Pages from Bundelkhand diary

Loans no more

STORIES ABOUT Bundelkhand farmers taking loans again and again to survive droughts are not new. What is new is that both banks and moneylenders have started avoiding lending money to farmers. The bankers know that in the present situation lending money to farmers is not good business sense. To top it all, no government aid is coming their way. How can government aid come to the region when official records rule out drought in Bundelkhand.

Forgive us!

Barren lands have hit both farmers and livestock. The land is not even producing cattle-feed. So farmers are finding it very difficult to save their cattle. So the farmers are turning to the Gods to save them from the ‘grave sin’ they are forced to commit. Before abandoning their cattle, farmers in the perform penance worship. They gather their cattle near their houses or fields, worship the animals and smear their foreheads with ‘tilak’. After the ritual is over, they say a small prayer and ask the animals for forgiveness.

Smart road, dry canal!

Rath Road, which connects the Betwa river banks to Orai, is being laid. But there is nothing to write about the development initiatives in the area. But the new construction looks less like a road but more like a tarmac. But do villagers need such a perfect road? A villager has the answer, “It’s for the miners who scoop out sand from Betwa. It is one of the best sand. Day in and day out you will find trucks laden with Betwa’s red sand plying out of Rath to Orai.

Contractors are influential. They need good road.”
But the contrast is terrible. Alongside the smart road meanders a dry canal path. The tube-wells also do not draw water.

Jobs are scarce

Employment situation is equally grim in the area. “Girls with post graduate degrees work for Rs 500 in schools. But many labourers get more wages than teachers,” said Avadesh Kumari Patel. She had worked in a school. Now, she works for a voluntary organisation in Jhansi. A widow and a PG is Sociology, her pay packet is Rs 2,000. Her husband was a farmer. She lives with her son and pays Rs 500 as rent. Avadesh also sends Rs 500 to her parents in village (they have 40 bigha of land which is currently barren). With Rs 1000 she has to take care of herself and son.

There is a lot of mining that goes on in Bundelkhand, but it does not require much manual labour. So the best option for educated youth and illiterate farmers is to migrate.

It’s green here

There is one vast patch of land within the semi-arid Bundelkhand that continues to be fertile. It is the typography of the area that keeps it richly irrigated. The Aith area on way to Jhansi from Orai is a kind of plain within a vast trough like area. So the plain of Aith has a vast catchment area to replenish the surface and ground water. The farmers in many areas of Aith don’t even need tubewells to pump out water as ground water is quite near the surface of the land. If you drive past the Bundelkhand area through Aith, you will find the fields green, while the soil in rest of this semi-arid area is red.pjaiswal@hindustantimes.com