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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Away from the jallikattu row, a drought-hit villager in Tamil Nadu starts selling her cattle -Vinita Govindarajan

Away from the jallikattu row, a drought-hit villager in Tamil Nadu starts selling her cattle -Vinita Govindarajan

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published Published on Jan 24, 2017   modified Modified on Oct 2, 2020
-Scroll.in

In a harvest-less January, the state's farming community can only count its losses.

We’re here to ensure the well-being of Tamil Nadu’s farmers. That refrain was heard repeatedly last week as protestors across the state demanded that the ban on the bull-taming sport of jallikattu. The exertions through which the bulls were put, allowed farmers to identify the most virile animals, the argument went, and was vital for ensuring the survival of native breeds of cattle.

This line of reasoning, however, seemed to ignore the fact that the failure of both the South-West monsoon in June-September and the North-East monsoon in October-December has resulted in distress among farmers that the revival of jallikattu is unlikely to assuage. Lakhs of farmers have lost their crops to drought, forcing some of them to sell their cattle in desperation in order to feed themselves.

The drought also took all the joy out of the harvest festival of Pongal that was observed in the state last week. The out-of-work farm hands are at home, struggling to get by on the government’s festival gift of one kg each of rice and sugar distributed through village ration shops. With no work, loans to repay, and having lost all their assets in the process, many Tamil Nadu farmers are spiralling into a deep debt trap.

A visit by this reporter to two of the worst affected districts of Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam in the Cauvery delta region provided snapshots of lives in disarray in a drought-ravaged countryside. This, in a month when travellers to this area are ordinarily greeted by the sight of golden-green paddy fields ripe for harvest.

Death and debt

In a village near Keevallur town in Nagapattinam, R Ganeshan waved a sheaf of blue and pink bills, for loans taken, saying, “This is why my brother killed himself.”

Ganeshan and his family ushered in the new year with the death of R Paneerselvam, 52, who was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room. Paneerselvam was the eldest of three brothers, and is survived by a wife, two daughters and a son. He also left behind a debt of Rs 3 lakhs to be paid back to various banks and microfinance institutions.

For almost 35 years now, Ganeshan and his large joint family have been growing paddy on two acres of land taken on lease. The brothers take turns to bear the cost of cultivating the crop and earning for the family. This year was Paneerselvam’s turn, and the situation was grim. Following poor summer rains for at least six years now, farmers in this region have been forced to forsake their kuruvai crops, which are grown around June-July. Their livelihoods are now solely dependent on the samba or winter crop, which in turn relies on the October-December monsoon. But this year, the rains failed them twice.

Like many farmers, Paneerselvam was forced to take loans, a large portion of it to finance his daughter’s wedding. He borrowed small amounts of money from multiple microfinance institutions to avoid having to repay a large lump sum all at once. But this clearly did not work for him.

“After the monsoons failed, Paneerselvam became more withdrawn and depressed,” recalled Ganeshan. “His entire personality changed, he was always worried.”

Following his death, Ganeshan and his family have to find a way to repay the loans. “We don’t have anything apart from our field,” he said. “It is only with this soil that we are struggling.”

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Scroll.in, 23 January, 2017, https://scroll.in/article/826838/five-snapshots-of-how-rural-tamil-nadu-is-dealing-with-life-after-drought


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