Rural India sinks deeper into debt as COVID wipes out work

Interviews with 75 households in Uttar Pradesh villages show household incomes have slumped nearly 75 percent.

Asha Devi does not remember how many meals she has skipped as she struggles to feed her family of seven in a remote corner of northern India where the novel coronavirus is compounding old problems of rural debt and poverty. Devi, 35, had to mortgage her land for a 20,000 rupees ($270) loan and six months on, as the money runs out, she has stopped buying milk, halved her use of cooking oil and can afford lentils only about once every 10 days. With her construction worker husband jobless, she is facing going deeper into debt to get by.