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80 percent of the small and marginal farmers said that their income is reduced after Covid-19 outbreak, says to the rapid research conducted by Caritas India in 18 different states of India. In an online meeting on 06 June 2020, Caritas India shared its two rapid research findings conducted on migrants and small and marginal farmers during COVID -19.

The meeting was attended by President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Presidents of Regional Bishops Council and Forum Directors across India. Caritas India took the opportunity to also present the consolidation of the regional meeting discussions on COVID-19 response and the data collection format with the participants.

The pandemic has created an unprecedented situation which has impacted every section of the society, but the migrants and small farmer communities had to pay a lot in this crisis. Livelihood loss was not only seen in the urban areas, but the rural areas also suffered its impact during this lockdown. It has created serious implications on the lives and livelihood of the people.

Caritas India, the social development arm of Catholic Church in India has been proactively reaching out to the most marginalised and, in this regard, organised several webinars with faith leaders, interfaith leaders, experts from varied discipline to understand and plan the action, shared Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director. He also informed that collectively the Catholic Church has reached out to over 1.1 crore people in this COVID-19 with different types of support.

There is a strong need of experience exchange to reflect and communicate because there is a need of good documentation of our work, shared Cardinal Oswald Gracias, President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India. This documentation is important to preserve our work in history and to reflect on our successes and areas of improvements so that other countries, conferences and institutions learn from us. He shared though Catholics are very few in numbers, but we can help so many people in need.

Archbishop Sebastian Kallupura, Chairman of Caritas India congratulated all for reaching out to the most marginalised in the most powerful way. Citing Pope Francis, he shared that though no solution to the real problem is found, all are trying what they can. This gives new hope to the society in general. He suggested to network with local administration and CBCI office for labour to make adequate plans focussing our target group and map the migrant workers in the area. We also need to work with CCBI officer of environment projection to care of our common home and live Laudato si moto. Lastly, he also suggested to organise mass health awareness campaigns along with CBCI Health.

Caritas India presented the rapid research on distress migrants to gauge the extent of severity and to understand the impact of the pandemic on the livelihood of the migrant community. The study focused on basic needs, livelihood, the rights and entitlements, discrimination and exploitation of the migrants. The research was conducted in 10 most impacted states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam.

The research revealed that 28.7 percent migrants do not want to come back to the cities, whereas 32.1 percent showed their willingness to return when the situation gets alright, other 31.3 percent are still in a dilemma. There is a huge loss of education recorded for the migrant children, around 46.4 percent had to discontinue their studies. Majority of 95.2 percent migrants has lost their means of livelihood and the around 10.6 per cent have lost their family members in the pandemic. Talking about the employment opportunity under MGNREGA, only 6 percent have received jobs, whereas 37.8 percent could not get the work due to lack of job cards.

In another rapid research, Caritas India has presented the Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder farming sector. Around 424 farmers were contacted for this research across 18 states through 45 Diocesan partners. The research focused on the impact of the pandemic on agricultural production, distribution, availability of food & nutrition, income generation and expenses.

The research states a shocking revelation that 80.4 percent farmers have reduced income. The Farmers have serious apprehensions on upcoming harvesting season as great financial losses have been incurred in the previous season and hence are fearful to invest in the next season. The research says only 55.4 percent of farmers have received support from both Govt and NGOs whereas 9.4 percent have not accessed any support either from governments or NGOs. The food security is greatly threatened as 49 percent of the surveyed household have limited availability of food stock and around 16.5 percent respondents skipped their meal in the last 10 days due to lack of food availability.

Caritas India has conducted several meetings with the Regional Forum Chairman, and directors of Forum and Diocesan Social Service Society of all the regions to understand the Covid-19 relief response. Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, Fr. Jolly Puthenpura shared the consolidation of series of consultations to understand and plan the strategies of present and future for short term and long term. He presented various activities and support extended to the vulnerable in terms of the community kitchen, food kits, hygiene kits, PPE kits, Shelter and quarantine support, psychosocial support etc. He presented the new pastoral approach in life after COVID-19 pandemic. He also shared the three-tier social intervention approach at national, regional and diocesan levels.

Focusing on the accountability of each and everyone, Executive Director of Caritas India, Fr. Paul Moonjely emphasised the need for good documentation of the COVID-19 response. Emphasising on documenting the experiences and faith responses, he shared that it is important to share the message that the Catholic Church is vibrantly serving the people inspired by its faith. He presented the framework to collect and collate different pieces of information and converting into qualitative and quantitative results which can be a great expression of our faith in action.

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Caritas India presented research findings of Covid-19 impact on migrants and farming sector - India - ReliefWeb