Q.17) COVID 19 pandemic accelerated class inequalities and poverty in India. Comment.(UPSC CSE 2020)(Answer in 150 words,10-marks)

COVID 19 is the first world pandemic in human history. This has negatively impacted all the countries but developing countries including India have severely suffered. Indian economy is characterized by serious inequalities; this was accelerated by the pandemic.

1. COVID 19 had its response in different countries in different ways. Indian government was sensitive to the issue from the very beginning. 1.It alerted health facility providers to be ready to face any challenge with promptness and sincerity even if the health infrastructure was not up to the mark. Government after sufficiently alerting people imposed a lockdown. Then to show its obligation to the health and frontline workers, it observed different symbolic acts.

2. The declaration of the lockdown was a sign of precautions but it was not taken well by the workers and more by the small informal sector employers. There was panic among people and they wanted to see their village as well as their immediate relations. Although their fears were not very true but it was more panic than precaution which brought almost 15 million people on roads.

3. The pattern of this reverse migration brought the glaring poverty and inequality in the The first thing was the clear distinction between those states which attracted migrant labour and those states which sent the migrant labour. The states which sent migrants were poor states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, MP, Chhattisgarh etc. Poor people were more affected by the lack of income than the pandemic.

4. The pandemic also created histories of tragedies and heroics. Many people died on tracks, many on their way to the destinations, many met accidents on roads. The heroics also told the stories of tragic comedies where girls carried their ailing fathers on cycles to thousands of miles and some cycled from Mumbai to Odisha.

5. The pandemic affected all but the poor were affected more; the government did a lot, the vulnerable sections were provided with cereals, cash and other benefits, the community rose like anything, everywhere stories abounded of help from private individuals and NGOs.

The pandemic is historic and now when vaccines are available, people because of their poverty and ignorance are not coming forward to get inoculated, the problem is faced even among the health workers. This pandemic has exposed the inequalities and poverty of India. India is one of those countries which has taken all precautions and also developed a vaccine of its own.