Nagaland: Scholars dissect impact of Covid-19 pandemic on human life

Dimapur, Aug. 11 (EMN): Various issues associated with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic were discussed at the first national webinar of the North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research (NEISSR), which was conducted in collaboration with Peace Channel Dimapur, on August 9.

According to a press release issued by NEISSR on Tuesday, principal of the institute and Director of Peace Channel Dimapur Dr. Fr. C P Anto introduced the two eminent speakers of the webinar: Prof. Subhabrata Dutta and Dr. Aditi Nath from Silchar University Assam.

Fr. Anto drew a brief sketch of Covid-19 situation of Nagaland while mentioning ‘the issues related to stigma, discrimination and rejection faced by the Covid-19 positive persons and frontline workers as against the much-projected pictures of recovery rates and success stories in the mainstream media’. He further observed that fear and apprehensions about the pandemic were apparently doing more.

‘Drawing from his own experiences of responding to Covid situation with many CSOs/NGOs and health professionals in the state, he said that many people refused to disclose their health situation for fear of stigma and discrimination, leading to uncontrolled spread of the virus in the state,’ the press release read. He also expressed hope that religious institutions and social organisations could do a lot to assuage the fears in the minds of the people through demonstrative works.

Speaking about “Covid-19 affected communities: Scope of improvement and Social Work interventions”,  Dutta gave a brief report on the Covid-19 and lockdown situation in India which made a large segment of the society suddenly dependent on the state and increased the vulnerability of daily wage labourers, migrants, maid-servants and individuals working in several companies.

‘Focusing on the Covid-19 situation in the rural areas bearing major brunt of the lockdown imposed since March 25, he highlighted the predicaments of the hordes of migrants returning homes in those rural areas without realising that they were also bringing back the virus, worsening the socio-economic situation,’ the press release read.

The lockdown affected in three broad areas of activities in rural areas namely: Agriculture and allied activities, local non-farm sectors and rural-urban migration, he said, while mentioning the impact on agriculture sector, microfinance and SHGs and rural enterprises.

Dutta also spoke about Covid-19 and the situation in urban slums, where he observed, the virus disproportionately spread by late June. Speaking specifically about the situation of Mumbai slums, he stated that 96% of Covid-19 containment zones were in slums which is home to more than 12 million people.

“This has made any efforts to controlling the spread of the disease in slums as critical to the nation’s pandemic response,” he said, and “emphasised on social work during Covid-19 and how to support and extend the relief by preparing Covid-19 data with rural-urban divide study on livelihood and location resource mapping, creating linkages (rural producers and buyers), psycho-social counselling and by extending support to implement MGNREGA  and PM Garib Kalyan Yojana”.

He also spoke about support to urban community in three models — communities as recipients, communities as partners and communities as owners.

Dr. Nath spoke about a research that she had carried out recently on “Mental Health of students amid Covid-19 pandemic”, stressing on issues upsetting students and its effects. 

Besides highlighting the issues of disturbances in students like academic and job prospect, the need for encouraging students to improve their mental health by setting goals, maintain balance, manage stress level and to seek purpose, was stressed.

“Further some of the activities one can do during the ongoing lockdown period are practice yoga, engage oneself in activities like painting, reading, cooking, gardening, and also to develop essential skills like content writing, critical thinking, self awareness, decision making which will definitely keep one mentally fit,” the press release stated. She concluded by saying that one has to pay attention to mental health which includes body, mind and soul.

Hosted by Dr. Amit Das, Asst. Prof of NEISSR, the webinar was attended by 85 persons — students, scholars, faculties, alumni and NGO — from states like Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Telanganga, Maharastra, and Karnataka.