COVID-19 surge: Narikuravars of Shoolagiri village fear starvation during lockdown

A video account of hunger and destitution has surfaced from the village calling for help from the Krishnagiri district administration.

“It has been four days since I ate. Staying alive has become a chore,” says a weeping woman of indeterminate age. “There is no rice, no vegetables, no oil,” she says. An old man, runs his hands over his stomach tucked in from emaciation and says he has not eaten for two days. “We somehow survived the first coronavirus [wave]. But, we can’t survive this,” he says. Narikuravars of Kariyasanthiram village in Nerigam panchayat in Shoolagiri are apprehensive of the prospects of starvation, as the lockdown imposed over the last week because of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed them deeper into hunger and destitution.