1. INTRODUCTION:

The Covid-19 pandemic which originated in December 2019 in Wuhan city, China, has quickly spread to other countries in a short span of time. It is called a severe acute respiratory syndrome, which causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19) affecting the respiratory tract.

It is reported that in India, the first case of Covid-19 has identified in the city of Kerala in a student who came from Wuhan city, China (M. Abraham, 2021). Then it spreads to all the states in India. The total confirmed Covid-19 cases in India is 3,44,65,293 and confirmed deaths due to Covid-19 are 4,50,814 (Government of India, 2021, 10.10.2021). The Covid-19 brought in enormous global health threats. There are reported deaths due to Covid-19 and have adverse socio-economic effects that are continually exacerbated. Therefore, the potential treatment initiatives through medical research and treatment approaches need to be developed urgently. The economic and psycho-social impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic have had far-reaching consequences on all segments of India’s population. The vulnerable groups such as those people living below the poverty line, differently-abled people, women, children, elderly and migrant workers, in particular, have been negatively affected.

The Government of India, to reduce the severity of Covid-19 has initiated a national level Janatha Curfew 23.3.2020. Then announced a lockdown on 25th March and it continued up to 5^th June in different spells. Due to total lockdown, people’s regular movement from one place to other places were restricted, shops were closed, factories were shut down, trains, buses and other transport was completed stopped. This complete lockdown brought forward many hardships and issues before all segments of society. It had thrown many challenges namely social, economical, and psychological. The people felt new experiences and they did not know how to cope with them at the beginning. Each segment of the population faced this scenario in a different way but the vulnerable sections of the population were seemed to be suffered much when compared to elite sections of the population. The Covid-19 scenario and subsequent lockdown period put various restrictions and people were subjected to experience various problems in different sectors. The impact was seen not only in one area or one sector but across all segments and all sectors of the country.

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Subhro Basu et al. (2020) conducted a study on the Impact of lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak: lifestyle changes and public health concerns in India. The study found that the emergence of the Covid -19 pandemic has severely impacted individuals from all walks of life. The rapid spread of the disease to nearly all parts of the country has posed enormous health, economic, environmental and social challenges to the entire human population. In the absence of any effective drugs and vaccines for treatment, social distancing and other preventive measures are the only alternatives. This study addressed the changes that have become part of people’s lives during lockdown – hygiene and health consciousness, work from home, online teaching, digital shopping, changing internet habits and societal changes.

N. Nilima et al.(2020) study investigated the psycho-social factors associated with Covid-19 and the nationwide lockdown in India. The study found that those worried about their family's health were likely to follow the lockdown measures. A significant association was observed between following the lockdown measures and being satisfied with the government strategy to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. A significant relation was observed between gender, job profile and physical activity were observed to be associated with the psycho-social impact.

Mahajan, P., and Kaushal, J.(2020) study deal with the sentiment analysis of Indians after the announcements of lockdown due to Covid-19 in India. The study found that there was negativity, fear, disgust, and sadness about the lockdown, the positive sentiments stood out. Indians were clear that they had to flatten the curve and were committed to it. The prevention and control measures taken by the state and central governments at all levels and measures of maintenance of social distancing by people have resulted in operative curbing in the Covid-19 transmission in India.

Tridip Sardar et al. (2020). Conducted a study to understand the effect of social distancing measures, and considered a new mathematical model on Covid-19 that incorporates lockdown effect. The result suggests that the lockdown will be effective in those locations where a higher percentage of symptomatic infection exists in the population. Furthermore, large scale Covid-19 mass testing is required to reduce community infection. The model suggested a high rise in the Covid-19 notified cases in most of the locations in the coming days. The study provided an effective lockdown policy to reduce future Covid-19 transmission in India.

Sandeep Grover et al. (2020) conducted a study on the state of mental health services in various training centers in India during the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic. The study found that the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic, brain stimulation treatments have completely stopped. Other, most affected services included electroconvulsive therapy, inpatient services, outpatient services, and psychotherapy services were also stopped during the Covid-19 lockdown period. This study reported that mental health professionals are playing a significant role in addressing the prevailing psychiatric morbidity, specifically related to the Covid-19 related issues, and taking care of the HCWs.

Overall, few research studies have been conducted on the impact of Covid-19 lockdown in various sectors and areas. All these studies were conducted in the other states of India. The present study focussed on the approaches and best practices adopted by North Andhra villages in challenging Covid 19 during the lockdown period.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Scope of the study:

The pandemicCovid-19 and the subsequent national lockdownhave created lots of impact on the lives and livelihoods of people living in India. Every segment of the society faced many challenges posed by Covid19 and experienced a new kind of lifestyles and behaviour. The migrants walked miles to reach their native villages. The daily wage workers spent the days without any food. All shops are closed and no transportation. People followed new lifestyles and saved their lives with available food, particularly in urban areas. The impact is also high in the rural villages. The impact of Coivd-19 lockdown is very high on North Andhra Villages because many migrant workers in the urban areas represent from North Andhra villages. Hence, this study is proposed to conduct in North Andhra villages to know the strategies adopted by the villages during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To study the nature of work, activities taken up by the person(s)/organisation (s) in the sample villages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

2. To understand the awareness levels about the Covid-19 as a disease in the villagesand about the sources of information for such awareness

3. To identify the best practices adopted by the villages to cope with Covid-19 scenarios.

Study Area:

The study was conducted in seven villages of Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

Table 1.

Sl. No	Village	Mandal	District
1.	Golla Tallavalasa	Bheemunipatnam	Visakhapatnam
2.	Rajula Tallavalasa	Bheemunipatnam	Visakhapatnam
3.	Konda Lakshmipuram	Garividi	Vizianagaram
4.	Koduru	Badangi	Vizianagaram
5.	Ramateertham	Nellimarla	Vizianagaram
6.	Suvvanipeta	Nellimarla	Vizianagaram
7.	Timiteru Burjavalasa	Dattirajeru	Vizianagaram

METHODOLOGY:

This study is adopted a qualitative research approach to understand the impact of the Covid-19 and its lockdown. An exploratory research design was adopted to understand the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the lives and livelihoods of the people. The study adopted purposive sampling methods and collected the data from 44 respondents living in the above said villages. The respondents are village elders, daily labour/agricultural labour, elderly, youth, SHG leaders, ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, government staff who were closely associated with villagers such as sachivalayam staff, gram volunteers, and occupational groups, parents, self-employed and migrant workers. The data was collected between the period from 5^thJune 2020 to 20^thJune 2020 in the said villages. A semi-structured in-depth interview schedule was used to collect the information from the respondents.

4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS:

4.1 Sources of Awareness on Covid- 19:

The most popular sources for awareness on Covid-19 is media, TV channels, news bulletins, short films, role plays, etc. These sources play important role in disseminating the information about the disease, its symptoms, modes of transmission of the disease, and they highlight preventive measures, insists on the role of people to control the disease. The respondents informed that the main sources of awareness were through TV news channels followed by newspapers. It is observed that the Grama Sachivalayam staff particularly village volunteers through their efforts of the door to door campaign brought awareness among the villagers. It was also reported that social media particularly through Whatsapp, the villagers particularly youth got awareness and they came to know the news about Covid-19, its symptoms and how it could be prevented. The mobile phones contributed much in disseminating awareness among all sections of the population. Besides all, the Government’s publicity through various mediums such as electronic, print, digital, telephonic helped the community to know about the Covid -19 pandemic. The police personnel through their campaigns on the disease also brought awareness among the village communities.

4.2 Loss of livelihoods/Jobs:

The study found that the closure of industries, schools, companies and the imposition of lockdown and regulations for controlling the spread of Covid-19 brought many problems to the Individuals, families and at large the community itself. No one is exceptional. The closure of industries and work caused severe setbacks. Due to lockdown, petty businesses were closed. Small scale industries were closed. The daily labourers lost their livelihoods. Their livelihood depends on daily work and that daily labour work yields their earnings on daily basis. If there is no work, they do not get their wages. If there are no wages, people suffered with no money on hand to lead their day to day life. Construction works were also stopped in nearby towns and cities suddenly. Many of the villagers who are landless labourers, who depend on daily earnings, faced many difficulties. If there is labour work, they earn. But due to lockdown, the daily labour works were stopped, hence they did not get anything. Nobody was calling for work even at their houses due to fear of Covid-19. Even though the villagers and daily labourers were ready to work, due to lockdown restrictions imposed by Govt, the employers were also forced to stop the work activities. Hence, it is understood that from both sides, the poor daily workers suffered. Hotels which provide daily wage employment were also closed.

4.3 Psychological consequences of Covid-19 due to the imposition of lockdown:

The people in the villages mentioned that they were scared to come out of the house and feared that the disease might contact to them. Some felt lonely. They faced suspicion from others to speak to them. The imposition of lockdown rules and Covid-19 protocols compelled the people to stay at home and they had to maintain physical distancing and they had to cover their nose and mouth with a mask. Some thought that while speaking with others, they might likely to be infected and hence they did not want to visit their relatives' houses and they did not invite others to their houses. Earlier, the neighbours used to talk each other on many issues related to them in different perspectives i.e. from personal to public. Now, the situation changed. It was reported that no frequent communication between neighbours and no sharing of ideas. Some occupational communities mentioned that they were denied to visit the houses of others in the village and they were not given any work activity during the lockdown period. The people feared that due to the nature of their nature of occupation they were subjected to the suspicion that they were the potential carriers of the virus and through them, the other people might get Covid 19. It was reported that anxiety, insecurity and suspicion about other people prevailed among the village communities.

4.4 Situation of Migrant workers:

The migrant workers' situation was very pathetic and they faced many problems to reach their native Villages. Due to lockdown, and the complete bandh of transport sector compelled them to walk miles and miles to reach their hometown/native villages. With the sudden stoppage of work in their work sites at other cities/towns and not knowing the exact time of lifting of lockdown, the migrant workers were in dilemma whether to stay in cities/town where they were working (where they were willing to stay) or to leave the cities/towns to reach their hometowns in anticipation of living or dying with family members during those critical times. They waited for one week to assess the situation but no brighter side was seen, then they started to move to their native village with an intention of staying with their family members and some thought to search for a job/alternate work to lead their life peacefully at their native villages.

4.5 Problems of the migrant workers:

The Government imposed restrictions on the total transportation during the lockdown period. Hence, the migrant workers travelled on foot to reach their native villages with minimum resources and cooking utensils. It was reported that the essential items were over after 3 days. From then onwards during the journey, they used to stay at villages where availability of food and shelter for night stay, and they resume walking in the morning. It took nearly 15 days to reach Vizianagaram from Vijayawada. The co-villagers imposed restrictions on the migrant labourers. The government provided works and wage employment through MGNREGA. The government issued job cards and provided Rs.1500/ per week / the government also allowed two persons in a family as eligible for work, and their payments were on the basis of weekly payment. The migrant workers were given some irrigation works, the respondents reported that the migrant labour, as well as other labour, felt better through MGNREGS works and they said that they were leading their lives during lockdown period also. The migrant workers started to do labour work in nearby villages, towns to lead their lives.

4.6 Problems of the daily wage earners/labour:

People lost their daily work particularly the segment of daily wage labourers / landless labourers. The factories were closed, hence daily wage workers and even salaried workers also suffered a lot. These workers lost their livelihood; some villagers lost their earnings due to the stoppage of agriculture and its related work activities also. On one side non-availability of resources, and on the other side lack of money, work, forced the villagers to resort for smaller hand loans and debts from others to meet their daily needs. Though their earnings were stopped, the head of the family had to pay house rents. Even it became a difficulty for those landless daily labourers to get smaller loans from money lenders and sometimes these loans were not available and denied by the money lenders with an apprehension of that the payee might not repay the loan on time due to uncertainty in lifting lockdown and resumption of work activities. There is an interdependence of daily works and daily income. If daily wage works are stopped, the daily incomes are also stopped. Hence, the daily wage earners were financially suffered. Therefore, they tried for occupational shifts during the lockdown period to lead their family.

4.7 Problems the villagers faced socially and behaviourally with others:

The major hurdles they found in the villages are, they were compelled to maintain physical distance between people and it caused inconvenience among them first but ultimately it increased the distance between individuals emotionally also. Over a period of time, they stopped to visiting to their relatives’ houses on both sides. Feelings of suspicion increased. Village life itself is a full of joy and jubilant and it reflects through cordial cooperation and mutual help. In villages, it is seen that people prefer to participate in the games and sports where the number of participants is large. But due to Covid-19, it was reported that no collective games in the village. People are not willing to go to their relatives, neighbour’s houses as well as inviting them to their houses. Due to Covid -19, the restriction on group gatherings prevented SHG group meetings during the period and there were no financial transactions among the SHG members. The police picketing stopped the people’s regular movement. In addition to this, old age people suffered a lot and their health problems were not addressed properly during lockdown due to the closure of hospitals.

4.8 Domestic Violence:

The lockdown period created distance between people. Besides this, domestic violence within families was also reported in some cases. Domestic Violence was reported as the husband and wife to stay together for longer times in the same house without any other work activities, without earnings, with certain financial burdens pressured the husbands for Domestic Violence.

4.9 Youth of the village:

It was found that youth spent their leisure time / idle time on cell phones by watching the cell phone continuously along with their friends during the lockdown period. The youth exchanged and forwarded the messages through Social media especially on Whatsapp, Tik-Tok, etc.

5. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF STAKEHOLDERS:

5.1 Role of Gram Volunteers:

Further, the respondents said that the Grama Volunteer system worked well, as the volunteers helped the village communities in various ways such as distribution of PDS ration, pensions, an extension of special financial help from the government during the Covid -19 lockdown period. These volunteers were appointed by the Government to serve the community at the grass root level i.e. at Grama Sachivalayam and in urban areas they are working at Ward Sachivalayam. During the lockdown period, these volunteers were involved in relief activities and in-service activities. They handed over masks and brought awareness among the public about Covid 19 disease, and they paid day to day supervisory visits to every house and sometimes they enquired about villagers’ health through phone, besides organising door to door campaigns on do’s and don’ts about Covid 19.

5.2 Help from NGOs and Philanthropists:

It was found that philanthropy was once again highlighted during the pandemic period. The philanthropists came forward and distributed eggs and vegetables. Non-Governmental organizations also helped in distributing the vegetables, food packets, groceries etc.

5.3 Role of youth:

Village youth particularly, emerging youth leaders helped the villagers and they took initiatives and lead role in distributing food packets, vegetables, eggs and masks. They helped local political leaders in distributing essential items also. Collective action among youth was seen by the villagers.

5.4 Role of ICDS and ASHA workers:

Special care towards pregnant and lactating mothers was taken by ICDS staff and ASHA Workers. They reported that they paid attention and Special care towards the elderly and Children also. It was reported that there was coordination between police and medical personal to focus on Covid related issues in terms of identifying suspected Covid patients/ keeping the family members in home quarantine, etc. The ASHA workers and Grama Volunteers brought awareness on quarantine and Covid 19. They used the108 and 104 services if necessary.

5.5 Villagers’ self-initiatives:

They reported that to keep their health safe, they stayed at home and followed the precautions advised by the government and wore masks when they came outside on any work. They preferred in preventing measures. The decision on postponement of Social functions was another strategy adopted by the villagers and they thought it was appropriate to postpone the functions such as marriages, birthday functions, and other social gatherings during the lockdown and, they took these decisions to cope up with the situation. On the economic front, they faced a number of problems such as non-availability of Work/ stoppage of work, due to this situation their incomes/ daily wage earnings were stopped. They had no money on hand to meet simple expenses. They also saved food items and thus reduced the financial burden on them. Some reported that they were compelled to make adjustments with available resources/food items. These adjustments were existent among all other family members.

5.6 Cooperation among the villagers:

It was reported that mutual help, sharing was seen among the villagers during this period. Further, the needy people approached and sought help from economically well to do people for financial help. In one village the villagers kept a vigil on movements of villagers at railway gate with a shift system by involving youth as gatekeepers. They kept vigilance on newcomers. In another village, they did not visit other villages to sell their agriculture products and they sold them in their village only.

5.7 The community initiatives and Government help:

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown resulted in many hardships to the poorer sections of the society in the villages. During the course of time, the people were accustomed to the new situation slowly. The difficulties they faced were partially addressed either by them or with the support extended by State and Central Governments. The respondents reported that the State and Central Governments helped them during lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic period. The state government supplied free ration three times in a month during April, May, June and made arrangements to free door delivery. The grama volunteers (Volunteers appointed by Government to work under the purview of Village Secretariat/Gram Sachivalayam) and other staff paid frequent visits to Villages and took up the door to door survey and extended help when they required. The Village youth distributed vegetables to the villagers,

5.8 The initiatives of the villagers to resolve their problems:

A continuous awareness programme on Covid 19 by the volunteers helped the community to understand the severity of the spread of the disease and they understood the need for taking proper precautionary measures.The educated persons besides police, ASHA Workers, Anganwadi teachers,grama volunteers, local youth and political leaders explained the importance of physical/ social distancing to prevent the spread of Covid.It is exhibited that unity among the villagers to stick to one word was seen during the lockdown period.They decided to postpone functions and, in some cases, stopped their social functions also. The poor and vulnerable people were given works to earn daily wages under the Employment Guarantee Act which helped them to earn daily wages during the prevalence of pandemic situations and lockdown period.

5.9 State Government role in relief activities both monitory and non-monitory:

The State government distributed free ration in 3 intervals. The gram volunteers delivered the ration at their doorsteps. The State Government also extended financial help of Rs. 1000/- each month to meet emergency expenses. The government, despite financial burden continued all government welfare schemes during the pandemic period such as widow pensions, physically disabled pension, old age pensions, Rythu Bharosa, etc. to the villagers. The Rythu Bharosa scheme provided Rs.7500/- to the farmers. Another scheme is meant for Auto rickshaw owners. The Auto rickshaw owners were given Rs.10,000/- to meet their vehicle renewal fees in advance during the lockdown period. The Grama Volunteers brought awareness in the villages and they noted the health particulars of the villagers and later distributed cloth masks to all the villagers.The Central Government extended financial benefit to poor women under Prime Minister Garibi Yojana pathakam, and the poor who have zero balance in their accounts, Rs.500/- each was credited into their account.

6. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. The study suggested that all villages should follow the Covid-19 precautionary measures such as physical distancing; wearing masks, and washing hands with soap, try to improve immunity. And personal hygiene is also very important for every individual.

2. The study suggested that the government should identify daily labourers and extend help to them to find a way out, since they suffered heavily during the lockdown period.

3. Further, to contain the spread of the virus, sanitization sprinklers should be installed at Cinema theatres, shopping malls, big markets in the towns, etc. They also identified the importance of total village sanitization.

4. The study suggested that long tours should be stopped, also control on-going/ attending to shopping malls, functions and movies. Further, suggested to the individuals that the government cannot see all-time hence everybody should take care on their own by staying at homes.

5. The study suggested that mental health care professionals should initiate interventions and mental health camps to reduce the fear, depression and anxiety among the individuals living in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and India.

7. CONCLUSION:

Overall, the study discussed its objectives and presented the results. As we understand that the rural people are bold enough to face any problem. The unity, relationships and bondage is high in the rural people. These characteristics have reduced the impact of lockdown among rural people. Furthermore, the migrant workers who went from rural areas and living in the urban areas have faced many problems during the Covid-19 lockdown. The study found that the closure of industries, schools, companies and the imposition of lockdown and regulations for controlling the spread of Covid-19 brought many problems to the Individuals, families and at large the community itself. The people in the villages were scared to come out of the house and feared that the disease might contact to them. Some felt lonely. The health care professionals, the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Government of India have continuously supported the people in India with various support services. Overall, this pandemic and the lockdown have taught a new lesson to human beings.

8. REFERENCES:

1. Abraham. M, (2021) ‘Assessment of Classroom Teaching Techniques in Higher Education: An Empirical Study in India’ Journal of Indian Education, Volume 47, Issue No.2, August 2021. NCERT, New Delhi, India. ISSN: 0377-0435, E-ISSN: 0972-5628

2. Basu, S., Karmakar, A., Bidhan, V., Kumar, H., Brar, K., Pandit, M., and Latha, N. (2020). Impact of lockdown due to Covid-19 outbreak: lifestyle changes and public health concerns in India. Int J Ind Psychol, 8(2).

3. Grover, S., Mehra, A., Sahoo, S., Avasthi, A., Tripathi, A., D'Souza, A., Saha, G., Jagadhisha, A., Gowda, M., Vaishnav, M., Singh, O., Dalal, P. K., and Kumar, P. (2020). State of mental health services in various training centres in India during the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic. Indian journal of psychiatry, 62(4), 363–369. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_567_20

4. Mahajan, P., Kaushal, J. Epidemic Trend of Covid-19 Transmission in India during Lockdown-1 Phase. J Community Health 45, 1291–1300 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00863-3 Ministry of Health, Medical and Family Welfare (2020), Government of India, retrieved on 20.09.2020 from https://hmfw.ap.gov.in/

5. Nilima, N., Kaushik, S., Tiwary, B., and Pandey, P. K. (2020). Psycho-social factors associated with the nationwide lockdown in India during Covid-19 pandemic. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 9, 47-52.2w

6. Sardar, T., Nadim, S. S., Rana, S., and Chattopadhyay, J. (2020). Assessment of lockdown effect in some states and overall India: A predictive mathematical study on Covid-19 outbreak. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, 139, 110078.

Received on 15.10.2021 Modified on 17.11.2021

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2021; 12(4):199-204.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5828.2021.00034