COVID-19 lockdown: 1.3 million BPL people in J&K struggle to access basic necessities

An estimated 1.3 million people in Jammu and Kashmir, who live below the poverty line (BPL), struggle to access basic necessities of life due to the prolonged lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

According to official figures, 10.35% of the population in the union territory (UT) lives below the poverty line, with the rural areas holding more poor than the urban centres. The prolonged lockdown for them is a “terrible experience.”

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As hundreds of thousands among them work in the unorganized sector and are not registered with the Labour Department or Social Welfare Department, they won’t get any financial assistance from the government.

“The outbreak of COVID-19 has proved to be catastrophic for the poor like me. I used to earn Rs 400-500 daily after selling second-hand clothes in the Batamaloo area. However, in the last month, I have not earned even a single penny,” said Mohammad Ibrahim, who is the lone breadwinner of his family of six.

He said whatever savings the family had got used after the security lockdown last August in Kashmir in the wake of revocation of Article 370. “Now we barely manage to meet the ends and the announcement of another lockdown has broken the back of the poor like me,” Ibrahim said amid sobs.

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Ghulam Hassan Sheikh, a cobbler, says he had never imagined such a situation would arise. “Even in the toughest of times during militancy and unrest, we would survive as well-off people would take care of the needy in the hour of crisis. However, this time due to strict lockdown, people are not allowed to move from one place to another,” he said.

Asked whether he received any financial assistance from the government, Sheikh said he has no bank account. “I don’t know about any welfare schemes by the government for the poor. Now when the lockdown will end, I’ll register myself,” he said.

“Earlier when there used to be shutdowns and clampdowns in Kashmir, I would manage the things by doing petty jobs like selling petrol along the roadside or working at construction sites. But the situation is totally different right now; neither can I go out nor there is any work,” Sheikh added.

A volunteer of an NGO said that the difficulties faced were not specific to one or two areas but symptomatic of every settlement where people lack the financial capacity to stock up food for a long period. “And the situation worsens when the areas are put under a complete lockdown making it difficult for them to even avail ration shops or the subsidised state-run food service,” he said.

Jammu and Kashmir, whose population and geographical area are almost double to that of Himachal Pradesh, is trailing behind the latter by Rs 54,119 in respect of per capita income (2015-16 NSDP).