Critical Essay on Social Impact of Covid 19

Introduction

The Covid 19 pandemic was a global health crisis that the world faced unlike any other in the last 75 years of the United Nations. It killed people, made them lose their livelihoods, and took a toll on their not only physical but also their mental health. It upended the public`s lives and became the prime reason for their suffering. Covid 19 eventually turned out to be more than just a health crisis in no time since its spread. It became a social, economic, mental, and educational crisis. The covid 19 strain attacked and impacted various sectors and societies to their core.

The pandemic lead to a dramatic loss of life around the world and implemented unprecedented challenges to the world of public health, food systems, and work. The economic and social turmoil caused by the pandemic is devastating. It had a huge impact on various segments of society and was specifically pernicious to the dwellers of those social organizations who were already in vulnerable conditions. It was detrimental to people living in poverty conditions, the older population, people with disabilities, youth, students, etc. for example students who had their board exams while the pandemic existed were in a terrible mental state of uncertainty which caused in the worst cases clinical depression and anxiety. The pandemic also had a very malignant effect on refugees, migrant workers, daily wage workers, etc especially in India. These sectors had to go through crises of limited movement, loss of job and employment opportunities, daily livelihood crises, etc.

The pandemic somewhere also highlighted the already existing exclusion and inequality in society.

Millions of companies faced existential threats. Almost half of the 3.3 billion workers worldwide were either at risk or had lost their livelihoods. Workers in the informal economy are particularly vulnerable because the majority lack access to social protection, quality medical care, and access to the means of production. Without the ability to earn income during the pandemic, many cannot support themselves and their families. In most cases, a lack of income means a lack of food. At best, it means less food and less nutritional value.

The pandemic affected the entire food system and revealed its vulnerabilities. Border closures, trade restrictions, and blockades prevented farmers from accessing markets such as buying inputs and selling products, preventing farmers from harvesting crops, disrupting domestic and international food supply chains, and more.

This essay has particularly tried to cover the impact of the pandemic on students, the elderly society, and migrant and daily wage workers.

Impact on daily wage workers and migrant workers and farmers

The pandemic was a huge turmoil to employment and earning opportunities it also threatened the lives of millions of people. rural workers, wage earners, and self-employed went through high levels of poor health care, lack of safety and security, malnutrition, etc. Unsure of income and lack of social support often forced many of them to continue working in volatile situations, putting themselves and their families at additional risk. In addition, when faced with a loss of income, they may resort to negative coping strategies such as asset sales, robbery loans, or child labor. Immigrant agricultural workers are particularly vulnerable due to the risks associated with transportation, labor, and living conditions and the difficulty in accessing government-provided support measures. Ensuring the safety and health of all food industry workers, from primary producers to those involved in food processing, transportation, and retail (including street vendors), while ensuring better income and protection is life-threatening. It is essential for the salvation and protection of people's public health.

The 2020 lockdown left a huge number of migrant laborers unemployed. With industrial facilities and working environments shut down, numerous migrant workers were left with no livelihood. They along these lines chose to walk many kilometers to return to their local towns, joined by their families in numerous cases. Accordingly, the focal and state legislatures went to different lengths to help them.[390][391] The focal government then, at that point, reported that it had requested that state legislatures set up prompt alleviation camps for the traveler laborers getting back to their local states, and later gave orders safeguarding the freedoms of the migrants.

In its report to the Supreme Court of India on 30 March 2020, the focal government expressed that the traveler laborers, worried about their endurance, moved in the frenzy made by counterfeit news that the lockdown would keep going for more than three months. toward the beginning of May, the focal government allowed the Indian Railways to send off 'Shramik Special' trains for the transient laborers and others stranded, however, this move had its own complications. On 26 May, the Supreme Court conceded that the issues of the transients had still not been addressed and requested the Center and States to give free food, asylum, and transport to abandoned traveler laborers.

Impact on students

On 16 March 2020, the Union government requested the closing of schools and colleges. On 18 March, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) delivered and reconsidered rules for assessment focused on consolidating social distancing measures. On 19 March, CBSE and JEE assessments for the Indian Institutes of Technology and other engineering school admissions were postponed. Various other States in the nation either postponed or dropped their examinations; students were either graded based on their earlier performances or were mass promoted. The Union Public Service Commission likewise deferred the meeting for the Civil Services Examination. Only a couple of instructive organizations in India have had the option to actually adjust to e-learning and remote learning; the computerized partition is additionally affected by genuine power issues and the absence of a web network.

But coming to these conclusions was not an easy task. There was widespread uncertainty that the students had to face throughout the pandemic. Many state governments took a while to come to the conclusion of even going by the internal evaluation scheme for the students. This affected the students' mental health on a huge level.

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Apart from examinations, students had to attend their schools and colleges via remote learning methods online. Not every student could afford that. students from remote villages who had come to cities for their education were made to go back to their homes on account of the closure of hostels and accommodation facilities. The network and power issues in their hometowns made attending lectures nearly impossible for these students.

Shortage of drugs

Deficiencies of clinical materials, assembling, and self-protection materials brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic immediately turned into a significant issue around the world, as did interferences to the worldwide stock chain, which has tested production network versatility across the globe. Shortage of individual defensive gear, for example, clinical veils and gloves, face safeguards, masks, sanitizers, and disinfecting products, alongside medical clinic beds, ICU beds, oxygen treatment hardware, ventilators, and ECMO gadgets were accounted for in many nations.

HR, particularly clinical staff, might be depleted by the staggering degree of the pandemic and related responsibility, along with misfortunes by pollution, disengagement, sickness, or mortality among medical care laborers. Regions are diversely prepared to confront the pandemic. Different crisis measures have been taken to increase productivity levels like buys, while calls for gears, neighborhood 3D makers, volunteer staffing, obligatory draft, or capture of stocks and processing plant lines have likewise happened. Offering to bid between various nations and states over these things is accounted for to be a significant issue, non-essential source needed with cost increases, orders seized by neighborhood government, or dropped by offering organization to be diverted to a higher bidder. sometimes, clinical laborers have been arranged to not talk about these deficiencies of resources.

The positive side of the pandemic

Though the loss incurred due to a pandemic like the covid 19 could never be recovered; whether it was the loss of income, mental peace, physical possessions, or most significantly the loss of lives, the pandemic also turned into an opportunity for people to introspect within.

Numerous small businesses thrived in the pandemic whether it was college students who got a break from their studies who got an opportunity to enter into the earning world or housewives who otherwise probably would never think of starting a business started sourcing face masks, protection gear, etc, and selling them. The pandemic gave people a creative push to think beyond their mundane lives. People started going back to their hobbies that they once enjoyed doing, and learned new skills, whether it was a father who learned how to cook or a mother who learned to use the computer or gadgets from her children.

People who were caught up by work pressure got a breather to consume content online that they longed to. People learned the importance and benefits of meditation. Spending quality time with family which a lot of people longed for was finally met and much more.

The pandemic did take a lot from us but also gave us and taught us a lot whether it was self-care, or empathy, made us realize the importance of family and relationships and also made us value our existence even more.

Conclusion

COVID-19 crisis focuses on food security, public health, employment, and labor issues, especially worker health and safety. Adhering to workplace health and safety practices, ensuring access to decent work, and protecting workers' rights in all departments are important to address the human side of the crisis. Prompt and targeted actions to save lives and livelihoods should include increasing social protection for universal health insurance and income support for the most affected. These include workers in the informal economy and workers in poorly protected and low-paying jobs such as young people, older workers, and immigrants. Particular attention should be paid to the situation of women who are overvalued in low-paying and compassionate professions. Various forms of support are essential, including cash benefits, child allowances and healthy school meals, shelter, and food assistance initiatives, employment retention and recovery assistance, and financial facilitation for businesses, including SMEs. It is imperative that the government work closely with employers and workers in developing and implementing such policies.

Countries suffering from existing humanitarian crises and emergencies are particularly vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. It is important to respond quickly to the pandemic while ensuring that humanitarian and reconstruction assistance reaches the people in greatest need.

Now is the time for global solidarity and support for the most vulnerable people in our society, especially in emerging and developing countries. Only together can we overcome the intertwined impacts of the pandemic on health, society, and the economy and escalate to a protracted humanitarian and food security catastrophe with the potential loss of development benefits already underway. You can prevent it.

As stated in the Policy Summary issued by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, we must recognize this opportunity for better recovery. We are committed to pooling our expertise and experience to assist countries in crisis response efforts and efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. We need to develop long-term sustainable strategies to address the challenges facing the health and agricultural food sector. Addressing the underlying challenges of food security and malnutrition, addressing rural poverty, especially through more and better jobs in the rural economy, extending social protection to all, promoting safe migration routes and non- Priority should be given to promoting the formalization of the formal economy.

We must rethink the future of the environment and deal with climate change and environmental degradation with ambition and urgency. Only then can we protect the health, livelihoods, food security, and nutrition of all and ensure that our 'new normality' is better.

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