Lockdown! Experiences from Odisha
#Jeetenge Hum! PRADAN professionals approached the challenges that the pandemic brought with it by ensuring food for those who had none, motivating villagers to access government schemes, finding innovative solutions for all, including the landless, is a testimony to the buoyancy of the human spirit
As the Prime Minister Modi announced the nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020, our movement in Odisha came to a halt. PRADAN works in the rural hinterlands of Odisha with vulnerable and marginalized families. Our immediate concerns were that no family should suffer from hunger because of the restrictions in the lockdown and that awareness needed to be created within the community about COVID 19. Our movement was also restricted; therefore, we mobilized the community through phone calls. We got in touch with the community cadres through phones, and conducted a quick survey in 1,297 villages, catering to over 1.48 lakh households, and tracking the vulnerable, the hungry and the migrants, in order to ensure the availability of access to the Public Delivery System (PDS) and other government schemes.