AN ANALYSIS OF PSYCHO-SOCIO-ECONOMICAL IMPACT ON HUMAN LIVES

COVID 19: AN ANALYSIS OF PSYCHO-SOCIO-ECONOMICAL IMPACT ON HUMAN LIVES

Rajesh Sharma & Avdhesh Jha

Dheeraj (name changed) was working as a daily wages labour in Delhi, who chose to kill himself after getting some food for his wife and two young kids aged 4 and 6 years. His family had nothing to eat for last two days. He could not find ways to feed his family and answer to the call for food for his children and wife. Ultimately took up such drastic step.  In another incident a man was seen collecting spilled milk on the road in a small bowl with his palms. The other 4-5 dogs were seen sipping the same milk at a distance of 4-5 feet. In Madhya Pradesh a man died after reaching his home. He had walked 1600 km to reach his home during lock down period.

These were some cases got media’s attention, but there must be numerous unheard heart breaking such stories or more tragic than this. Year 19 -20 is the hardest year to face the World health crisis and economic crisis. The economic crisis is directly related to well being of every citizen. Economic crisis can lead to increase in crime rate, social and psychological issues.

I think we are all sensible enough to understand what thinking of a human mind can lead to in such time of crisis faced by poor people. The economy can be recovered but the lives lost cannot be recalled. 2332036 people infected, 1,60, 767 people died and 5,99,961 people recovered from this deadly virus in the world at the time of writing about the issue. In India, 16789 people infected, 150 died and 975 people recovered from COVID 19. India observed lock down in different stage and form i.e. one day ‘Janta Curfew’, then 21 days lock down which was extended for another 14 days.

The authors intend to discover the answer of some fundamental questions

What kind of thinking goes into the mind of people during such circumstances which make them to behave accordingly?

The observations mentioned here are based on ‘interviews and conversation’ with nearly 600 people across the country. It also takes the media reports into account for drawing some conclusion pertaining to the issue. These observations and conclusions are specifically drawn from the people affected during ‘lock down period’ due to COVID 19 in India.

In such times people of two categories are found, thinking in the same pattern, one is average standard of living and the poor standard of living. People of Average living are those who earn more than 25,000/-per month. People of poor living standard are those who earn less than 25,000/- per month and are not on regular salary income group.

1.     Survival Vs Life style

Domestic migrant workers have been estimated to be about 4.2 million. These workers range from full-time to part-time workers, temporary or permanent workers. They are typically employed for remuneration in cash or kind, in any household through any agency or directly, to do the household work, but do not include any member of the family of an employer. Some of these works exclusively for a single employer, while others work for more than one employer. Some are live-in workers, while some are seasonal. The employment of these migrant workers is typically at the will of the employer and the worker, and compensation varies. As per the Census 2001, the Indian workforce is over 400 million strong, which constitutes 39.1 % of the total population of the country. These people have least to save in their hands. The entire family is of 6-7 members. In most of the cases they share their living with other occupants as well. The average living space they occupy is 10*10 room. During lockdown these people had least to eat. They were struggling with the issue of survival.

On the other hand there existed the other section of society, which ideally followed the guidelines issued by the govt from time to time. They stayed at home peacefully, for they had everything to manage or they could manage their lives along with the family. People of such class were following the guidelines on how they can spend day, stay positive, do yoga, help the family in cooking, engage yourself in household chores, watch special television programs and movies on their electronic gadgets. Stay connected with the family and friends through phone. Such people did not have the question of survival. They had the bank balance.

Just a rumor in Mumbai on the second address of PM, that trains may be available to these migrant workers. A huge crowd of nearly 1500 people had gathered at Bandra Railway station during lock down period. This evidence is enough to understand the issue of survival and severe challenges that these migrant workers faced.

2.     Desperation Vs Peace

COVID 19 displayed the image of desperation on one side and peace on the other side. This desperation was certainly for getting food, money for their survival, medicine and desperation to be with their own family members. The intensity of desperation was so high that people were ready to walk more than thousand miles with young children. The cause of the desperation is nothing but their poor economic condition. The desperation appeared on the government side also. The government was desperate to control the entry and spread of this deadly virus amongst Indians. It was desperate to make necessary arrangements to treat, test and make people aware about Corona Virus. Entire media was busy talking about it, solving people’s quarries and washing away their myths. Advisory was constantly supplied by all means in all possible languages. Eminent personalities and religious leaders were brought forward to make people understand the consequences and cooperate with the government. ‘Please help us to help you’ slogan was widely followed. This desperation was so high that it appeared as chaos at some point of time. The government and other social groups worked hard to put things together.

The other social group was merely spectator. They preferred to watch and follow the government’s move and directions to keep corona virus in control.

3.     Trust Vs Compulsion

Out of both ‘underprivileged’ and ‘privileged’ people in India, had different set of thinking regarding their response to the instructions or guidelines received by the government. Privileged people expressed their confidence in the wisdom and efforts of the government. These set of people were aware of the dos and don’ts, and preferred to confine them.

The other set of people expressed no trust in the thinking and action of the government. These people were so pressed with their daily and basic needs that any restrictions were compulsion for them. They were compelled to walk down to the place where the food was served and bring some for rest of the family members. They had to go out in search of other basic necessities. This compelling condition was the cause of severe stresses and aggressiveness. 40% rise in cases of domestic violence has been reported during this lock down period.  

4.     Preparedness Vs Crisis

Covid 19, gives many lessons to be learnt. One of them is ‘preparedness’. How well we are prepared to handle pandemic of this nature or otherwise? In the initial phase of this pandemic, almost everyone in India believed that it is going to cause a disaster to us if the virus got success in stretching its arms in this country? In terms of infrastructure and man power we were far behind than other developed nation. One vantil

In this piece we focus on availability of government hospital beds for major states in India. Using data from National Health Profile–2019, we observed that there are 7,13,986 total government hospital beds available in India. This amounts to 0.55 beds per 1000 population. The elderly population (aged 60 and above) is especially vulnerable, given more complications which are reported for patients in this age group. The availability of beds for elderly population in India is 5.18 beds per 1000 population.

The availability of government beds is abysmally low in India, and an epidemic like corona virus can very quickly complicate the problem even further. An estimated 5-10% of total patients will require critical care in form of ventilator support. In a worst-case scenario, according to one estimate at least, we may end up with 2.2 million cases in India by May 15, which implies that we will need 110,000 to 220,000 ventilators. We have no official figures on the number of ventilators available in the public sector, however, we arrive at an estimated figure using the number of hospital beds available — 7,13,986 total government beds, out of which 5-8% are ICU beds (35,699 to 57,119 ICU beds). Assuming that 50% of these ICU beds have ventilators, we arrive at an estimate of 17,850 to 25,556 ventilators in the country. Even in the best-case scenario where all ICU beds are equipped with ventilators, we have a maximum of 57k ventilators to cater to a growing number of COVID-19 patients. Clearly, the growing demand for ventilators is going to outstrip the limited supply really soon. More we go deep into an analysis; the situation would appear scarier. So helplessness to deal with the situation create more anxiety, fear and desperation.

5.     Awareness Vs Ignorance

‘Ignorance is bliss’ is completely wrong with reference to COVID 19 pandemic. Privileged people in this country are exposed to numerous means for getting updated information. But underprivileged people are not equipped with such means. Eventually, they get to know through unreliable sources and develop several myths about the pandemic. Many are still ignorant about COVID 19. Even before newspaper vendors stopped lifting newspapers for distribution, several gated communities and apartments had asked them to stop supply for at least a month with the whatsapp abuzz with unverified messages stating that corona virus spreads through newspapers as it changes several hands till reaching the reader. 

On the other hand, privileged community is well aware, how the virus behaves on different surfaces, in different temperature, how it gets spread and so on. They also know dos and don’ts to prevent themselves from being infected. But, the most of the cases are in urban area than rural area. There appears a positive correlation between the density of population and no. of positively infected cases. It seems there is much more than being aware or being ignorant about it.

6.     Generosity Vs Greed

In the fight against COVID 19, people had got together, irrespective of their religion, caste and creed. The universities and multiversity’s of the popular social sites with the scaremongers were working simultaneously to misinform, mislead and disrupt social and religious harmony. People came out in full spirit and generosity to supply basic requirement like food and shelter to many people. Corporate houses donated in PM COVID CARE generously, even people of different department donated from their salary. Religious centers opened their premises to quarantine people and keep them safely.

There was other set of people who wanted to exploit this time for their benefit. Police had recovered huge amount of food grains stored illegally and was to be sold at higher prices, an industry was sealed because they were manufacturing duplicate and useless sanitizer and selling, and the prices of basic commodities had gone unusually high. But the proportion of such people is insignificant in comparison to the people with generosity and humanities. 

7.     Technology Vs Personal Engagement  

As many other issues, COVID 19 could influence individual’s mind to become more technology savvy. During lockdown, people had to work from home. Technology played a significant role in that. People who were reluctant on the dependence on technology for work, had began to appreciate its usefulness. The logic of human touch had been kept aside. Teachers used it accessibly in preparing lessons, recording, delivering and interacting with students. With the limitations of technology, whether the teachers and students enjoyed it or not they found an option. Some who were struggling also felt enthused after learning to operate. Eventually, the learning could not be stopped and things rolled in other sector of works as well. Though some experienced some technical issues as well in the beginning but later could handle.

Conclusion

It is true that technically and for the record sake things had been done, but teachers and other technology users felt incompleteness without personal or one to one interaction. But for the time being, people did not mind rather appreciated. But for the regular basis, it will not show good results. All these incidents requires education to take necessary steps and train the minds to deal as per the situation. The lessons of ethical practices, generosity and trust towards eachother is the important lesson to be human and towards humanity. The control, restrictions and selfless actions are the steps towards building and developing the national characters which is likely to help the country and turn it a nation.