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- Convenor:
-
Rahul Ranjan
(School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Kenneth Bo Nielsen
(University of Oslo)
- Discussant:
-
Rahul Ranjan
(School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh)
- Format:
- Paper panel
- Stream:
- Resilience and wellbeing
Short Abstract:
The COVID-19 crisis has had a traumatic effect on Indian society. Using 'crisis' as a framework, this panel investigates how the COVID crisis is not singular. It presents empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated accounts of COVID-19 and institutional failure in governance.
Description:
By using the crisis as a framework, the panel presents a multidimensional approach to understanding the effects of COVID-19 on the lifeworld of the marginalised communities in India. The papers in the panel pursue two interrelated concerns: First, they examine the governance aspect, highlighting institutional failures, a lack of political will, and ideological warfare; second, they firmly position the crisis—as a narrative tool—at the heart of marginality, thereby explaining the effects of COVID-19 on communities that continue to remain at the nation’s margins. The panel presents varied voices and granular narratives of sufferings that structured the lives of the poorest and dispossessed in the country during the crisis. It dovetails the reshaping of material forces that were crucially impacted by the failure of governance with the social lifeworld of those containing what can be referred to as inter-generational trauma. This panel offers a robust account of the crisis by combining these two distinct but complementary dimensions of COVID-19 in India. It will greatly interest scholars and researchers in crisis studies, governance, medical anthropology, public policy, politics, sociology, and South Asian studies.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper long abstract:
While the Indian government has promoted policy tools that enable
tribal groups to represent their interests and become collaborators in the policymaking
process, the tribal response to the state policy of marketisation & globalisation is nebulous
(Agrawal 2005). In this regard, there is a need to locate the extent of the ‘integration’ of
tribes into the mainstream mode of production to enable appropriate policy recommendations
for tribal welfare in the contemporary SDG paradigm. This shall be undertaken by situating
shifts in modes of production and reproduction within the Gujjar & Bakkarwal tribe of J&K
by locating changing structure of communitarian property and ownership rights.
The proposed paper shall analyse the implementation of the Forest Rights Act to determine
the transformation in spatial mobility & land ownership amongst pastoral tribes in the
‘modern’ nation-state & the predominant market system through the notion of ‘adverse
inclusion’ (Nathan & Xaxa 2012). Such an analysis would unravel the prospective impact of
colonialism & Covid-19 on both adults & children- through variance in land ownership
within nomadic pastoralists of Jammu & Kashmir living in border areas and within a conflict
zone in the era of a global pandemic. In the context of the lived experiences of the Gujjars &
Bakkarwals, the framework will be used to view the impact of changed federal structure in
the region post abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, impediments to spatial mobility
due to the pandemic, and the existence of sectarianism in national and regional politics.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on sanitation and waste workers in Delhi, highlighting how historical casteism and current policies intersect to perpetuate their precarity, which were further exacerbated during the pandemic.
Paper long abstract:
The Last of Frontline Workers: Casteism and Precarity Among Sanitation and Waste Workers in Delhi
With the coming of Covid-19 pandemic, there was an ‘apparent’ change in the way sanitation workers and waste workers were perceived. Many of them were greeted by applause and garlands. This palpable change in the societal attitude and them being referred as ‘frontline workers’ gave a ray of hope, that the pandemic might prove to be crucial in catalysing the reforms long needed in the realm of sanitation and waste management crisis. However, looking at the precarious conditions of the workers in the four last years, there is a little that has changed. The age-old relation of caste and sanitation and waste work continues to plague the present-day situation. If anything at all, the pandemic has further exposed the apathy of government institution and casteist societal attitude towards the workers. Given this, this paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on sanitation and waste workers in Delhi, highlighting how historical casteism and current policies intersect to perpetuate their precarity. Despite being labelled as frontline workers during the pandemic, these workers continue to face severe socio-economic challenges and caste-based discrimination.
Key words: Covid-19, caste, waste, sanitation work, frontline workers
Paper short abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic unleashed multiple hardships upon the migrant workers of India. This article will engage and address the issues and problems of Indigenous migrant workers from two different geographical regions of the country – Central India and the North East.
Paper long abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic unleashed multiple hardships upon the migrant workers of India. With the nationwide lockdown being announced on 24th March 2020, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of employment and income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. Several thousands of them and their families went hungry. With no alternative to survival, they began walking back home, with no means of transport due to the lockdown, and with no help from the federal system. A lot of migrant workers hailed from Adivasi/Indigenous communities, which are the most socio-economic and politically vulnerable groups in India. This article will engage and address the issues and problems of Indigenous migrant workers from two different geographical regions of the country – Central India and the North East. It will try to address the modalities of evolving social security and public policy measures keeping them in mind.
Paper short abstract:
Drawing from Ghosh’s (2019) argument on how the government “uses and abuses” the inequality for its benefit, the paper analyses how the government socially reproduced and abused the crisis of care to furthering gender and economic inequality using the case study of ASHA workers during the pandemic.
Paper long abstract:
Regardless of a country's GDP, caregiving responsibilities predominantly fall upon women within households, mostly without compensation. Scholars assert that the capitalist system relies on, or arguably exploits, provisioning, caregiving, and interpersonal interactions that foster and sustain social connections, all while assigning them no monetary value and treating them as if they were free. Consequently, gender inequality is essential for the functioning of the market. During the Covid-19, the government, lacking adequate preparation to address the crisis by supplementing healthcare facilities, imposed caregiving responsibilities on women within families and healthcare workers. The government has been exploiting women's labour for years, even before the pandemic as is evident in how government schemes typically devalue women's work by offering minimal wages, as seen with anganwadi employers, or failing to provide payment, as is the case with ASHA workers.
Drawing from Ghosh’s (2019) argument on how the government “uses and abuses” the inequality for its advantage, the paper attempts to analyse how the government socially reproduced and abused the crisis of care to furthering gender and economic inequality using the case study of ASHA workers during the Covid-19 lockdown in India.
Paper short abstract:
This paper is situated at the crossroads of biomedical crisis, longstanding inequality and India's governance policy during the COVID-19.
Paper long abstract:
The paper provides a unique outlook to ways in which COVID-19 coalesced with the longstanding inequality in India. By looking at the series of policy recommendation, government orders and situated forms of responses by the state government, this paper offers a systematic review of governance as the key contention in managing, consolidating and communicating the COVID-19. It makes a theoretical undercutting by proposing that COVID-19 reflects and become a window to thinking about polycrisis.