WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
By Kulsum Mustafa
Pattipura, Jalaun
(Women’s Feature Service) - The remains of colourful streamers are still stuck
to the roughly fashioned bamboo doors. Traces of the ‘rangoli’, the beautiful
traditional welcome design made with coloured powders, is still visible on the threshold
of the humble mud dwelling. But what catches the immediate attention of an
outsider is the huge, two-tier mud pitcher with a stone carved bird perched
atop it, occupying pride of place right in the middle of the thatched roof.
This is the home of Gangawati, 66, a widow whose eldest son got married in the
summer of 2009.
The
At the onset of the
wedding ceremonies, according to tradition, even Gangawati had put the
water-filled pitcher on her roof. But she, like the rest of the villagers, was
in for a crushing disappointment. The year saw the worst dry spell the region
had experienced in decades, with fields riven with cracks because of the lack
of moisture. The seeds that had been sown with so much care failed to
germinate. Nothing grew, not even fodder. Gangawati’s new daughter-in-law, like
many others before her, could not appease the rain gods. The hopes of the over
200 inhabitants of Pattipura, a low caste village, also known as Ambedkar gram,
were shattered.
Yet, the villagers
simply accepted their fate and once again prepared for another year of hardship
and water scarcity. “We had not wanted any material wealth. We only hoped and
prayed that my new daughter-in-law would bring rain for our parched lands. But,
unfortunately, that did not happen,” says Gangawati, her eyes welling up with
tears of sadness.
It’s not Pattipura alone that has no water for either its people or the land. The entire region of Bundelkhand, which spreads across the two states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has been reeling under drought for five of the last six years. Only 2008 was a good year. Why has it been so arid here for so long? It’s a combination of two factors. The traditional topography is rocky and excessive mining and rampant deforestation has taken its toll on natural sources of water in the area like ponds. Added to this is the unpredictability of the monsoon. Rainfall has been steadily declining over the years in the districts that fall in the Uttar Pradesh side of Bundelkhand.
Desperate though they
may be, the people of Pattipura - who have been living with severe water
scarcity for many years now - are still holding on to their hopes of seeing
water in their homes, and their age-old belief that brides bring rain testifies
to that. But where does the local administration, which is responsible for
facilitating the provision of the basics of life like food and water, figure in
this?
The people of
Bundelkhand are supposedly the beneficiaries of various schemes for drought
mitigation, but the ground reality is very different in places like Pattipura,
untouched by any vestige of “development”. Today, the village is struggling
against extreme poverty and the lack of critical infrastructure like
electricity, ‘pucca’ roads, schools and hospitals. The people here are even
willing to overlook this. All they want is water. But they have stopped
believing that the administration would do anything for them.
The only source of
water for them is a little stream called ‘ganda nala’ (dirty drain) that
crosses their village. But even that is literally ‘held captive’ by the upper
caste villages upstream. “These powerful people prevent the water from reaching
us,” says Shanti, a 10-year-old, who even at her young age is aware that she is
at the receiving end of caste discrimination. A few years ago, there was also a
well that served as a single drinking water source but with the passage of time
it dried up. Now women of the village have to walk for miles with pitchers in
the hot sun to get drinking water.
In the name of
government support only two tube wells have been dug but whenever there is a
fault with the pumping machine - which is very often - there is nobody to
repair it. The end result: people remain without water for days.
Says Baldan Singh, a
Dalit social activist who is working in the village on Right to Education,
“Pattipura is an apt example of how a community is underserved. This is a
village of the low caste community and thus many basic government services just
do not reach here.”
With unassailable
logic, Kamlesh, 33, a village resident, observes, “Water is the elixir of life.
If there is no water there cannot be any development. And even if there is
development what can we do with it without water? We need water for our parched
throats and thirsty lands.” Adds Barati Lal, a local potter, “Everything can
happen if there is water. It generates hope and life.”
It makes Pattipura
angry that they have to suffer in silence; there is nobody they can complain
to, nobody whom they can ask for help. They are livid because both the Centre
and state governments have let them down. “While many politicians carried out
publicity campaigns by visiting several drought-hit regions of Bundelkhand,
nobody has visited us, not even a district official, to see our plight. Even
Behanji (Mayawati, the Dalit chief Minster of UP, affectionately called ‘elder
sister’) who is one among us and whom we helped vote to power has forsaken us,”
says Samami Sayee, her heavily wrinkled face a testimony to advanced age and
years of suffering.
A disgruntled Vima
Devi, who has six children to feed, vents her frustration. “Behenji sits in
cool air conditioned interiors and drinks only bottled water. How can we expect
her to understand our need for water?” she says.
Despite the
government’s apathy, one woman, Sushma Devi, is trying to find a solution to
the water crisis. But this effort has come at a high price. She coaxed her
husband to take a loan of Rs 1,50,000 (US$1=Rs 46.6) so that they can hire
machines to do deep boring for groundwater. “But we are spending sleepless
nights wondering how we will pay back the money we borrowed from the bank if
this does not work,” she says, as she stands near the boring machine in the
middle of her field.
It’s not just the
lack of rains that brings on drought-like conditions in a region; it’s the
breakdown of a system. What Bundelkhand needs from the government are
development activities that are both pro-people and eco-friendly, so that the
interventions are sustainable. There is an urgent need to dig wells and canals
as well as restore traditional water sources like ponds and tanks and revive
the fertility of the soil.
This land of the
poorest of the poor is awaiting the healing touch.
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