This blog aims to examine how coronavirus has affected the education sector in rural and urban India. Was the implementation of Education Policies strong enough in the first place, to have us questioning the added upheavals caused due to coronavirus? What are the consequences of lack of attention paid to rural education development, and how many we as Indians improve these in the long run?

There is nothing like a good crisis to shake up an industry. The coronavirus has stormed into our lives, altered our realities, and forced us to change for the better. Be it fashion, sports, hospitality, or banking, there is no arena where the coronavirus has not played its hand. The biggest and most important impact has been on our younger generation, the future of tomorrow. No one can deny that the pandemic has opened our eyes, to the need for major reformation of the education sector.  

According to a recent article titled Education: From disruption to recovery by UNESCO (May 2020), nation-wide lockdowns are impacting over 70% of the worlds' student population. The report estimates that across 22 countries, over 290 million students shall be adversely impacted. UNESCO also estimates that about 32 crores of students are affected in India, including those in schools and colleges. The repercussions of the pandemic will continue to produce pronounced changes in teaching and learning practices for all levels of education. But how evenly will these issues be addressed across villages across India, is a matter of concern.

Urban-Rural divide

According to a survey report called the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), more than 50% of the students in the 5th standard attending rural schools are not capable of reading a second standard textbook and do not to solve basic mathematical questions. As if there wasn’t enough disparity between urban and rural education in the first place, the coronavirus crisis has only further impacted our rural education system.

As per the Eighth All India School Education Survey of 30th September 2009, 13 lakh primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools were identified across the country. Out of these, 84% of the schools were in rural areas, while the remaining 16% in urban areas. This fact eliminates the argument of a lesser number of schools existing in village areas. What it does highlight, however, is the gargantuan ineffectiveness of educational reforms in India- does the process stop at writing policies and making school buildings in villages? Even after 11 years of the RTE ACT of 2009, less than 12% of schools are RTE-compliant.  

The problem to address here is the inefficient use of human capital, technology, and communication. Since our foundation was not strong in the first place, the stakeholders of rural education- students, teachers, and parents- have increased concerns in the lack of relief interventions to ensure the continuity of the learning process during the lockdown. The urgency to enact redressal has to be understood as schools are more than just learning centres for students from rural or poor strata. A school provides social protection, nutrition, health, and emotional support to the most disadvantaged, from low- to high-income. About 9.12 crore Indian children are not receiving their mid-day meal during school closure. These meals served as an important safety measure, as economists estimate that 75% of poor families’ income is spent on food. 

National Sample Survey Office 2014-2015 data clearly shows economic factors as key to children dropping out of school. The pandemic and lockdown have impacted 14 lakh migrant workers as well as others working in the unorganised sector (90% of India’s population is engaged in unorganised work). In such a situation, blatant emphasis on technology-driven education will exclude many children in this country from continuing school education. Besides infrastructural challenges, India is a diverse and multilingual country. One nation, one channel, or one digital framework needs to be reconceptualised to ensure equity and quality in education.

Source: NCERT - 8TH AISES CONCISE REPORT

Challenges Faced

Rural schools face a number of challenges when it comes to the learning arena- enrolment and dropout of students, the number of teachers, infrastructural deficiencies, and technological barriers to name a few. One reason why urban schools are far ahead in the race is, due to the way of teaching and administration that differs. While the teaching methodology in rural schools is still primitive, urban schools have always been keen on adopting modern ways of teaching like concept learning and focus on the development of each student through holistic activities. This is complemented by regular interventions and audits by authorities, which becomes comparatively difficult when it comes to accessing villages in far off areas. The incomes and infrastructure in urban cities have enabled the easy introduction of e-learning modes, supplemented by the availability of devices and the internet, during the lockdown period. Inadequate access to facilities, drastic change in earnings, and the movement of families due to the economic shutdown have worsened the situation for rural learners.

A look at the recent emergencies in the country reveals the direct and indirect impacts of natural disasters on school education. Direct impacts include the destruction of school buildings and damage to roads connecting to schools, resulting in uncertainty of reopening and irregular attendance. Indirect impacts include long-term closure of a school due to temporary conversion of the school building to a rehabilitation centre, silent exclusion of children belonging to families in distress through displacement or migration, resulting in child labour, child marriage, and child trafficking.

The National Commission for Protection of Children Rights (NCPCR), which is the primary monitoring agency of the RTE Act 2009, has seen a huge s in the number of complaints it has redressed before the lockdown. In the previous year, the NCPCR addressed around 5,000 complaints; post-outbreak (beginning March 2020), this has increased about 8-fold. Lack of safe drinking water, toilets, hand-washing facility, electricity, and cramped classrooms means schools don’t have the prerequisites to reopen. 

Along with this, contractual teachers across the country have also been hit, with no guarantee of future employment. In many states like Bihar and Delhi, were not receiving their salary for several months even before the pandemic broke out. Those who are willing to participate in COVID-relief operations are still having some stable income, but only momentarily.

Changing times call for changing measures

The crisis will prepare school systems to face such pandemics in the future more efficiently and without prolonged disruption, as well as move towards building a strong public education system in the country. 

Shyam Kishore Singh Gandhi, the headmaster of a school in Jharkhand’s Dumka district, set an example for everyone, by conducting classes for his 200+ students over loudspeakers across the village. This move is to be lauded as the administration understood that students might be bereft of smartphones but still willing to learn amid lockdown. Such unique innovations and interventions pave the way for a better learning outcome. The coronavirus pandemic is teaching us how schooling is not equivalent to merely learning, but encompasses a social space, a social process, to learn to live, think and act for one’s self and the collective good.

This blog covers how the social sector has played a pro-active role in relief work across the country since the onset of the novel coronavirus and highlights the challenges, the need for adapting to the new normal, and how there is an increased degree of cohesion among organisations working in the developmental sector.  

The novel coronavirus has impacted every facet of our lives in ways that has forced homo sapiens to come up with innovative solutions. Collaboration and resilience were seen as important tools to cope up with this crisis. Strict lockdown and quarantine measures were considered imperative to curb the spread of the virus resulting in a complete disruption of the existing social order. Even though the pandemic has largely impacted the lives of people belonging from different strata of the society, however, some sections like the migrant workers, poor, destitute, and the vulnerable have been affected a little more than others. As the lockdown kicked in, the daily wage workers, migrant labourers were immediately cut off from their sources of income and had to lose their livelihoods. This sheds light on the humanitarian aspect of the society wherein people came together and helped the ones in need. The Private bodies-through CSR initiatives along with the Central and State governments routed funds for immediate relief work. 

The social sector was seen to actively take part in fund raising and supplementing the government’s efforts across the country to mitigate the ravages caused by the coronavirus. Organisations were and are still continuing to distribute food, hygiene kits, monetary help, crucial information, transportation facilities to vulnerable and marginalised population like migrant workers, sex workers, waste pickers families and daily wage workers.

On one end while the social sector was receiving accolades by Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog  for their contribution to aiding COVID-relief in the country, on the other hand this pandemic adversely impacted them on several fronts, threatening their capacities and sustainability . ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on India’s Nonprofit organisations’ report by the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) which is based on in-depth interviews with 50 leaders of non-profits, highlights some of the core issues challenging the non-profit segment of the social sector. 

While 76% of the non-profits surveyed are engaged in relief work, only 70% have received additional funding specific to COVID-19. Given that the funds from CSR and philanthropy have been diverted towards work related to healthcare and other immediate relief, programmatic and operational strategies of non-profits is seen to have taken a back seat. They are lying low and are yet to restructure and revamp their programmes. A good amount of the social enterprises have revised their budgets downward by about 25%, expecting a sustained diversion of funds due to the pandemic. Only 16% of the respondents stated that they could cover current costs for more than a year. 

A few organisations are encouraging employees to learn new skills including fundraising which has become a necessity during these times of crisis. The NPOs (Non-profit Organisations) and NGOs which are reliant on corporate bodies for receiving CSR funds are susceptible to face limitations in terms of securing funds for their initiatives. This is primarily because huge amounts of CSR funds which earlier was routed through organisations working at the grassroots level have now been directed towards the PM CARES Fund. On the other hand, non-profits dependent on international funders have received support and flexibility in terms of fund expenditure and decision making however, this may undergo certain limitations in case these unprecedented times continue to last in the future as well. This would have significant impact on the social development sector primarily because this sector heavily relies on in-person interventions necessitating human contact.

Even within the social development sector, industries that heavily depend on collecting data from the field or gauging the field realities are placed in an uncomfortable situation. COVID-19 has obstructed on-field surveys for months to come. The sudden lockdown has dismantled the pre-COVID mode of data collection methods and has urged people to adapt to new virtual ways of data collection. This has also resulted in operations being halted as many players lack the preparedness for the digital switch. This therefore also implies that ground-level data that facilitates decision making and policy formulation to aid the marginal and vulnerable communities also run the risk of being adversely impacted in the longer run. 

Lockdowns and self-quarantine measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 implies that social researchers and data collectors who engage in fieldwork will have to switch to digital and remote data collection and research methods to continue their work. In the survey report, non-profits also stated the need to adopt digital technology to allow remote work and update their operations and programmes to digitise service delivery, so that the communities they are working for do not continue to be at a disadvantage. Therefore, there is a broader consensus among different players in the social development sector to use technology and switch to a digital mode of operation.

Much like the other sectors including IT, BPOs, and InfoTech industries social sector would also gradually use technology to continue their operation. As we move to a ‘new normal’ in the post-COVID world, research and data collection will also flow in a similar direction. Even though there is a debate around the feasibility and authenticity of the “data” collected through virtual means it is needless to say that the world order is open to accepting new changes and come up with innovative solutions to combat the situation at hand.

Faced with the dilemma of collecting reliable data without face-to-face interaction, digital and remote methods of data collection, and management like rapid surveys through mobile phones and SMS, Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and Interactive Voice Response Survey (IVR) have been gaining ground among researchers and organisations. 

While phone surveys allow for high-frequency data collection at a lower cost, they can pose challenges in terms of lack of verbal cues, establishing rapport, or problems when a person doesn’t own a phone. SMS surveys have also proved beneficial in terms of increasing response rates by sending reminders. Another limitation that remote surveys pose is an ethical aspect. More time needs to be dedicated over the phone in explaining the purpose of the survey and research project so that it is clear, and the respondents can give their consent.

Nonetheless, organisations are adapting their projects and programmes to the new digital ways while being aware of the limitations and trying to come up with ways to mitigate the shortcomings. We at Outline India have also started to transition to alternate modes of primary data collection. We have switched from in-person to virtual surveys including web surveys, email surveys, and phone surveys. We have also been using our tech tool Track Your Metrics to collect quick data from the field to inform the policymakers about the current situation, which has been extremely crucial especially in light of the current pandemic. This not only allows us to understand the ground realities but also aids in maintaining social distancing protocols outlined by the government. 

Additionally, other players like ID insight have initiated a Data on Demand Initiative which offers remote/ mobile-phone-based data collection services to support COVID-19 response efforts. Innovation for Poverty Action has launched Research for Effective COVID-19 Responses, or RECOVR to generate rigorous evidence, advise governments, and to bring together partners across the research-to-policy sector to rapidly provide decision-makers with rigorous data and evidence to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. The World Economic Forum again has also launched a COVID Social Sector Mobilization Platforms to bring together leading organizations and actors from civil society, social innovators, and the philanthropic community to respond to the immediate crisis and shape the medium-term policy and action that will be needed post-crisis.

Contactless research is going to persist for the foreseeable future in the post-COVID world and the social sector must adapt and digitise to manifest these changes. As organisations innovate to mitigate the limitations of virtual surveys, it is crucial to remember the fundamentals of field research. Continuous communication with the field researchers should be maintained, social media must be strengthened, and funding sources must be diversified.

To sum up, it is interesting to note that with all its evils and shortcomings the pandemic has to a certain extent facilitated cooperation among different bodies and has elucidated the intertwined nature of our society at large. It has aided us in coming up with innovative solutions, adapt to virtual means of communication, and collectively combat crucial life problems. The pandemic highlights the importance and undaunted power of collective social resilience as we together as a community sail through this crisis.

According to a survey conducted by Hammerkopf Consumer Survey, there was an 87% increase in social media usage during the lockdown in India. Cyberchondria and information overload were observed from excessive internet use during COVID-19 pandemic. Cyberchondria is the fanatical online searching for health related information, usually for specific symptoms. It is the result of cyberchondria and information overload, that human cognitive reasoning is impaired and hence, people are more likely to believe in the fabricated news. The lack of digital literacy in India poses yet another problem. People are far more easily convinced with the fake news. This fake news is almost always accompanied by a physician, nurse, health care worker or any person of authority spelling out the “advice”, example, holding the breath as a test for covid-19 or taking excess vitamins to prevent the infection. Misinformation on Facebook regarding the medicine, example hydro chloroquine to treat Covid-19 resulted in the inadequacy of the medicine in the market because of general public hoarding the same. In India, social media was also responsible for polarizing people against Delhi’s Tabligi Jammat markaz.

But there are also a few wonderful examples where social media has come as a godsend for some people in times of pandemic. A video on the plight of an octogenarian couple whose food stall suffered the wrath of the lockdown and had no visitors went viral on social media. In a matter of 5 days, the video got 30 million views on Instagram and 50 million views on Facebook. The “Baba ka Dhaba” is now not only supported by the crowd but is also sponsored by some leading brands such as Zomato and Pepsi. In another example, a Bengaluru based man turned his domestic help “Saroj Didi” into an internet star in a bid to set up her food delivery business. The Bengaluru based man turned to twitter posting about the “didi’s” exceptional culinary gift and in no time orders came pouring in. All this thanks to social media.

The above examples prove that social media can be really helpful, provided we use some caution. Some guidelines are recommended (Chan et al) for responsible use of social media for disseminating information. The first and foremost being that you should always provide the source of information. You should refrain from sharing information from a suspicious source and also information that may only induce panic. The information should always be distributed through established professional platforms. Social media analytics should help government authorities to exchange and comment on real-time information about ongoing infectious disease threats. The development of a real time information sharing system, monitored by government officials can also go a long way in curbing the propagation of fabricated news. At last, nothing works better than an effective communication between the citizen and public health officials through social media.

To sum up, social media can act as a boon and a bane, the choice lies with us. 

Hey guys! In this blog post, we will take a step-by-step tour to learn how we can manipulate the timestamps using the Python data analysis library - Pandas. Pandas is a fast, flexible, and easy to use open-source data analysis and manipulation tool built on top of the Python programming language.

At Outline India (hereafter, OI), we extensively use the SurveyCTO data collection platform to code our paper-based tools in digital format to conduct various field surveys. After each completed survey, OI researchers use the raw dataset file (in .csv document format) with multiple variables to perform the analysis using Pandas. Every raw dataset generated using SurveyCTO contains 3 mandatory timestamp variables – Submission Date, start time, and end time.

In this blog post, we will enquire about the various steps involved, from installing the pandas to carrying out the need-based data-time manipulation using in-built timestamp functions in the Pandas library.

Step 1: Install the Pandas and Tabulate package

Before you go any further, make sure you have installed the Python and PIP package. Carry out the following command on the windows default command-line interpreter to install the Pandas and tabulate package,

Step 2: Import the Pandas and Tabulate library

We will import the Pandas and tabulate library and use this to read the raw dataset file and perform manipulations,

Step 3: Read the dataset file with timestamps

Now, it's time to read the raw dataset (.csv file) using Pandas to perform the various timestamp manipulations.

कोरोनावायरसकेफैलनेसेलगेलॉकडाउननेदुनियाऔरभारतमेंमानवजीवनऔरआजीविकाकोगंभीररूपसेप्रभावितकियाहै।हालांकि, लोगबेहतरभविष्यकीउम्मीदकेलिएसामाजिकदूरीकेमानदंडोंकापालनकररहेहैं, फिरभीविशेषज्ञोंकेअनुसारऐसीसंभावनाहैकिकुछबच्चेलॉकडाउनकेनिवारकउपायोंकेकारणबालश्रमकेशिकारहोसकतेहैं। विभिन्न अंतर-जुड़े कारक बाल श्रम को बढ़ावा देते हैं। बाल श्रम आवश्यकता का एक कारण और परिणाम दोनों ही है। गरीबी वह मूल कारण है जो बच्चों को पैसे कमाने के लिए किसी भी गतिविधि में शामिल होने के लिए मजबूर करता है। कुछ बच्चे पारिवारिक आय को बढ़ाने के लिए बाल श्रम करते हैं जबकि कई जीवित रहने के लिए।

अंतर्राष्ट्रीय श्रम संगठन 2016 के आंकड़ों (ग्लोबल एस्टिमेट्स ऑफ चाइल्ड लेबर : रिजल्ट्स एंड ट्रेंड्स, 2012-2016) के अनुसार, यह दर्शाता है कि विश्व में  5-17 वर्ष के बीच के 152 मिलियन बाल श्रमिक हैं, जिनमें से 23.8 मिलियन बाल श्रमिक भारत में हैं, मतलब इस आयु वर्ग में 16% बाल श्रमिक (या प्रत्येक छठवें बाल श्रमिक) भारत में हैं। हालांकि, भारत में बाल श्रम से जुड़े कुल मामलों में कमी देखी गई है। 2001 और 2011 की जनगणना के आंकड़े विशेष रूप से 14 साल से कम उम्र के बच्चों के श्रम की कुल संख्या में भारी कमी को दर्शाते हैं। जनगणना आंकड़े के अनुसार, 5-14 आयु वर्ग के 1.26 करोड़ कामकाजी बच्चों की संख्या (2001) से घटकर 43.53 लाख (2011) हो गए हैं।  हाल के दशकों के दौरान, भारत ने बाल श्रम की समस्या को दूर करने के लिए कई कानूनों और कार्यक्रमों को लागू किया है, जो 2001 और 2011 के बीच बाल श्रम मामलों की संख्या में कमी को दर्शाता  है।         

भारत सरकार ने महामारी के बाद से देशव्यापी स्कूल बंद करने की घोषणा की है। विशेषज्ञों के अनुसार यह बंद उन बच्चों को बुरी तरह प्रभावित किया है जो पहले से ही शिक्षा का लाभ नहीं ले रहे है। इस स्थिति ने अनेक कमजोर वर्ग के बच्चों को बाल श्रम में धकेल दिया है। एक सर्वे के दौरान एक बच्चे की माँ ने हमें स्कूल खुलवाने का आग्रह किया , उन्होंने कहा "स्कूल खुलवा दीजिये , बच्चे लोग दिन भर धमा चौकड़ी मचा रखते है " भारत में किसानों और खेतिहर मजदूरों के बच्चों पर भी इसका प्रभाव पड़ा है। घर पर होने से उनके बच्चे खेतों में बुआई और कटाई के दौरान माता-पिता की मदद कर रहे है। कारखानों, खेती या अन्य काम काज में लगे दिहाड़ी मजदूर, पैसा कमाने में असमर्थ थे। उन्हें परिवार का पालन पोषण करने में काफी कठिनाई का सामना करना पड़ रहा था। अपने माता-पिता की नौकरियों को खोने से, बच्चों को परिवार को चलाने के लिए काम करना पड़ रहा है। विशेषज्ञों के अनुसार सामान्य स्थिति फिर से स्थापित होने के बाद भी बड़ी संख्या में बच्चे अपनी शिक्षा जारी नहीं रख सकेंगे और ऐसे स्कूली बच्चों में से  एक बड़ी संख्या में बाल श्रम में लिप्त होने की एक उच्च संभावना है। उनके अनुसार हमारी विभिन्न श्रम कार्यो में बाल श्रम बहुत सस्ता है।

महामारी के कारण अनेक क्षेत्र में नौकरियों में तेजी से बेरोजगारी की संख्या में वृद्धि और आर्थिक नुकसान हुआ है। इसलिए इन स्थितियों को दूर करने के लिए और कंपनियों द्वारा वित्तीय संकट को पूरा करने के लिए वे बच्चे को श्रम के रूप में शामिल कर सकते हैं। वे बच्चों को मजदूर के रूप में नियुक्त करके इसकी भरपाई करने की कोशिश कर सकते हैं। ऐसी स्थिति में बच्चो का शारीरिक, मानसिक और यौन शोषण की अधिक संभावना होगी। कम उम्र की लड़कियों को शादी करके वेश्यावृत्ति में बेच दिए जाने की भी आशंका है।

Amongst the several disruptions spurred by COVID-19, the rise in hunger has been one of the most tangible and hard-hitting for the vulnerable. This blog highlights the reasons for food insecurity heightened by the pandemic. It also delves into the plight of the marginalized bearing the brunt of this double whammy.

Lockdown, restricted trade and travel have made headlines in the last few months consequently altering our regular social and economic patterns. While these governmental measures are seen as imperative steps to curb the spread of the disease, they have compounded the pre-covid food security crisis.   The struggle to achieve the UN’s second SDG “NO HUNGER”, was an already exacting task  before the pandemic and now, it’s become inexplicably difficult. Data suggests that the problem of food security has worsened over the past 5 years with the Global report on food crisis  (published every year by the UN WFP) stating that the unfortunate stuck in the turmoil of ‘Food Crisis’ reached 135 million, highest in the past four years dedicated to monitoring this problem.  

Moreover, internal conflicts, climate change, and economic instability have proven to be the most significant drivers of the food crisis. The calamity has worsened in key conflict areas, notably the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan as well as Haiti, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe. 61% of the total population in South Sudan faced food insecurity in 2019.  The World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that, in all the countries where it operates, between April 2020 and April 2021, around 111 million people have become victims of food insecurity.

According to the UN, ‘Food Security’ means “that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.” There are six pillars of food security - availability, access, utilization, stability, agency and sustainability and expectedly, Covid-19 took a toll on all six of them. The figure below illustrates the same, highlighting the damage to the humanitarian projects undertaken in each area.  Even though during the initial phase of the lockdown the food availability was not extremely hampered, its accessibility to the poor was drastically impacted.

Having developed an overview of it all, let’s delve further into How really did the Virus impact Security?

For the first time, the ‘Food Crisis’ has been driven by the Supply and Demand side both. As the Virus started spreading rapidly across the globe, supply and demand for food was simultaneously being chipped off all over the globe due to lockdowns and trade restrictions.

With the lockdown in effect in more than 100 countries in April 2020, the global supply chain was profoundly affected. “Right now, we have ample global stocks of food to feed everybody. The problem is the movement of those commodities”, said Arif Hussain, the director of research at WFP, in an interview with The Newyorker. The restriction on the movement of products across borders left the countries dependent on food imports completely defenceless.

From 2016 - 2018, the African continent imported almost 85% of its food, depicting their dependence on other countries with regard to food security. Due to the pandemic, last year acute food insecurity in Africa increased by over 60 percent.  Additionally, food producers reliant on selling their crops via distant export markets were highly vulnerable, particularly producers of perishable food and agricultural products. For instance in Bangladesh, shrimp farmers were fighting to eat due to 80% cancellation of export orders for shrimp amounting to  $54m (£39m)

As business activities came to a halt with the mandate of lockdown, unemployment started increasing and there was a dramatic loss of income on a global scale. The resulting drop in the purchasing power among those who lost their jobs had a severe impact on food security, especially for those who were already vulnerable. In India, 91% of the total workforce comprises informal workers.  Out of this about 80% workers lost their jobs during the lockdown and 63% percent survived on two meals per day. The global recession exacerbated social inequality in most countries and affected their access to basic needs such as healthcare, food, sanitation, water, etc, all of which have an impact on food security and nutrition.

Food security was also affected because of rising food prices. Last year, Global food prices rose around 20%  propelling a significant number of people to reduce their food consumption. A survey conducted in the Carribeans by CARICOM showed that around 71% of the respondents observed higher than usual food prices, with lowest income groups more commonly reporting increases. In Brazil, the food prices shot up by more than 15% last year. Rising food prices with people losing their incomes led more and more people to reduce their food consumption.

IMPACT OF COVID ON FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA:

Even though India is one of the world's largest food producers, the weakened supply chain operations during Covid-19, had a drastic impact on the accessibility of food for millions in the country. As the 94th rank holder in the Global Hunger Index, the serious problem of food security in India was aggravated by the pandemic.

Accessibility of food became extremely strenuous as the purchasing power of the society declined while food inflation spiked up to 11.7% last October. A study conducted in the rural area of UP suggested that household food insecurity (HFI) increased drastically from 21% in December 2019 to 80% in August 2020.

Moreover, food safety nets such as Mid Day Meal, which serve as a lifeline for children studying in government schools came to a halt in some states and left its beneficiaries defenseless. Thus, with high food prices, rising unemployment, inoperative food safety nets, distorted supply chain the country’s vulnerability to food insecurity compounded immensely last year.

Way Forward

The pandemic has not only challenged the health system but also the other sectors such as Education, Agriculture, etc. However, in terms of Hunger and Poverty, there are certain goals that governments should formulate in order to prevent such a crisis.

Supply chains should be bolstered and strengthened.

Governments need to strengthen their food safety nets and provide financial support to their beneficiaries in times of crisis.  When on one hand India announced a USD 22.6 billion relief package to take care of food security for the poor, the Brazilian President took a back foot and left the people to decide their own fate. The hunger Index in Brazil has increased to its highest in the past 16 years. People living under chronic hunger increased from 10 million to 19 million in Brazil last year.

It’s an obvious action on the part of international organizations and governments to enhance preparedness and prevention. As food insecurity was already increasing before the pandemic and has only now worsened, indicates that this will be the new normal. Thus, it's important for us to not get caught off guard by such a crisis and prevent food insecurity from economical and environmental changes.