cleaning the area assigned to her, she also sweeps areas in her neighbourhood. She is appreciative of the efforts that have been made for her and other workers. “Government has installed water-campers, soaps and sanitizers at every 500-600 meters for handwashing. We have also been given gloves, masks and wearing them is mandatory. After my morning shift from 7 to 12 pm I return home, bathe and then complete my chores.” She Pooja knows more about cleanliness than most people, she advises her neighbourhood residents how hygiene practices like handwashing and social distancing keeps coronavirus away.

However, CMC members are playing an active role in their communities. Saroj, a sanitation worker from Valmiki Colony works for the railway office. She has learned how to stitch masks and is stitching them for free for workers. “This is my contribution.  I request them to provide cloth but my labour is free,” she says. Another CMC member, Rosy, said that most of her community members were ragpickers and waste collectors. “Their work gets them dirty. Feeding children with dirty hands, touching one’s own face, mouth and eyes, can lead to infection, so I decided to educate the community on the risks. I told that them even if they wash their hands with an inexpensive soap, it reduces the risk of infection.” Lali Devi has kept a bucket and soap outside her door. “Anyone who has to enter will first wash their hands, I insist,” she says.

Choti Begum got a borewell in her locality, Sundar Nagar, repaired by taking it up with the water supply department. “How could we wash our hands if we didn’t have water?” she says. Meanwhile, Sunita, from Balmiki Basti got four clogged sewer chambers cleaned up. “We made regular calls and took support of the sanitary inspector to get it desilted. We are grateful that officers are listening to our concerns and extending support,” she said.

Many of them are facing a drop in their incomes. Lali Devi, a domestic worker, said both she and her husband, a desludging worker, were without work. “I don’t even know if I will get paid for this leave. We get two meals a day but this is not sufficient for our family of six persons,” she said. Transgenders like Pooja, who were dependent on alms, are facing hunger, “The impact on transgender persons is much more than others. We collected alms in trains, but for the last 10 days all work has stopped,” she said. But she is doing her bit in these difficult times. “And yes, we are maintaining social distance and washing our hands regularly like all of you,” she said.

Several CMC members have reported that community interest in handwashing and other practices is not so keen as people tell them that their primary needs such as food are not being met. “They told me: Madam, our stomachs are empty, washing hands will not solve this problem.”

Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) currently works in Jaipur in 18 settlements and 14 wards.  CFAR works strategically with the communities by creating a Community Management Committee (CMCs) whose members, mostly women, are an empowered lot who bring about profound social change in their midst. In Jaipur, 18 CMCs with 151 members and 34 Single Window Forum Members have been working with a large number of people and helping them connect to their entitlements while getting them to take responsibility. CFAR works with urban poor communities with special focus on gender and social inclusion for marginalised and excluded groups, transgenders, persons with disability, elderly, women and adolescents, among others.