IMPRI Team
The panel discussion was focused upon the conditions of the Indian villages and to share the insights and experiences of the practitioners located in the respective locations. The panel discussion is a part of an expansive series of discussions themed upon the rural realities of Indian villages in the face of the second wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The discussions are organized by the Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies (CHURS), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi on the 15 May 2021.
The program was commenced by the Assistant Director at IMPRI Ritika Gupta. Followed by which were the opening remarks from Dr. Simi Mehta Editorial CEO at IMPRI. The speakers were introduced and the foreground was laid for the conversation to begin in regards to the ground reality of the villages in the states of Jharkhand and Bihar in the Second Wave of the COVID Pandemic from the eyes and experiences of the practitioners.
Collective Commitment
Dr. Gurjit Singh (State Coordinator, Social Audit Unit, Jharkhand) while appreciating the efforts of the government, especially in the state of Jharkhand, said that one of the important reasons for the second wave of COVID is also that the government has taken steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There was slack in the effort. In this context, there is an urgent need to adopt appropriate behavior related to COVID, for which it is imperative to make citizens aware from the village level itself.
In this sequence, it is necessary to have a collective commitment of Panchayat, administration, and citizen participation so that the rural problems arising in this second wave of COVID (mental health, domestic violence, problems of orphans and employment under MGNREGA etc.) can be prevented at the local level under a proper strategy.
At the same time, he suggested adopting an appropriate behavior style related to COVID and said that ensuring the role of volunteers would be an effective step in such times.
In this sequence, it is necessary to follow the proper guidelines for the people living in home-isolation. Apart from this, medical treatment should be done by citizens by identifying the symptoms of COVID-19 without delay and by increasing the speed of testing by the government and getting the correct data of infection rate in that direction.
