Pandemic Precarity Life, Livelihood, and Death in the Time of the Pandemic

• Published in: Economic and political weekly
• Main Authors: Prakash, Aseem, Borker, Hem
• Format: Journal Article Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mumbai Athena Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd 29.01.2022
• Subjects: Civil society; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Employment; Epidemics; Food; India; Informal economy; Pandemics; Social networks; India
• ISSN: 0012-9976

The Conceptual Framework Standing (2014) explains the precariat as distinctive “relations of production” (working under flexible labour regime), “relations of distribution” (workers do not have an occupational identity and social security benefits), and relations to the state (losing rights taken for granted by full citizens). A representative survey of the literature based on the Indian experience of the pandemic details enormous loss of employment, livelihood avenues, food security and access to relief measures (Kesar et al 2020), grave consequences on women due to unemployment in the family (Desai et al 2021) and the inadequate response of government, especially for circular migrants (Srivastava 2020). Based on narratives recorded through in-depth unstructured conversations with more than 200 respondents1 (natives of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh [UP] working across 14 states, who had experienced extremely trying situations since April 2020, including the death of one or more family members), the paper captures the experience of the respondents with the state (inability of the state to preserve and sustain entitlements, both during life and death), markets (shrinking of the market, complete or near-complete loss of wages and opportunities) and civil society (near-collapse of almost all forms of social networks). The number of respondents returning from Karnataka through a combination of mode transport—foot, hitch-hiking trucks, hiring a vehicle by pooling the money—explained their helplessness by pointing out: “there was no work left;” “all savings were getting over;” “danger of getting infected by Covid-19;” “if I have to die, it is better to die in my village.”