Starving villagers put up banner, launch ‘hunger strike’ to draw attention to their plight

It has been a long wait for the villagers of kherwa in Banda. For the last two months they have been hearing that they were eligible for subsidised foodgrains. But they needed to complete formalities, fill up forms and wait for provisional ration cards. Some villagers do seem to have received them. Some, for reasons that are still not clear, have not.

`Huzoor, Bhookh se mar rahe hain”, reads a banner which has been put up on the main village road. Women, said activists from Banda, were holding fort, banging thalis demanding foodgrains and drawing attention to their plight.

In the Kherwa village 42 dalit families belonging to the community of Kucchbandiyas have been denied ration cards. Their livelihood was dependent on ‘Pheri’ – selling small household tools and delivering services while roaming from one village to another. They used to earn on an average around Rupees 200 per family per day.

But since the lockdown began on the 25th of March, they got stuck at home, were not allowed to move and have not earned a single paisa. The entire village is worried about its survival. Despite being eligible for all of the government schemes meant for the poor, they are not getting the food.

Raja Bhaiya of Vidya Dham samiti, an NGO, says that these poor families are severely hit by the lockdown as there is no food for even one proper meal a day. The NGOs working in the area are helping them to survive. Families who have ration cards are also struggling, he informed.

The situation is similar in other villages of Banda. In Khamora village villagers staged a protest demonstration while in Khera village people have written Bhookh on the walls of the Panchayat Bhawan. Incidentally all these villages are dominated by dalits.

Local ration shops, the PDS outlets, are a law unto themselves and there seem to be no uniform rules followed by them. There are good, bad and ugly ration shops. The uglier ones manipulate records, supply less and in connivance with officials siphon off foodgrains for sale in the open marker at higher prices.

”While a family with eight members are eligible for 5 kg of foodgrains per member for the entire month, many such families receive only 10 kg in all. Such a gap in the system and the strict rules of lockdown are making it difficult for people to survive,”says the activist.

The Kucchbandiya’s also fear that post-lockdown even if the spread of the virus slows down, life is not going to be the same as before.

“They are afraid for months they will not be allowed to enter villages to sell their ware. All outsiders are seen with suspicion and are believed to be carriers of the virus.

There is urgent need for an alternative source of livelihood for the Kucchbandiyas, which may assure a more stable source of income. But nobody really knows what or how.

The villagers have written an application to DM about the state of hunger in their villages. In the application names of those who don’t have ration card was also mentioned. It was demanded that the ration card of all the villagers be made and groceries be delivered immediately.

A complaint about the issue was also made on the Portal of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Portal. The villagers wrote in the application, ‘if any one of us dies because of hunger the DM will be responsible for the death’.

They are waiting for the government response. Till they get a reply the villagers have decided to hold protest asking for their rights.