Social mobilisation for resilient livelihoods of the left behind communities during and beyond disasters in Tamil Nadu, India

The daily life of the poor is the epitome of VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous – used by the military to describe war. ‘Extraordinary’ disasters — whether the pandemic, extreme cyclones, or heavy rainfall — have become the norm, and we must prepare to face them. The pandemic has exposed, as never before, the need for the poor to have formal resilience mechanisms. For the poor, only proactive mitigation and sustenance measures that enhance their resilience, will help them survive these multiple recurrent disasters. The key link in this is their linkage, access, and benefit from the state social security mechanisms and welfare net before the disaster.

Every state promises the uplift of the oppressed, and some sincerely try to do so. But there is a huge gap in delivery. While many social security schemes of the government are introduced with the best of intentions, their design makes access impossible for the deserving. Schemes designed for the poor remain complex and inaccessible, pushing them further and further into poverty while making more well– paid jobs for the administrators of the ‘welfare state’ who are from the privileged strata. The poor find access difficult since they do not even have the necessary certificates and mandatory documents – so they cannot cross the first milestone in the journey to get the entitlements.

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