Almost 49 million people worldwide to end in extreme poverty; 12 million Indians affected
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A World Bank report recently concluded that India had been making significant progress and was close to losing its status as the country with the most poor citizens.
As the novel coronavirus pandemic hit the world, a worldwide lockdown was initiated by majority of the affected 120 countries.
Although this lockdown, till certain limit, helped contain the spread of coronavirus, it had an adverse effect on the economies of the infected countries.
According to a recent report by researchers, at least 49 million people across the world are expected to plunge into extreme poverty as a direct result of the pandemic's economic destruction. People living on less than $1.90 per day will be categorized under the term extremely poor.
A lot of nations have been battling the economic crisis, which has also formed a tense environment in the political scenarios of the leading countries.
It has also been found out that, sadly, India is one of the leading countries in this study as the World Bank has estimated that around 12 million of its citizens will be pushed to the very margins this year. Daily wage workers -- hawkers, roadside vendors, workers employed in the construction industry --and those employed by small businesses have been the worst-affected groups.
"Much of the Indian government's efforts to mitigate poverty over the years could be negated in a matter of just a few months," said Ashwajit Singh, managing director of IPE Global, to a media organization. He also predicted that more people could die from hunger, than virus.
A World Bank report recently concluded that India had been making significant progress and was close to losing its status as the country with the most poor citizens. However, the lockdown might reverse the gains and out India back in that category.
A report by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) and the World Bank observed more than 80% of households had experienced a drop income, which was majorly due to the lockdown, and not because of coronavirus. These households, may not be able to recover or survive much longer without aid from the government, according to this report.
The economy was already at its slowest pace in over a decade, and the lockdown initiated due to the pandemic made things worse for the economy. This lockdown has pushed the economy to what may be its first full-year contraction in more than four decades.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, India is Asia's virus hotspot with more than 151,000 infections.