"In God's Hands": Tens Of Millions Plunge Into Poverty In Covid-Hit India

Daily count of infections has surged by more than 400,000 cases thrice this month, pushing India's total tally past 21 million.

After dipping into his savings to weather India's snap pandemic lockdown last March, Manoj Kumar was just getting his head above water again earning 600 rupees ($8) a day as a construction worker in the tourist hotspot of Goa. He'd squirreled away enough for a trip last month to his native village in Bihar some 1,490 miles away for a wedding. He's still there, stuck in one of the nation's least developed states, as a fierce second Covid-19 wave triggers the world's worst health crisis and prevents his return. On a lucky day, he'll land some odd jobs that fetch him as much as 300 rupees. But there aren't too many of those chores left. So he's taking loans to feed and clothe his wife and three kids. "It is all in God's hands now," said Kumar, who's told his wife to curtail spending on items such as lentils, cooking oil and clothes. "I don't know when I will return. My family is worried and doesn't want me to go back as the cases are also rising in Goa." Kumar, 40, is one of the millions of migrant workers who form part of India's vast unreported informal sector, which accounts for half of its $2.9 trillion, domestic demand-driven economy. A protracted Covid wave is shrinking incomes and wiping out savings of people like Kumar, posing the risk of a double whammy for Asia's third-largest economy that's still struggling to recover from last year's pandemic-induced recession.