Report: Covid-19 worsens pre-existing inequality in urban India
Munawar Zaman
Press TV, New Delhi
A new report on Indian workers’ conditions suggests that workers in the bottom half of pre-Covid-19 labor income group suffered more income losses than those in the top half due to the pandemic lockdowns. Indian workers’ conditions are expected to get even worse over the next decade.
According to a report by London school of economics the Covid 19 pandemic in India has worsened the pre-existing inequality in urban India and left the lockdown generation with lower employment rates especially those in the bottom half of pre-Covid income group suffering bigger income loses.
The report titled “city of dreams no more” said the pandemic has devastated the livelihood in urban India and created a new underclass of workers who are being pushed into poverty.
Farooq is another migrant labor. He has a family of 6. He says the pandemic has destroyed his only source of income since he can’t find work anymore, he said his family has started begging to survive.
Based on the report informal workers especially young people from the lower socio economic group face biggest job cuts among urban workers and if they get work they would more likely be paid less. The report said the pandemic has put urban India at the front line and created livelihood crises.
According to this report, the pandemic has intensified the difficulties and are expected to get even worse over the next couple of decades. The report surveyed 8,500 workers aged between 18 and 40 in urban India, it said the lockdown resulted in severe disruption of industrial production and consumer spending.
The report also said that 52 percent of urban Indian workers went without payment or work and received no financial assistance to deal with the crises. It also stressed that a national policy is needed to prevent many slipping into urban poverty and long-term unemployment.
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