Viral Video: Man drinks spilt Milk from Street; Video throws light on the state of Poor during Lockdown!

The nationwide lockdown has affected all parts of the society but everyone would unanimously agree that people living on the brink of poverty are the worst hit. In a viral video from Agra, a man could be seen collecting flowing milk from a road on his small earthen vessel. In the same video one could also notice that a pack of dogs were drinking the same milk. The milk was reportedly spilt down on the road after a milk container overturned. According to media reports from NDTV, the incident happened in Ram Bagh Chauraha in Agra. The distressing video was shot by two bystanders.

As per India Today’s reports, when the district authorities were requested to comment on the video, they mentioned they were not aware of any such information. They also went on to mention about a nearby police station that is responsible for feeding food to the poor and needy. This video could be seen as a wakeup call of sorts since it highlights the underlying difficulties faced by people belonging to the lower socio- economic rungs of the society. The loss of income has put many under distress and put their livelihoods in risk. 

According to International Labour Organization (ILO), 400 million Indians working in the informal economy face the risk of poverty at the moment."COVID-19 is already affecting tens of millions of informal workers. In India, Nigeria and Brazil, the number of workers in the informal economy affected by the lockdown and other containment measures is substantial," the ILO report released in Geneva said. It also added that, "Current lockdown measures in India, which are at the high end of the University of Oxford's COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index, have impacted these workers significantly, forcing many of them to return to rural areas.”