The rain gods may have at long last shown some benevolence, but it has failed to bring cheer to most small farmers in India’s most populous state. Even in much-monitored Rae Bareli—the parliamentary constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi—the plight of the harried farmer is hardly better than his counterpart from neglected, rocky Bundelkhand, which recently reported a suicide by a farmer. Rae Bareli is among 58 of Uttar Pradesh’s 70 districts that have been declared drought-hit.
“We prayed and waited, but the gods refused to bless us for two long months,” says Binda Deen, 65, a small farmer of Tera-Baraula village. “All I own is 1.25 bighas, which takes care of my household food requirements for four-five months. This season we haven’t been able to grow a single stalk of paddy so we have no choice but to hunt for work or beg on the streets.”
There is no joy in Binda’s home as the second heavy shower of a truant monsoon pierces through the roof. Worried about getting the youngest of his eight children married, Binda is wondering how to run his household. He hasn’t been able to procure a BPL ration card or benefited from any of the government’s much-publicised schemes for subsidised seed or fertiliser. “I manage to earn Rs 30-40 a day by working in the fields of other farmers,” he says.
Many farmers in Tera-Baraula village have similar tales of woe. Being a low-lying area close to the Sai river, the village is often flooded when the river overflows. This year the river has no water. The village head, Ram Bharose, appears helpless. “I have moved heaven and earth to get the irrigation canal system working, but to no avail. My effort to get BPL and Antyodaya ration cards issued has also been in vain,” he laments.
This is despite 90 per cent of the 7,800-strong population belonging to the OBC category. Asked why he hasn’t taken the plight of the people of his village to Sonia Gandhi, Ram Bharose says, “Alhough she scans every nook and corner of her constituency, it happens to be our misfortune that she is yet to set foot on this soil.”
