No masks or social distancing — In rural Punjab, life resumes like Covid never happened
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No masks or social distancing — In rural Punjab, life resumes like Covid never happened

Punjab has the highest Covid-19 case fatality rate in the country, while positivity rate is around 10% in both rural & urban areas. Villages, though, seem unperturbed by the situation.

   
Young children accompany their mothers on a stroll in Chunni Kalan village of Mohali, Punjab | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Representational image | Young children accompany their mothers on a stroll in Chunni Kalan village of Mohali, Punjab | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: Punjab is in the news with farmers holding a ‘rail roko’ protest against the three farm bills that were passed in Lok Sabha last week. But in the background, the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc in the state, which has recorded the highest Covid-19 fatality rate at 2.91 per cent.

Rural areas of Punjab recorded a positivity rate of 7 per cent, not too far behind the 11 per cent recorded in urban areas. However, life appears to be unaffected in the small towns and villages of this largely agrarian state.

Some villages have preferred to live in isolation though the rural distress has left some farmers overwhelmed. However, life has essentially resumed as ‘normal’, or as it had been before Covid struck.


Also read: Organ smuggling, ‘false’ results — rumours are stopping rural Punjab from taking Covid tests


ThePrint journalist Aneesha Bedi and National Photo Editor Praveen Jain were in the state last week to cover the ground situation. Their travels took them to Mohali, Ropar and Chunni among other places.

Most men and women were seen walking around without a mask — now considered an essential accessory and Covid preventive measure.

When not participating in dharnas, the women were helping out labour, either laying bricks, watering fields or doing other manual work. Meanwhile, with schools still shut, children kept busy by playing.

ThePrint brings you snapshots from their life, isolated from the humdrum of the bigger cities.

A man steers his bullock cart while a child rides his bicycle alongside, in Asron village, near Ropar in Punjab | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Farmers head out to their field early in the morning | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Young men on two-wheelers sometimes cover their face with dupattas, hoping to pass off as women to avoid being stopped by police | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Children walk around without masks in Punjab | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
With no schools open, children spend the day playing in groups | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
A group of villagers take a lunch break under a tree. No one can be seen using a mask | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
In Punjab’s Chunni, a villager employed under MNREGA takes a quick break to smile at the camera | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
Farmers dry vegetables in a field in rural Punjab | Praveen Jain | ThePrint
MNREGA workers huddle together, without masks, in Chunni village | Praveen Jain | ThePrint