Report From Bundelkhand: Agro-ecological Crisis Aggravated by Untimely Excess Rain
Agro-Ecological Crisis Aggravated by Untimely Excess Rain and Hailstorms
The
already serious agro-ecological crisis in Bundelkhand region has aggravated
recently by untimely excessive rain and hailstorms. With crop damage (wheat,
paddy and oilseeds) in many villages ranging between 50 to almost 100 per cent,
many families are migrating. Villagers face prospects of hunger and denial of
basic needs. Suicides and trauma deaths among farmers are being widely reported
almost every day. In a single district, Banda, for example, about 40 such deaths
were reported in about six weeks. Lakhs of villagers face very grim prospects.
In the popular mind Bundelkhand is the land of Jhansi Ki Rani and Khajuraho. It has many-sided potential of development based on protection of rich bio-diversity, water-conservation and protection of traditional water sources, empower-ment of women and channelising the fabled grit and determination of people into creative and constructive expressions. Due to the absence of such efforts, the reality today is of many-sided ecological ruin, water shortages, indebtedness of farmers, increasing crimes including crimes against women.
With a population of about 15 million Bundelkhand is spread over about 69,000 sq. km. of land in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh (Chitrakut, Banda, Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba and Lalitpur) and six districts of Madhya Pradesh (Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Sagar, Datia and Panna).
During the last 15 years Bundelkhand has been almost constantly in the news due to the prolonged drought conditions, erratic weather behaviour, acute distress of farmers and widespread hunger/malnutrition. As all this has been reported at a time of widespread concern over climate change, predictably Bundelkhand became a much discussed example of ‘climate change at work’.
The climate change-related factors have been aggravated by reckless destruction of forests, highly destructive mining practices and spread of ecologically harmful farm technologies. All these problems have been aggravated by massive and systemic corruption.
It is against this background that the impact of the recent highly adverse weather conditions, particularly heavy unseasonal rains and hailsto-rms, should be seen. Speaking in the context of the Naraini block of Banda district where a voluntary organisation, Vidhyadham Samiti, works, its coordinater Raja Bhaiya says: “Between mid-February and first week of April that were three rounds of heavy hailstorms. The hailstorms were heavier than normal, heavy enough to cause injury. Many birds died in hailstorm. In addition there were about twenty days of rainfall, usually heavy rains, at a time when rain is not expected and is harmful for crops. So even when plants have not flattened, the grain or seed formation is not there. In such conditions damage can be very heavy.” Similar conditions have been faced in many areas across Bundelkhand.
This heavy damage has been inflicted on the already indebted
farmers. In Gahabra village (Nariani block of Banda district) when I asked in a
group meeting what percentage of households are indebted, they said almost
everybody is indebted here and the loan size is generally not less than Rs 1
lakh. It can be much higher. A former pradhan of this village, Ram Bahadur
Singh, said he had a debt of Rs 14 lakhs as the system of compound interest
unjustly inflicted on farmers leads to a rapid escalation of a much smaller
principal amount (original loan). When I visited Maanpur village in the same
block to meet family members of a farmer who had committed suicide, they told me
that this farmer, Rajeram Yadav, had been a former pradhan of this village. Even
he had to subsequently migrate to Delhi to work at a construction site. He
didn’t earn much there, and came back to the village hoping to earn enough from
his ready to harvest crop to pay for a pending marriage in the family. But when
he saw the ruined crops, he hanged himself from a tree in the fields, leaving
behind his wife, three children and mother to cope with the debts.
If even former pradhans have reached such desperate situation, one can imagine
the plight of ordinary farmers who are oppressed at several levels including a
highly exploitative rural credit system. Apart from the private moneylenders or
sahukars, even banks function in several ways as exploiters—forcing farmers to
pay commissions and bribes through a network of unauthorised agents, charging
farmers compound rate of interest and employing ‘goon’ agents to recover money
humiliating farmers in the process even in difficult times. Contrary to the
publicised image of benevolence, the rural credit system actually functions in a
highly unjust way, complementing the private sahukars in trapping farmers to
such an extent that many of them lose real or effective control of their land.
This already critical situation has been aggravated hugely by untimely excess
rain and hailstorms. The previous two crop seasons (kharif and rabi) were also
marred by adverse weather conditions. The government’s response is mainly in
terms of compensatory payment. There are numerous complaints of delays,
discrimination and lack of just evaluation due to corruption. People of three
villages we spoke to said that they had not been paid yet even for the crop
damage in the previous two years. Another serious anomaly is that sharecroppers
(bataidars) and those who lease in land by paying cash are so far not getting
compensation payments. In addition insurance payments are not made to the
overwhelming majority of farmers despite premium being deducted from credit
cards. This itself is a huge racket involving very senior politicians,
officials, banks and insurance companies. No one has bothered to explain why
insurance payments were not made even when the damage has been very acute.
However, even if all compensation is made satisfactorily at the rates announced
by the government, the harsh reality is that this will be much less than even
the farming costs incurred. Sharecroppers and leasers may not get anything at
all. Farm workers deprived of livelihood are also not getting any compensation.
So a compensation based response is likely to be inadequate. What is needed in
these difficult times is that all government programme for rural areas, for
farmers and the landless should be stepped up and improved, with special
emphasis on rural employment and food security. The MGNREGA should be stepped up
greatly to provide employment in the villages for water conservation, bunding
and improving greenery. Public distribution system and anganwadis should
improved. Mid-day meals should continue in an improved form even during the
summer vacation and cooked food should be provided at least once a day also to
the elderly people with little or no family support (including elderly parents
of migrant workers). The rural credit system had to be improved in many ways to
provide relief to farmers. Land alienation, caused by indebtedness, should be
strictly checked. Help should be provided in time for sowing the next crop but
farmers are apprehensive of the newly introduced changes for this.
The scaling up of the government’s efforts should be accompanied by strict
measures to check corruption. At present even in these very difficult times a
lot of corruption is taking place in rural employment, food security and other
most significant programmes.
In addition to the government’s efforts, the efforts of the NGOs, people’s
organisations, professional organisations like those of traders, teachers and
officials should be involved to contribute to the reduction of distress of
farmers. A practical suggestion would be for them to contribute to setting up
grain banks in villages. This can be started by a contribution of two quintals
of wheat (costing about Rs 3000). A grain bank committee of local people
(including women) can be set up in a village and this committee can ensure that
free grain reaches the needy families in time. Vidyadham has already initiated
this with the help of Action Aid.
Relief has been announced for families of farmers who have committed suicide or
met an untimely death due to trauma (sadme se maut) caused by crop destruction.
This should reach the affected families in a way that doesn’t hurt their dignity
and they don’t have to ask for this time and again. Further follow-up action is
needed to ensure that the widows and their children do not face any injustice or
oppression.
In Sijahri village of Kabrai block (Mahoba district), a physically disabled
widow, Uma Devi, is facing a highly unjust situation. Her husband, Rai Bahadur,
of Bilkhi village died due to trauma caused by massive loss of crop. She and her
father, Ram Sahodar Rajput, explained that Uma alone with her two small children
was thrown out of her husband’s house by her husband’s elder brother who wants
to grab her land. He is being helped by some influential local people. Unless
the administration comes to the timely help of Uma Devi, she may lose whatever
land assets she has to bring up her children.
Suman Raigwar’s husband, Chanchal Raigwar, died in Pirpa village (Chattarpur
district), unable to bear the shock of crop loss. Excess rain and hailstorm have
also damaged her house badly. A big chunk of her land has passed into the hands
of moneylenders. How will she survive with her two children? Neither Suman nor
Uma has received any help or assurance so far from the government.
In addition, there are several other widows and single women who need special
help to be able to cultivate their land and survive. Kalavati (Kusma Rajpur
village) lost her husband in an accident. She has been working hard to bring up
five children, but all her efforts to get a pension have not succeeded. In such
well-deserving cases, pension and social security should be available promptly.
Courtesy: Mainstream Weekly