The COVID-19 pandemic pushed some Indian households into difficult and often unsustainable coping strategies, forcing trade-offs between immediate survival and long-term stability, according to a new study by researchers from Lancaster University and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK). The study found that circular or recent migrant workers and daily wage-dependent families were among the hardest hit, with limited alternative support systems available. (Representative photo/ HT Photo) The study — Diverse Coping Strategies for Food Security: A Qualitative Study of Economically Precarious Households in India in the Context of COVID-19 — found that circular or recent migrant workers and daily wage-dependent families were among the hardest hit, with limited alternative support systems available. The research team spoke with 86 families between December 2022 and March 2023. Published in PLOS One, the study interviewed families who made “impossible choices”, including skipping meals, delaying medical treatment, taking loans and withdrawing children from school to meet expenses. It examined how vulnerable households that depended on daily wages coped when COVID-19 disrupted their livelihoods. Government support through the …