Orphaned by the pandemic, let down by government

In late 2019, 30-year-old Kumod Mandal travelled from Bihar’s Araria district to Jammu and Kashmir to work at a construction site. For a year, he earned Rs 12,000 per month and sent most of the income home to his wife Babitadevi, three children and parents.

When the first wave of Covid-19 struck India in 2020 and a punishing lockdown was imposed, he could not return home. “The roads were closed,” said Babitadevi. “He died there.”

After her husband’s death, Babitadevi began to work as a daily-wage labourer, earning Rs 150 to Rs 200 a day, which is her source of livelihood even now.

Her three children study at a government school, where they get one free meal a day, thanks to the government mid-day meal programme.

“If Papa was alive, we could think of a private school,” said Mandal’s eldest son, who is 10 years old. “Now we will have to make do with a government school.”

In 2021, a year after Mandal died, the Bihar government announced a monthly aid of Rs 1,500 for children who lost both parents or an earning parent to Covid-19. The central government also announced an ex gratia compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of those who died of the virus through the...

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