Page 36 - Issue 01

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE

EFFECTS OF PANDEMIC ON DAILY WAGE-

EARNERS

SAGAR KUMAR

In this article, I will try to analyze the radical transformation in the daily lives of common people of our
country due to the coronavirus pandemic with the help of the experiences of people working in the informal

sector like hawkers, vegetable vendors, pakoda-sellers, etc. by using ethnographic research methods. Also, I
will try to explain how these people have themselves evaluated this change and have been surviving despite
it.
OTHER NEWS
AND
In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, all the socio-economic aspects of common life were going
through severe turns of ups and downs. In the first decade of the new millennium, we saw how the
DEVELOPMENTS:
economies of nations like India and China reached high growth rates and started contributing to the world
economy majorly. However, the first decade ended with one of the most significant crises of modern times -
T o u r i s m G e t s a B o o s t
the 2008 Financial Crisis – which originated in the U.S. but impacted most of the leading economies. Now,
i n J u l y - 3
unfortunately, the second decade of the millennium is coming to an end with a pandemic that has already
affected us badly enough to completely change the course of our daily lives. I hope by the end of the first
quarter of this century, we overcome this disease and regain a sense of normalcy in our lives.

As we all know, in the first quarter of the 20th century, the Spanish flu led to many deaths and changed
social life radically. Along with the flu, came calamities like famines and many other diseases which spread
very rapidly and altered the daily life of people across the globe as well as across India. A similar event is
taking place in the 21st century as well when people are suffering from the coronavirus pandemic across the
world, and they are having to adapt to radical changes in their daily life. Almost everybody on the planet is
affected by this pandemic directly or indirectly. No matter who they are, what are they doing – some way or

the other, their daily lives were changed to an unimaginable extent.

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