Guwahati: At least 57% of the Northeasterners who had relocated to Delhi were fired from their employment during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, according to a study.
According to a research done by a doctoral student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), 40% of them left their states during the lockdown and returned.
The statistics follow the study’s presentation on February 23 at a two-day international conference called Social Determinants of Health Inequality and Health Inequity: Impact of COVID-19, which was hosted by Delhi University’s Jesus and Mary College. The study was carried out by Gaidimlung K Jacob of the Centre for Study of Regional Development.
Jacob conducted interviews with 439 immigrants from the northeastern area who were residing in Delhi, and he found that out of the 439, 70% were young people under the age of 30.
The findings showed that about 88% of those who had migrated belonged to the tribal group and that 70% of them were under the age of thirty.
According to the research, the majority of respondents moved to Delhi for two reasons—education and livelihood—and the majority of them were women looking for work.
In terms of employment, 76.6% of people worked in the private sector, 9.2% worked for themselves and 14.2% worked in the governmental sector.
According to the study, 82% of those who worked in the beauty business, 67% of those who worked in restaurants, and 65% of those who worked in the airline sector all lost their jobs.
However, 61% of people were employed in the business sector.
In the first four stages of the lockdown, between March and May, about 57% of people left their jobs, and 40% went back to their hometown as a result of the lockdown.
The study also shows that 52% of employees in the private sector and 100% of self-employed people were both impacted. Furthermore, 63% had issues with their owners due to their inability to make rent payments.