1st Covid-19 wave hit rural Bihar hard; govt support patchy, says study

A study on the lives and livelihoods of the rural population of Bihar in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic last year has shown the main source of income was affected for nine out of every 10 households. The most widely affected livelihood activities were casual and migrant labour. While every household participating in casual labour was affected, 94 percent of migrant labour got impacted. Migrant and casual labour are the two most important sources of livelihood, and the main source of income for 51 percent  and 18 percent of households, respectively.

The study, conducted by Gaurav Datt, Swati Datta and Sunil Kumar Mishra, was funded by the International Growth Centre and jointly conducted by the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES, Monash University, Australia) and the Institute for Human Development (IHD, New Delhi, India).

The analysis, based on phone interviews with more than 1,600 households in rural Bihar, also found the amount of support received by these households from the government was also limited. For instance, about 18 percent of the respondents had no ration card and were unable to receive the additional free ration of rice/wheat and pulses for eight months.

Also read: Third Covid-19 wave to hit India in Aug; may peak in Sept: SBI Report

Similarly, 52 per cent of households were not eligible for free cooking gas cylinders for three months under Prime Minister Ujjawala Yojana. The survey also found that 31 percent of households had no women Jan Dhan accounts to receive cash transfers and only a quarter of households were eligible for ex gratia pension payments to widows, senior citizens or those with disabilities.  

The study focuses on the experience of rural households during and following the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020. Data collection took place from 17th October 2020 to 10th January 2021 from a sample of 1,613 households in 12 villages across seven districts of Bihar (namely, Gaya, Gopalganj, Madhubani, Nalanda, Araria, Purnia and Rohtas).

The researchers say the sample was an updated version of an earlier (2016-17) sample developed by the IHD as part of its Bihar Research Programme to be broadly representative of the state as a whole in socioeconomic terms. The impact was assessed by comparing a household's pre-Covid status with their situation since Covid.