Jobs lost, income cut: How Covid-19 financially dented India's middle class
Economy News In 2019, Singh moved to Guwahati to work at a dairy company for Rs 15,000 a month, and wondered if his dreams were beginning to take shape. "I have been a dreamer for most of my life," he said.
Singh began dreaming of buying a house of his own, driving a car and one day travelling to Switzerland for a holiday. But all of it came crashing down when the Covid-19 pandemic plunged India's economy into a historic recession.
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Singh's fears were realised when he lost his job during the Covid-19 second wave. Today, he is back in his village, where a series of lockdowns have hammered the local economy. "After the pandemic, our local markets have changed.
It is not like it was before," he said. As a result, their household earnings have crashed by more than half and the family has been compelled to take a loan to pay for his mother's medical expenses...Read more.