Grim future

Published : Jan 18, 2017 12:30 IST

Arivin Kodi, wife of farmer Kaliyaperumal of Orkudi village, Keezh Velur, Nagapattinam district.

Arivin Kodi, wife of farmer Kaliyaperumal of Orkudi village, Keezh Velur, Nagapattinam district.

THE ramshackle hut of Kaliyaperumal of Orkudi village, a couple of kilometres from Keezh Velur, Nagapattinam district, has all the telltale signs of poverty. He was found dead on the night of December 31, 2016, in the paddy field adjoining his hut. He was in his sixties.

It was late in the evening when the Frontline team reached his home on January 6. The field where he fell dead was parched and riven with cracks. The crop had gone to seed for lack of water. His wife, Arivin Kodi, looked a picture of grief.

Kaliyaperumal had leased three acres of land around his hut and spent a lot of money in preparing the land, manuring it and raising the paddy. But everything came a cropper. His son, who was in his thirties, had died seven years ago.

Kaliyaperumal is survived by his wife, daughters and daughter-in-law. They are daunted by the grim future that looms ahead.

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