Understanding Poverty Dynamics and Household Vulnerability in Urban Slums of Purulia (India) across the Pre and Post COVID-19 Periods
This study analyzes the intensification of urban poverty and household vulnerability in Purulia, India, following the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing significant disparities across slum areas and identifying income, education, and employment status as critical factors driving poverty dynamics among informal workers.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the crowded, bustling cities of India, a hidden layer of society often exists just out of sight: the slums. These are neighborhoods where people live in tightly packed conditions, often without reliable access to clean water, electricity, or proper sanitation. For decades, researchers have tried to understand the economic lives of the families here, measuring their struggles not just by whether they have enough money to eat, but by how deep that lack of resources runs and how likely they are to fall deeper into hardship if something goes wrong. This concept of "vulnerability" is crucial; it recognizes that a family might earn just enough to survive today but could be pushed into destitution by a single shock, like a pandemic. When the global health crisis of COVID-19 arrived, it acted as a massive, sudden shock, disrupting jobs and income for millions. Understanding how this event changed the lives of the urban poor is essential for figuring out how to build cities that can withstand future crises without leaving their most vulnerable residents behind.
A team of researchers set out to examine exactly how this pandemic reshaped poverty in the slums of Purulia, a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. They focused on eight specific neighborhoods, chosen because they represented different types of urban environments: some were deep in the city center, others on the fringes where the city meets the countryside, and some in mixed areas. To get a clear picture of change, the team did something rare and difficult: they returned to the same households twice. First, they surveyed 375 families in 2019, before the virus arrived, to establish a baseline of their income, education, and jobs. Then, they returned in 2024, after the pandemic had run its course, to see how those same families were faring. By comparing the two snapshots, they could trace the specific paths families took—whether they stayed poor, managed to escape poverty, or fell into it for the first time.
The results revealed a landscape of stark inequality and shifting fortunes. Before the pandemic, poverty was already widespread, but the crisis intensified the divide. In some neighborhoods, like Sufalpally, more than half of the households remained stuck in chronic poverty, unable to climb out despite the passage of time. These families, often reliant on daily manual labor, found their incomes severely disrupted. The researchers found that the depth of poverty varied significantly from one street to the next. In areas like Sufalpally and Bhagabandhpara, the gap between what families earned and what they needed to survive was the widest, indicating that even those who were technically "poor" were struggling with a much deeper level of deprivation than others. Conversely, in other parts of the city, the income gap was narrower, suggesting a more even, though still difficult, distribution of resources.
The pandemic forced a dramatic reshuffling of how people made a living. Many who had worked in domestic service or small businesses found those jobs vanish overnight. In response, a significant number of households shifted toward manual, unskilled labor, a sector that absorbed workers who had lost their previous employment. However, this shift was not uniform. Some families managed to pivot successfully, moving from poverty into a more stable, though still precarious, middle ground. Others, particularly those with higher levels of education or those who owned small businesses, were better able to weather the storm. The study highlighted that education was a powerful shield; families with heads who had completed secondary school or higher were significantly less likely to fall into poverty or remain in it compared to those with no formal schooling. Similarly, having a steady income source and owning physical assets like a home or land provided a buffer that kept families from sliding into destitution.
One of the most telling findings was the role of location. The researchers discovered that where a slum was situated within the city mattered immensely. Families living in the peri-urban areas, on the edges of the city, were actually more likely to be classified as poor after the pandemic than those in the dense city center. This suggests that the economic opportunities and safety nets available in the core of the city offered some protection that the fringe areas lacked. The study also identified a large group of "vulnerable non-poor"—families who were technically above the poverty line but lived on such a thin margin that any further economic hit could push them over the edge. This group was particularly large in certain mixed-development zones, signaling that a significant portion of the population was one step away from crisis.
Ultimately, the research paints a picture of a community that is resilient but fragile. While some families managed to find new ways to survive and even improve their standing, the pandemic exposed and deepened the structural weaknesses of urban life in these areas. The findings suggest that simply providing temporary relief is not enough. To truly help, policies need to address the root causes of vulnerability: the lack of stable employment, the low levels of education, and the precarious nature of informal work. The study points out that without targeted support to improve skills, secure housing, and access to essential services, the gains made by some families could easily be lost in the next crisis. The path forward requires understanding that poverty is not a static condition but a dynamic state, constantly shifting with the tides of the economy, and that protecting the most vulnerable requires a deep, localized understanding of how those tides affect each specific neighborhood.
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