Another farmer ends life in Nuapada

The Pioneer, Oct 27, 2009

PNS | Nuapada

In what appeared to be a premeditated step Kusha Dhwaja Majhi, in his forties committed suicide by hanging himself in his house at Tarbod in Nuapada district. Family sources admit it was a case of poverty and large amount of loan from fellow villagers which drove him to take this extreme step.

Jema Majhi, the widow had no inkling of such a drastic step her husband had contemplated when she was sent to her mother’s house a couple of days ago.

Majhi had been cultivating fellow villager Amar Pradhan’s 3 acres of land . The paddy that was grown in the said land was damaged due to drought in the area. Jema admits her husband had taken large loans from more than six persons in the village for cultivation.

The dire condition of the crop had always been a cause of concern for the family. He had borrowed some rice the previous night to cook, informed Majhi’ s neighbour S Majhi . The family neither had cash savings nor foodgrain in the house.

Basanta Panda, former Nuapada BJP MLA has demanded a compensation of Rs five lakh to Majhi’s family. The State has a mandate to provide livelihood to the people & since the State has failed in its duty, it should immediately pay a compensation of Rs five lakh to the family.

The failure of the State’s social security schemes can be gauged from the fact that there has been no NREGA work in the village in the last one year, said Bhanu Prakash Joshi , president of the Nuapada district Congress. Though the Centre pumps in unlimited amount of money under NREGA, the State mechanism has completely failed to utilise such funds to provide livelihood to the people, he added.

Though politicking has gained momentum as agitationists blocked National Highway 217 passing through the district to draw the attention of the Government, Jema looks blankly at the horizon. Majhi had already lent his job card to a middlemen for some money.

Heaving undergone sterilisation operation just a week before, she is unable to do any work. Who will feed my four children, she acclaims helplessly. Though Majhi was allotted an Indira Awas House, his inability to arrange initial money to open a bank account had stalled the entire process.

The claim of the administration of facilitating zero balance accounts is a hoax & the vulnerability of such people have never been understood by the officials which drove him to take the extreme step, added Panda. The administration was quite mum when handing over Rs 10,000 to the family for cremation expenses.