Poverty haunted this farmer

Expressbuzz, Oct 31, 2009

NUAPADA: Poverty and penury followed Kushadhwaja Majhi (38), the landless tribal of village Tarbod in Komna block, like a shadow forcing him to commit suicide. He committed suicide late on the night of October 25 by hanging himself from the roof.Such was the necessity for money that Majhi, father of four sons, forced his wife to undergo tubectomy so that the money from the operation could be utilised to open an account to facilitate transfer of funds allotted to him for a house under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).But the money reached late. His widow, Jeema, was handed over Rs 600 on October 28 besides Rs 10,000 under the National Family Benefit Scheme on Monday. His sons aged between ten and three months.His precarious financial condition became more evident when the NREGS job card issued to him revealed that he had got employment for 12 and 15 days each in 2006. While he had worked under the scheme from March 22, 2006 to April 3, 2006 and again from May 11, 2006 to May 25, 2006, the job card reflects no entries after the period. However, being a BPL card holder, he has been receiving 25 kg of Rs 2 kg rice which would have been just sufficient to keep the family of six alive.However, unlike in other districts, the district administration has been quick in rushing aid with the District Collector Bishnu Prasad Panda assuring to sanction Widow Pension immediately and directing to shift his two sons Janmajaya (10), Ghanashyam (8) studying in Class 6 and 5 respectively to nearby Jatagarh Sevashram School while the third boy would be enrolled in the local anganwadi centre.However, Komna BDO Bisawa Ranjan Nayak, who had attributed the death to poverty and penury informed that Majhi never applied for employment under NREGS in 2007-08 and 2008-09. But district Congress committee president Bhanu Prakash Joshi denied the claim and said though he had applied for work, no work was provided to him. He had taken three acres on lease from Amar Pradhan of the village to cultivate paddy but with crop failing, he was under severe pressure as how to repay the promised paddy against the land.