The country’s constantly rising Covid-19 cases – signalling a post-festival spurt in the pandemic with fresh infections outnumbering the recoveries. Considering the rising situation further aggravated by festival season and onset of winter season especially in the capital city of Delhi, Caritas India with support from Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) understood the need of responding towards it.

The lockdown coupled with physical distancing resulted in the loss of jobs and wages for migrant workers living in slums. As casual or daily wage labour, they do not have fixed employers in order to demand paid leave. Even where they have been working in the same establishment for many years, they do not have formal employment contracts to prove their status as workers.

Majority of these migrant workers & slum dwellers fall outside the purview of public provisioning systems in the states that they work in. Without identity cards and ration cards, which establish their domicile in the destination state, internal migrant workers are unable to access food, water, sanitation, healthcare or housing facilities.

The crisis can have long term implications at both economic and social front. It is an estimate that the pandemic could push about 49 million people into extreme poverty. The measures taken to curb Covid-19 has affected many families including job loss, higher prices, purchasing power, disruption of health services, education, To improve the access to health care and nutrition in slums and vulnerable areas, Caritas India and SCIAF planned to support 1500 families with Food, Non-Food Items (NFI) and Hygiene kits.

Last week, Caritas India supported 750 most vulnerable families and 750 sanitation workers from Kirari village in North-West Delhi. These families were selected based on their vulnerabilities and low-income status. The support range with food, NFI and hygiene kits. The families received the Food and Non-Food Items including 10kg of rice, 2 kg lentil and 2 blankets whereas the sanitation workers were supported with Hygiene kits including 3 Industrial masks, 3 pair of heavy-duty gloves and sanitiser.

Caritas India believes that during these unprecedented times all should take a collective effort to make a difference and support each other.