The COVID-19 pandemic forced India into lockdown in March.It caused a sudden loss of employment for daily-wagers, and severely affected the pooracross the country.
The unemployment scenario is getting all the moreworrying with every passing month.
The situation is extremely grim even for people with a proper qualifications.
An India Today report quotes the example of a 27-year-old woman named Saraswati, who holds a masters degree and is forced to work as an attendant in a car parking lot, after losing her job amid the pandemic.
Sarsawati¡¯s colleague, Rupesh Kumar Nirmal, who worked at aNasik-based solar panel manufacturing unit was also forced to leave Mumbaiafter the COVID-19 outbreak. He is also a graduate and went to Chandigarh tolive with his brother who worked as an accountant, reports India Today.?Rupesh also works as a car park attendant.?
Kamal Mishra, 31,is a rickshaw puller who hails from Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh. He, along withdozens of other rickshaw pullers, had left Chandigarh in March this year.
?¡°It was a painful journey. We crossed over 52 barriers, werebeaten up by the cops. Our heels and toes were bleeding when we reached home.It took over two months to heal the wounds. When we lost all our savings wecame back to Chandigarh,¡± said Kamal told India Today.
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The pandemic has rendered nearly 10lakh people jobless in Punjab. The Punjab government has decided to organisethe 6th edition of the State Level Mega Job Fair from September 24 to September30 across all the districts. Nearly 1.50 lakh job-seekers have alreadyregistered for the event.
¡°The Punjab government is committed to bringing the economyand life back on track. We have announced packages for the entrepreneurs toboost employment, and a job fair is also being organised to help the people wholost jobs,¡± the CM said.
The lockdown-induced unemployment is not limited toPunjab alone. Lakhs of people have lost jobs in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and UT of Chandigarh.?
According to a study conducted by Panjab University,Chandigarh, and Punjabi University, Patiala, nearly 54 per cent of thepeople working in the informal sector have been hit by the pandemic.
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As many as 41 lakh youth in the country lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and construction and farm sector workers account for the majority of it, according to a joint report by the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The report is based on regional assessment of the 'GlobalSurvey on Youth and COVID-19', and arrived at estimates based on availableunemployment data in different countries.
It said that in India, two-thirds of firm-levelapprenticeships and three quarters of internships were completely disruptedduring the pandemic.
The report calls on governments in the region to adopturgent, large-scale and targeted measures to generate jobs for the youth, keepeducation and training training on track, and to minimise future scarring ofmore than 660 million young people in the region.