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Vulnerability Assessment of Informal
Sectors and Way Forward in the time of
COVID-19 Pandemic in Bhuj, Kutch
June 2020
Prepared by
Homes in the City (HIC)
(www.homesinthecity.org)
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Contents
1. Background ...........................................................................................................................1
2. Introduction to this Study......................................................................................................2
3. Local women’s collective from slum settlements.................................................................3
3.1Profile of Sakhi Sangini Members ...................................................................................3
3.2Expectations from Government and Social Organizations ..............................................7
3.3 Need-based Assessments.................................................................................................7
4. Female Sex Workers.............................................................................................................9
4.1Profile of Samvedna Members.........................................................................................9
4.2Expectations from Government and Social Organizations ............................................11
4.3Need-based Assessments................................................................................................12
5. Migrant Workers.................................................................................................................14
5.1Profile of Migrant Workers............................................................................................14
5.2Expectations from Government and Social Organizations ............................................20
5.3Need-based Assessments................................................................................................22
6. Street Vendors.....................................................................................................................24
6.1Profile of Street Vendors................................................................................................24
6.2Issues Identified..............................................................................................................25
6.3Need-based Assessments................................................................................................29
7. Cattle Rearers......................................................................................................................31
7.1 Profile of Cattle Rearers.................................................................................................31
7.2 Need-based Assessments...............................................................................................34
8. Waste Pickers......................................................................................................................36
8.1 Issues Identified .............................................................................................................37
8.2 Need-based Assessments...............................................................................................38
9. Way Forward.......................................................................................................................39
9.1 Measures by CSOs in collaboration with the government ............................................39
9.2 Proposed interventions to make resilient Bhuj ..............................................................40
Annexures................................................................................................................................43
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Abbreviations
ACT Arid Communities and Technologies
APMC Agricultural Produce Market Committee
ART Antiretroviral Therapy
BoCWWB Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board
CANSA Climate Action Network South Asia
CBO Community-based Organisation
COVID- 19 Coronavirus Disease 2019
CSO Civil Society Organisation
FIR First Information Report
FSW Female Sex Worker
GPA Gujarat Police Act, 1951
HIC Homes in the City
IPC Indian Penal Code
KMVS Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan
LPG Liquified Petroleum Gas
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NNSW National Network of Sex Workers
NULM National Urban Livelihood Mission
PDS Public Distribution System
SHG Self-help Group
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
STD Sexually Transmitted Disease
TDS Total Dissolved Solids
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1. Background
The 21st century has ushered in a period of galloping economic growth and technological
advancement coupled with materialism and consumerism across the world. These have led to
stark structural societal changes in a growing number of countries, increasingly in the
developing countries such as India. India is mounted with the challenges of an expected high
rate of urbanisation, multiple issues of climate change, rising economic and social inequalities,
large development deficits and deprivations, etc. Being the second largest country by
population in the world and given its low level of urbanisation (around 31.7 per cent population
living in urban areas in 2011 as per Census, 2011), yet over one-third of the Indian population
are still living in slum settlements. In fact, this number would be much higher, if unauthorized/
informal settlements are included. Various studies reveal that over 90 per cent of India’s
workforce earn their livelihoods from the informal sector. Besides, the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic has shaken the overall political, economic and social landscape of the country in
tectonic ways.
With informality being one of the main characteristics of urban India, the informal sector —
already grappling with problems of poverty, deficits in housing and basic infrastructure
services, lack of tenure security and employment opportunities, impacts of natural disasters
and climate change — is surmounted by the additional challenges and uncertainties brought
forth by this pandemic. The nationwide lockdown announced from the midnight of 24th March
2020 was proposed as the only step to protect India from the fast spreading COVID-19 cases,
in a hope to contain it to a manageable level. Initially the lockdown was announced for about
20 days till April 14th 2020. However, since then it has been extended thrice, albeit with
different rules for public activities, and it is highly expected that the lockdown would be
extended further for considerable duration, and with certain relaxations. This crisis as well as
the lockdowns have been tremendously detrimental for business and economy.
The lockdowns may have been a necessary step by the government, however it caught most of
the informal sector off guard. And even if the working force in this sector were given enough
time of notice, most likely, they may have not been able to prepare anyway without external
support. In light of the figures highlighted above, one can assume the reverberating impacts on
the proportion of population being affected by this pandemic. With more than 90 per cent of
India’s workforce in the informal sector, almost 400 million informal sector workers1 —
impacted with lost wages and employments — are at a risk of falling deeper into the vicious
cycle of poverty during this crisis.
1
‘ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work’ (second edition), International Labour Organization, 7th
April 2020. Accessed from https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---
dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_740877.pdf
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2. Introduction to this Study
In the above context, this study has been undertaken by the Homes in the City (HIC)
programme in Bhuj, through its partner organisations - Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan
(KMVS), SETU Abhiyan, Sahjeevan, Hunnarshala Foundation and Arid Communities and
Technologies (ACT). These civil society organisations (CSOs) were formed in the recent past
with the motive to organise and empower these marginalised workers and communities The
HIC is already working with many informal sector workers.
This study is an attempt to present the existing challenges faced by six specific groups of
informal sector workers as well understand the sector-specific issues which have emerged due
to this pandemic and how the pandemic is expected to impact these sectors in the coming days.
The groups covered in this need assessment study include local members from the women- based collectives of Sakhi Sangini, female sex workers (members of Samvedna), migrant
workers, street vendors, cattle rearers and waste pickers. Semi-structured questionnaires were
prepared for each group soliciting information on the status of their housing and access to basic
services, problems faced due to the lockdown, expectations from the government, CSOs, etc.,
various measures which could have alleviated their problems and challenges from their
perspective (see Annexures for detailed questionnaires prepared for each group). While
collecting the data, the team attempted to be inclusive of all demographic parameters such as
age, caste, economic conditions, and their habitat too.
Due to the lockdown situation prevalent in the country, these need assessment surveys were
conducted with these groups through telephonic conversations over a period of 12 days, from
8
th May 2020 to 20th May 2020. These conversations attempted to understand their overall
profiles including status of housing and access to basic services, problems faced due to the
lockdown with real narratives from the field, identify various measures — ranging from short,
medium, and long-term for each of these groups which could alleviate their existing problems
and challenges.
As we know that these marginalised sections are at a high risk due to climate change as well,
this study also focuses on how to develop and build resilience amongst the poor and vulnerable
sections of the society by securing their livelihoods along with access to housing, basic
services, social security, etc., so that they can emerge out the impacts of this crisis and live with
dignity in this world.
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3. Local women’s collective from slum settlements
Sakhi Sangini is a collective of women living in slum settlements of Bhuj and mentored by
KMVS. This Kutch-based women’s organization — a partner of the HIC programme — has
been organising and mobilising rural women of Kutch into local collectives who are capable
of working independently towards developing their abilities and confidence to address their
issues of concern. KMVS supports these women to develop their self-image, self-esteem, and
access human, educational and financial resources through its collective strength. The team
collected data from all the slum settlements wherein Sakhi Sangini is presently operational.
Around 38 women, i.e., 1.2 per cent of the total Sakhi Sangini members,
2 were interviewed
intensively over phone owing to the current lockdown situation.
3.1 Profile of Sakhi Sangini Members
While conducting the survey, almost all females were living in their own houses. But many
mentioned that their houses were built on public lands, as most of them lived in slum
settlements. Out of 27 per cent of females who lived in rented accommodation, 19 per cent of
women were unable to pay the rent for last two months. Around 85 per cent of the interviewed
females had no members of their family with regular jobs or employers. The male members in
their families predominantly worked as daily wage laborers, at shops, autorickshaw drivers,
etc. Hence, all of them had no steady inflow of incomes to survive.
Figure 1: Housing status of Sakhi Sangini members (in %)
Source: Primary Survey, May 2020.
In terms of access to basic civic services, all of them spent money for access to water supply
from water tankers due to insufficient water supply and since their houses were built on public
lands. Half of the interviewed females did not have access to sewage lines, out of which 30 per
cent women had soak pits. Mainly 20 per cent of the surveyed women, predominantly from
Vasfodawas and Juni Ravalwadi areas, mentioned that they were forced to defecate in open in
2 Sakhi Sangini has around 3,000 members in Bhuj.
68
27
5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Own Rented Relatives’ place
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women had also received additional cash of INR 3,000 through KMVS for their individual
expenses.
3.2 Expectations from Government and Social Organizations
In the last segment of the questionnaire, the team asked them about their expectations from the
government as well as other social organizations. Below mentioned are the most common
expectations, this group of women had: Firstly, they expected the social organizations to
engage in a dialogue with the government for their land rights and avail them land on lease or
permanent housing facilities. Secondly, employment schemes should be announced by the
government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should train people for better
income-earning prospects so that people can sustain in such strange conditions. And thus,
support them with technical assistance or loans. Fourthly, with almost negligible incomes and
rising outdoor temperatures, people feared and avoided to use electricity as they might not be
able to incur the bills. Hence, many said that it would be very helpful if the electricity bills for
these two months could be exempted by the government. Fifthly, many women had mentioned
of having no food/ ration left, and hence wanted more food ration kits from the organizations.
From the above, it clearly evident that women are the most vulnerable to any crisis, be it any
pandemic or climate change. Given women’s vital primary and secondary roles in families and
tertiary roles within society, the society cannot afford to let any crisis — COVID-19 or climate
change — affect their health, without risking greater harm to all of us and society. With the
vital roles performed by women in our society, they bear additional impacts owing to heavy
reliance of other family members on them. In case her children or spouse are suffering
physically or mentally, additional duties may fall on her – taking away a large share of her time
and energy from her career and/ or much needed self-care. It is well known that there are
interlinkages between impacts of climate change to health leading to economic stresses and
adding onto the responsibilities of women. Thus, diversifying sources of income is one of the
most important ways to protect women. If they are enabled and helped to adapt to climate
change and improve their livelihoods and earnings, everyone benefits — including their
children, spouses and families.
3.3 Need-based Assessments
Below-mentioned are various activities that could be planned and executed in three phases to
help them transit from this situation.
Short-term Measures:
• To initiate awareness programmes and campaigns in slum settlements about the
COVID-19 pandemic in terms of protecting themselves and their family members.
• Need for counselling facilities to ease out people’s mental stress.
• Interventions from the District Collector’s office requesting landlords not to collect
rents, as done in other districts and cities. Same could be done for electricity bills too
— the electricity company could ease some burden and give discounts to residents
living in such settlements.
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Regarding access to water supply, all of them spent money to purchase bottled water for
drinking purposes. Many of them called for water tankers sometimes, due to scarcity of
municipal water supply. Mostly, all had access to sewage lines in their homes, around 2 per
cent respondents mentioned having soak pits. Almost all mentioned of difficulties in paying
electricity bills; however, none had paid the bills yet as these usually come at the end of two
months. All of them were conscious of the fact that they had to keep additional INR 1,500-
2,000 aside for paying these bills. For cooking purposes, 50 per cent used coal and wood
gathered from common plots, mainly prosopis juliflora, as cooking fuel; 30 per cent females
had LPG stoves; while 10 per cent used kerosene. Remaining 10 per cent mentioned that they
get their food from their workplace itself.
When asked about how they were managing their food supplies, many females did not have
ration cards on Bhuj address. Thus, unfortunately they could not avail the free ration provided
by the government. Also due to their profession and the taboo attached to it, very few religious
organizations lent a helping hand. While our organization tried their best to help them, but not
all FSWs could be reached out given the limited resources. Due to these above conditions, this
group was struggling to make their daily ends meet.
The family members of around 40 per cent FSW were suffering from chronic diseases or severe
health problems and needed treatment. But in some severe cases, they needed money for
Voices from the field
“I don’t want to live the life, which I am forced to live right now.” This is what Pooja Chavda,
aged 30 years, mentioned when asked about the reasons which compelled her to attempt suicide.
A native of Bhuj, she has been and working as a FSW since last six years. Prior to which, she
was married to a youth named, Sureshbhai, but soon after the marriage, her husband started
torturing her, both physically and mentally. When she confided this to her friends, they advised
her to take divorce. Within one and a half years of marriage, she was alone without any support
from her maternal side or husband’s family. That is how she got into the business of sex work.
Pooja does not have her own house to stay and lives in a brothel alone. And when the business
got slower due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, she became alone without shelter, food
and family. More than the fear of being infected by the virus, poor living conditions, loneliness
and emptiness ate her up. She was constantly under mental stress and had nowhere to go. One
day, she finally gave up and drank poison; but fortunately, some of her colleagues and people
from Samvedna came to know about her suicidal attempt and rushed her to the General Hospital
in the city.
Currently, she is staying at her friend’s house and was found to be in a better shape when the
members of Samvedna last contacted her. The survey team provided her cash support of INR
3,000 so that she has some money in her hand to purchase essentials. Being a member of the
Samvedna group, other members are also reaching out to her to stand in solidarity. But
remember, there are many other such females, like Pooja, who are also looking for support.
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treatments or medicines. Very few were suffering from any diseases. But none of them required
special care or medical facilities.
Only 2.5 per cent of these females or their family members had Jan Dhan accounts. Those
having these accounts had received an amount of approximately INR 500/person (depending
on the number of accounts the family members had) in their accounts. From the remaining,
many had also taken loans from local money lenders at high interest rates or from relatives by
keeping jewellery as mortgage. Although, the loan amounts were not more than INR 20,000;
but again, with no business and steady income in hand, they were unsure of how they would
be able to repay these amounts. Understanding the situation of their business, customers had
decreased. If any came at all, they paid half the rate prior to lockdown or left without taking
the service. These females were in mental trauma, unable to understand how to deal with such
a situation because their business was mainly based on physical relationship.
Even after the lockdown would be discontinued, they saw very few possibilities of getting back
to the business they had earlier. When asked about alternative methods to earn money, many
were clueless because they were not trained in any other skills, and probably were not willing
to change their profession. However, some displayed their willingness to work in alternative
fields; while others, out of helplessness, had started working as ragpickers or selling vegetables.
Talking about mental stress and trauma, all of them or someone in their family was suffering
from it. The constant fear of not getting business, and, even if they worked, the chances of
getting infected with COVID-19 was looming over them. On the other end, struggles to run the
family, pay bills and manage food expenses and live in hygiene conditions was driving them
to such an extreme level that suicidal attempts were made by many.
4.2 Expectations from Government and Social Organizations
Lastly when asked about their expectations from government and CSOs, almost all of them
responded for resolving their housing problems because without any housing facility, they were
unable to get proper basic facilities and had to spend more money. Some females, who had
opened up about their profession, wanted schemes and packages from the government, mainly
for food and financial support like other informal workers, to sustain this harsh period.
Employment opportunities or seeking some middle ground to enable them start their businesses
were some other expectations mentioned by this group.
The major concerns for FSWs were about their health and constant exposure to diseases at their
workplaces. Very commonly were HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) due to
unprotected sex or direct contact with the carrier – customers. Also, due to change in climate
there is rapid increase in food insecurity and the vulnerable communities are most hit with it.
Without access to adequate food supplies, people infected with HIV are at a higher risk of
malnutrition which can prove to be detrimental to their overall health and immune system.
Food insecurity can also inhibit their bodily uptake of and adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy
(ART) drugs they may be prescribed for treatments. Though many sex workers had been
deceived or lured by payments into sex work and might be said to be ‘trafficked’; there still
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6. Street Vendors
One of the major sections in the informal economy is street vending. It is estimated that it
provides flexible livelihood to almost a population of 4 crores (National Hawkers’ Federation),
and makes available affordable essential/non-essential goods and services to a large section of
lower income groups which may not have been able to access these otherwise. One of the major
reasons for accessible rates of these goods and services is extremely bare minimum
infrastructural requirement to undertake the business. The street vending in itself is a complex
set of layers, overlapping and supporting each other, as well as, adherence to formal conditions
also. One kind of street vending may give rise to another kind that may be dependent on it for
its survival, and there can be another one that may have grown over this second layer. For
example, presence of a sabji mandi may give rise to another layer of food vendors who provide
services to the customers coming to buy vegetables, and also the street vendors themselves.
Over these two layers could be a third layer of tea vending which then serves all the participants
in this layered economic activity. Also, there are other layers which are symbiotic in nature,
whereby one kind of street vending supports the other kind and vice versa. High frequency of
juxtaposed tea stalls and paan/cigarette stalls is an example for this arrangement, whereby both
of them complement each other’s business. Presence of formal infrastructure that catalyses
inflow of customers is also a major driver for street vending. Bus stands, auto stands and
railway stations are good examples for this. It is important to understand this complex and
fragile network of interdependency that makes street vending work, to understand how any
changes in the operation of public spaces can impact the street vending ecosystem.
The lockdown has had devastating effects on the public spaces, which are spawning grounds
for street vending. Closure and restrictions on the public spaces meant that almost all of the
street vendors were out of job and facing losses. The uncertainty of post-pandemic further made
things worse for this informal sector.
6.1 Profile of Street Vendors
In Bhuj, as per crude estimates there are approximately 3,000 street vendors spread over at
least 15 street vending hotspots (as per our internal primary survey and sample survey). These
number fluctuate based on the season and the day of the week as well as the time of the day.
The late evenings are business time for food vendors, whereas early mornings for vegetable
vendors. During summers, several fruit vendors appear on the road sides selling seasonal fruits
like watermelon, oranges, etc. Whereas the same street sides are occupied by vendors selling
warm clothes during the winters, and Navratri dresses are sold around the time of Navratri.
These may be the same vendors or different ones. During festivals, these same spots are used
to sell festival specific items like kites or Ganesh idols or diyas. Even in the more permanent
vending spots, mornings can be for one kind of vending whereas evenings can be for another
kind of business, all catering to their set customer base which varies from rich to poor, and
from local residents to people visiting from villages nearby. Bhuj is an important shopping
destination for several villages around it and people often come here to buy goods (and sell
too) that they won’t otherwise find in their villages. The city is also a main headquarter for the
district, and has been such since the royal times. This also makes it an important node in the
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economic and social network of the region. Most definitely the lockdown impacts all these
networks and the chain of buying and selling, and also the vendor-customer relationships.
Given this understanding and the relationship developed with the street vendors in Bhuj over
past several years, a quick impact assessment was done to understand the status of street
vending in the city during the lockdown and kind of assistance that may be required by the
vendors during these testing times. It was attempted to cover different types of vendors as much
as may have been possible to get a spread of response. However, given the challenges of
lockdown and surveys being done telephonically, the responses may be limited in range. A
total of 27 street vendors were interviewed, with an attempt to access information from
different types of vendors, and also from different areas in the city. It was found difficult to
access female vendors at this time which was a limitation to the study.
6.2 Issues Identified
One of the major issues identified through this survey was that the street vendors had (1)
increasingly lost access to space and time of their business. They had either not been allowed
to do business at all, or were allowed only partially during limited hours which were not under
their control. Even before the lockdown, they were already under strain due to constant threats
of eviction from the authorities and the lockdown seemed to have aggravated this further.
Figure 6: Losses faced by the street vendors due to the lockdown.
Source: Primary Survey, May 2020.
It was also noticed that passes were given to street vendors to do business of essential
commodities only, however the methodology for distribution of these passes was not clear.
Some vendors also mentioned that in spite of them having passes, which they got after
significant amount of effort, they were often asked by the police to pack and return home.
Hence, the lockdown caused (2) losses of significant amounts to almost all the vendors. The
respondents stated on an average a loss of INR 30,000/-, going as high as INR 1,00,000/- for
5
13
1
0
0 - 20,000 20,000 - 50,000 50,000 - 1,00,000 > 1,00,000
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7. Cattle Rearers
Actually, cattle rearers were part of city’s economy from the pre-independence era, but were
mostly employed by king or Mahajans (merchants/ tradesman). Cattle rearers took care of their
cattle which produced milk for their families and city. As the families of the king and mahajans
expanded, cattle rearers were allowed reside on the same land where they undertook rearing
activity. Post-independence, they remained living on same land with their cattle, but the land
came under government control and not in the name of the cattle rearers who were residing on
it. Apart from these old cattle rearers, many others had also migrated from Banni and other
areas of Kutch in 1970s and 1980s to Bhuj. These had set-up in the outskirts of Bhuj then, but
were closer to the grazing lands reserved for cattle during the royal times.
As per a study by Sahjeevan in 2015, there are around 335 cattle rearers in the city of Bhuj
having approximately 6,295 cattle (including 4,802 cows, 1,493 buffaloes, and 3,058 goats and
sheep). About 81 per cent of these rearers were concentrated in four clusters including GIDC
area, Ganesh Nagra, Kodki Road and Gandhinagari. They have access to nearby grazing lands
reserved since Bhuj was kingdom. Each of these clusters consists many areas. Remaining 19
per cent of cattle rears were scattered across the city with their cattle predominantly found
roaming on the city roads. Many of these reside and have set-up their dairy activities on public
land.
After so many awareness building and mobilisation activities undertaken by HIC, in 2016, they
registered as an organisation known as ‘Bhuj City Cattle Rearers’ Association’. Presently, this
association with the support of HIC team is working for protection of grazing lands, water
bodies, milk marketing, fodder, etc. This need assessment is based on semi-structured
interviews taken with eight cattle rearers and structured interviews with 28 cattle rearers who
are member of the cattle rearers’ association.
7.1 Profile of Cattle Rearers
These cattle rearers were living in Bhuj approximately since last 40-45 years. Around 85 per
cent of these had houses on public lands, whereas remaining had their own land in Sejwala
Matam – Pathan Falia and Sanjog Nagar. People having kaccha and semi-pucca houses were
mostly situated on public lands, thus indicating their unwillingness to upgrade their housing
structures.
Regarding access to basic services, especially regarding availability of toilets, barring for four
households (14 per cent), remaining all, i.e 86 per cent, had individual toilets at household- level. Water facilities and availability of water supply was very crucial for them, as water was
also required for cattle rearing. On an average, each household had more than 30 cattle (in
number) consisting of cows, buffaloes, and sheep-goats. Most of the cattle rearers took their
cattle to lakes on the outskirts of Bhuj. Many cattle were sick during lockdown due to
unavailability of drinking water and restricted mobility. Prior to lockdown, the rearers took
their cattle graze, drink, and rest near the nearby ponds; but now the cattle rearers were not
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allowed to take their cattle to grazing fields. However, after having dialogues with district
administration and police, they were allowed to do so with certain restrictions.
Figure 11: Typology of cattle rearers housing structures (in %)
Source: Primary Survey, May 2020.
In terms of the family sizes and economic conditions of these cattle rearers, each household
had more than 3 members and maximum of 16 family members. Around 50 per cent of families
had single member who were bread earners in these families. During lockdown, it became
extremely difficult for the cattle rearers to distribute and deliver milk. Even, the sale of milk
had reduced as tea and sweets shops were completely shut during the first and second
lockdown. Although, these activities resumed in the third phase of lockdown, but at a limited
scale. A few government residential societies and offices such as Defense colony of Indian
Airforce in Bhuj had also stopped purchasing milk from milkmen selling loose milk and opted
for packed milk which caused business losses to almost 50 per cent of the rearers. None of the
members from this association were registered as milkmen with the Sarhad Dairy5
. Also, during
the gradual phases of lockdown when certain restrictions of time limits were to be adhered to
conduct businesses, most of surveyed cattle rearers were unable to sell large quantities of milk
during those 2-4 hours because the milking cycle of animals varied. It was reported that all
quantity of milk collected in the evening cycle of milking was wasted due to movement
restrictions. About 47 per cent of surveyed members mentioned that citizens also avoided
purchasing loose milk due to fear of spread infection or virus. Due to these reasons, the cattle
rearers were forced to make by-products of milk such as buttermilk, ghee or sell it at a cheaper
rate to other milkmen who delivered milk door-to-door or gave it to their relatives and
neighbours for free of cost.
5 A milk cooperative in Kutch, registered with Amul, collected milk from only registered milkmen and not from
others who were unregistered with the cooperative since they were getting more than sufficient quantities of milk
from the former.
36
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21
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Kaccha Semi-Pucca Pucca
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Apart from doing business and earning money, all surveyed cattle rearers revealed having a
hard time in arranging fodder for their cattle. The cost of dry fodder was one and half times
more expensive, than it was prior to lockdown. Cotton cake and husk powder that costed around
INR 1,000/- and 800/-, respectively, prior to lockdown, increased to INR 1,300/- and INR
Voices from the field
Akbarbhai, 35 years, a cattle rearer, lives in Gandhinagari – an informal settlement in Bhuj
where about 30 cattle rearers also reside. He has a joint family of total 15 members, including
two brothers and three sisters who worked together to rear 60 cows, 17 buffaloes, and 20 goats.
Actually, his father migrated from Banni area of Kutch to Bhuj in 1970, and since then his
family has been residing in Bhuj.
Since last three years, Akbarbhai sold milk in Defense colony of Airforce, about three kms
away from Gandhinagari. Prior to lockdown, he was selling about 200 litres (including 120
litres of cow milk and 80 litres of buffalo milk) of milk. Of which, approximately 120 litres of
milk (including 80 litres of cow milk and 40 litres of buffalo milk) came from other cattle
reares. Due to the lockdown, Defense colony restricted entry of outside milk sellers as a
preventive measure to restrict spread of corona virus. The colony people opted for packed milk.
Generally, customers paid charges for milk in the beginning of month. Since the lockdown was
announced in end of March, Akbarbhai was unable to get payments from half of his customers
as neither he had their contact numbers nor he could enter Defense colony to collect the same.
Now, Akbarbhai delivers about 50 litres of milk door-to-door in morning to new customers
whose contacts he got through his kin and sells milk yielded from the evening cycle to
neighbours and makes butter milk and ghee. Even, fodder became expensive during lockdown
against the earnings, which reduced drastically. Before the lockdown, his monthly income from
selling milk was about INR 1,38,000/- and monthly expenditure on fodder and other essentials
was INR 64,600/-. During the lockdown period (April and May), his monthly earnings reduced
to INR98,400/- against monthly expenditure on fodder and other things of INR 89,600/-.
In order to cover these losses, he took a debt of INR 1 lakh at 3 per cent monthly interest rate
for a period of one year from a money lender by mortgaging his wife’s jewellery amounting to
same value, otherwise he would have been charged 5 per cent monthly interest rate. As per the
agreement between both, if Akbarbhai is unable to pay this amount in one year, the
moneylender would sell his cattle and recover the amount (principal plus interest). The price of
the cattle would be decided by four cattle rearers living in the same area. In this arrangement,
the money lender would recover his money and return the mortgaged jewellery to Akhbarbai.
While this case study not only shows the situation of Akhbarbhai, but also of the 12 cattle
rearers, who sold about 1,200 litres of milk in Defense colony before the lockdown, and were
now facing similar issues as Akhbarbhai.
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8.2 Need-based Assessments
Short-term Measures
• All waste pickers should be registered with the municipality and provided identity
cards.
• Based on their ID cards, banks should be directed to open their Jan Dhan bank accounts.
• SOPs should be developed to train them while working.
• Public stand posts and mobile toilets should be provided at locations where they are
living in order to ensure hygiene.
• Awareness regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, how to protect themselves and
understand the symptoms of COVID-19.
Long-term Measures
• Shelter should be provided with storage facility wherein they can keep and sort their
waste.
• All waste pickers should be registered as informal sector workers under The
Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008, so that they can avail all operational
schemes operational for the unorganized sector workers under this act.
• Build dialogue with the Municipality to engage them in collecting waste from common
plots and road sides whereby sweeping staff are not hired to do it. Also, engage them
in cleaning dump site which is planned to be cleared.
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Long-term Measures
• Ensure access to housing, tenure security, basic infrastructure facilities such as water
supply, sanitation, etc., and social security.
• Ensure that our cities become self-reliant for its requirements like water supply, food
security, etc. In Bhuj, many initiatives such as rain water harvesting, ground water
recharge, deepening and conserving water bodies, etc., are being undertaken to make
the city self-sufficient in terms of its water requirements.
• Create market chain linkages for groups involved in production and supply of
perishable items such as milk, vegetables, fruits, etc., in order to protect their
livelihoods as well as prevent food crisis.
9.2 Proposed interventions to make resilient Bhuj
Bhuj is located in a semi-arid region where water availability and supply has always been a
great challenge for the city. However, with this pandemic wherein health and hygiene are the
only ways to protect from virus – surviving without or scarce quantities of water is very
stressful. This also impacts the money dynamics within the vulnerable groups of the society.
Paying for water tankers and bottled water can be quite expensive during these cash crunch
times. The only way to decrease the pressure on the local authorities is by decentralizing the
existing water system in the city. A few interventions proposed in this direction are:
• Rain water harvesting and ground water recharge through existing defunct wells and
borewells: Keeping in mind the local geo-hydrological conditions and climatic conditions
of Bhuj city, a groundwater management plan has been prepared considering with
systematic social awareness process aimed with competent citizen institutions. The
management plan includes both aspects of resource strengthening with efficient supply
management and competent citizen’s institution. We are willing to work as per our
participatory findings and include citizen centric planning that would include citizens as a
part of inclusive development for recharging the groundwater levels. Here, it is important
for citizens to understand the importance of local water sources rather than focusing on
distant surface water source and long canal water supply or water extraction from peri- urban
areas surrounding Bhuj. In the times of such pandemic crisis, it becomes even more
important to work this aspect to avail water for the citizens of Bhuj and decrease dependency
on tertiary sources. It is important to mention that improvement in local resources
(groundwater) will directly minimize the energy utilization of the Bhuj Municipality
required for pumping and supplying to the city. In longer run, energy efficiency can be
improved by substituting electrical energy by renewable energy sources.
• Resource management of catchment area water bodies: The main rock formations of
this area are sandstone and shale with a few basaltic intrusions. The belt of cretaceous
sandstone is the region’s only good aquifer but poses a risk of high salinity due to the
inherent salinity in interbedded shale and high iron content due to ferruginous cementing
material of the sandstone. It is crucial to improve surface water collection and percolation
across the catchment areas to raise the water table and dilute the total dissolved solids (TDS)
in order to facilitate access to potable water across the region. Technical interventions will
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well as facilitate discussions on how to reduce their own footprint through well-targeted
lifestyle changes. These workshops would be designed around questions like what is climate
change, linkages between our lifestyle and climate change, roles of individual and business
efforts in India as well as globally to deal with climate change, etc. Along with these
workshops, studies aiming to understand the impact assessment of climate change on
vulnerable groups would also be undertaken. Building a group amongst the citizens who
believe in eco-friendly lifestyles can propagate good practices with other citizens also.
These would create a network of individuals to conduct various activities to deepen their
interest in composting, kitchen gardening and reusing, thereby reducing their waste
generation.
A study is also proposed to understand the impacts of climate change, particularly on urban
poor and vulnerable groups, and develop future strategies in collaboration with the Climate
Action Network South Asia (CANSA).
Building capacities of women from slum settlements and men in need of employment
opportunities, to manufacture eco-friendly sustainable products depending on the geographic
conditions and focusing on health and hygiene for the vulnerable people to protect them from
possibilities of getting infected is another suggestion.
Thus, a holistic approach has been targeted here to balance out the impacts and remedies for
the situation created due to COVID-19; enabling the local citizens as well as vulnerable groups
to sustain the complex dynamics with the nature.
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Annexures
Annexure 1: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Sakhi Sangini Members in Bhuj
During COVID-19 (Household-level)
Name of
Locality
Survey
Date
Name of
Respondent
Age
Mobile No.
A. Household-related questions
Q. 1 Housing status: Ownership/ Rental
Q. 2 For those living in rental accommodation, have you had to pay rent since the lockdown?
Yes/ No
Q. 3 No. of Family Members: ______________
Q. 4 Does any household member have a regular employer/ contractor/ workplace? Yes/ No
Q. 5 If Yes: Have you received salary/ wage from your employer/ contractor during the
lockdown period? Yes/ No
B. Access to basic services
Q. 6 Access to services and charges paid (specify if cost is per day/ per week/ per month/ per
2 months)
a. Water
b. Sanitation
c. Electricity
d.Cooking Fuel (specify gas/ kerosene/ wood)
C. Access to PDS
Q. 7 Do you have a ration card on your current Bhuj residential address? Yes/ No
Q. 8 If Yes: Mention which ration card: _________________
Q. 9 Have you received any free ration from the government from a ration shop? Yes/ No
If Yes: How many days ration you have received from the shop: __________________
Q.10 Have you received any free ration from a social organisation? Yes/ No
If Yes: For how many days ration did you receive from the social organisation: ___________
Q.11 How many days ration do you have now: _________________
Q. 12 Have you received cooked food from any social organisation? __________________
For how many days di you receive the cooked food? ___________________
D. Health-related questions
Q. 13 Are there any critically ill persons in your family? Yes/ No
Which disease? ___________________
Q. 14 Are the critically ill people getting medicine/ treatment: Yes/ No
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Q. 15 If yes: Are you getting medicines for them? Do you require special funds for their
treatment?
E. Experiences during Lockdown
Q. 16 Does your family have a Jan Dhan Account? Yes/ No
Q. 17 If Yes: Has your family received any amount in your Jan Dhan Account? If yes state
amount
Q. 18 Have you taken debt in Bhuj to cope during the lockdown period?
Q. 19 If you then from whom and how much? ................................................
Q. 20 Have you found out an alternative way for earring money? Yes/ No
Q. 21 If Yes: Can you tell us that idea.
Q. 22 If No: Do you have any skills or know any work that can be done staying at home?
Q. 23 Are there any instances of domestic violence in your house during lockdown which
was not happening before?
Q. 24 How did you respond to that: Community/ Police/ Hello Sakhi/ NCW/ Unreported
Q. 25 Is any family member feeling depression, stressed or in fear: Yes/ No
Q. 26 During this lockdown did you find Bachhat Mandal useful and helpful? Yes/ No
F. Expectation/support in coming days
Q.27 Which kind of help do you expect from CSOs and Government to cope-up with the
challenges just after lockdown completes well as in coming few months?
a. From CSOs:
.........................................................................................................
b. From Govt.
.........................................................................................................
Q. 28 Anything else he/she would like to say:
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Annexure 2: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Samvedna Members in Bhuj During
COVID-19 (Household-level)
Name of
Locality
Survey
Date
Name of
Respondent
Age
Mobile No.
A. Household-related questions
Q. 1 Housing status: Ownership/ Rental
Q. 2 For those living in rental accommodation, have you had to pay rent since the lockdown?
Yes/ No
Q. 3 No. of Family Members: ______________
Q. 4 Does any household member have a regular employer/ contractor/ workplace? Yes/ No
Q. 5 If Yes: Have you received salary/ wage from your employer/ contractor during the
lockdown period? Yes/ No
B. Access to basic services
Q. 6 Access to services and charges paid (specify if cost is per day/ per week/ per month/ per
2 months)
a. Water
b. Sanitation
c. Electricity
d. Cooking Fuel (specify gas/ kerosene/ wood)
C. Access to PDS
Q. 7 Do you have a ration card on your current Bhuj residential address? Yes/ No
Q. 8 If Yes: Mention which ration card: _________________
Q. 9 Have you received any free ration from the government from a ration shop? Yes/ No
If Yes: How many days ration did you receive from the shop: __________________
Q. 10 Have you received any free ration from a social organisation? Yes/ No
Q. 11 If Yes: How many days ration did you receive from the social organisation: ________
Q. 12 How many days ration do you have now: _________________
Q. 13 Have you received cooked food from any social organisation? __________________
For how many days did you receive the cooked food? ___________________
D. Health-related questions
Q. 14 Are there any critically ill persons in your family? Yes/ No
Q. 15 Which disease? ___________________
Q. 16 Are the critically ill people getting medicine/ treatment: Yes/ No
Q. 17 If yes: Are you getting medicines for them? Do you require special funds for their
treatment?
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E. Experience during lockdown
Q. 18 Does your family have a Jan Dhan Account? Yes/ No
Q. 19 If Yes: Has your family received any amount in your Jan Dhan Account? If yes state
amount
Q. 20 Have you taken debt in Bhuj to cope with the lockdown period?
Q. 21 If you then from whom and how much? ................................................
Q. 22 Has your client visits during lockdown? Increased/ Decreased
Q. 23 Did your clients pay same or less during lockdown? Yes/ No
Q. 24 Have you found out an alternative way for earning money? Yes/ No
Q. 25 If Yes: Can you tell us that idea.
Q. 26 If No: Do you have any skills or know any work that can be done staying at home?
Q. 27 Are there any instances of domestic violence in your house during lockdown which
was not happening before? Yes/ No
Q. 28 How did you respond to that: Community/ Police/ Hello Sakhi/ NCW/ Unreported
Q. 29 Did your family came to know about your sex work during lockdown? Yes / No
Q. 30 Was there any police raid in your area during lockdown? Yes/ No
Q. 31 Did you get adequate condoms and safety medicines from health centre during
lockdown? Yes/ No
Q. 32 During this lockdown did you find Bachhat Mandal useful and helpful? Yes/ No
Q. 33 Do you feel mental stress or faced any physical harassment during lockdown? Yes/ No
F. Expectation/ support in coming days
Q.34 Which kind of help do you expect from CSOs and Government to cope-up with the
challenges just after lockdown completes well as in coming few months?
a. From CSOs: ..........................................................................................
b. From Govt.
...................................................................................................
Q. 35 Anything else he/ she would like to say:
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Annexure 3: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Migrant Labours in Bhuj During
COVID-19
Name of
Locality
Survey
Date
Name of
Respondent
Age
Mobile No.
A. Basic Details of Interviewee
Q1. Name:
Q2. Age (in years):
Q3. Gender (M/ F):
Q4. Occupation
Q5. Location of the work place (last worked before lockdown was announced, in case not
fixed)
B. Details of Native Place
Q6. Name of Native Place, State and District:
Q7. Mode of Travel from/ to Nation Place:
Q8. Since how long have you been working in Bhuj (in years/ months)
C. Life in Bhuj
Q9. Family members along with the Interviewee in Bhuj (if any, also ask their age and
occupation)
Q.10 Housing typology in Bhuj?
a. temporary structure built by sack/tarpaulin etc. on squatted land
b. temporary structure built by sack/tarpaulin etc. on land suggested by the municipality
c. shared rented accommodation
b. Any other
Q11. If living on rent, Amount of rent paid
Q12. If single male migrant, with how many other male migrants do they share a room – and
do they all pool in money and buy groceries and cook together?
Q13. Access to services and charges paid (specify if cost is per day / per week / per month /
per 2 months)
a. Water
b. Sanitation
c. Electricity
d.Cooking Fuel (specify gas/ kerosene/ wood)
D. Experiences during Lockdown
Q14. What challenges did you encounter during the lockdown and how did you encounter
them
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Q15. How much wages his/her household (those living in Bhuj) was earning before lockdown
happened.
Q16. When lockdown happened, were they self-employed (e.g. migrant working as rag- picker or street vendor), or working as casual daily-wage worker (e.g. going to naka daily), or
had a fixed employer/ contractor or have no work/ become unemployed?
Q17. Are you registered with the BOCWWB? If yes, have you received any help during
lockdown from the BOCWWB?
Q18. Any support provided to Interviewee in any form (cash in hand/ direct bank transfer/
kind/ food) and from whom (employer-contractor/ landlord/ Individuals/ CSOs/ Government
at migration source or destination6
)
Q19. Those who were working for an employer/ contractor: Have they received their due
wages? How much unpaid wages remain with the employer/ contractor?
Q20. Those living on rent: Have they had to pay the rent since lockdown started?
Q21. Did they benefit from Anna Brahma Yojana (those without ration card are supposed to
get ration under this in Gujarat)
Q22. Have you taken debt in Bhuj to cope with the lockdown period?
E. Post-lockdown decisions and expectations
Q23. Will you stay here when lockdown completes or go back to your native place?
Q24. If you go back to your native place, when do you plan to come back?
Q25. Which kind of challenges do you expect if you stay here and try to resume your work?
Q26. Which kind of help do you expect from CSOs and Government to cope-up with the
challenges just after lockdown completes well as in coming few months?
a. From CSOs:
................................................................................................
b. From Govt.
................................................................................................
c. From employer/ contractor:
Q 27. Anything else he/ she would like to say:
6 Some State governments have done direct cash transfers to migrants from their State
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Annexure 4: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Street Vendors in Bhuj During
COVID-19
Name of Locality Survey Date
Name of Respondent Age
Mobile No. Gender
Type of Business Ownership of
Shop/Lari
Rent Amount
A. Family details
Q1. Typology of house a. Pucca b. Semi-pucca c. Kaccha
Q2. If on rent than how much is the rent:
Q3. Native of Bhuj Yes/ No
If No, from where do you belong
Q4. Family details:
Sr.No Name Age Relationship to you Business/occupation
B. Related to lockdown
Q5. Did you have permission to do business in Lockdown?
If yes, then did you face any challenge? _________________________________
If no, then how much losses did you incur? _______________________________________
If lockdown extends what will you do to survive. __________________________________
Q6. If you are allowed to start businesses in next lockdown, what help will you expect from
us. ______________________________________________________
Q7. Can you do your business online? Can you deliver goods directly to customers?
C. Economic information
Q8. Have you taken loans:
If yes, how much and do you have pressure from loan lender to pay it:
Q9. Do you have any alternative business to earn money?
D. Other information
Q10. Do you have fears in the coming situation like decrease in customer/ Business not
working properly, etc.___________________________________________________
Q11. Are you linked with any organization or CBO?
If yes, did you get any help from them:
If no, do you expect anything from them:
Q 12. Any other information you would like to give.
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Annexure 5: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Cattle Rearers in Bhuj During
COVID-19 (Household-Level)
Name of
Locality
Survey
Date
Name of
Respondent
Age
Mobile No.
A. Household-related questions
Q. 1 Since when are you staying in Bhuj: ___________________ years
Q. 2 Is your house built on public land? Yes/ No
Q. 3 Housing typology in Bhuj
a. Kaccha b. Semi-Pucca c. Pucca
Q.4 Do you have toilet at your house? Yes/ No
Q.5 No. of Family Members: ______________
Q.6 No. of earning family members:______________
Q.7 Does any household member work as Driver/ in Shops/ Market yard/ Daily wager? Yes/
No
B. Cattle-related
Q. 8 Population of:
a. Cows: _______________
b. Buffaloes: __________________
c. Goats and Sheep: ______________
Q. 9 From where do you source drinking water for your cattle: _______________________
Q.10 Were you allowed to ferry milk to your customers during lockdown: Yes/ No
Q.11 Which problems did you face during lockdown:
a. Selling milk from home
b. Citizens not willing to purchase loose milk
c. Instruments needed repairing
d. Could not delivery to customer within government decided timings
C. Fodder-related
Q.12 Problems in getting fodder for livestock? Yes/ No
If yes, which fodder
Green/ Dry/ Khol/ Hay
Q.13 Which of the following problems did you face while getting fodder:
a. Increase in price
b. Less quantity
c. Shopkeeper did not give fodder on credit
Q.14 Price of fodder before lockdown: _______________
Q.15 Price of fodder during lockdown: _____________
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D. Basic Necessities
Q.16 What difficulties did you face in providing food to our families
a. Cash flow deficiency
b. Decrease in money earned
c. No problems faced
Q.17 Did you get any help from government:
a. Cash money in Jan Dhan account
b. Fodder at affordable price
c. Ration from PDS shops
d. Have not received any help from government.
E. Expectations
Q.18 From the following, what do you expect if the lock down is extended:
a. Facility to sell milk in market
b. Fodder for cattle
c. Allow movement of milk van from one village to another
Q.19 Other expectation from government: _________________________________________
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Annexure 6: Survey Form for Need Assessment of Waste Pickers in Bhuj During
COVID-19
Name of
Respondent
Survey
Date
Age Gender
Bhuj Address Mobile No.
Location
A. Work-related questions
Q.1 Were you allowed to do your work in lockdown?
Q.2 Areas from where you collected waste.
Q.3 Did you earn money by waste picking in lockdown? Yes/ No
If yes, did you earn more or less.
B. Related to Lockdown
Q.4 Do you have ration card of Bhuj? Yes/ No
Q.5 Did you receive free ration?
Q.6 Do you have Jan Dhan account? Yes/ No
If yes, did you get money in your account
Q.7 Has resale value of waste increased or decreased?
Q.8 Do you use mask and gloves for your health and hygiene?
Q.9 Have you started going to collect waste?
If yes what time do you prefer?
C. Expectation/ support in coming days
Do you have any expectations from government or Organization?