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Nobel Peace Laureate <keyword id="83501" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Muhammad-Yunus">Muhammad Yunus</keyword> on Saturday said building rural economy is important to stop migration amid the challenges caused due to coronavirus pandemic. "Micro credit is about building rural economy. Corona crisis has given the industry an opportunity to aid in creating a strong rural economy. Creating a strong independent rural economy will not only halt rural to urban migration but in the years to come, the migration will be urban to rural," Yunus said at a webinar by <keyword id="477100" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="microfinance-industry">microfinance industry</keyword>. Microfinance institutions should create programmes like venture capital to create entrepreneurs in rural India, he said. There is a need for creating a national disaster fund for the sector and managed by the sector in India, Yunus said while speaking in the webinar organised by Sa-Dhan, a self regulatory organisation for the industry. Notably, India has been witnessing reverse migration of labourers and workers to their home states as lockdown imposed due to coronavirus pandemic affected them badly economically alongside huge number of job losses as well. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/with-233-fresh-cases-bihars-covid-19-tally-rises-to-4831/articleshow/76238545.cms">Bihar registers 233 new coronavirus cases with its overall tally rising to 4.831</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/noida-21-new-covid-19-cases-tally-591/articleshow/76238339.cms">Noida’s total coronavirus cases hit 591 with 21 new cases detected in the past 24 hours</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/342-new-coronavirus-cases-in-pune-district-six-deaths/articleshow/76239001.cms">Six more people die of coronavirus in Pune with 342 fresh cases</a>

Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus says building the rural economy is the key to halt migration

What India’s rising COVID-19 infections don’t⁠ reveal — the lack of health infrastructure in remote areas

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>'s daily <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> cases have plummeted since September.</li><li>The nation is now reporting just 8 daily cases per one million people, among the lowest per-capita rates in the world.</li><li>Experts say the decline is puzzling. The difficulty of recording rural cases, combined with strict public-health measures, may offer some explanation.</li></ul>At the start of the pandemic, few countries were more ripe for a major coronavirus outbreak than India.Not only is India the world's second most populous country, it's also one of the densest, with around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?locations=IN">1,200 people per square mile</a>. Cases there climbed steadily from April through September, reaching a peak of nearly 100,000 daily cases on September 16.Then something unexpected happened: India's daily cases plummeted from mid-September until February, with average weekly cases dropping by roughly a third each month. The nation is now reporting fewer than 11,300 daily cases, on average - around 8 per 1 million people, among the lowest per-capita rates in the world.India's health ministry has attributed this success to a few factors, including a robust testing and contact-tracing effort. But infectious-disease experts say the quick turnaround is puzzling.India only began administering coronavirus vaccines in mid-January, so it's probably too soon for vaccinations to affect transmission. Some public-health experts say India's strict mask mandates may have helped lower cases, but masks have been required there since April, so that don't fully explain why cases dwindled so dramatically in the fall."There are a lot of questions and lessons to be learned, and I think that we need to do a deeper dive into what they've done well," Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, told Insider.Kuppalli's previous research focused on barriers to medical care among women with HIV in southern India."I know from having worked and lived in India that they have a lot of challenges in terms of dealing with large populations that are in close quarters, infection control issues, hygiene issues, ventilation issues - all the things that we are concerned about in terms of how this disease spreads," she said.Kuppalli added that it's worth studying whether India's population may have unique genetic or demographic characteristics that make people less susceptible to symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It's also possible, she added, that coronavirus cases are simply hard to record in rural areas.<h2>Penalties for not wearing masks </h2><div type="image" title="india mask school" height="3100" width="4650" msid="80678829" hostid="261"></div>Widespread adherence to public-health measures may partly explain why India has gotten its outbreak under control. Several large cities and states there began requiring masks in public places in April, two months before the World Health Organization recommended face coverings for the general public.Since then, the nation's largest city, Mumbai, has levied fines against those who violate the rule. By October, Mumbai had <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/since-april-bmc-fined-14207-people-for-not-wearing-masks-6618446/">collected a total of more than $70,000 in fines</a> from more than 14,000 people who'd failed to wear masks in public. By early December, Delhi had also issued around 500,000 mask fines, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-was-consuming-india-until-nearly-everyone-started-wearing-masks-11609329603">The Wall Street Journal reported</a>. For the most part, Indians have been supportive of mask requirements: In an <a href="https://qz.com/india/1909711/indians-support-high-penalties-for-not-wearing-coronavirus-masks/">October survey</a> from social media platform LocalCircles (which included more than 15,000 responses across roughly 200 districts in India), nearly 90% of respondents said they were in favor of a mask mandate. About 40% said they would support increased penalties for those who didn't comply.The US, by contrast, has struggled to convince large segments of the public that masks are an effective tool. "The United States very much failed from a lack of national leadership, miscommunication, and a lack of community engagement. I think we can really boil it down to those three things," Kuppalli said, adding, "we still have people who don't believe the pandemic is real in this country."<h2>A focus on 'test, trace, isolate'</h2><div type="image" title="india contact tracing" height="3280" width="4928" msid="80678833" hostid="261"></div>Epidemiologists typically rely on a three-step strategy to contain a virus: test, trace, isolate.Though India's testing got off to a slow start, it has ramped up considerably since the summer. By August, the nation had <a href="https://www.who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/how-india-scaled-up-its-laboratory-testing-capacity-for-covid19">nearly 1,600 testing labs</a>, up from just 14 in February 2020. India is administering nearly 486,000 daily tests. Only two other countries, the UK and the US, are testing more.India's large population also worked to its advantage when it came to enlisting contact tracers.From March through April, tens of thousands of health workers <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6517/691">traced the contacts of more than 435,000 infected people</a> across two southern states, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The workers reached more than 3 million contacts, around 575,000 of whom had available COVID-19 test results.These efforts were made easier by a longstanding disease surveillance network that began monitoring <keyword id="8785701" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="COVID-19-cases">COVID-19 cases</keyword> in late January 2020.As of April, Indian residents could download the nation's contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, to find out if they had been been within 6 feet of an infected person. Indian residents are asked to download the app if isolating due to a positive COVID-19 test and report any symptoms to a local surveillance officer.<h2>Possible immunity to new pathogens</h2><div type="image" title="India covid" height="3626" width="5439" msid="80678837" hostid="261"></div>India has indeed seen fewer COVID-19 deaths per million than many developed nations. As of Wednesday, 113 out of every million people in India had died of COVID-19, compared to nearly 1,500 out of every million in the US and 1,755 per million in the UK.India is now recording fewer than one daily death per million people.Kuppalli said India's rapidly falling cases raises another important question: "Are there things about this particular population, this ethnicity, that puts them at decreased risk?" An <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7444648/">August study</a> suggested that populations with a higher exposure to diverse types of bacteria - predominantly due to poor sanitation - might see fewer COVID-19 deaths per million, perhaps because of an acquired or innate immunity to new pathogens. This line of thinking isn't new: A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472979206000278">2006 study</a> found that developing countries may have a different "immunological experience" with tuberculosis than the US and Europe."Look at the average Indian: He or she has probably had malaria at some point in his life or typhoid or dengue," Sayli Udas-Mankikar, an urban policy expert at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, recently <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/01/962821038/the-mystery-of-indias-plummeting-covid-19-cases">told NPR</a>. "You end up with basic immunity toward grave diseases."The idea remains a theory for now, however.<h2>Rural populations are harder to surveil </h2><div type="image" title="rural india coronavirus" height="3456" width="5184" msid="80678845" hostid="261"></div>The coronavirus spreads best in dense, crowded environments. That means countries like the US, where more than 80% of residents live in urban areas, face an uphill battle to contain the virus' spread.India, on the other hand, is less urbanized: Around 65% of Indian residents live in rural areas. Though the virus has undoubtedly reached India's rural population, the nation's cities have been particularly hard-hit. By May, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hpm.3047">nearly 80% of India's total COVID-19 cases</a> hailed from just 30 cities. A <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news">January survey</a> found that 56% out 28,000 people sampled in Delhi tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.But Kuppalli said health trends among India's rural population are difficult to track.For one thing, rural areas are larger and more spread out. Many Indians living in these communities also lack internet access, which prevents them from plugging into the nation's surveillance network.Kuppalli also noted that it's difficult for patients who are sick in rural places to get to large urban hospitals because of transportation or financial issues. A <a href="https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/Media/rural-healthcare.html">2018 report</a> found that only one state-run hospital is available for every 90,000 people in India's rural communities. That could mean that India simply isn't recording as many rural cases.That too, is just a possibility, though. For now, Kuppalli said, "it's great that they've had this turnaround.""It's an opportunity for us to study this population," she added. "There are lots of things to think about and try to understand."This article was originally published on February 3. It has been updated to reflect the latest data on India's coronavirus cases.

India's sudden drop in coronavirus cases has puzzled disease experts. Strict public-health measures and difficulty recording rural cases may have factored in.

<ul><li>According to Nielsen India’s latest report, rural India saw 3X growth than the rest of India in June. </li><li>Reverse migration expected to give a positive uptick.</li></ul>Nielsen’s latest report revealed that rural areas are driving the growth for our country. It saw 3X growth in June than the rest of India. Lower COVID incidence, government stimulus and agricultural impetus are boosting the rural consumer sentiment. <div type="image" title="rural india growth" msid="77258173" hostid="261"></div> The report further explains the key reasons behind this growth: <ul><li>Lower COVID cases in Rural</li><li>Reverse migration expected to give a positive uptick</li><li>MNREGA wages at an all time high</li><li>Rural disbursement more than 2X of same period last year</li><li>The progress of the southwest monsoon so far has been bountiful. Flood impact very low compared to last year, restricted to 2-3 states</li><li>40-60% higher water availability in reservoirs</li><li>Increased sowing acreage</li><li>The Rabi harvest in April was good and with a good monsoon Kharif harvest is expected to augurs well too</li><li>The MSP prices for crops have also seen a significant increase</li></ul>

Rural India is seeing faster economic recovery than urban, this report shows why

<ul><li>According to <keyword id="11372959" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="iamai-kantar-icube-2020-report">IAMAI Kantar ICUBE 2020 Report</keyword>, India is likely to have 900 million active Internet users by 2025 as against around 622 million as of 2020, registering a growth of about 45% in the next five years.</li><li>While internet users grew by 4% in urban India -- reaching 323 million users (67% of urban population) in 2020, <keyword id="3497257" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-adoption">digital adoption</keyword> continues to be propelled by rural India – clocking a 13% growth to 299 million internet users (31% of rural population) over the past year.</li></ul>India is likely to have 900 million active Internet users by 2025 as against around 622 million as of 2020, registering a growth of about 45% in the next five years, according to <keyword id="149966" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IAMAI">IAMAI</keyword> <keyword id="9172699" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kantar-ICUBE">Kantar ICUBE</keyword> 2020 Report. The report also revealed that internet usership in rural regions witnessed a much faster year-on-year growth in 2020. The report suggests that even though the Internet penetration in urban is more than 2X that of rural, usership in rural has been growing at a faster rate on a year-on-year basis. While internet users grew by 4% in urban India -- reaching 323 million users (67% of urban population) in 2020, digital adoption continues to be propelled by rural India – clocking a 13% growth to 299 million internet users (31% of rural population) over the past year. This indicates that there’s a lot of headroom for growth in rural India and this would help in bridging the urban-rural digital divide. However, the growth rate of AIU (those who have accessed internet in the last one month) has progressively reduced over the years and is the lowest in the last four years. It also finds that nine out of ten active internet users access the internet every day; On average, they spend around 107 minutes (1.8 hours) actively on the internet daily. Though the proportion of daily users is marginally higher in urban India as compared to rural India, AIU in urban India is spending 17% more time as compared to rural India. Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, Executive Vice President, Insights Division, Kantar, stated, “By 2025, there would be a greater number of internet users in rural India than in urban India. Given this, the digital ecosystem will need to evolve to address the specific needs of this emerging demography. Vernacular, Voice and Video will emerge as the game changers for the digital ecosystem over the next few years.” Small towns account for almost two out of five active internet users while the top 9 metros account to 33% of the active internet users in urban India. The report suggests, of 1433 million population in India, 622 million individuals are AIU and this translates to about 43% of the total population (across urban and rural India). However, with a sizable population not accessing the internet actively in rural India, there is huge headroom for growth in the next few years. Interestingly, the proportion of male to female AIU remains almost the same in rural and urban India. In urban India, the ratio between male to female Internet users is around 57:43 while in rural India, the ratio between male to female Internet users is 58:42. Mobile continues to remain the device of choice for accessing the internet in both urban and rural. Given the affordability of mobile devices along with the availability of cheaper data plans, accessing the Internet through a mobile device has clearly become the first choice, finds the report. Digital Services have assumed great importance for India with the government actively promoting a vision of $1 Tn digital economy. Also, Internet has become a lifeline to most of us amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost every decision achieves fruition with the able interference and assistance of the internet. <keyword id="1754604" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">Coronavirus</keyword> has made us acutely realize the importance of the internet. The internet helped businesses tide through the tough lockdowns, individuals connected with each other, used the opportunity to learn and acquire new skills, and provided much-needed meaning and reason to carry on. The spread of the internet has been possible thanks to the joint efforts by the government (promoting e-governance, <keyword id="1929810" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-India">Digital India</keyword> vision), telecom services providers (more affordable data packages, better connectivity), and Internet Service providers (popular services like digital entertainment and e-commerce, expanding content in Indian languages). IAMAI stated that the ongoing growth of internet penetration in India provides a critical platform for all stakeholders to harness the digital revolution. The pandemic has also fueled the growth. The association expressed optimism that the government’s policies, regulations, and industry’s support will further strengthen the digital footprint in India and ensure a robust digital economy in the country.

Internet usership in rural India grew much faster than urban cities, clocks 13% growth to 299 million internet users in 2020: IAMAI-Kantar ICUBE 2020 Report

<ul><li>Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will increase <keyword id="2847984" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-expenditure-on-health">public expenditure on health</keyword>.</li><li>There will be an integrated <keyword id="491144" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health-labs">Public Health Labs</keyword> in all districts at block level as the current lab network in rural areas is inadequate to deal with an epidemic. </li><li>All districts will have infectious diseases hospital blocks. </li></ul>In a bid to make India ready for future epidemics Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will increase public <keyword id="3961654" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="expenditure-on-health">expenditure on health</keyword>. For grass root healthy institution in particular, the government plans to introduce new investments. All districts will have infectious diseases hospital blocks. Moreover, there will be integrated <keyword id="6364896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health">Public Health</keyword> Labs in all districts at block level as the current lab network in rural areas is inadequate to deal with an epidemic. "<keyword id="144853" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-expenditure">Public expenditure</keyword> on health will be increased, we will be ramping up the infrastructure” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Health Reforms. The government will focus on developing both hospitals and labs — including those which are privately funded. The government will also encourage research by introducing a National Institutional Platform for One health by ICMR. The National Digital Health Mission will receive a special impetus by implementing a ‘national digital health blueprint’. “We should see the opportunity in this crisis. Health reforms and initiative have been put in place. Investments in grass-root level will be ramped up — clinics and wellness centres. Viability gap funding was discussed yesterday,” Sitharaman added. The health reforms are announced at the same time when India reported the highest spike of 4,987 coronavirus cases in a single day, taking the total coronavirus cases above 90,000 mark. In the last two months, the government has released ₹15,000 crore for health-related steps. According to Sitharaman, an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh per health worker was announced. India’s 33-year-old Epidemic Disease Act was also <a href="https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/amendment-in-epidemic-disease-act-1897-1587621500-1">amended </a>to prevent attacks on health workers. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-final-stimulus-plan-to-boost-gdp-of-india/articleshow/75784571.cms">India's Finance Minister reveals the final lot of Modi's economic stimulus programme</a>

India to increase expenditure on health — will set up public health labs at block levels in all districts

New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Unicef India on Wednesday announced its partnership with SAP India to provide career counselling to young people in the country that will improve their employability skills in a Covid and post-Covid era. Making the announcement on the World Youth Skills Day, Unicef said it is collaborating with YuWaah (Generation Unlimited) under this initiative to provide digital education and occupational skillset to the underserved young people of the country. Focused on improving digital skills and life skills, the collaboration ultimately aims to impact one million young people by the end of 2022. In a video message on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the mantra to remain relevant during the coronavirus pandemic in the country is to "skill, reskill and upskill". Young people living in rural areas are particularly vulnerable when it comes to career and employability opportunities due to limited access to information, training, opportunities or the skills to participate fully in India's modernising technology-driven economy. The national aggregate on learner-computer ratio is reported to be 1:89, suggesting an inequitable access in rural schools. Evidence suggests that technology solutions can be optimized better to address poor learning levels, low retention rates, poor life-skills, and gender inclusion. "The Unicef -YuWaah - SAP India partnership will empower young people to help them harness their creativity, problem-solving and leadership to make a difference in their lives and in their communities," Yasmin Ali Haque, Unicef Representative in India, said in a statement. "This partnership will address urgent challenges young people face by equipping them with life skills, social innovation and career guidance." --IANS gb/na

You Searched For "coronavirus in rural india" and got 7 results

Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus says building the rural economy is the key to halt migration

PTI

What India’s rising COVID-19 infections don’t⁠ reveal — the lack of health infrastructure in remote areas

Preeti Soni

India's sudden drop in coronavirus cases has puzzled disease experts. Strict public-health measures and difficulty recording rural cases may have factored in.

Aria Bendix

Rural India is seeing faster economic recovery than urban, this report shows why

BI India Partner

Internet usership in rural India grew much faster than urban cities, clocks 13% growth to 299 million internet users in 2020: IAMAI-Kantar ICUBE 2020 Report

BI India Partner

India to increase expenditure on health — will set up public health labs at block levels in all districts

Preeti Soni

Unicef partners SAP India to improve employability of youth

IANS

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