Episode 6: Busting Myths on Covid-19
“I am at Channenhalli village which is 60 kilometres away from Tumkur district in Karnataka and am connected with Mr. Manzar through the internet.
“I am at Channenhalli village which is 60 kilometres away from Tumkur district in Karnataka and am connected with Mr. Manzar through the internet.
Covid-19 DEFDialogue is a special series initiated by Digital Empowerment Foundation where the Founder & Director Osama Manzar connects with key individuals within the DEF network in 600 locations across 25 states. The interaction will help find out how COVID-19 and the lockdown situation has impacted their areas along with the measures being undertaking to tackle it.
Covid-19 DEFDialogue is a special series initiated by Digital Empowerment Foundation where the Founder & Director Osama Manzar connects with key individuals within the DEF network in 600 locations across 25 states.
“We need immediate help to ensure our mobiles are working and we can make calls,” said one of the migrant workers stranded on the road from Delhi towards Bundelkhand. Another said, “Our pre-paid amount is over and we do not have money to recharge our phones.” 2000 out of 12000 migrant workers, who started travelling back to their homes, made a call to a toll-free number to complain and seek help for their mobiles to be topped-up and recharged.
As public health and safety measures like social distancing and lockdowns demonstrated agile responses like work from home for many of the urban milieu, a rapid assessment survey by Jan Sahas showed how migrant workers were evicted from informal settlements or labour camps and abandoned by their labour contractors with unpaid wages.
“Essential items have become costlier. Now, getting food is becoming difficult because there is no work or earning,” said Mohammed Shiraj Ansari from Saidanpur cluster of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh who is one of the many weavers who earn a living through daily wages.