Rural communities and their fight against pandemic

Rural communities want to be heard – The second wave crisis

Even as issues concerning the current flood of Covid-19 pandemic unfurl in Indian urban areas, less apparent ones have begun arising in the villages.
Sanjana Nair
May 06
Rural communities and their fight against pandemic

The exponential increase in the number of Covid cases has overshadowed all the turmoil that the pandemic brought with it when it first struck. The heart-wrenching images, and stories of horror and fear of those who have survived or lost someone, shows the intensity of the catastrophe. With six-figure cases being added on a daily basis, the health system in urban areas is crumbling a little further every day. We can only imagine the stress on the rural healthcare system.

The lack of hospital beds, medicines, oxygen cylinders and even cremation spaces, compounded by tired and overworked health workers, has seen us grasping at every last straw of aid to keep the country safe and alive.

We recently reached out to our partners to understand and help them cope through this period of distress. The communities that we have been working with had just begun to rebuild their livelihoods that had been affected by the countrywide lockdown that was imposed when the pandemic struck. However, with the onset of the second wave, these communities have lost it all. The pandemic is back with a vengeance and has successfully penetrated the interiors of our country. The rural communities are suffering to gain access to basic health care facilities.  

Our partner, Navchetna, from Beed Maharashtra, has mentioned that, while on one hand, they are struggling to ensure that the communities are provided with food and safe drinking water, on the other hand, they grapple with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases (about 1500 cases per day), lack of healthcare facilities and the resulting deaths in the villages.

The team from Navchetna have taken it upon themselves to provide for the community during this time of crisis. Providing hot and nutritious meals to families, widows and the elderly, converting school spaces to isolation centres, arranging for hospital beds, oxygen and medication are just a few things that they have been doing to look after the sick and control the spread of the virus. 

Rural Communities is undergoing a crisis which remains unaddressed

The story remains consistent across communities. There is an extensive need for medical care, essentials including groceries, sanitary products and sanitisers and masks. The requirement of these communities is enormous. Despite grants and donations, they are still falling short of resources to meet the needs of their communities. 

We, at Rang De, recognize and understand this need. We are working towards raising emergency funds for our partner communities as a response to this humanitarian crisis.

As the need continues to increase every day, any amount of donation will go a long way in securing better healthcare facilities for these communities. 
To donate, visit,


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