Left high & dry,Banda turns a cold shoulder

Summer has just begun,but the main pond in Pandwai is already dry. The canal has been dry for long. The fields are a vast barren expanse. A large number of  houses are locked because the families have gone to Delhi,Mumbai or Gujarat to earn a living.

Obviously,the NREGS,the UPA government’s showpiece scheme,hasn’t made much of a  difference. Official record shows that in 2008-09,1.49 lakh job cards were made,but only  74,000 were provided employment. Of them,just 22,000  got employment for the guaranteed 100 days. The district has 2.75 unemployed people,of whom only 30,000 are literate. 

The farm loan waiver too,which Garg is highlighting,has led to much heart-burn. The bank refused to write off loans of farmers who own more than five acres. But a big land chunk does not translate into big income when droughts are a recurring phenomenon.

Polling is just a few days away,but there is little sign of election activity. Stars like Sanjay Dutt,Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan,and Jaya Bachchan have held public meetings.

So have big politicians like Chief Minister Mayawati,Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh. Most of these meetings were well attended,but there is not much enthusiasm.

A general complaint is that Shyama Charan Gupta of the Samjawadi Party,who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004,just did not care for the area. He has shifted to Phoolpur and the SP has now fielded R K Patel who promises water,industries and large-scale plantation to restore the soils.

Between 2004 and 2009,Pandwai saw seven suicides due to poverty and unemployment.  Kishori Lal hanged himself from a tree in his fields on July 5,2006,after successive crop failures and a mounting debt of Rs 80,000 he had borrowed from moneylenders.

“No politician or officer came forward to help me,or others like us. So why vote?” asks Kishori Lal’s wife Shobha,who is bringing up their three daughters. “They will understand our condition only if they live under these circumstances.”

In Banda,“the circumstances” mean living in a drought-prone area,where there is no dependable source of water,no industries,where a crop failure means the farmers survival depends on loans from moneylenders and the burden keeps accumulating until,after several years,the area finally gets good rain.

Last year,Banda got good rain after a decade. As a result,the kharif crop was good,but the rabi crop of wheat was just about fine. Going by the law of averages,the next monsoon is going to be bad.

These conditions dictate the development agenda for Banda. The Congress,the SP,the BJP and the BSP — all are promising water and jobs,with minor variations. If the SP candidate has added the promise of large-scale plantations,BJP’s Amita Bajpai has added girl’s education.

Since the BSP is the ruling party,others parties are blaming it for all problems. But BSP candidate Bhairav Mishra asks what the Congress,the BJP,and the SP have done over the years. He claims only his party was serious about Banda’s problems and has taken the initiative to start work on a medical college and ITI.

Few take the promises seriously. Says former Gram Padhan of Badokhar Bujurg Dinesh Pal Singh,“If NREGS is success,then why is there large-scale migration? If  the Samajwadi Party is a well-wisher of the people,why has their sitting MP run away to Phoolpur? If the BSP says it will develop Banda,why is the party trying to mobilise Brahmins?”

Ashish Singh,a native of Badokhar Bujurg,said elections here boil down to caste mobilisation and this election is going to be no different.

So much so that even the elimination of big dacoits like Shiv Kumar Dadua and Ambika Patel Thokiya,for which the BSP could justifiably take credit,is seen through the caste prism. It is said that sections of Patels and Kurmis regarded them as some kind of heroes,and may not vote the BSP this time. In the Assembly elections in 2007,these communities had supported the BSP,helping it win three of the five segments — one went to the SP and one to the Congress.

ELECTIONS 2009
100
constituencies
WHERE THE KEY ISSUES
BANDA,UTTAR PRADESH
Candidates
* Bhagawan Deen Garg(Cong)
* Bhairon Prasad Mishra,(BSP)
* RK Singh Patel (SP)
* Amita Bajpai,(BJP)

voting: april 23