India

Oxfam India: Poor and marginalised communities most vulnerable to unpredictable floods

July 17, 2023

Oxfam India is responding to the catastrophic flooding in the National Capital Region and Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand which has claimed more than 150 lives so far. Oxfam India’s humanitarian response will be concentrating on emergency food, water and sanitation, personal hygiene kits and temporary shelters.

Oxfam India’s CEO, Pankaj Anand said, “We are unfortunately witnessing one of the worst floods to hit the nation’s capital in more than 45 years! Floods have wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well. Families living on the banks of Yamuna River have been displaced and are forced to live on the pavements. It remains deeply unjust that the poor and marginalised communities are the most vulnerable right now. With more rains predicted in New Delhi and other parts of North India in the coming days, our humanitarian team’s objectives are to ensure the survival of the worst affected families through improved access to shelter. We will also be focusing on immediate survival through food security and providing material and facilities for maintaining safe and hygienic practices around water sanitation & hygiene”.

Oxfam India has identified the worst affected areas through a rapid vulnerability assessment done in consultation with local partners and other stakeholders. Oxfam India maintains close coordination with Inter Agency Group (IAG), SPHERE, State and National Disaster Management Authority, district level authorities and other actors who are responding to the floods.

Oxfam India’s humanitarian response includes providing safe and clean water for the flood affected communities. Distribution of ‘Hygiene and dignity Kits’ among the affected households. Restoration of Water points that got destroyed or damaged during floods through chlorination and minor repairing. Installation of temporary toilets at the relief camps and at community level. Village and community cleaning and Installation of flood resilient high-raised tube wells for use by the community during future floods and throughout the year.

Given the rapidly changing situation in terms of severity of impact of floods in different geographical areas, Oxfam India will regularly review the project areas and will continue to focus on high impact but underserved areas in Delhi NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and other parts of North India.

Oxfam reaction to Government of India’s decision to restrict foreign funds

January 3, 2022

Oxfam India’s humanitarian work will be severely impacted

In reaction to the Government of India’s decision to refuse renewal of Oxfam India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration, Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India said:

“The restriction will severely affect our ongoing crucial humanitarian and social work in 16 states across the country. This includes setting up oxygen plants, providing lifesaving medical and diagnostic equipment such as oxygen cylinders and ventilators, and delivering lifesaving food to the most vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Oxfam India has been working in public interest with the government, communities, and frontline workers in the country for decades now. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxfam India joined hands with health departments, district administrations, and ASHA workers across the nation to provide life-saving equipment and support.

“We are also working with various state governments to ensure bridging of the learning gap in school education due to COVID-19. We have worked to enhance women’s livelihood and worked with forest dwellers to ensure that they are not denied their rights. We have worked in some of the most flood-prone districts to make communities resilient and provide a lasting solution. The Ministry of Home Affairs decision to deny renewal of FCRA registration will severely hamper these collaborations which were providing relief to those who needed it the most during times of crisis,

“Over the years, our work has always been in the public interest and guided by the principle of creating lasting solutions to address the injustice of poverty, to leave no one behind, and to end discrimination and create a free and just society. The MHA’s refusal to renew Oxfam India’s FCRA registration will not reduce Oxfam India’s commitment to serve the vulnerable communities in-country and uphold values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Oxfam India will reach out to the MHA and will urge them to lift the funding restrictions to ensure vulnerable communities keep receiving the support they need at this critical time of the pandemic.”

Notes

As per the list released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 01 January 2022, Oxfam India’s FCRA registration renewal request has been denied which means that Oxfam India will not be able to receive foreign funds for any of its work in India from 01 January 2022.

COVID-19 Response by Oxfam India

This development severely hampers Oxfam India’s COVID-19 response ‘Mission Sanjeevani’ which is one of the largest among NGOs in India. Under the initiative, Oxfam India provided 6 Oxygen generating plants and distributed over 13,388 lifesaving medical equipment such as oxygen cylinders, BiPAP Machines, concentrators, and ventilators, over 116,957 safety and PPE kits, over 9929 diagnostic equipment such as thermometers and oximeters, and 20,000 testing kits in 16 states. We reached over 141 district-level hospitals, 171 Primary Health Centres, and 167 Community Health Centres.

We trained and provided safety kits to over 48,000 ASHA workers in 9 states, who are the backbone of the primary healthcare system. We have delivered food ration to over 5.76 lakh people. And made cash transfers to over 10,000 people to the tune of INR 3.53 Crores to help them with their immediate needs during the pandemic. These include helping the most vulnerable communities including transgenders, sex workers, miners, rag pickers, cancer survivors, survivors of domestic violence, weavers, fisherfolk, construction workers, and those affected by floods and cyclones. The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. As India stares at a possible third wave due to the Omicron variant, the restrictions on accessing funds will hamper our efforts to provide support in strengthening the public healthcare system.

Since March 2020, Oxfam India was at the forefront whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon NGOs and civil society to join the fight against COVID-19 by helping the government to strengthen health services and accelerate the pace of vaccination. The Supreme Court also acknowledged the contribution of NGOs in providing relief during the pandemic.

Rapid Response to Natural Disasters and Crisis

Oxfam India’s humanitarian team has been one of the first to respond to cyclones, floods, landslides, and earthquakes. This year we reached out to over 8000 people in Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. Since 2008, Oxfam India has provided relief to lakhs of people through its disaster relief response. This includes crucial food aid, water, hygiene kits, shelter kits and lifesaving equipment.

Development Work for Nation Building

Oxfam India’s programmes and interventions are aimed at achieving overall development of the poorest states in India. Our work has presence in 109 districts of 6 states of India – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Jharkhand. Apart from humanitarian work, Oxfam India has worked with some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities to ensure education to all, especially girl child and to provide multi-lingual education to tribal children. Our education programmes have helped more than 90,000 children to receive quality education in the last five years, and it continues to work towards bridging learning losses due to the pandemic and lockdowns.

We have worked with over 11,000 women to strengthen their livelihood; these include women farmers, fisherfolk and artisans many of whom have also set up producer companies. In the last five years alone, we have set up 11 Women Support Centres and reached out to 3.48 lakh women and girls through our campaign and programmes to address Violence Against Women. To improve public health, Oxfam India’s programmes are pushing for free medicines, patients’ rights and improving quality of healthcare for all. These programmes serve crucial public interests and serve communities which lag behind in development.

Oxfam India has worked for the forest rights of the tribal communities as well as other traditional forest dwellers. In the last 5 years, we have worked with over 40,000 tribes and forest dwellers in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and our work has borne fruit — 2975 Individual Forest Rights, 27 Community Forest Rights and 20 Community Rights titles were received. We have worked closely with the National and State Disaster Management Authorities to contribute to risk-informed development planning as well as draw up DRR Road Maps for states like Assam and Bihar.

Oxfam India has worked to bridge inequalities and end discrimination not just through its work on the ground but also through research and knowledge building. Our Inequality Reports over the years have covered a gamut of topics from the unpaid care work of women to the state of employment. Our latest Inequality Report this year, ‘India’s Unequal Healthcare Story’, took a deep dive into how access to healthcare and the health parameters varied for different sections of the society.

Legacy of Oxfam in India

While Oxfam India became a fully Indian organisation in 2008 with prominent citizens of India as its board members, Oxfam had been working in India since 1951. Throughout these seven decades, the organisation has always upheld Indian laws, propagated the country’s constitutional values and worked tirelessly for the people of India.

Oxfam came to India to provide famine relief in Bihar in 1951. Since then, we have been participating in India’s nation-building process in different ways and we are proud of it. Oxfam’s support to Amul, the dairy cooperative society based in Anand, Gujarat in the 1960s helped it to become the largest milk brand in India and one of the largest food products in the world. In 1971, it recruited doctors and medical students to provide medical assistance to refugees coming in India from East Pakistan.

During the Kargil war, Oxfam provided crucial relief material to communities on the Indian side of the border. Oxfam was at the forefront of the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts after Tsunami hit the Tamil Nadu coast in 2005. Oxfam India has in the last 70 years saved millions of people affected due to floods, cyclones, and earthquakes. And when the pandemic struck, we were on the ground with hot cooked meals for the migrant workers within days of the announcement of the lockdown in March 2020. We haven’t looked back since.

Oxfam India’s international affiliates have always joined hands whenever call for help has been sent out by the people of India. As recently as in May 2021, all Oxfam affiliates in 21 countries mobilised significant resources to combat the devastating second wave and mitigate the suffering of the people in India.

Millions facing double disaster as second Covid wave overwhelms rural India

June 4, 2021

New Delhi: The second wave has left public healthcare in shambles. People have lost their lives due to lack of proper medical facilities and infrastructure. The situation is getting a little under control in the cities, but it is still very grim in rural India where there are issues related to access to medical facilities, hospitals, doctors, technically trained staff or testing facilities.

Around 65% of the total population of approximately 1.3 billion live in rural India, which hardly has rural health infrastructure. As per the Rural Health Statistics 2019, there is a shortfall of 43,736 Sub Centres (23 percent), 8764 Primary Health Centres/PHC (28 percent) and 2865 Community Health Centres/CHC (37 percent) across the country.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said: “There was a time when we woke up every day to news of death of a friend, family, acquaintance. Villages were worse off – with no access to health care, no testing; in some cases, 20-25 people from a village died within a few days. No one in India has remained untouched by this pandemic. And most of these lives could have been saved if there was proper, adequate, and affordable healthcare for all.”

People outside the major cities do not have the same access to social media to reach out for help or raise awareness of what is happening. Lack of testing, healthcare facilities and postmortems mean large number of cases in rural communities are not being recorded.

Apart from a healthcare calamity, India was already reeling under economic stress. The sporadic lockdowns and containment zones mean that once again it is the informal sector workers who are going to be worst hit. Latest report from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) states that over 1 crore Indians lot their jobs in the second Covid wave and around 97% household incomes have fallen since the start of the pandemic last year.

Millions who slipped into poverty last year due to job losses are now facing another looming crisis: hunger. India already has the largest population facing food shortages in the world, with an estimated 189 million people in India already undernourished before the pandemic began

While healthcare is the primary focus at this point in time, Oxfam India is also reaching out to some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities with food. In the long run we will work towards providing livelihood support to informal sector workers and their families.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said: “We are reaching out to public healthcare institutions, district administrations and COVID Care Centres with medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, patient monitoring systems, oximeters, oxygen nasal masks, and thermometers along with PPE kits and safety kits for frontline health workers. We will also reach the most marginalised and vulnerable communities with food, ration, and safety kits.”

Through Mission Sanjeevani, our COVID-19 response in the second wave, we have provided 96 Oxygen Concentrators, 155 Oxygen Cylinders (40 Lts), over 1200 Oxygen Nasal Masks, 12 BiPAP machines, over 5000 diagnostic tools/equipment of various types, 1630 PPE kits, 90 ICU beds, community safety kits and one month’s dry ration supply to 15,500 people so far.

In addition to this, Oxfam India plans to strengthen the rural health ecosystem, in some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities, by providing the necessary tools, training and inexpensive equipment needed by frontline health workers like Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) for early identification of cases and timely referral to health centres, and hiring doctors, staff nurses and paramedics, wherever possible.

In the first month of our response to the second wave, we have provided support in Maharashtra, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. While continuing to work in these states among the most marginalised and vulnerable communities, Oxfam India will also look at expanding to Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Gujarat.

Notes to the Editors:

In the second wave, Oxfam India is working with the government and local administrations to deploy 7 Oxygen generation plants, 25 ventilators, 500 Oxygen concentrators, 3000 Oxygen cylinders (40-lts capacity), 11800 Oxygen nasal masks, 300 BiPAP machines, 1200 ICU beds, around 16000 diagnostic equipment of different types, and 19000 PPE kits. We are also aiming to provide one-month dry ration supply and community safety kits to 225,000 people.
Oxfam India also plans to train 35000 ASHA workers and provide them with medical kits for a larger community outreach to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour and also tackle the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
Since March 2020, Oxfam India has been working in 16 states, reaching the most marginalised and vulnerable with medical supplies, food kits, cooked meals, safety and PPE kits, cash, and livelihood trainings.

For more information, please contact:
David Bull
Oxfam Aotearoa
[email protected]

About Oxfam India

Oxfam India is a movement of people working to create a just and an equal India. We work to ensure that Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, and women and girls have safe-violence free lives with freedom to speak their mind, equal opportunities to realise their rights, and a discrimination free future.

During the last five years, Oxfam India has responded to more than 35 humanitarian disasters across the country and directly provided relief to nearly 1.5 million people. Oxfam India’s humanitarian response is guided by the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in disaster affected areas.

India’s Serum Institute: COVAX “closed” until Christmas

May 21, 2021

Late yesterday the Indian vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute, issued a statement indicating that no further supplies of vaccine for COVAX (the facility to help developing countries access COVID vaccines) will be available until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has enough doses to vaccinate the population at least six times over. Oxfam New Zealand’s Jo Spratt says that there is a moral obligation for New Zealand to share some of the supply for countries like India who have been hit the hardest.

“As COVAX has been supplying vaccines to the world’s poorest countries, it is devastating to think that now these countries will have to wait even longer. This disheartening development really helps illustrate how important it is for Aotearoa to step up and share more of our vaccine stockpile.”

Responding to the announcement, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, Anna Marriott, said:

“While the vaccination of people in India should be a priority, given the horrific toll COVID is having there, it is a huge concern that COVAX won’t be receiving any more doses until Christmas, given that Serum Institute is producing the majority of its doses.

“For months, rich country leaders have said they’re doing their bit to ensure developing countries receive vaccines by pointing to COVAX, but now their supply has effectively been turned off for the rest of the year. This comes at a time when many developing countries are facing soaring infection and death rates.

“The current approach that relies on a few pharma monopolies and a trickle of charity through COVAX is failing and people are dying as a result. It is time for those who are currently opposing a suspension of intellectual property rules, like the UK and Germany, to follow President Biden’s leadership to get more vaccines to developing countries.

“As G20 leaders prepare to meet at the Global Health Summit later this week they should consider how history will judge them for leaving the decisions of who lives and who dies from COVID-19 in the hands of just a handful of hugely profitable and powerful pharmaceutical corporations.”

-Ends-

For more information and interviews:

David Bull
+64 27417 9724

Oxfam responds to deadly COVID-19 wave in India

April 30, 2021

Oxfam responds to deadly COVID-19 wave in India

Oxfam India has deployed teams to five of the worst-hit states in India where a second wave of coronavirus is sweeping the country. The international organisation is urgently appealing for $2 million to fund its emergency response to the crisis. Oxfam New Zealand is contributing to this worldwide effort and raising funds for Oxfam India’s response.

Teams have already started providing face masks, hand sanitizer and other protective equipment in parts of Maharashtra following a request from state health authorities. Distribution of PPE to 500 frontline health workers will begin in Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days.

Oxfam India is procuring oxygen tanks, beds, digital thermometers, and other medical equipment to help government hospitals where supplies are desperately low. We are also preparing to provide food rations and cash support to stranded migrant workers and other marginalised groups, and handwashing stations in public spaces.

Pankaj Anand, Humanitarian and Programmes Director, said: “I do not know of a single family that has not seen at least one of its members infected. The surge in coronavirus cases has caught the country off guard. We are seeing hundreds of thousands of new cases every day and many more deaths. The health infrastructure in India is bursting at the seams [under huge pressure] and there are widespread reports of shortages of oxygen and other medical supplies in large cities.”

Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India, said: “Our immediate priority is to supply hospitals and health workers with medical equipment and PPE so they can continue treating those who are sick. But to avoid a worse humanitarian disaster it is vital we stop the spread and so we are also preparing handwashing stations and awareness campaigns to help people stay safe. We are particularly concerned about migrant workers and other marginalised groups who may be stranded in the open and will be hit hardest by lockdowns and the economic shock. Oxfam India is preparing to provide food rations and cash assistance to help the most vulnerable people to survive the coming weeks.”

Spokespeople available for interview via Skype or phone

To arrange an interview, please contact:

Tejas Patel [email protected] +91 9999105600

Savvy Soumya Misra [email protected] +91 98187 79535

Matt Grainger [email protected] +447730680837

Nesrine Aly [email protected] +447503989838

Ends

Notes to editors:

Oxfam India will begin supplying PPE to 500 frontline health workers in five states in the coming days. It is also procuring oxygen tanks and masks, beds, digital thermometers and other medical equipment to help supply government hospitals, as well as 900 emergency food rations to support the most marginalized groups. Oxfam India and its partners are monitoring the situation in 16 states across India.

Since the first outbreak of COVID-19 last year, Oxfam India has been working to provide food, PPE, safety kits, cash assistance and livelihoods training across 15 states (Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana). Oxfam India is committed to reaching the most vulnerable and marginalized groups including Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims and women and girls.

The sudden disruption caused by lockdowns has had a severe impact on daily wage labourers, migrants and informal workers who are struggling to feed themselves and their families. The sudden spike in cases COVID-19 in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi has resulted in many migrant workers becoming stranded in railway stations, bus terminals or at their places of work. Oxfam’s field teams report that these groups, who are often excluded from government support, need food and handwashing facilities to reduce their chances of becoming infected.