Distress in Indian villages

Famished: Farmers transporting wheat husk by tractor during the lockdown in Uttar Pradesh. India’s rural economy is the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. — Bloomberg

NEW DELHI: Binod Prahiya, a migrant labourer in Mumbai, lost his livelihood when Prime Minister Narendra Modi locked India down in March to contain the coronavirus outbreak. He is now stuck in the city, with no money to support his family back in his home village in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand.

More than 1,000 miles away in Latehar, his wife Shanti Devi doesn’t have enough food to feed her four children. She’s managed so far by working as a farm labourer, but even that work isn’t available now as the harvesting season comes to an end.