Zila Mahoba, Block Jaitpur, Kulpahad Tehsil. On 20th October, the Kisan Union of Panwadi and Jaitpur blocks launched a protest. They are demanding that the tehsildar send a message to the Chief Minister to tell him that he should declare a drought.
Farmer Rampyari told us that this year, nothing grew in her fields. She had sown peanuts, moong, urad, and til (sesame), but the crops dried up in the field itself.
The KL Mahoba team also interviewed Munna. “There are four people in the house, but the land is not producing enough crop for my family to live. We have no money. What exactly are farmers supposed to do, if not commit suicide? Dance in joy? The government is responsible for the deaths of all the farmers who have committed suicide.”
General Secretary Gajbadan Shukla and Vice President Shravan Kumar, of the national chapter of the Kisan Union, say that they have sent a memo to the Prime Minister, as well as the Chief Minister, asking for a drought to be declared. “The farmers are on the brink of famine. If the drought does not get declared, we are ready to go to war.”
In Khabar Lahariya’s last issue, we covered a similar story in Banda district. In this issue, another such story emerges, again from Mahoba. Farmers all over eastern U.P. are frustrated – it is one of the hardest hit regions this year. Recent reports by the Meteorological Department revealed that U.P. has suffered the most in terms of lower-than-average rainfall this year. Maharashtra and Karnataka have already been declared drought-hit states, which makes the farmers there eligible for compensation. U.P. farmers also want compensation for their failed crops – it will give them some relief from their hunger and their anxiety.
The tehsildar, Ramji, says he has already sent the C.M. a message, and if the farmers are troubled then he is sure a drought will be declared.
Click here to read the original Bundeli version of this story.