The lockdown imposed due to coronavirus may prove to be catastrophic for India’s poor, especially labourers.

According to a survey conducted by NGO Jan Sahas, “90% labourers (approx) have already lost their source of income in the last three weeks”.

What’s worse is that despite the government of India announcing a compensation for construction workers whose livelihood has suffered due to the lockdown, it may not be easy for the vast majority of workers to avail the compensation.

The survey, which was conducted among 3,196 construction workers across India, says that as many as 94 percent of the workers do not have the Building and Construction Workers identity card required for availing the central government’s compensation.