They have travelled far from their hometowns, covering hundreds of kilometres on foot, only to be heard by the government they say is "apathetic and callous". All the 35,000 farmers who had descended at Gazipur border have similar stories to narrate where they are unable to make ends meet, getting caught in debt traps with no light at the end of the tunnel.
32-year-old Indrajit Singh's family has been sugarcane farmers since he could remember. Hailing from Bagpat, Uttar Pradesh, he recalls the times when his siblings had enough food to go around. "This was many, many years ago. Now, we are worried about eating one extra roti because there is no money," he says. He has not received any money for the past three years from the sugarcane yield that he has been reaping. With two school going children, their education expenses and healthy food is what worries him the most at the moment. "The government cannot just ignore us. We are the food providers. Kisan mar gaye toh kaun fasal ugaayega (Who will till the fields if no farmers are left?)," he asks, voice choking with emotions.
Young Ajay Hooda from Mansurpur, UP, too was overcome with emotions like Singh, but it is predominantly anger. He claims to have been under a debt of Rs 10 lakh which mounted on him in the past three years. Possessing a land of few acres, he finds dissent to be the only weapon to make the government hear. He rues that his family has been paying "inflated" power and water bills every month when the village does not receive supply for even a few hours. "I cannot even get a job because my father could not afford to educate us. Farming is the only thing I know but the income is not enough to sustain a single person, leave alone a family of 15," the 22-year-old says wistfully.
Coming from strata of small farmers, Ajab Singh sarcastically jokes that sowing sugarcane has only made him bitter. This peasant from Gonda has still not been able to pay off the loan he took to marry off his two daughters. His four sons assist him in the fields but cannot feed their families. "I am constantly eaten by the worry of how will I repay the banks? I cannot sell my land to do this because that is the only meagre wealth I have thought it is more of a source of grief for me," Singh sighs.
from Daily News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2OBrMUK
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