Tag: Farmer

Jharkhand: Farmer’s jugaad turns scooter into plough

Source: dnaindia.com

A farmer from of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand has built a plough with ‘jugaad’ technology.

This equipment made with the help of the engine of a discarded scooter is making a splash in the whole area.

Located 40 kilometres from Hazaribagh, Unchaghana village of Tathizharia area is now the talk of the town as one man’s resolve to overcome his problems through homemade, self-thought technology invited praises and admiration.

People from the district often migrate for jobs due to lack of opportunities here, and Mahesh Karmali was no exception. He went to Chennai to earn a living in a Bajaj workshop.

However, Karmali had to return home as he couldn’t secure a permanent job in metropolis for not having a high school certificate. Though he owns farmland, he had no plough or bulls to till the land. He couldn’t afford to buy those for more than Rs 50,000.

A tractor was beyond his dreams and after a long thought, Karmali decided to make a plough for tilling all by himself. He bought a second-hand scooter from a friend and improvised it to a plough for nearly Rs 6,000.

His wife is very happy with his success and says that now it is very easy to do farming. “For less money, the entire farm gets tilled and time is also saved. I’m able to give more time to my children and household.”

Karmali’s innovation has caught the attention of farmers from many villages and they are coming to see this plough with some also willing to buy. They are driven by the cost advantage of the plough over tractor or bulls and the work efficiency of the device.

Karmali’s innovation can be beneficial for the hilly regions of the state and can be a boon for farmers if such techniques are supported and promoted by the government.

Jharkhand: Farmer ‘kills self’, family blames govt dues

Source: indianexpress.com

A 40-year-old farmer from Jharkhand has allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a well he got constructed under the Mahatma National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) after government authorities did not clear dues for building materials.

The incident took place in Patratu village of Chanho block in Ranchi. Family members of Lakhan Mahato said he got a dug well constructed in 2018 on his farmland at a cost of Rs 3.54 lakh. Lakhan, they said, received around Rs 2 lakh from the government and paid the rest of the amount from his own pocket. Despite several trips to the block office, he had failed to get the dues cleared and was in stress, said his family members.

Ranchi SP (Rural) Ashutosh Shekhar said, “It appears to be a case of suicide. We are waiting for the post-mortem report for more details. There does not seem to be any foul play.” Block Development Officer Santosh Kumar said, “The death seems like an accident as he was an alcoholic. Why would he commit suicide? He also had money in his account and enough means to sustain himself. The post-mortem report may help in knowing the cause of death.”

Kumar added, “Lakhan got his work done recently and the voucher was submitted only on July 25. So there is no question of not paying him money.”

The NREGA website shows as pending the material cost of cement and bricks to the tune of Rs 1.22 lakh which Lakhan paid.

Lakhan’s family members said the well was constructed last year and only the parapet was raised recently. His wife, Bimla Devi, 35, said Lakhan had taken loans ranging from Rs 30,000-50,000 from relatives for the construction of the well and remained worried about the repayment.

“On Friday morning, he woke up and left for his field. When he did not return till evening, we started looking for him. I was worried because he had been tense about the debt.”

On Saturday morning, she said, somebody found Lakhan’s belongings floating in the well and raised an alarm. “His body was found and pulled out. He died in the same well which he got constructed for irrigation. Authorities are terming his death an accident, which is completely false. I don’t know what was going on in his mind that he took such an extreme step,” she said. Bimla Devi said her husband did not have enmity with anyone in the village.

Lakhan’s 80-year-old mother said, “Who will take care of our family now…I don’t even receive my widow pension despite my son going to the block office several times to get the issue resolved…”

Lakhan’s 17-year-old son Suraj said that since the past one month, his father had made “at least 15 trips” to the block office. Birbal Mahato, a relative from whom Lakhan had borrowed money, said, “He had taken Rs 30,000 from me. I never pressured him to repay, but he remained tense over the repayment.”

Three other villagers, Bhim Yadav, Raju Mahato and Subham Mahato are among those who got their dug wells constructed. They said that they had taken loans from friends, under the Kisan Credit Card and sold their buffaloes to arrange for the money. “We haven’t been paid Rs 1.5 lakh each since the past one year,” they said.

BDO Kumar said that there has been a backlog of payment in the district as well as the state. “Ideally, a person should not pay from his own pocket, but due to lack of funds, payment for materials were delayed to the vendors. So, many people used money from their own pocket.”

Blazing India: Bihar’s poor slog and suffer the most

Source: downtoearth.org.in

Droughts, heatwaves and weak monsoons come and go every year. Some survive it and some don’t. But those who always bear the brunt of rising temperatures are the poor. Thousands of daily wage labourers in Bihar step out every day to be able to earn a meagre amount but the scorching sun is not letting them do that either. Unable to beat the heat, they work late hours and earn less.

The rising temperatures killed 78 people within 48 hours in Bihar’s Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada districts, which are also facing a water crisis.

After hundreds of deaths, district magistrates of five Bihar districts, including the worst-hit Gaya, invoked Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ban public activities during daytime.

While rains did lash Bihar last week, it could only provide temporary relief. Temperatures again rose to 41 to 42 degrees Celsius with high humidity. The India Meteorological Department’s Patna office again issued a heat wave alert.

“I was earning Rs 500-600 a day to dig up soil on contract basis, carry sand, bricks or stone chips. But the intense heat has forced us to reduce our working hours and got our earnings down to Rs 300-400 a day,” said Rajdeo Yadav, a daily wage labourer in Patna.

The hostile climate is forcing the poor to not take the risk of working during in the afternoon. “We have to take regular intervals to rest and escape the Sun. We don’t work between 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm,” added Yadav.

Farmers too are finding it tough to irrigate land. Manish Singh, a marginal farmer in drought-hit Jehanabad district, said rising mercury and no pre-monsoon showers have together left no moisture in the land to start the process of cultivation for Kharif season.

“We have not even begun preparing our land for paddy as the soil is rock-like owing to lack of moisture,” he said adding that the fear of another drought is haunting them all.

In the state capital Patna too, where temperatures are above 45°C, roadside vendors are severely hit.

“No customer shows up in the afternoon. There’s no sale, no business. We are totally dependent on the evening after the Sun sets,” said Nagender Kumar, a garment vendor who sits near Patna railway station.

The IMD recorded 45.8°C on June 15, the hottest day in the past 53 years.

Manoj Kumar, executive director of the state health society, said Bihar government issued an advisory asking people to avoid going out in the day and keep themselves hydrated.

It is an alarming sign that temperatures are rising and rainfall is decreasing every year, said Ranjeev, an environmental activist. “The heat is slowly putting more and more stress on farmers. They are dependent on water, but the prolonged heatwave has dried water bodies,” he said.