India's nationwide lockdown has hit the poor the hardest – the homeless, the migrant labour, those who live in slums, the daily wagers – India's most vulnerable population. Hungry and homeless, these Indians have no money and no food.
Oxfam India has already started work in Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Nearly 22,000 packets of hot meals have been provided in Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Meals are being provided to at least 2000 migrant workers, just in Delhi. We have reached out to over 6000 households with dry ration in Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The idea is to quickly scale up the response in a big way to complement government's efforts. The aim is to reach 50,000 families (250,000 individuals) with such direct delivery support as food (dry rations and cooked meals) and drinking water, safety kits for frontline workers and essential health and hygiene supplies (soap, disinfectants, sanitisers, masks, sanitary napkins etc). The Oxfam India— NDTV #India4All telethon is a campaign that aims to raise awareness and also the money that such an effort requires. It aims to bring together India in support of its own, who are suffering terribly during a period that affects us all.
The telethon may be over, but you can still donate to support those affected by the Coronavirus lockdown. Know more about how to make your contribution: https://special.ndtv.com/India-for-All-64/donate-now
You can continue to lend your support the cause and donate for the #India4All initiative.
We have 16,000 migrant labours who have been kept in proper quarantine centre that has basic facilities and even have TVs. The labourers are now going back, which is a good sign. The harvest time is around the corner and the workers are now going back to help the farmers. It is a war like situation and we don't know for how long we will have to fight, we have no idea. We are asking government officials to contribute to state relief funds. It is an unprecedented situation.
We saw that the initial messaging while announcing the lockdown was targeted on the middle class but the economically poor classes were missing from this messaging. The health services, maybe due to lack of transport and suspended services, the migrant workers and construction workers are not able to get any medical help.
People who are employed in the formal sector have their salaries secured but those who are in the informal sector they have nothing to fall back on. Everyone who is supporting in helping to reach the most marginalised, even if they do everything in their power, there still remains a challenge to provide relief in this crisis. There is a need for the government to provide a minimum wage to those affected during this crisis to help them get immediate relief.
Lockdown has been helpful to contain infections, no doubt. 35% of people in slums live in small clusters, the lockdown has done nothing for them. People who are in self-employment, vendors, informal sectors, atleast 20 million people are in such employment, we have not done any justice to them. Migrant workers have only faced problems in this lockdown.
The state is doing a lot of things to ensure that the lives and livelihood of people are not affected and the lives of daily wagers should be taken care of. We are trying to ensure the supply of essential commodities and all the affected people are being provided with necessary items and measures are being taken in the best possible way to help those affected.
Since the lockdown, when daily wagers started going back to their homes and were on road, I started providing some food packets. Now, with help of my father, we identified a slum near my house and adopted it. We are providing food to the slum residents every day. It is important for all of us to forward to help everybody in need in every way we can.
WATCH | "Actors have a great power of reaching out to people, educating them": @bhumipednekar on fight against #COVID19
- NDTV (@ndtv) April 8, 2020
LIVE now: NDTV - @OxfamIndia #India4All telethon to raise money for the homeless. Donate here: https://t.co/4eVTxyBCvO pic.twitter.com/oJkogXDvel
WATCH | "TV is a much larger workforce as far as employing people on a daily wage goes...It's been a big challenge for us," says film producer and director @ektarkapoor on #India4All telethon.
- NDTV (@ndtv) April 8, 2020
Donate here: https://t.co/4eVTxyBCvO pic.twitter.com/RK0eZbT6zj
Watch | "We must contribute as much as we can in fight against #Coronavirus," says actor @SidMalhotra on NDTV - @OxfamIndia #India4All telethon.
- NDTV (@ndtv) April 8, 2020
Donate here: https://t.co/4eVTxyBCvO pic.twitter.com/5Iq8LPRNq9
Join me at 7pm on @ndtv for the #India4All Telethon to raise money for the hungry and homeless affected by the lockdown. To donate log on to https://t.co/Jjn5gLGj6M pic.twitter.com/MeBw5Amy25
- Sidharth Malhotra (@SidMalhotra) April 8, 2020
