It’s not lockdown, better to spell it “luck-down”. Now it started for weekend days and after a few days it is likely to be for the full week. The Government is serious for the poor and immediately one scheme was announced for feeding BPL people. The Centre said 80 crore people would be benefited from the scheme. It means indirectly 80 crore people are there who are BPL.
The distributing officers and Sarapanchs are happier getting this news than the people who are going to get these benefits. However, what about teachers in unaided private schools, office assistants, data entry operators, salespersons, receptionists, beauticians, who run small shops and other service providers, who all are the badly hit? Most of them may not receive the salaries for coming few months and they hardly have any savings to support their families. Many of them fear job loss post lockdown.
It is not just the socially and financially poor and the migrant workers who are facing the brunt of coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Activists say lower middleclass families with meagre income are badly hit, but the problem is not getting due attention because of lopsided priorities. While those categorised below the poverty line (BPL) are getting some sort of assistance in the form of cooked food, ration or financial aid from the Governments or NGOs and philanthropists; while an overwhelming majority of the lower middle class are left high and dry.
A BPL family with a white ration card, for instance, can get Rs1, 500 financial aid and 12 kg rice announced by the Telangana Government and is also entitled for assistance from the Centre as relief during the lockdown period. Even those who have no ration cards can get cooked food being supplied by the Government agencies or numerous NGOs and philanthropists. They are also seen standing in queues to receive food rations being distributed by various socio-religious organisations.
The lower middle class is caught in a dilemma as their dignity holds them back from extending their hands to seek aid while the NGOs and philanthropists will be reluctant to give any assistance, lest they feel bad about it, activists say. They also said the focus of all aid programmes of both the Government and NGOs is people who are traditionally perceived poor and who are indeed poor but the lower middle class, who are also in dire need of assistance have been left out. These people don't seek help from anybody. They don't stand in queues for aid. They have been working hard and carrying on with their life but the crisis has suddenly made them vulnerable.
Many have not received salary for March and may not get for a couple of months more. Many categories of mid-level jobs were created thanks to the booming service sector over the last couple of decades. They are mostly employed in the retail sector, healthcare, teaching, hospitality, travel and tourism. Aid workers point out that most of those who fall into this category are sole bread earners for their families and even if their spouses work they also do similar jobs like that of receptionists, office assistants and teachers.
A general perception is that someone like an autorickshaw driver is poorer than others but when you look closely many of them have additional sources of income. Their wives work as maids or as some daily wagers and at least one of their children works as a mechanic. Thus the total income of such a family may go up to Rs 25,000 which is higher than the average income of Rs 15,000 of people treated as lower middle class. NGO COVA, which works among economically weaker sections, women, refugees and migrant workers, felt the need to focus on the people who are not covered by any Government programme or the activity of most of the NGOs. It has drawn a programme to provide financial aid to teachers of small unaided schools. Realising that reaching out to this section with either cash or relief material is not the proper way; the NGO gathered details of the teachers and transferred the money into their bank accounts. It’s reality that most of the teachers in unaided schools draw monthly salaries between Rs 4,000 and Rs 10,000. Only those who take tuitions may have some savings to face this situation.
Middleclass people are facing real trouble for bad pandemic situation, even worse than before. Our State and country are also traversing in same stream. India recorded over 3.46 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Saturday. The rapid rise in new cases has taken India’s total infection count to over 1.66 crore. Out of these, over 25.52 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.38 crore people have recovered after testing positive. The deat toll is now over 1.89 lakh. Delhi on Friday reported a staggering 348 deaths due to Covid-19 as hospitals in the national capital continued to grapple with a severe shortage of medical oxygen. As many as 24,331 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during his meeting with PM Modi, highlighted the crippling oxygen crisis in hospitals in the capital. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a meeting with leading oxygen manufacturers across the country, asking them to utilise the industry’s full potential to meet medical oxygen demand in the coming days. The PM said there was a need to increase the availability of oxygen cylinders as well as to upgrade logistical facilities for its transportation. Modi said the Railways and the Air Force have been deployed to reduce the travel and turnaround time for oxygen tankers so that States facing a shortage of medical oxygen could get it in time. It’s good that the PM also said that every State should ensure that no oxygen tanker, meant for any State, is stopped or gets stranded.
Anyway, the Government is doing well for the BPL people but simultaneously leaders should think up all the middle class people who are working in private sectors. How do they survive? Even a few tax payers are facing trouble to lead a simple life due to the pandemic situation. Will it be better to leave them in the lurch? So, rightly for them we can say it’s not lock down for them, it’s their luck down.
(Engineer Panda lives at L-17/15, Panchasakha Nagar, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar-751019, Mob: 9439128050, bdpanda1@gmail.com)
