(Article) Explaining the Pight of Bundelkhand : Drought,Suicide and Governance by Shobhit Pratap Singh

Abstract

This paper attempts to make reflection and analysis on prevailing drought situations in Bundelkhand and its socio-economic implications on the populace of the region. It further explores the impact of drought on livelihood in the region and response of governments to reduce the social vulnerability of drought in the region. Despite its rich resources like forests and minerals, at present Bundelkhand is a region of distress and crisis. This paper finds that the distress of the region simply cannot be explained by the absence or irregularity of rainfall. There are long-term structural problems which have had a cumulative effect over the consecutive years of drought prevalence. Reasons for the present unviability of agriculture should be sought in the historically determined social relations of production, the intimate correlation of caste and landownership in the region as well as the neglect of traditional water management systems and the push towards cultivation of water-intensive commercial crops.

Introduction

Since last seven years, Bundelkhand is struck by the occurrence of regular scarcity of water which slowed down all the course of development and growth, as agriculture is the main livelihood of the area. Severe droughts have been sweeping the happiness of Bundelkhand region since 2005. It led to severe livelihood crisis, whereas loss of agriculture is a major issue of concern. The escalating helplessness and marginalization have imbalanced the rural economy. In these conditions, the villager’s rights & entitlements are also denied. Service providers, line departments functionaries, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) members & functionaries, Bank Functionaries are also not properly serving in favour of the poorest community. All these factors further forced villagers to migrate, commit suicide, put their children into work and adopt occupations which led to various hazards. At present it can be seen that Bundelkhand is competing with Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala in the digit of farmers’ suicides. Whereas it is no wonder that the ravine-rich and dacoit-peopled of Bundelkhand, sandwiched between the northern plains and the rocky soil of the Vindhya ranges, unfit for agriculture and industry both, is facing this crisis expect the area of Jalaun district which is partially suitable for water consuming crops. Thus in this geographical location, situation is further worsen by activities like practicing cash crops, mining, deforestation and therefore people of the marginalized community of Bundelkhand are now starving from hunger and are migrating from rural areas. This called the need for special package called Bundelkhand Relief Package- assistance from Government of India as a special package.

Budelkhand: Explaining its Geography and Demography

Bundelkhand is known for its cultural-geographic region uniqueness in India, which is surrounded by Vindhyan Plateau in south, Yamuna River in north, Ken River in east and by Betwa and Pahuj rivers in west. Regardless of a long-standing claim for independent state, Bundelkhand sandwiched between Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) administratively. The seven districts of UP (Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Lalitpur, Banda, Chitrakut and Mahoba) and the six districts of MP (Datia, Tikamgarh, Panna, Damoh, Chhatarpur and Sagar) spread over an area of 294180 sq km forms the Bundelkhand- region of the country. It has a population of 15.5 million people. The region is famous for the reign of Bundela and Chandela kingdoms, Rani of Jhansi and the legendary king Chhatrasal. Since 2005, for seven consecutive years, it has been in the headlines for the drought and dearth of livelihood circumstances and suffering that has plagued it. From the reports of various institutions, it has been noted that there is mass migration, starvation deaths, and malnourishment case, increasing  debts on farmers further leading farmer suicides and even the “mortgaging” of women over the years. According to the J S Samra Committee report, on drought mitigation strategy for Bundelkhand, it is stated that historically Bundelkhand region of UP and MP had a drought every 16 years in 18th and 19th centuries, which increased by three times during the period 1968 to 1992 (Bhagwat, 2008). The most recent and continued period of poor rainfall recorded in Bundelkhand was in 2004-07 and in 2009-10, when below average and erratic rain was reported in most parts of the region in all the years.

Looking at Demography of Bundelkhand, 25.14% of the populace belongs to Schedule Caste (SC) and 0.02% is Schedule Tribe (ST). Whereas 82% of the whole SC population is residing in the rural part of the region1. It has been observed that Social and Gender inequity and feudalism are major factors in the society. -which hinder the development process. In context of livelihood, agriculture and allied activities are the primary sources of the livelihood in the area. According to the census 2001, there are 3243042 workers in the region out of which 68.58% were main workers [67% male and 33% female] and 31.42% were marginal workers [33% males and 67% females] Cultivators and agriculture labor were 74.55% of the total workers in the region. More than 80% of the farmers were small and marginal. Agriculture in Bundelkhand is highly dependent on the rain expect the western part of Jhansi and Jalaun district where canals play major role of irrigation.

Bundelkhand: Drought and Feudalism thrashing Livelihood

Although of the regular paucity of rainwater more than a phase of time, drought or drought like situation seems identical especially in case of the Bundelkhand. While looking at the larger picture of Bundelkhand livelihood pattern, the cultivation pattern is solo cropping and the majority of the cultivable part gets cultivated only during Rabi season. Despite the fact that the livelihood of about 75% of the population is directly reliant on the agriculture and allied activities, hardly 20% of the net sown area has been cultivated during Kharif season. In deficiency of appropriate irrigation facilities and situations, near about 60% of the gross cropped area remains irrigation less. Gradual decrease in the area cultivated during the Kharif season is also easily visible. It was around 33% of the gross cropped area in the year 1977-78 and which got reduced to 26% in the year 1993-94 and remained only 23% in the year 1998-99. Kharif crop is normally dependent on rain but the erratic rainfall, soil conditions and non availability of the supplementary sources of irrigation affect the crop adversely. However the agriculture is the primary sector and is putting in about 28% to the GDP nationwide but for the small and marginal farmers of the Bundelkahd region it is the matter of subsistence and survival only. In UP part of Bundelkhand , it is found that 75% of the farmers are small and marginal with average land holding of up to 2 hectares and most of them can only think of mere survival. Their continued existence is by and large reliant on the blend of produces of their own land and daily wage earning. Whereas gradual growing cost of the agriculture ingredients which is largely because of change in agricultural practices and adaptation of high water consuming varieties. This is also another critical component that is responsible for increasing vulnerability of the small and medium cultivators due to reason of entire control of big landlords on water in Bundelkhand. Agriculture is normally rain based in the area and farmers were using traditional seeds but with changes in practices most of them have started using hybrid seeds which are normally high water consuming Small and marginal farmers are generally resource less and they are highly dependent on the external sources inputs like fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, water, pump, thrashing etc.

In the past, Bundelkhand has been acknowledged for lakes, ponds, tanks, bavdis, wells etc. These water supply points contributed to stirring of the underground water, raising the intensity of water in wells and increasing soil wetness to allow healthy vegetation2. Building of ponds known as ‘Taala’ in each and every village for providing drinking water for cattle, irrigation to nearby farms etc was a traditional practice and later different ponds were constructed for different uses like for drinking water for the cattle- ‘Gau Ghat’, ‘Talaiya’ for kitchen gardens, ponds for the collection of the rainwater, for the irrigation, etc. After the independence hardly any attention had been given by the local self governance or state administration on the proper maintenance of  the traditional water resources of the Bundelkahnd. Rather the policy of leasing of the ponds to the private persons has contributed towards the distortion of such resources. At some places the local landlords occupied the ponds and most of the ponds were allotted to the local influential persons. This further worsen the situation in the drought hit period, when marginal farmers were not able to get water during sowing time thus reduced the agriculture productivity, reduced animal husbandry due to shortage of fodder and water for cattle.

Bundelkhand Drought: Agriculture Economy and Water Scarcity

Since the time consecutive droughts are prevailing in Bundelkhand, approximately agricultural land remains empty in the Rabi season due to either non-availability of water or credit, which imbalanced the village economy and food security of the region. Majorly non 50% availability of irrigation facilities in the region also affecting the crop growth and it is assumed that the farmers will be in the loss in the coming years of the drought discourse. Whereas Water Canal System of the Bundelkhand area is also not supplying water for the purpose of irrigation, just one canal named ‘Paricha Canal’ is giving irrigational supply for 45 days for irrigation facilities in a small part of Jhansi & Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh (Drought mitigation strategy for Bundelkhand Region , 2008). This 45 days’ supply has not met the target of 120 days which is required for the crops like wheat, gram and pea, major crops of the area. In this pathetic condition, equitable and proper distribution of water is major concern in the region, as dominant  groups has strong control & access over water sources which denies the rights of marginal farmers to have access over water sources for irrigation purpose.

In context of livelihood, villagers are not receiving wage employment especially agricultural wage labour which further reduces opportunities in agriculture based livelihood issues Agricultural related on farm livelihood sources like value addition work of agricultural product, molasses making, rope making work etc affected and not meeting the need of the poor community group. This mainly happened due to low agricultural productivity because of low rainfall in consecutive years.

Hunger, Debt and Migration Worsening in Bundelkhand

Regular droughts, crop failure, scanty rains, poor irrigation facilities, burden of agricultural and private loans, damage to dignity, and worry about their families’ future appear to be immediate causes of the farmers’ suicides in Bundelkhand. The rural agricultural credit structure, entrapping farmers especially marginal and Dalit farmers into public and private institutional debts, has a large role to play in this. By the time credit institutions commence finance recovery course, farmers’ encounters pressure of downing their assets and their social and self esteem. In this course, when they fail to cope up, they commit suicides. In Bundelkhand, 70%-100% farmers are in a debt-trap owing to rising prices of agricultural inputs and lack of support prices for their produce. In Jalaun, Banda, Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Jhansi , farmers owe banks about Rs 3,420 crore. Interest on agricultural loans is 3% in MP, but 7% in UP. This imbalance needs to be corrected urgently. The UP government provides exemption on loan interest only to those farmers who have more than five hectare of cultivable land. In the 2008-09 Union Budget, the government announced the “Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme” to exempt the agricultural loans of marginal and small farmers holding land up to five acres. This was revised in May 2008 to cover 237 dry land districts where farmers with more than five acres were offered a one-time settlement rebate of 25%, subject to their paying the balance loan amount without interest in three installments up to 30 June 2009. Though all districts of UP Bundelkhand figured in that list, farmers did not adequately benefit owing to administrative neglect. Thus reflects that Mayawati’s Government (2007-12) neglected the available benefits to Dalit marginal farmers, which is clearly understood from the fact that UP government provided relief only farmers owning more than 5 hectares and majority of Dalits in Bundelkhand are owning below 5 hectare. In past Mayawati led government’s administration has taken no initiative in planning and formulating a proactive, integrated and coordinated strategy for the holistic development and growth of Bundelkhand. In the worst situation it has been noted that even the central schemes like antyodaya, mid-day meals, pension, etc have not been appropriately executed and show little impact. There are low jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as comparison to other part of the state and country, and corruption is so uncontrolled that the Supreme Court had to pass an order for enquiry.

Budelkhand Relief Package: A Ray of Hope

Drought-hit and rain-stripped Bundelkhand region got a substantial government relief package in 2009 with name as ‘Bundelkhand Relief Package’ from the UPA led Government of India. In 2009 package had been approved. Later National Rainfed Area Authority and Planning Commission played the supervisory role in implementation of package with the respective state governments. Optimization of water bodies through rain water harvesting and through proper utilization of river systems, canals and other territorial water bodies was the major agenda that was covered under the package for the next three years. The overall sanctioned budgetary lay out of the package is Rs.7266 crore out of which Rs. 3506 crores for U.P.and Rs. 3760 crores for M.P. The package is under implementation since last three years with a multi-sectoral approach, giving major emphasis for developing and managing water resource bodies and livelihood improvement. Highest Priority has been accorded to water management especially for completion of ongoing and incomplete irrigation projects for speedy
accrual of benefits to farmers.

Appraisal of Bundelkhand Relief Package

From the available data of National Rain Area Authority, the Bundekhand Relief Package is being implemented in 7 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 6 districts of Madhya Pradesh states with total approved cost of Rs. 7466 crore comprising Rs.3606 crore for Uttar Pradesh and Rs.3860 crore for Madhya Pradesh. It is envisaged to provide Additional Central Assistance (ACA) to the tune of Rs. 3649 crore (49%) for implementing the package. Of the allocated funds from ACA component, release of Rs. 860.97 crore (50.77%) to Uttar Pradesh and Rs. 1060.46 crore (54.29%) to Madhya Pradesh has been made till 31.7.2011. Funds for rural drinking water supply have also been passed on to both the States3. If we look at further data produced by state and central governments regarding Bundelkhand Progress in region due to intervention of special package, it shows that in U.P. irrigation potential in 33,530 hectare (33%) created against targeted 1,01,334 hectare. Whereas Area under Kharif crop increased by 60% in U.P. but not much improvement in production due to prevailing drought conditions.

All the above mentioned data taken from government reports depicts figures of development but in actual just benefiting very small chunk of population in the rural areas who are already established in context of social and economic status or they are managing with distress of the prevailing drought conditions in the area. Distribution of land holding size is highly skewed. About 30% of the farmers own land holding of 0.29 ha. About 56% of the farmers belong to marginal (< 1 ha) category with land holding size of 0.49 ha. Another 23.65% farmers belong to small (1 to 2 ha) category with land holding size of 1.46 ha. Majority of these farmers are engaged in agriculture for subsistence. Fourteen percent of the farmers have a land holding of 2.78 ha; 7% have 5.92 ha while less than 1% has greater than 10 ha. While all districts have more than 75% small and marginal farmers, Jhansi alone has more than 82%.

Land holding pattern shows that it is highly caste based in the region. Majority of marginal farmers either belong to Schedule Caste or Other Backward Caste. Whereas farmers of high  caste are highly influencing in political and economical context. Further, output of special package in agriculture sector is that it is only benefitting the farmers who are highly established  in socio-economic power structure and marginal farmers being illiterate and resident of remote areas remains out of beneficiary list.

Rural People even reported in local media that diseased goats were distributed by the state  government under the livelihood scheme of the package that, instead of helping the poor farmer, resulted in the death of his own cattle as the infection spread5. This highly affected the livelihood of people belonging to Schedule Caste as their one of the main occupation is animal husbandry in this region. Whereas seven district administration claims the construction of 6,000 wells across the area but at present local media reported that majority of these were collapsed within a few months because money was exhausted in digging and no funds were released to upgrade
them. This further affected the marginal farmers whose major source of irrigation remained under-development and their survival is hindered too.

Aarti Dhar in his article in newspaper called The Hindu clearly mentioned that, “Bundelkhand Package-It never reached anywhere except in the pockets of the officers and contractors.”I found his statement absolutely correct because majority of amount has been drained out in corruption followed by diversion of money to make Parks and Smaraks in Lucknow under Mayawati led state government. Being a resident of Bundelkhand region I found that even after three years of special package completion, fields remains dry due lack of irrigation, farmers are still committing suicide as they failed to repay their loans which directly hit their self-esteem and
dignity. On the other hand no matter how much money is allocated, nothing ever reaches thisregion.

My first hand experience of Bundelkhand has given me a clear-cut conclusion that the levels of distress and crisis in the region cannot be just put in plain words by the non-existence or irregularity of rainfall. In other words, the present government cannot elucidate away the crisis as only an ordinary disaster, fail to admit its own culpability and respond only with ad hoc and superficial relief measures. From the reports and headlines in local newspapers, it evidently cited that the right to use both agricultural land and water is highly inequitable. In Bundelkhand the class-caste strata’s make sure that the poor and the landless, mostly belonging to the lower castes, remains deprived of access to these resources. In the absence of any other sources of non- farm employment (rural industries), they are forced to migrate to cities to earn a livelihood. Even the small and marginal farmers have to migrate to nearby cities for labour work, at least for a non-agricultural part of the year, mostly due to rains fail or because income from rain-fed agriculture is not adequate for subsistence and these factors create imbalance in the rural economy of Bundelkhand.

Despites of some efforts taken by governments over Bundelkhand, state failed to address the  issues like that of recurring drought, crop losses, increasing indebtedness and non-availability of other gainful employment opportunities which are further resulting in higher migration of the rural poor in search of means of survival and also in many cases farmer suicides. A review of the Bundelkhand package showed that only 16.57 per cent of the total allocation has been spent so far in Uttar Pradesh and 21.70 per cent in Madhya Pradesh over the past two years. The package is now expected to be extended by the Planning Commission.

Conclusion: Need of the Hour

In nutshell, I found that there are several long term structural problems in the course of development in the region which have cumulative effect. In this, the caste and landownership in the region adversely affect the livelihood of majority of rural populace, neglect of traditional water management systems and thrust towards cultivation of water exhaustive commercial crops further deteriorated the situation in Bundelkhand.

Another point which I found relevant is that government is taking efforts to increase the productivity of agriculture and allied activities in the region because Bundelkhand is traditionally rich in resources and this going to cause effect on food price rise in the state, but I would like to ask central as well as state government and development practitioners that what about the fate of the lakhs of cultivators who were unable to sow or whose crop failed in the kharif season. Again question arises in such crises how will they cope up with their poor livelihood option, what about their children’s education and health of the family? Answer to these questions which comes in my mind is only majority of rural populace will keep taking debt from local know moneylenders called as ‘arhatiyas’ and they get trapped in vicious circle of poverty, hunger and starvation with ultimatum of suicide as response to their self esteem and dignity. This argument shows that making package for only drought mitigation is not only the solution for the region like Bundelkhand which have poor literacy rate, Human Development Index.

There are long-term structural problems which have had a cumulative effect over the years. For example, reasons for the present unviability of agriculture must be sought in the historically determined social relations of production, the intimate correlation of caste and landownership in the region, as well as the neglect of traditional water management systems and the push towards cultivation of water intensive commercial crops. Even the irregular rainfall is as much the effect of deleterious human activity as it is the specificity of the climate in Bundelkhand.

Author:

Shobhit Pratap Singh
General Secretary and Managing Director
Lakshya Rural Development Center (Bundelkhand)