TILL THE middle of last year, Sarju Devi's family lived a comfortable life by selling milk from her 10 cows. But things turned for the worse in September 2022, when six of her cows died within a week due to an outbreak of lumpy skin disease, a highly contagious viral infection that killed over 76,000 cattle in the state alone, as per government estimates released in March 2023. Currently, only two of her cows are giving milk, which, coupled with the ever-rising fodder prices, means that the family in Rajasthan's Ajmer city is not earning enough from their traditional work. "Still, our income has not dipped by much," says Devi. This has been possible because of a recent state government scheme that promises 100 days of assured unskilled employment to all urban dwellers who demand work, similar to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
Launched in September 2022, the Indira Gandhi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (IGRY) is implemented by urban local bodies, such as municipal corporations, councils and nagar panchayats, who in turn hire educated youngsters as rozgar sahayaks (employment assistants) to sensitise people about the scheme and mates to oversee worksites. By enrolling under it, Devi now works as a caretaker at a stray cattle shed run by the Ajmer Municipal Corporation in the city's Panchsheel area. There are at least four other women working at the centre who lost their cattle to lumpy skin disease.
Rajasthan is the most recent state to launch an urban employment guarantee scheme, on the lines of MGNREGA. Two other states, Jharkhand and Odisha, started a similar programme in 2020 after the first wave of the coVID-19 pandemic, which saw mass-scale reverse migration from urban to rural areas due to the unavailability of jobs. Kerala was the first state to launch an urban employment guarantee scheme in 2011 to arrest unemployment. It was followed by Himachal Pradesh in 2019.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 16, 2023 من Down To Earth.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 16, 2023 من Down To Earth.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
In leading role again
MOVIES AND WEB SERIES ARE ONCE AGAIN BEING SET IN RUSTIC BACKGROUNDS, INDICATING A RECONNECT BETWEEN CINEMA AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
One Nation One Subscription comes at a huge cost
As top US universities scrap big deals with top scientific publishers, India’s ONOS scheme seems flawed and outdated
Return of Rambhog
Bid to revive and sell the aromatic indigenous paddy variety has led to substantial profits for farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Terai region
Scarred by mining
Natural springs of Kashmir drying up due to illegal riverbed mining
Human-to-human spread a mutation away
CANADA IN mid-November confirmed its first human case of avian influenza, with a teenager in the British Columbia being hospitalised after contracting the H5N1 virus that causes the disease. The patient developed a severe form of the disease, also called bird flu, and had respiratory issues. There was no known cause of transmission.
True rehabilitation
Residents of Madhya Pradesh's Kakdi village take relocation as an opportunity to undertake afforestation, develop sustainable practices
INESCAPABLE THREAT
Chemical pollution is the most underrated and underreported risk of the 21st century that threatens all species and regions
THAT NIGHT, 40 YEARS AGO
Bhopal gas disaster is a tragedy that people continue to face
A JOKE, INDEED
A CONFERENCE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARTIES THAT CREATED AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO THE REALITY OF A NEW CLIMATE
THINGS FALL APART
THE WORLD HAS MADE PROGRESS IN MITIGATING EMISSIONS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE IMPACTS. BUT THE PROGRESS REMAINS GROSSLY INADEQUATE
