Withering villages scrounge for meal

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI, JAN. 12. Joy is replaced by wilted hope for farmers of rain-starved villages in the neighbouring Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts, and the images of a gay Pongal are alien to this withering landscape.

In Gudapakkam Panchayat, around 35 kms from here, squalor has already set in. As the crops planted in the fields have long dried up, traditional farmers claim that they have to scrounge for even one meal a day, with their trades snatched away from them.

Ms. Renuka Raghavan, Panchayat president, says, ``already our lands can support only one crop in a year. It is what we make then that supports us throughout the year''. ``We are afraid this poverty has come to stay'', says Mr. Raghavan, her husband, who was Panchayat president before it became a reserved seat. ``It is just going from bad to worse'', he rues. The liquor habit, to which many males in the village have fallen a prey to, has only worsened the situation.

Bhaktavatsalam, 39-years-old and ruined by drink, has pledged all his lands - an example, perhaps the worst, of a people from whom lands have been wrested by a combination of poverty, drought and liquor. The villagers in this belt look to the Government to alleviate their sufferings and so does the Panchayat.

Apparently, their notion of the Panchayat is restricted to one of a provider of roads and collector of taxes. Many villages in this belt find themselves in a similar predicament as the lake which irrigates the whole area has dried up due to lack of rains for the past two years.

``We dread the thought of Pongal now'', says the 65-year-old Kannappan of Illupur.

The village wears a deserted look as most of its residents have gone out tending their sparse fields of groundnut. ``The entire village has merely 30 acres under groundnut cultivation. Again if there are no rains, the crop will wither. It has never been so bad before''.

The Government boasts of an amalgamated poverty alleviation/self- employment programme - Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana - which is being implemented ``by appropriately incorporating technology tie-up, training and skill development, infrastructure and market network through group and cluster strategies''.

However, practical difficulties keep the benefits from reaching those in dire need of help. Rural development experts recommend that the government adopt a more pro-active role to draw up concrete suggestions for sustainable trades, in anticipation of what might occur.

``We cannot avail of loans from this scheme, as they are given only to people who have repaid all outstanding loans. Nearly all the villagers have taken loans earlier, but without a source of income, they cannot pay up'', says the Koppur Panchayat president, Mr. Senthamarai Kannan.

He, for one, seems to have realised the wisdom of diversifying from ``non productive agriculture''. Looking for options, his Panchayat has drawn several schemes, including a cold storage godown, dairy farms and computer training for youth and women.

It then becomes apparent that only those villages that are ready to look at non-traditional means of employment are going to survive this drought or any other to come.

Another village, Vayalur, has managed to ensure a steady income throughout the year, by literally `adopting' embroidery as a trade. Though the villagers were traditional farmers, the Panchayat president managed to convince them of the need to take up a trade that will provide an alternate source of income.

Of the 300 families in the Panchayat, nearly 120 families are now engaged in the embroidery trade, making upto Rs 50 per person everyday. Nonchalantly weaving floral patterns on a large bedsheet, the villagers admit they are relieved that they are able to keep hunger at bay and send their children to school.

There is also a proposal to link 30 villages, in six groups of five villages each, revive the traditional barter economy and make them `hunger free', according to Kuthambakkam Panchayat president, Mr. R. Illango. ``We hope to kick this off very soon and the network will also examine the possibilities of alternate employment and rehabilitation of all the villagers involved'', he adds.

Residents of Vayalur try their hand at embroidery as an alternative to the less productive jobs in farmland. - Photo: S. Thanthoni.

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