A man and a pack of stray dogs are seen in a scramble for milk spilt on a road in Agra in stomach-churning visuals that speak volumes on the desperation of the country’s poorest during the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The image is from Monday morning on Agra’s Ram Bagh Chauraha when a large milk container overturned, sending a stream of milk down the road, just 6 km from the Taj Mahal.
A pack of dogs was joined by a man who is seen trying to scoop up as much of it as he could in a small earthen pot.
The 21-day day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, that is widely expected to be extended once it ends on Tuesday, has pushed lakhs of people across the country into poverty and hunger.
The lockdown came nearly two months after India reported its first COVID-19 case and almost three months after the virus emerged in China’s Wuhan.
The fear of going hungry sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and their families back to their villages last month, many on foot.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) said last week that 40 crore Indians working in the informal economy risk falling deeper into poverty during the crisis.
The central government has announced direct cash transfers and food subsidies to help some 80 crore people.
But most people interviewed over the past few weeks by NDTV have said they have received nothing or too little so far.
Several people have been beaten up in while trying to collect the benefits or had to line up for hours in the blazing sun.
While many experts feel the lockdown has contained a rapid rise in coronavirus cases, opposition parties have accused the government of implementing the harsh measures without adequate planning and preparation.
More than 9,000 people have been affected by coronavirus in India and over 300 have died since the highly-contagious disease broke out in late January.
India’s economy, which was already growing at its slowest pace in six years before the onset of the coronavirus, is set to take a severe hit amid the lockdown, say economists, who warn that unemployment could rise to record levels.
