When the nation announced 21 days of lockdown for the safety of all. A wave of uncertainty across the length and breadth of the country. There were a lot of mixed reactions from people!
In one of our village, Siya in Madhya Pradesh, where NFIL has provided the safe drinking water facility under its CSR initiative, our operator Dilip said, "It was that time of the month when many of the villagers were left with no ration so we had to take decisions which benefits all”.
Apart from sanitizing the Water ATM and machine, the village was also sanitized and people followed all instructions shared with them for maintaining hygiene and taking necessary precautions.
They were seen washing hands frequently, covering their faces and cleaning the surroundings. They also came forward to volunteer for helping each other in the village.
Some of the joint decisions taken included:
1) Landlords stopped taking rent of the house for the coming two months.
2) Villagers collected ration and prepared and distributed food for two days for needy families.
Dilip said, "No doubt, in the beginning, we were scared when we got to the news that the whole nation is shut. There was panic and the situations were unmanageable but glad that everyone came together".
As days passed, people got used to and conditions got better as Gram Panchayat could provide ration to many households in the village. They could balance themselves emotionally and spent time at home watching Doordarshan and cinema.
Though the virus outbreak is difficult to handle but it has definitely made people more responsible and empathetic towards each other.
