Reaching out to slum dwellers to address starvation during the 2020 pandemic in India

ABSTRACT

The 2020 pandemic has affected people living in almost every part of the earth. The people who dwell in the slums of India are among most vulnerable. Many have faced starvation every day since the nationwide lockdown in India. Four young social workers formed the “Dalit Seva Group”, in an effort to help slum dwellers in their region of India whose livelihoods consisted of rag picking, beggary, domestic work, and daily wage work. The group, in collaboration with non-government organizations, developed a plan to offer relief to this most vulnerable population.

KEYWORDS:

• Covid-19
• social group work
• Dalits
• slum dwellers
• livelihood
• starvation
• relief work

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Mr. Ashif Shaikh, director of Jan Sahas Development Society, India, and Mr. Raju Chaudhary, district coordinator at Jan Sahas Development Society for providing instant relief items in just a single phone call. Also, I would like to thank Mr. Shubhendu Shekhar, National Law University Jodhpur Rajasthan, who helped us to draft this story. I am truly grateful to all of the young community workers for their time and patience in assisting to meet the goal of providing relief ration kits to the needy families of the slums and, of course, for their cooperation that has been vital for this intervention.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All original names have been changed to maintain the principle of confidentiality.