Responses of Social Work Students and Teachers to COVID-19: Experiences from Crisis Relief in Urban Slum and Rural Communities of Maharashtra, India

• India’s unorganized workforce consists of more than a million daily wage laborers and migrant (rural to urban) workers, a highly marginalized community residing in urban slums representing the rural poor. With the onset of COVID-19, the state directed a countrywide lockdown, which meant an overnight loss of employment and livelihood for this unorganized community. Starvation, disease, and resorting to violence were only a few of the side effects. Amidst this, ‘Jeevan Pravah’ (The stream of life), a crisis intervention project for support of unorganized labour in urban slums, emerged, initiated by a team of social work students, alumni, and teachers. The project is a response by social workers to those suffering extremely in the light of the pandemic, groups left vulnerable by the state’s actions. The project began in March 2020 with an outreach in urban slums of Mumbai and rural communities of Maharashtra, with 2000-4000 individuals assisted. This chapter documents the first-hand experiences of the social workers assisting corona-affected individuals through interviews, present social work strategies, and responses within the analytical framework of social work theory, critique the shortcomings of existing systems and state, and highlight a need for a shift in social work post COVID-19. 

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Community; Corona; COVID-19; Crisis; Exclusion; Interventions; Livelihood; Marginalized; Migrant; Pandemic; Rural; Social work; Social work response; Urban; Youth

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