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Recently a documentary on rural reporting by Khabar Lahariya made headlines for its nomination for the Oscars. Khabar Lahariya is a rural media organization reporting on rural development issues in Uttar Pradesh. Khabar Lahariya claims to be the only rural digital media organization.

However, it is not often that rural stories find their mention in mainstream media. There are very few media organisations covering rural development in the country, some of them include PARI (People Archive of Rural India), Lantern Marathi and Gaon Connection.

The Gaon Connection, two months into coronavirus induced lockdown in consultation with the Lokniti program of the Centre For the Study of Developing Societies conducted a sample survey among rural households located in all zones of India with the aim to find out how lives and livelihoods in villages had coped during the lockdown. The survey was conducted in 179 districts spread across 20 states in 3 Union Territories.

In addition to the above interview, a total of 963 supplementary interviews of such migrants were completed with the aim of finding out their experience and struggle in the city at the time of the lockdown and their ordeal in travelling back home.

Highlights from the Gaon Connections Insights.

The perception that the lockdown was too harsh was strongest in Haryana, J&K Ladakh, Tripura, and Assam.

Those whose jobs were disrupted the most by lockdown considered lockdown to be harshest. 52% reported that their work was at a complete standstill.

Quite unexpectedly, a very large majority of the respondents were of the opinion that state Governments' attitude towards migrants during lockdown was good.

44% believed the Modi Government's attitude towards migrants during lockdown was good.
47% of respondents believed that state governments' attitude towards migrants during lockdown was good.

Would you like to go back to the city once the lockdown or pandemic ends?

Yes – 33%

No – 28%

Maybe – 16%

Yes, some other cities – 8%.

How much difficulty did you face in accessing food items?

Very High – 32%

High – 36%

Some difficulty – 22%

The Survey found unemployment to be the greatest concern of the most poorly educated voters (Non-literate and those educated below primary), 86% described the joblessness situation in the village as quite grim.

Top three states giving the highest employment under MGNREGS
Chhattisgarh
Uttarakhand
Rajasthan

Did your household receive money from the government during lockdown under any scheme of the government?
Yes – 64%
No – 36%

Has any woman in your household benefitted from Rs. 500/- per Jan Dhan account announced by the Modi government during a lockdown?
No – 32%
Yes – 50%
Don’t have an account – 14%.
Did the children in your village get dry nutritious food or mid-day meals from Anganwadi or schools during the lockdown?
Yes – 54%
No – 40%