E-Paper
Covid impact: 20% people in Odisha and 45% in UP see a grim financial future, says study
The study was conducted to find on the impact of the pandemic on incomes, jobs, migration, availability of essential items, and existing health conditions on households in UP and Odisha.
At least 20 percent of Odisha households do not envisage any change in their financial situation in the near future while 45 percent in Uttar Pradesh expect the situation to deteriorate even further. As many as 53 percent of the households in Odisha feel that restoration of jobs and incomes would take up to six months while 33 percent in UP feel the same. While 81 percent of the households in Odisha were concerned about the well-being of their neighbours during the lockdown, it was 41 percent in Uttar Pradesh.
These are the initial findings of a telephonic survey conducted by New Delhi-based policy thinktank, National Council of Applied Economic Research, in collaboration with the Nossal Institute for Public Health at the University of Melbourne on the “Impact of Coronavirus on Households in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh” last month. The survey among 2,068 households across four districts of Odisha and UP was done by NCAER to gain insights into the impact of the pandemic on incomes, jobs, migration, availability of essential items, and existing health conditions in these two states.
The four districts of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha (Bargarh and Dhenkanal in Odisha and Chandauli and Firozabad in UP) were chosen earlier as part of a larger NCAER-Nossal study on “Health Seeking Behaviour in Four Indian States” where respiratory illnesses are high.
The telephonic survey, done between June 9 and 18 soon after the national lockdown was lifted, found that 95 percent of the households in these two states supported the lockdown imposed by the government and 92 percent expressed confidence in the government’s ability to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. The proportion of households reposing faith in the Government was higher in Odisha (97 percent) as compared to UP (88 percent).
Principal investigator of the survey, PK Ghosh said a comparison was made of the occupation structure with respect to the major source of income for the households surveyed between the two periods, i.e., before the lockdown and during the lockdown. “No major variations in occupation structure were observed between Odisha and UP before the lockdown. However, during the lockdown, UP witnessed a severe impact for households relying on casual labour or non-agricultural self-employment as their main source of income, whereas in Odisha, the impact was felt primarily by households whose members were engaged in casual labour. About 30 percent and 27 percent of the households in UP and Odisha, respectively, had no income during the lockdown,” he said.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
The survey found that the pandemic caused many households to shift occupations for sustaining their livelihoods. About 40 percent of the households in these two states witnessed a disruption in incomes earned from their main occupations. While 11 percent of the households had to change their occupations, 29 percent of the households lost all income sources during the lockdown. The highest degree of shift in occupations (18.1 percent) and also loss of incomes (46.5 percent) occurred among casual labourers.
The survey revealed that a large majority of households- 77 percent in UP and 81 percent in Odisha - reported some reduction in income. In UP, a higher proportion of urban households (88 percent) reported income reduction than rural households (73 percent), but there was no significant difference in income loss between urban and rural households in Odisha. Again, households engaged in casual work (over 90 percent) and those self-employed in non-agricultural work (80 percent) suffered the maximum loss in incomes, with Odisha recording higher figures than UP. In both States, salaried and agricultural workers were relatively less affected by the pandemic. Farmers reported loss in incomes, probably because of the reduced demand for farm goods from bulk consumers like hotels and restaurants that had shut down.
To cope with the loss of income, 59.3 percent of the households in Odisha had to fall back on savings or sale of assets while it was 52 percent in UP. In UP, as many as 65 percent households also resorted to borrowing money to meet expenses. After the lockdown was lifted 75 percent of the households in Odisha, that had completely lost all income during the lockdown, returned to work while it was 46 percent in UP.
The possibility of again finding a livelihood was reported higher in Odisha than UP.
