N’PADA FARMER SUICIDE: KIN LEFT IN THE LURCH
N’PADA FARMER SUICIDE: KIN LEFT IN THE LURCH
Saturday, 06 June 2015 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar
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Suru Sabar, a farmer of Palsipani village in Nuapada district, committed suicide in 2009 by hanging. He took the harsh decision due to failure of crop, his family members said. But the Government did not buy the story. Suru had cultivated paddy that year in four acres of land – two acres land was his own. He cultivated the rest as sharecropper. The crop failed due to failure of rain. He had tried to irrigate the crop by lifting water from a nearby stream, but gave up as the dry spell lingered.
“His land is on the upper ridge; and the soil does not retain water for long,” said Bana Sabar, Suru’s elder brother. Suru had taken a loan of Rs5,000 from Bana to invest in seed and fertilizer etc, besides in kerosene to run a water pump. “He was very disturbed for some time due to the loss and might have taken the decision to end his life,” said Bana.
Suru died and the burden of managing the family fell upon Dhanmati, Suru’s wife. A lot of politics happened thereafter. There was a road block. Police, Government officials and politicians arrived at her doorstep. Assurance poured in, but in due course of time, everything turned to be a tall order. No one even wanted to know how a widow with two children, without having a proper place to dwell, could manage her living. The hue and cry of course had one impact — Rs1,000 under Harish Chandra Scheme, immediate release of Rs10,000 under NFBS (National Family Benefit Scheme) and inclusion of Dhanmati in widow pension scheme.
What is the living status of Dhanmati now? She has become a migrant labour. She tried to earn her living in the village for a few years, but failed as regular employment was not available in and around. The loan burden gradually increased, she could not repay the loan to Bana, which led to a family feud. Thus in 2013, she decided to migrate to a brick kiln in Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh leaving her two children near a relative. “My mother took advance from a labour contractor before leaving for the kiln and repaid the loan,” explained Dhanmati’s son – Sakunda (11), who is now reading in class VI in the village school.
Asmani, the elder daughter is now in class IX. Both of them work with their cousin in land during the monsoon and collect fire wood and forest products during off seasons. Apart from Suru, three other farmers of Nuapada district have also committed suicide in the past due to same reason.
Chaitanya Majhi of Ichhapur village under Komna block committed suicide in 2008 due to failure of cotton. The crop failed and at the same time the price of cotton that year also fell sharply. “My husband had taken a loan of Rs10,000 from a money lender and another Rs20,000 from my relatives to invest in 5 acres of cotton cultivation. But, what we got was only 2 quintals of cotton,” said Munge, wife of Chaitanya. My elder son Chinta, who was only 13 years old at that time, worked for the money lender till the loan was cleared,” added Munge.
Chinta has migrated to Mumbai to support the family. The district administration provided Rs5,000 under IAY as advance to Munge for construction of a house. The construction has gone up to lintel level but the second instalment is yet to be released, even after 5 years.
The third case of suicide in Nuapada district was of Sambhu Jani of Pandelbaheli village in 2011. Sambhu lost half of his 12 acres of land to Lower Indra Irrigation Project (LIIP). He utilised the compensation he got from LIIP for development of the rest six acres. He also borrowed about Rs50,000 more to invest in land development and cultivation. But, due to dry spell, the crop was totally damaged. He hanged himself from a tree in the farm. The same politics followed — a road block by the politicians followed by arrival of officials and assurances. The demand was for Rs5 lakh as compensation for the bereaved family. The officials assured that they would take up the case with their authorities. “But years passed, nothing happened except Rs10,000 under NFBS,” said the villagers. In the case of Kushadhwaj Majhi of Tarbod village, who committed suicide in 2011, it was the same story. No one cared to see how the members left behind were getting on.
More than 60 per cent of the total landholders in Nuapada district are either small or marginal farmers. 80 per cent of them depend on rain to get one crop in a year. Such situation forces most of them to migrate under distress conditions and it is known to all how they are exploited and tortured in their work places.
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