Women and children suffer most in Covid pandemic

PATNA: Women and children in the state have suffered the most during the coronavirus pandemic, said PP Ghosh, director of Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) on Tuesday.
Speaking at a webinar on ‘Financing critical social services during Covid-19 in Bihar’ based on the study -- Socio-economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic on children and women in Bihar -- by ADRI and UNICEF, Ghosh said, “While several steps have been taken by the government to pacify the adversities of other vulnerable sections, including the migrant labourers, a little has been talked about the manifold impact Covid-19 has had on the women and children in the state.”
Urvashi Kaushik of UNICEF said that the pandemic has posed a grave impact on the health, nutrition and protection services offered to the children of Bihar.
Prof Barna Ganguly of ADRI said the crisis has not just impacted children but also snatched away the means of livelihood for many in the state. The demand for work under MGNREGA has doubled during the lockdown as compared to last year in the state, she said.
A panel discussion was also held on the efficacy of online teaching methods adopted by schools during the pandemic. Education department principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “Although we have the software for online education, but lack of hardware has restricted the access of virtual classes to many students in the state.”
Finance department principal secretary S Siddharth said, “Despite the decrease in its overall revenue collection, the Centre has released its share for Bihar, which is being utilized to mitigate the crises.”
Atul Prasad, ACS of social welfare department, said timely government responses have smoothened the severity of Covid-19. “The state government has created a digital registration dashboard which has been a silver lining for sustaining supplementary nutrition and other services of the social welfare department,” Prasad said.