COVID-19 has emerged as a crisis that has impacted all spheres of human life. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted the world's poor population in terms of livelihood and survival. India witnessed a massive crisis among migrant workers. In this context, this paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on women migrant workers and their families, analyzing qualitative interviews in two localities in Delhi and in Gurugram in Haryana State. Six themes were developed from the interview data about the impacts on, and experiences of, women migrant workers: loss of livelihood and resulting debt; compromises; captivity and the burden of responsibility; disrupted access; emotional geographies of COVID-19; and insufficient support. The study underlines the dismal state of women migrant workers and their families and argues that urgent policy interventions are required to address the impoverishment they are experiencing. The strengthening of social security measures is of the utmost importance.

This paper explores social work students' perspectives of online fieldwork practice that emerged due to sudden disruption in field placement as a result of the outbreak of COVID‐19 in India. We have recruited and interviewed 32 Master's students from five north‐Indian universities to participate in the research. The study's findings highlight ill‐equipped agencies lacking social work components in online/virtual field placement. Also, ethical dilemmas in working virtually, disconnectedness from the field, and superficial supervision were experienced by the students. The study result implies the urgent need to develop and innovate a pedagogical approach to deal with uncertainties and crises like the COVID‐19.

The practice of allopathic medicine by informal healthcare practitioners (IHPs) is ubiquitous in India. However, a little is known about the patients' experiences and IHPs' perspectives. The core questions guided the present study were (1) why do urban poor approach IHPs for healthcare? (2) what are their experiences of availing services from IHPs? and (3) what are the perspectives of IHPs about their practice with the population they serve? A qualitative research design guided the study. The study was conducted in the Gurugram city of Haryana, India. Nine IHPs and twenty-seven patients who fit into the pre-established inclusion criteria were interviewed. The findings of the study underline the structural constrains of healthcare access to the poor in India and the mutual dependencies between IHPs and the urban poor. Three themes were emerged corresponding to the perspectives of IHPs, and five themes were generated, which describes patients' experiences and perspectives of availing treatment. The factors that attract and sustain patients to IHPs are a mixture of socioeconomic aspects, which include poverty, inaccessibility, unaffordability, inefficient public healthcare facilities, and the positive behavioural and treatment attributes of the practitioners. The study implies urgent policy interventions to ensure quality healthcare to urban poor.

Racial discrimination is a common phenomenon against the northeastern people of India on the mainland. They are prejudiced and othered mainly because of their very identity—mongoloid features—and by assuming their Chinese affiliations. The outbreak of COVID‐19 has exacerbated discrimination, violence, and othering across the globe. The case of northeasterners living in the mainland of India is not different either. Racial discrimination and the othering experienced by northeasterners have not yet been studied extensively, especially in the context of the pandemic. Against this backdrop, the present paper examines the othering experiences of northeasterners living in Delhi by analysing nineteen qualitative interviews. We also have attempted to unveil their experiences of being othered before the pandemic. The participants were recruited based on inclusion criteria. The findings of the paper underline othering as the everyday experience of northeasterners living in Delhi. The worst forms of othering and discrimination amid the COVID‐19 pandemic resulting in stigmatisation and bullying, insecurity and helplessness, and mental and emotional strains are evident in the participants' experiences. The instances of growing racism in India against northeasterners evidence the stereotypical attitude of the mainstream population towards them and urges legal measures to prevent it.

Development projects, primarily hydroelectric power projects, are considered viable renewable energy sources and contribute to sustaining the economy at large. However, it has been contested over excessive exploitation and appropriation of environment and ecology. Such development models have been challenged worldwide for threatening human survival degrading ecology and the environment. Hydroelectric development in the geographically fragile regions of the Himalayas is on the rise owing to the great potential of hydro energy in the region. This article examines the public protest against the hydroelectric project, the Jangi-Thopan-Powari Hydro Electric project, in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.