RAJASTHAN'S THIRST

For the fourth year running, the desert State faces severe drought conditions. A report from some of the predominantly tribal areas, where the level of people's hardship is pronounced.

T.K. RAJALAKSHMI in Udaipur, Dungarpur and Banswara

THE peak of summer is still to come, yet all but one of the 32 districts in Rajasthan have already been affected to varying degrees by drought. And the situation is yet to draw the full attention of the State government, let alone the Centre. For the Sta te's arid areas, this is the fourth consecutive drought year, while for the other areas this is the third.

Last year, 26 districts were affected by severe drought conditions. The rainfall last year was 29 per cent less than the average. As a result, the State's main drinking water sources - Pichola, Fatehsagar, Rajsamand, Meja and Ramgarh lakes - were not rep lenished.

The low rainfall pushed the water table down and the traditional water sources in villages dried up. Some 30,585 villages as compared to 23,400 last year have been hit. People of the arid zone in western Rajasthan and of some tribal districts are on the verge of starvation, though government agencies tend to deny this. A combination of starvation and disease has already claimed many lives. However, the State government prefers to describe the deaths as having been caused by disease. In Kotra block, one of the worst affected areas of Udaipur district, a few deaths occurred primarily owing to malnutrition.

A visit to some of the predominantly tribal areas revealed a situation created by years of neglect, indifference and sheer callousness on the part of successive governments, both at the Centre and in the State. Migration of the poor to other States in se arch of better survival mechanisms is construed by the government as being "migration for better opportunities". It is perennial unemployment in their home State that drive the poor to unknown places.

A May 2000 study by the Jodhpur-based Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) on strategies to combat drought and famine in Indian arid zones found that both infant and maternal mortality rates were high among migrant labour, owing to low calorie in take in proportion to energy spent on hard labour. Women of all ages constitute the majority of any labour force engaged in relief work here. Young children who accompany them are exposed to high-risk conditions throughout the day. The labourers work on half-empty stomachs and are paid a minimum wage if the prescribed measure of earth is dug. In local parlance, the contract is called napti.

In the 80 lakh hectares of land on which the rabi crop is grown in the State, sowing was possible only on 52 lakh ha. The State government admits that inadequate power supply was a cause of the destruction of standing crops. Because of the general failur e of the kharif crop and the current state of the rabi crop, fodder and grain are expected to become scarce. The maximum number of villages facing scarcity are in the districts of Udaipur, Chittor and Jaipur. All 871 villages in Dungarpur and some 1,455 villages out of a total of 1,472 in Banswara are similarly affected. Entire populations in districts, barring the urban population, face a severe crisis. Wherever one could see wheat or gram (chana) fields, either they were owned by a big landlord or they had a water source that had not completely dried up. But all around what one saw was dry land and dried-up vegetation. The only greenery was provided by the ubiquitous cactus, which even the goat would not eat.

The plight of the tribal people is particularly sad. In times of acute shortage they are known to have eaten chapatis, made from a grass called godra. Today, even this grass is not available. There is very little level ground where the Garasias and the B hils of Udaipur can settle down. The land is mostly rocky, but in times of moderate rainfall they are able to grow maize in the kharif season and wheat and mustard in the rabi months. These tribal people are completely dependent on rain; even moderate me ans of irrigation are not available to them. Only about 30 per cent of agricultural land in the State is under canal and tubewell irrigation; the rest depends on traditional methods.

The tribal people living in the hilly terrain of the Aravallis move to Gujarat or to Udaipur city during the dry months. This year they returned empty-handed mainly because drought conditions and water scarcity had affected construction work and therefor e the availability of employment. It is said that in Gujarat the owners of cotton fields sent them back saying that they should ask the Rajasthan government to provide them work.

According to Bansi Lal Singhvi, secretary of the Udaipur unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Central government should have given Rajasthan the same level of attention that Gujarat received in the aftermath of the earthquake. He said that in each block of Udaipur district some 70,000 people were affected, but on an average only 800 or so were given work. The number of people employed was very low and work was offered for just 15 days as the demand for it was very high. Singhvi said that the All India Kisan Sabha and the CPI(M) had demanded that the government ensure that two persons from each family were employed, that weekly payments be made instead of payment at the end of 15 days and a minimum wage of Rs.60 be fixed. But people were working for much less.

A natural calamity is often a great leveller. However, in the case of drought, the most affected are tribal people who have small, unproductive plots of land in the hills. They are also deprived of the Charnot, or the common grazing land, as upper-caste people usurp them without facing any resistance. Gaang Singh, a senior citizen, in Bhallon Ka Guda village in Gogunda block of Udaipur district told Frontline that he was writing to the Collector that there was no water in the village. The village well, the main source of drinking and irrigation water, was dry. "That single well used to sustain the entire village," he said. Gaang Singh said that only about 20 people from his village had found work. There was no fodder available for the livestock. A fodder depot was supposed to have been set up in the village but the village residents knew nothing about it. "Grass, water and foodgrains are our main requirements. With the peak of summer yet to come, we fear the worst," he said.

In Ukhliyat panchayat, an anicut was being cleaned by the Irrigation Department as part of relief work. There was provision for only 40 workers but nearly 300 people turned up when the work started on January 2, said Rooplal, the supervisor. "I cannot ke ep more than 40. Fights break out among the people and I have a difficult time managing them. The relief work is not adequate at all. It appears as if the government is executing it just to show that some relief work is going on. The work will go on unti l the mony lasets," he said. The nullah (drain) that was being cleaned used to have water running round the year, the workers said. Asked repeatedly whether they were getting the prescribed minimum daily wage of Rs.60, they said no, though the supervisor insisted that he paid them. The story was not very different in Dewla village: in the panchayat of 5,000 people only 40 had been given work.

In Malviya village of Kotra block, Kesar Bai Garasia, deputy sarpanch, took the Frontline team to Amiya Garasia's dwelling. Her father is mostly out in search of work. Save for a cot and some tattered blankets, empty vessels and a goat, the house had little else. The motherless girl knows what it is to be hungry most of the time. Kesar Bai said that there had been six starvation deaths in Merpur panchayat.

In Kham village of the same panchayat, the teenage daughter of Fauza suffers from a mysterious fever and cough which refuse to go away. "It is the disease of hunger - bhook ki bimari," Fauza's wife said. A broth of maize and water constituted the family's daily diet - no vegetables, oil, pulses or even roti. There are no functioning health centres in any village, and Fauza's is no exception. "I don't have Rs.30 to take her to Kotra where I can get her some medicines," he said. Razia, the owner of a 60-foot-deep well, now completely dry, said that the people had repeatedly requested the panchayat samiti (of which the Block Development Officer is the administrative head), to provide them a health centre.

In Jooda village in Jooda panchayat, two persons had died of starvation. Last year, a man left his two children in the jungle as there was nothing to eat in the house. The patwari, Dharamvir Beniwal, said that he had been allotted some wheat under a gove rnment scheme, to be given only to those persons who were on the brink of death due to starvation. Under the scheme, two quintals of wheat were allotted to every panchayat headquarters, of which 5 kg was to be given free of cost to those dying of starvat ion. Feroze Khan, a tea-stall owner, said that the village desperately needed an anicut, first to create work and then to serve as a long-term utility.

In Upla Jogiwar village, there were three handpumps but not a drop of water. Hooja Gama, a resident, said that he had gone to Gujarat in search of work but had to sell the dough he had taken with him there to pay for his return fare. He found no work in Gujarat. Dipu Bai, also of the same village, said that they collected firewood in the night to avoid being caught by Forest Department staff.

In Kotra block, Dr. Rajendra Kumar, a medical practitioner, said that malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and skin diseases were common among the people, most of these arising out of poor nutrition. Tuberculosis in particular had been on the rise in the las t three years. There were no facilities for blood tests, and treatment was symptomatic. For surgery, patients were sent to either Udaipur town or Khed Brahma or Idar in Gujarat.

Sada village in Kotra block lies at the end of a road coming under Gujarat. A large group of women were expectantly waiting for the arrival of the volunteers of Sewa Mandir, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Udaipur. Their food supply depended on the relief they provided. The village has only one handpump for its 300 households. Vomiting and diarrhoea were common among the residents, but the local health centre had no medicines. The maternal mortality rate is high. The cattle suffered as they cou ld not digest the dry fodder. Some people had killed their cattle so as to sell their skins, which fetched about Rs.500 apiece. Some walked up to 50 km to Gujarat, carrying as much as 25 kg of wood, to sell it for Rs.10 or Rs.15. But the forest staff, if they chanced upon them, took away the wood and beat them up, the villagers said.

Narayan Lal, a farmer, said that a few villagers had died of disease and hunger. In the past month, two women, one infant and a man had died. In fact, he had taken one of them, 20-year-old Chumaridita, to a hospital in Kotra where he was asked to produce Rs.5,000. He could not do so, and Chumaridita died. Her child died a few days later. Narayan Lal said that in Sada panchayat there were reports of two or three people dying every four days. Krishna Avatar, a teacher, said that there was no water in the village but liquor was freely available. Milk was a very rare commodity.

In Medi panchayat, 26-year-old Vira from Nakola village consumed an insecticide on February 11, after an unsuccessful trip to Gujarat to find work. He left behind his wife and three children. In Jaipur, Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya had then denied that a ny starvation death had taken place. The District Magistrate, Prem Singh Mehra, also claimed that a fight with his wife had driven Vira to suicide. But people familiar with the tribal ethos and behaviour say that suicides are uncommon amongst tribal peop le. Some officials say that NGOs are inventing drought tales and spreading panic.

In Deri village in Medi panchayat, deputy sarpanch Shankar Lal Bhamaji said that unemployment and hunger-driven deaths had become common. The situation in blocks like Girwa and Kherwada was no different. In Barapal village of Girwa block, handpumps were not working. In Khajuri village, there was no drinking water facility at all. Conditions were bad enough earlier and the drought worsened the situation. A single animal needed four or five kilograms of fodder a day, when each kilogram costs an unaffordab le Rs.2. Even in the rainy season, the maize lasted only for two months, after which people bought it from the market. This time they were completely at the mercy of the market.

Qayyum Sheikh, a lawyer at the Munsif Magistrate's Court in Kherwada, said that the literacy rate in Kherwada was higher than in the other blocks, but there were no jobs. In Jhadol block, where on March 4 some 2,000 tribal people held a rally led by the All India Kisan Sabha demanding work, the situation was as bad as in the rest of the district. Ram Lal Tanvad from Mandla panchayat said that he had taken 200 people with him to the District Magistrate in Udaipur to submit a memorandum demanding that mor e people be given work. The response, he said, was unkind.

In Khoonta panchayat, Mangu Das said that for the sake of fixing eligibility norms everyone in his village deserved to be included in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category but the government did not see it that way. In every panchayat, only 15 to 20 per cent of the population was identified as being in the BPL category.

According to Astha, an NGO in Udaipur, many tribal persons owing to starvation and ill-health were not fit to work. Women, children, and the aged suffered the worst. The programme coordinator of Astha, Om Shrivastava, said that though two lakh people cam e in the BPL category in Udaipur, only about 19,000 were given work. "The government's memory is short," he said. By July, the issue of drought would be pushed to the background. "Short-term solutions do not work and a perspective to combat drought is ne eded," he said.

In Dungarpur district, things were not very different. District Magistrate Akhil Arora told Frontline that owing to the undulating terrain and small average size of landholdings, the crop was not good even in years of good rainfall. People migrate d every year to Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. All the 871 villages here were affected. Foodgrains, fodder and drinking water were the main requirements, and the district administration was geared to meet the challenge. He said that 5 kg of wheat was distri buted to families facing starvation. There were plans to deepen wells and renovate traditional water sources, he added.

The sarpanch of Behna gram panchayat, Mohan Damor, said that on an average only 13 persons were given work in each panchayat. He said he had suggested to the District Magistrate last year that as irrigation had become next to impossible, wells had to be dug or deepened. This would have helped create employment as well. Damor said that wells for drinking water alone had been sanctioned this time. It is ironical that marble quarrying and other mining activities have started in Dungarpur in recent times bu t the tribal people have gained little in terms of earnings from their land. The area is rich in green marble, soapstone and feldspar.

In Batwada village of Piplada panchayat in Dungarpur block, three workers were employed to dig a pond. Between them, the workers had to dig an area 10 feet long, 10 feet wide and two feet deep each day to earn their full daily wage of Rs.60. Since this w as difficult to achieve, the supervisor said he had to pay only half that amount - that is, wheat worth Rs.23 and Rs.7 in cash. Payments would be made only after 15 days' work. Besides, compared to Udaipur Dungarpur was more barren.

Banswara district, called the Cherrapunji of the State, has also borne the brunt of the drought. Last year the district received only 48 per cent of its normal rainfall. The river Mahi, its source of drinking and irrigation water, was running dry with li ttle water even in the dammed area. In Sundani village of Garhi panchayat, a pond was being cleaned as part of relief work. The usual quota of water from the Mahi had not reached it. Normally water was continuously released from October to February but t his time farmers had to make do with much less. Canals, drains and small rivers all remained dry.

District Magistrate Aparna Arora said that Banswara district was dominated by people of the BPL category and that 80 per cent of the kharif crop in all the villages of the district had withered. Arora said she had ensured that there was at least one work going on in every panchayat, though it was difficult to maintain parity in all the areas. She said that at least 10 lakh people needed regular employment. In March an estimated 24,000 people were to be given work. She said that rejuvenating traditional water sources was one of the targets of the State government and most of the efforts were directed to achieving this. The rabi crop had been affected and only 30 per cent of the sown crop was expected to yield results.

Conditions are expected to worsen this summer. As many as 3.30 crore people and four crore head of cattle have been badly affected so far, according to government figures. As against the requirement of Rs.2,400 crores from the Central government for reli ef measures, only Rs.85 crores has been sanctioned.

Unless relief work is taken up on a war footing and the National Democratic Alliance government takes as much interest in Rajasthan as it took in the case of earthquake-hit Gujarat, relief work cannot make any deference to the poor tribal people. It is R ajasthan's bad luck that a drought, with less visible manifestations, would not attract as much attention as an earthquake.