Poster child of poverty under a new lens

This is only with reference to a wretched assignment I am doing at work. The assignment aims at capturing all the heart-wrenching tales of marginal farmers across India. So much so, that after reading few case lets and later developing them to stories I behaved in a frenzied manner. In the primrose path of my life, (at least that is what I think) I had a winter of discontent.

The story is not from a Prakash Jha movie or any Oscar nominated flick. It is a true tale of ruefulness, helplessness and a destitute life:

Resident of a tribal village Banjara Tola, situated few blocks away from Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, Kanhaiya Shivsam turned 80 years old this year. Like most of the gonds in village, Kanhaiya was also a farmer by profession. After getting one leg diseased and amputated in 1982, Kanhaiya has spent rest of his life on crutches. He stayed in the village with his wife, son and daughter. His tragic life got worse many years back when an unknown disease took a toll on his wife and son’s life. 

Kanhaiya outside his house

Kanhaiya had spent all his savings on his daughter’s marriage but his son-in-law deserted her only after two months of marriage without any reason. Trapped in this forbidding cycle, his 40 years old daughter, Amavati has been taking care of him. Amavati expressed her sadness on the fact that she is uneducated and cannot provide any substantial assistance. She asserts “thak jate hai kam karte karte, ab to makan bhi girta hai, isko sudharne wala bhi koi nahi hai. Dada bhi akele hai, bimar rehte hai, bahar kaam karne bhi nahi jaa sakte, davayi goli ke liye bhi paisa nahi hai.” (I get tired after taking care of the house, nursing my father and working in the field. Our house has become weak and we do not have enough money to repair it. My father is old, alone and weak. We do not even have money to buy medicine also.)

Kanhaiya and his daughter live in a non-electrified house made of mud. The only certain source of income for family is the handicapped pension of Kanhaiya which amounts to Rs. 200 per month. He is supposed to collect the pension amount from a place which is 6 kilometers away. Unable to do so, his friends help him in collecting the amount for Rs. 50. His BPL card is also outdated for the last 2 years.

All of a sudden I realized the India I know is so much different from what the facts and figures say about it. It blatantly shouts that we live side by side with spirits of the nether world, the poltergeists of dead rivers, dry wells, bald mountains and denuded forests; the ghosts of 2,50,000 debt-ridden farmers who have killed themselves, and of the 800 million who have been impoverished and dispossessed to make way for us. And who survive on less than twenty rupees a day.