Announcing Lockdown or Night Curfews is the so called "Masterstroke" played by the Governments to curb the spread of covid-19, but without considering the minacious losses caused to a large group of population due to such Lockdown or Night Curfews.

Lockdown or Night curfews are a kind of short term measures to put a immediate control over the pandemic situation. But to the adversity, it also thrashes some categories of people into unimaginable financial crisis.

In this post we will see certain categories of people who are affected most in this pandemic in terms of financial losses. Their voice finds no echo in media houses nor the government or the system brings any plan to relieve their pain.

People badly affected Financially in Covid-19 Lockdown and Night Curfew:

1. Street Food Sellers:

Indian streets are famous for their street foods. The street food shops are big attraction points of the Indian youth and the street vendors encash this opportunity by putting a temporary stall selling their delicious junk foods.

But the pandemic situation, especially the Lockdown and Night Curfews are curse for them because they lose their only mean of earning their daily bread.

The street food sellers who fills the empty stomachs of hundreds of street passers have to go with an empty stomach themselves during this pandemic.

Should the government not do something to compensate their losses occurred due to a pandemic situation?

2. Small Shop Sellers

In this lockdown or curfew situation, the shops are forced to close after a particular time deadline. Of the sellers, the small shop proprietors are left to suffer big amounts of loss everyday. They have to forgo their sales after the deadline timestamp leading them to also compromise with their daily profits. It creates big trouble for them to run their families. Their contribution to GDP may be tiny but they have big burdens of their own, of their families.

3. Vehicle Drivers

Many youngsters are trying to become Aatmanirbhar by driving Cabs, Auto-rickshaw or different kinds of other commercial vehicle. Most of them do a hire-purchase or buy the vehicles on installments basis. They are not only running the burden of their families, but are also burdened with paying their monthly installments.

This pandemic situation is painful for them. Roads are empty, their vehicles empty and so are their pockets. One hand, the burden of EMIs, on the other hand is the burden of families, the drivers are ill-fated to see their worst days.

Does the government have any scheme for them?

4. Tourists Guide

This pandemic situation has a direct hit on the tourism industry. Tourism sector cannot run in this pandemic situation and as result who earns from this sector have to sacrifice a lot. Tourists guides associated with this sector go empty handed because of Covid-19 Lockdown and Curfew situation.

The government should also bring them in the purview of its policies.

5. Daily Wage Earners

Due to this Covid-19 crisis the grassroots workforce in India, the daily wage labourers are facing extreme financial crisis. Of them, the migrant labourers are worst sufferers. From the government side, they are always ignorant. Their pain all started in 2020, when the government all of a sudden announced lockdown without giving them a chance to arrange for the lockdown period. The migrant labourers were forced to walk hundreds of kilometers, some of them with their families back to their origin villages. Their painful story even continued in 2021. In spite the government got almost a year's time, did not take up any remarkable scheme to battle up for the labourers' causes.

6. Tutors

Home tutoring or private tutoring is also a part time occupation for many people in India. In fact, a few others have taken this a full time occupation. Due to Covid-19 crisis, they have to lose their occupation. However many of them are taking up online classes to cope up with the situation, but a lot others cannot initiate this backup plan as a large section of students cannot afford to buy a smart phone. Even some of them experience bad network issues to run a spontaneous online class.

Author: Dipankar Dutta