• Thursday, March 28, 2024

INDIA

Rural India economic activities did better during 2021 lockdown, says survey

Representational Image (Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

SMART Power India (SPI), a subsidiary of The Rockefeller Foundation, the United States, has released results of their survey called “SPI’s Survey of Mini-grid Villages May 2021” and it has been seen that the overall economic functioning in such villages was less affected by the coronavirus pandemic in 2021.

The survey was carried out to understand the impact of the pandemic, with a sample size of 200 respondents across 48 villages in the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It was seen that the overall economic activity in the mini-grid villages was less affected in 2021, compared to that on the education and healthcare infrastructure in 2020.

SPI, which implements The Rockefeller Foundation’s Smart Power for Rural Development (SPRD) to set up viable and commercially oriented mini-grid ecosystems in India, carries out these surveys from time to time to learn about evolving issues that consumers in rural India deal with in times of the pandemic.

Family incomes were better compared to 2020 lockdown
According to the recent surveys that SPI conducted in mini-grid villages, 61 per cent of the participants said the availability of essential services this year was better than what was seen during the lockdown last year. Family incomes also showed improvement compared to the first lockdown. Twenty-nine per cent of the respondents said that 10 to 25 per cent of their family income this year was affected by the lockdown because they were better prepared. Around 1.6 per cent said their income had no impact of the lockdown, agencies reported.

This improvement in the family incomes in the rural areas has happened because of reliable access to electricity that has been consistent towards the rural communities during the lockdowns of both 2020 and 2021. Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents of the survey were satisfied with both the quality and availability of reliable electricity from mini-grids.

Although India’s economy reflected signs of recovery after the first wave peaked in September last year, it has not been consistent. Income, employment and health are still key concerns for the rural communities.

Speaking on the third edition of the survey, Smart Power India CEO Jaideep Mukherji said, “Through our consumer survey in 2021, we observed that education and health were severely impacted in rural communities due to the lockdown. The current survey revealed nearly 34% of rural students were coerced to discontinue online education due to lack of infrastructure.

As the virus enters rural areas, it is bound to have an economic impact and this distress can’t be captured immediately by aggregate GDP numbers; it will only show after a while. The focus now is on reviving the economy and ensuring that rural communities receive maximum possible help through organizations, government and individuals.”

He said based on the findings of the survey conducted last year, SPI launched the Consumer Voucher scheme while this year, it has partnered with three non-governmental organisations to provide medical assistance to rural people to address the health emergency that the rural communities have faced.

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