Sitting in a dark somber hut with her three children the widow of Vasudev Chuahan, has eyes that speak a lot. With a slight parched tone she says “ He had taken a loan of Rs.50,000 from the Madhvarti Bank. We had 5 acres of land, all dried up now..” The uncanny attitude of being immune to any more distress is writ across her face. “What can I do now? The bank authorities come often to ask for the money, but I have none. I sold the land and I am surviving on the money now.. But that will be over soon too..” Vasudev had three children, all too small to help their widowed mother.
As one walks down the village of Madmasola, empty eyes follow. Children are the most open. Raju, a 10 year old walks along with a cart he made on his own. “ I want to grow up to be a Doctor,” he says, “ I will work very hard. I am learning English also you know.. My name is Raju, how do you do?” The simple innocence of his question brings a deep smile. “ Should I take you to the Sarpanch? He stays around here only..”
The village has not been given any form of assistance yet. It has no water, no electricity, a sight which is very common around the Yavatmal district. The loan waiver declared benefitted little. The Government only took note of bank and cooperative loans, though the vast majority get their credit from moneylenders. So large number of farmers have been excluded in the counting. Shared an official, “First the banks give the farmers no loan, and then their suicide is not counted because they have no loan. Lack of bank credit forces farmers to go to moneylenders in the first place. The region claims of having more than 48 percent credit from the unorganized sector”
In this area alone 71 thousand crore were given to banks to give credits to farmers, but shamefully 70 percent were denied institutional credit, on the grounds of being unqualified to get the loan. Says Shrikant Nanurkar, Branch Manager, State Bank of India, Pandharkawda Branch, “ Bank loan is given to every farmer who has a piece of land on his name. In case anyone is not given the loan, it is because he doesn’t own a land or hasn’t repaid the earlier loan.” While this seems logical from the banking point of view, the plight of the farmers thus remains unchanged even after major policies and schemes that are brought in.
AS one approaches the school, there is a small crowd waiting. Old women, hopeful of some help linger on. A few widows sit and talk about their loss. “My husband died of alcoholism. He was a farm worker, used to earn Rs.50 a day. What could we do with fifty rupees and two children to take care of,” says Vandana Khandekar. The case of Vandana is very common. While farmers are given benefits at least on paper, a major population of farm labourers are ignored. Worst, many of them do not have their Below Poverty Line (BPL) card. Without the card, even the scheme of subsidized food grains is not availed. Surprisingly, the government is still using BPL survey reports which are around 3-4 years old. Some of the villagers who do have the BPL cards, are not given the benefit or are given so late that they become unhopeful. When Nanda Vasudev Rao Bhagware went to get her subsidized food grain scheme implemented, the Tehsildar kept her card. It has been over a month now and nothing has been done. Adding to it is the fact that most of the village folk are uneducated and unaware of the benefit that they can get. Shares Raju Rathod, Lok Sarpanch, Ambejari, “ They do not know of the benefits that they can get. Most of the time the Panchayat doesn’t even bother finding out. What is needed is an information centre at every village which tells them of their rights and guides them on how to avail the benefits.”
Meanwhile, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, made to give benefits to the poor is faring baldy in the region. Says Kishor Tiwari from the Vidhrbha Jan Andolan Samiti, “Officially out of the registered labourers only two percent have got jobs and that too for only 13 days out of the 100 days promised.”
As the sun sets, the children run back to their houses. The setting sun behind the cotton fields and the labourers returning back, gives another picture – that of their continuous persistence of fighting for their very existence… Lost eyes still follow, but the quiver of hope is not missing.
