Impact of Covid-19 on Rural India

The Foundation for Agrarian Studies conducted a Rapid Assessment Survey to study the impact of Covid-19 on rural India.

This Survey is based on telephone interviews of 43 informants from 21 villages across 10 States of India. These are villages where detailed socio-economic surveys have been conducted during the last decade by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies (FAS) under an India-wide programme of village studies, titled the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). The project involves description and analysis, and the creation of a detailed database on village India in diverse agro-ecological and socio-economic regions of the country. PARI began in 2006, and now covers 27 villages in 12 States of the country. The villages cover a wide range of different agro-ecological regions in the country.

For the Rapid Assessment Survey to study the impact of Covid-19 on rural India, we have considered 19 of the 27 PARI villages (details are in the table below). In addition, we have also conducted three interviews in two villages, Adat and Chittilappilly in the Adat panchayat in Thrissur district, Kerala.

The survey team selected two to three informants from each village making sure to identify at least one manual worker and one peasant household. The questionnaire canvassed with each informant had three broad sections: on health, on household employment and incomes, and on government benefits. At the beginning of every call the respondents were informed about the purpose of this exercise. The interviews were conducted after receiving full consent from the respondents.

Interview team: Arindam Das, Gaurav Bansal, Ranjini Basu, Soham Bhattacharya, Deepak Johnson, Rakesh Kumar Mahato, Shruti Naghbhushan, Mrityunjay Pandey, Subhajit Patra, Jancy Rani, C.A. Sethu, Shamsher Singh, V. Surjit, and L. Vijay Kumar.

Survey Coordinators: Tapas Singh Modak and Sandipan Baksi.

The questionnaire used for the survey is available here.

Table List of villages with specific features

 

Village District State Some specific features Number of interviews
Katkuian West Champaran Bihar Groundwater irrigated. Major source of labour out-migration. 3
Nayanagar Samastipur Bihar Groundwater irrigated. Falls in the litchi-growing region of Bihar. 3
Alabujanahalli Mandya Karnataka Falls in the Cauvery-irrigated region of South Karnataka. The major crops grown are sugarcane, rice, and finger millet. 1
Siresandra Kolar Karnataka Dry village. Sericulture and dairying are important agricultural activities 3
Zhapur Kalaburagi Karnataka Unirrigated village. Many workers from the village are employed as daily labourers in stone quarrying. 2
Adat Thrissur Kerala Low-lying wet region known traditionally for rice cultivation. 2
Chittilappily Thrissur Kerala Low-lying wet region known traditionally for rice cultivation. 1
Gharsondi Gwalior Madhya Pradesh Limited canal and groundwater irrigation. The major crops are soya bean, wheat, sesame, and black gram. 2
Warwat Khanderao Buldhana Maharashtra Unirrigated. Cotton is the main crop. 2
Tehang Jalandhar Punjab Groundwater irrigated. Rice (Kharif), and Wheat (Rabi) are the main crops. Agricultural activities in the village are performed mostly by migrants from Bihar. 2
Hakamwala Mansa Punjab Groundwater irrigated. Rice (Kharif), and Wheat (Rabi) are the main crops. 2
Venmani Nagapattinam Tamil Nadu Located in the Lower Cauvery delta. Rice (Kharif) is the main crop. 3
Palakurichi Nagapattinam Tamil Nadu Located in the Lower Cauvery delta. Rice (Kharif) is the main crop. 2
Mainama Dhalai Tripura It has a mix of low land and sloping land. Rice and vegetables are cultivated on low land. Rubber is cultivated on slopping land. 1
Khakchang North Tripura It is a tribal village located near the border of Tripura and Mizoram. Slash and burn (jhum) cultivation in practiced here. 1
Muhuripur South Tripura A low land village characterised by rice and vegetables cultivation. River Lift Irrigation (RLI) is the main source of irrigation. 2
Harevli Bijnor Uttar Pradesh Canal-irrigated. Rice, wheat, and Sugarcane are the main crops. 2
Mahatwar Ballia Uttar Pradesh Groundwater irrigated. The major crops grown are rice, maize and wheat. Livestock activity is important for all sections of households. 2
Panahar Bankura West Bengal Groundwater irrigated. The major crops are Rice (Kharif, and Summer), potato, and sesame. 3
Amarsinghi Malda West Bengal Groundwater irrigated. The major crops are Rice (Kharif, and summer), and jute. It is source of  labour out-migration to North India. 3
Kalmandasguri Koch Bihar West Bengal Unirrigated. Muslim and Schedule Castes (Rajbanshi) households constitute the majority in the village. Fishing is an important occupation among Muslim households. A major source of labour out-migration. 1

 

Date

Apr 13 - 18 2020
Expired!

Time

All Day

Local Time

  • Timezone: America/New_York
  • Date: Apr 12 - 18 2020
  • Time: All Day

Location

Bangalore

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The Foundation for Agrarian Studies is a charitable trust based in India and established in 2003.

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Independent Researcher

Parvathi Menon is a writer, and former journalist. She was Resident Editor of The Hindu, Bengaluru, and also served as the London Correspondent of The Hindu.

Namasivayam is currently a member of the Kerala State Planning Board. He has over 37 years of consulting experience of which over two decades have been spent on leading several large, complex, multi-year reform engagements in various sectors, with a special focus on the electricity sector. He was Deloitte India’s Energy and Resources Industry and Government sector Leader until his retirement in March 2017. Before joining Deloitte, Namasivayam was part of the India leadership team of PwC, and led its Government Reforms and Infrastructure Development service unit and Energy Utility & Mining industries.

Sarita is a special teacher and certified trainer in QST for autism spectrum disorders. She has been working at the Spastics Society of Karnataka from 2007, and is currently the Head of the Autism Spectrum Unit.

Professor, Department of Economics, Meijo University, Japan

Associate Professor, Kanagawa University, Japan

Former ICSSR National Fellow, Former Professor and Head :
1. Department of Economics, University of Madras

2. Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Economic Studies, University of Madras

Yogesh holds an MA (Honours) degree in Economics from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana. He is interested in understanding credit markets and financial inclusion in rural India. Yogesh will be a part of the team involved in the entry and processing of data collected during our recent re-survey in Uttar Pradesh.

Sai Chandan Kotu is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a Master's degree in Economic Growth, Population & Development from Lund University, Sweden, and an Integrated Master's in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He has previously worked with FAS as an intern and is currently working on the entry and processing of data collected through our recently concluded survey in two Uttar Pradesh villages. Sai is interested in studying farm mechanisation and technology adoption in Indian agriculture.

Utkarsh is the Communications and Events Coordinator at the Foundation. He holds an MA in Global Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi, and has worked in different capacities, participating in field research, and organising academic and other public events in various organisations. Utkarsh's interests include geopolitics, conflict history, and technology.

B.A. Economics student at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Saniya is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. She is working with our team to process the data collected from the two villages in Uttar Pradesh. The villages were resurveyed by the Foundation in July.

Komal is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Her research interests include agrarian labour, caste, and gender. Komal is currently working on (un)freedom and labour relations in rural India.

Master's Student at Lund University, Sweden

JSPS Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Kulvinder Singh

Kulvinder is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and an MA in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has previously worked with the Haryana State Government as an Information, Education and Communication Expert, Atal Bhujal Yojana. Kulvinder is interested in studying aspects of agrarian change and rural transformation in India and aspires to do a PhD soon.

Aaliya Sehar

Aaliya is the Editorial Coordinator of the Foundation's open access journal, Review of Agrarian Studies. She holds a post-graduate degree in English Literature from St Xavier's College, Ranchi. She has previously worked as a sub-editor for a magazine publishing company. She aspires to do her PhD soon.

Research Fellow, Azim Premji University, Bangalore

M.A. Economics student at Ahmedabad University

Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Assistant Professor, Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics University (BASE), Bengaluru

Sujan works as the Online Events Coordinator at the Foundation. He holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism and B. Tech from National Institute of Technology Agartala. Sujan also has experience working as a translator and an online journalist.

M.A. Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Retired Professor, Osaka Prefecture University

Consultant, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and Retired Head of Department, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University.

Senior Fellow, Climate Change, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

Former Associate Editor, Frontline magazine, Bangalore.

Research Scholar, Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London

Assistant Professor - Sociology, FLAME University, Pune

Garware Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Advanced Study of India, and

Non-Resident Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania

Professor, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Independent Researcher

Postdoctoral Fellow – Gender Research, Sustainable Impact Platform, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

Associate Professor, Bihar Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Patna, Bihar.

Research Scholar, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, and

Technical Assistant, Office of the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board

Department of Economics, Yokohama National University

Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Division of Food and Environmental Economics, Department of Agricultural Engineering and Socio-Economics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University.

Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

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Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

British Academy Newton International Fellow, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Senior Lecturer, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Master of Social Work. Vijaykumar is part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI) team.

V. K. Ramachandran is retired Professor and former Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. He currently serves as the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board. He is one among the Trustees of the Foundation. He is also the Editor of Review of Agrarian Studies.  Webpage

Tapas is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in Social Science from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His research interests include the irrigation economy of India, water policies and institutions, agricultural policy, economics of farming, and rural incomes. He is also interested in the use of spatial technology to study the Indian countryside. He leads the Project on Village level Spatial Information using Geographic Information System (GIS), and the Pandemic Study Unit of the Foundation that examined the impact of Covid-19 pandemic in rural India.

Sudha is an Administrative Assistant of the Foundation. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation and also has taken part in fieldwork organised by the Foundation.

Subhajit is a Senior Data Analyst of the Foundation. He has done B. Tech from West Bengal University of Technology. He works primarily on issues related to employment and livestock economy in rural India, and has in-depth knowledge on cleaning and processing of survey data. He has also hands-on experience in the use of R software for data analysis.

Sethu is a Data Analyst of the Foundation. He has done Integrated Masters in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. He has experience of coordinating a field survey of two villages in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu in 2019. He is interested in agrarian relations in Tamil Nadu and Geographic Information System (GIS).

Sanjukta is a Senior Data Analyst working on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India. She holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Application from West Bengal University of Technology. Her major research interest lies in rural education and schooling. She has experience in working with a web development company prior to joining the Foundation.

Sandipan is a historian of Science, with a Ph.D. from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. His research interest lies in the history of agricultural science in India. He started his professional career as a Software Engineer and a Business Analyst with the Tata Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, before shifting to social science research. He holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science Engineering, and was a gold medalist for post-graduate studies in School of Development Studies, TISS. He joined the Foundation as the Programme Coordinator in 2016 and became the first Director of the Foundation in 2018. He oversees the work of the Foundation and its various research projects.

M. Sc. in Development Practice. Riya assists in editing the Review of Agrarian Studies and other publications of the Foundation.

M. A. Economics. Ritam works on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI) team.

Rakesh is a Senior Data Analyst working on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Economics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Hyderabad. He works primarily on issues related to migration and employment.  Rakesh is also interested in issues related to access to basic amenities in the Indian countryside.

Pinki works as Assistant Manager-Accounts at the Foundation. She has done her Masters in Financial and Management Accounting from Sikkim Manipal University, and Masters in Economics from University of North Bengal. She is experienced in various accounting software packages. She has also been involved in several field work projects of the Foundation.

Noopur Varma is Honorary Consultant, Human Resources at the Foundation. She has more than 30 years experience in the area of Human Resources. She started her career in Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, where she worked for 14 years and her last corporate job was with Deloitte Bangalore. She is currently an independent consultant taking up projects and assignments for companies. She is involved with Strategic Human Resources initiatives of the Foundation.

Nihira graduated from the New School University, New York with M.Sc. in Media Studies. Her educational background is in film-making and audio production with a concentration on South Asian history. She joined the Foundation for Agrarian Studies in August, 2020 as the Online Events Coordinator.

Madhura Swaminathan is Professor and Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. She is one the Trustees of the Foundation. Webpage

Jayamary is our Office Assistant. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation in maintaining office supplies and in upkeep and maintenance of office premises.

Divya works as the Administrative Executive at the Foundation. She handles the administration and operational human resources activities. She is experienced in the use of MS-office, and accounting software packages. She also assists the Foundation in organising and coordinating various events. Divya has been involved in several fieldwork projects of the Foundation.

Deepak is an Associate Fellow at the Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. As part of his doctoral research Deepak analysed the incomes from rice production in Kerala, and compared the crop incomes in Kerala with the Mekong Delta Region in Vietnam. Deepak is interested in agricultural policy, with a particular focus on agricultural costs and incomes. Data visualisation is another area of his expertise. He has experience of working at an analytics company. He holds an Integrated Masters in Economics from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. 

Arindam is the Joint Director of the Foundation. He is pursuing Ph.D. in Economics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Hyderabad. Arindam leads the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). He has worked at the Foundation from 2011 and has in-depth knowledge about various data management and analysis techniques. His research interests include rural wage rates and its determinants, rural employment, and Economics of farming. He has hands-on expertise in the use of R software for social science research.

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