Introduction

India, a country with a population of around 1.38 billion went through a nationwide lockdown from 24-03-2020 to 31-05-2020, which was then, based on the need of the hour, extended and reintroduced in many regions by the local authorities to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This lockdown had a diverse impact on the country which has a very high social and economic inequality. Not only did it affect the economic condition of the citizens, but also their mental and physical state.
The legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual”. No man can lead a life as a loner, separated from society forever. He has to enter into relationships with fellowmen to truly live a life. Nobody can get away from this chain of mutual dependence. These clearly justify the importance of social life. This very idea of social interaction was cut down significantly. A major proportion of the population was confined within the four walls of their house with some companionship or none. Their interactions were restricted to only those they were residing with. There were instances of people having to stay away from their dear ones due the lockdown.
The life satisfaction of people might have been hampered due to the lockdown.The impact of the lockdown on the lives of people from various walks of life has been examined here. An attempt has been made to study the various causes for change in life and job satisfaction of people, i.e. to study the various parameters influencing life and job satisfaction, to what extent factors like gender, age, income level, employment status had an impact on the well-being of a person during the lockdown.
The lockdown hit hard on the bellies of the people belonging to the daily wage categories, self-employed class, etc. There have been regular reports of how the economically backward class struggled to meet their daily needs. The study tests whether family income could be a key player in life satisfaction. Instances of employed people having lost their jobs during the lockdown gave us a scope to investigate their well-being in comparison to those who remained employed during the lockdown.
The lockdown had major changes on the working class. India was introduced to the concept of work from home on a very large scale. It also led to change in working hours and pay scale. Attempts have been to understand the changes taken place and the advantages of the work from home culture.
Job satisfaction is another important aspect of this study, which plays a vital role in the lives of the working class. It was interesting to study how various parameters affected job satisfaction. The effect of change in working hours on job satisfaction has also been studied.
Along with lockdown came the drastic change in the routine of people. People had leisure like never before. With this, came the scope of picking up new activities. People even had time to spend on themselves, called ‘me time’ in layman terms. In the present world, another important aspect of life is social media. It was interesting to study the change in the trend of time spent on social media before and during lockdown among the different sections of the society and its impact on life satisfaction.
The Indian society has always promoted family values. For a long time Indians lived under the joint family structure, but with modernization, the nuclear family structure has taken over. Family, being a significant part of the Indian society, is known to have a major impact on one’s personal well-being in terms of productivity and satisfaction level. Taking this essence of life into consideration, the study strived to understand the relevance of family functioning, family involvement, mutual understanding and the impact of the lockdown on these factors.
Though a lot of pain and misfortune was witnessed during the lockdown, it had its brighter side too. There were various instances of people making the best use of these bad times and improving their daily life in terms of quality and performance. An attempt has also been made to understand how beneficial this lockdown was to people.