Ranchi, June 16: Monsoon continues to be the mainstay of farmers in villages of Pithoria panchayat, the vegetable basket of Ranchi district in Kanke block, where two debt-ridden farmers died within five days of each other in suspicious circumstances.
With limited water in wells and small dobhas (small squares for water storage, also called dobas) and larger pokhars (ponds) drying up, farming is a failed enterprise in summer for the panchayat's 4,000 cultivators, keeping alive the age-old cliché of Indian peasantry scanning the skies anxiously for rain even in 2017.
Surprisingly, power is cheap and available, say most farmers, adding installing and running pumps weren't a problem. But as those pumps can't squeeze out water from the bowels of the earth in summer, the three-harvests-a-year stays an unattainable target for most farmers, keeping them poor and raising the spectre of debt.
"The earth is drying up," said Mangalcharan Munda of Sutiambe village in Pithoria, close to where farmer Baldeo Mahto was found dead in a shallow well yesterday.
"I have 78 decimal land and a well to irrigate it with the help of a one horsepower pump. But, I stay poor. Electricity is available throughout the year paying Rs 120 per month, but despite every effort, I can't produce anything in summer when my well is almost dry," Munda, grazing his goats near his field, said.
"It is frustrating," he said, echoing Baldeo's widow Anita who yesterday said her husband had been frustrated when after digging three wells, he found water only in one.
Devendra Munda, another farmer who stays close to the home of the deceased Baldeo, said that of his 30-feet-deep wells, water measured only three feet. "I have three wells with pumps to irrigate my 8 acres. But, where's the water?"
Munda added they were mostly dependent on monsoon. "If monsoon is good, I earn Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh a year," he said.
Santu Kumar of Pithoria village had a different take. "We depend on a village pond to irrigate our land as our individual wells have dried up. To run a pump, we need electricity at proper voltage, which our village doesn't have. We have to get a stabiliser to step up the voltage to run the motor," Santu said.
Is that a problem? "No, only water is," he said.
Rajeshwar Sahu, a well-respected farmer in Pithoria village, said dobhas dug in fields dried up in summer. By mutual consent, villagers use whatever water there is left of the larger pokhar only for bathing. "I want another pond in my village for summer irrigation," he said.
Kanke block development officer (BDO) Gautam Sahu, under whose jurisdiction Pithoria falls, admitted there was a water problem.
"We're trying to make irrigation water available to farmers throughout the year. There are around 500 wells and 300 dobhas and pokhars in this region but these dry up in summer. But, as the area is rocky, water conservation is tricky. But, efforts are being made to connect Pithoria's villages with nearby dams," BDO Sahu held out hope.
Ranchi MP Ram Tahal Choudhary of the BJP, who had met Baldeo's bereaved family today, also said water was a problem.
"Though the area has wells and dobhas, I have asked the Ranchi deputy commissioner (DC) to increase number of ponds to improve the water level. If the water level increases, wells and dobhas will be full throughout the year. I have also asked DC for a deep boring close to the place where the farmer died," the MP said.
JMM calls bandh: JMM executive president and Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren on Friday called a Pithoria bandh on Saturday. Visiting Sutiambe village of the panchayat to meet bereaved family members of debt-ridden farmer Baldeo Mahto, found dead inside a well yesterday, Hemant called it suicide. Yesterday, Ranchi DC Manoj Kumar told the media they had ruled out loan suicide.
