COVID 19 Pandemic

Since January 2020 the Covid 19 Pandemic has hit India and many people are being affected . To contain the spread of the virus a nation wide lockdown was declared by the Prime Minister from 24th March 2020. Till date the lockdown has not been lifted and there is no certainty when the situation will normalize.
As most of our beneficiaries are illiterate or semi literate they are unable to fathom why this lockdown has been implemented. Many are living in fear of being infected and some are totally ignorant of the serious impact of the disease. Thus it is of utmost importance that constant awareness sessions be held to make them understand the vulnerability of the situation and the importance of preventive measures
Since a sudden lockdown was declared our beneficiaries 90% of whom are daily wage earners lost their jobs and are living in extreme anxiety , stress and fear as to how they will survive in this condition and whether they will get back their jobs or not. This is creating a havoc in their minds and they are falling prey to depression on one hand and anger and irritability on the other as a result of which there has been an increase in child abuse and domestic violence.
All schools were closed since 16th March. to keep the children engaged online classes were started from the end of April. Awareness sessions were held to sensitize the community on the protective measures.
As our beneficiaries belong to the BPL category they are being provided with additional rice & Wheat grains from the PDS free of cost. Some Social Organisations and social minded persons are also providing cooked food. However their reach is limited and lot of gaps in food grains are being observed. Since the ICDS Centres Schools are also closed the children are being deprived of their daily quota of nutritious meal. Since lockdown only twice the ICDS and Schools have provided dry ration in the form of rice and potato of pulses to the children. Also the quantity is not sufficient to last one full month. Under these circumstances LGWCDC felt it necessary to fill the gap by providing some dry ration.