Hunger in picture-postcard Jharkhand
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COMMENTS 
Jharkhand's rich natural resources prompt its government to claim that it could be the most financially viable state in the country. Yet, around 23.22 lakh families in the rural areas live below the poverty line. In village after village, this correspondent found people facing hunger for six to nine months of the year
The rains make a brief reappearance early October in Jharkhand, with huge drops that fall straight and hard. Water pools, and then, restlessly, runs off. The tribal men, women and children watch it slide past their spindly legs, the prospect of yet another drought writ large on their faces.
The green cover across the rural hinterland of Jharkhand at this time of year is deceptive; with 29% of the state covered by forests, the landscape wears a picture postcard look the year round.
But in Khijri Namkum, a hamlet of some 72 houses in Chand block, Ranchi district, the residents are worried. There is only one house capable of feeding itself during the year. "Ten families with small landholdings can afford food for six months, while the rest of them who are landless barely manage to eat for three months," says Anita Sanga, the only woman in the hamlet to have seen the insides of a classroom. Only 15 families hold ration cards which entitle them to food supplies at subsidised rates, provided they are available.
In nearby Sithiyo Pokhar Toli, there is no such hope. None of the 45 families have ration cards. "We have witnessed our children dying of hunger," says Augustina Horo, holding back her tears.
Most people here, particularly tribals and dalits, are worried about the sorry state of agriculture in Jharkhand. "We think of ways to improve agricultural output but are not able to achieve anything. We do not have money to buy better seeds or water to nourish them," says Mukta Kandula, a tribal woman from Khatanga village in Rania block, Ranchi district. "Food insecurity is an acute problem across Jharkhand. Nearly 70% of the rural population faces the prospect of going hungry at some stage during the year," says Ashok Parira, co-ordinator, Jan Utthan Samiti (JUS), Ranchi. The government's own National Sample Survey says 10.46% of all households in Jharkhand face seasonal food insecurity.
Jharkhand is the 28th state of the Indian Union, carved out of what is known as the Bihar plateau, five years ago. The land comprises two separate regions -- the Chotanagpur plateau and the Santhal Parganas. It is home to the Santhal, Munda, Ho, Oroan, Bhumji and other tribal communities.
The government claims Jharkhand has "the potential to develop as the most financially viable state in the whole country owing to its mineral-based resources and available industrial infrastructure". But this is far from true. Although blessed with rich natural resources, mainly minerals and forests, 80% of Jharkhand's population, residing in 32,620 villages, survives on agriculture and allied activities.
Jharkhand's total population, according to provisional figures for Census 2001, stands at 269,09,428. Around 23.22 lakh families in the rural areas live below the poverty line, of which 3.91 lakh belong to scheduled castes and 8.79 lakh to scheduled tribes. There is assured food supply for only about three to four months in the year, ie in winter following the harvest in late October-early November. Food supplies tend to run short by the end of winter; the 'starvation period' begins by mid-summer, and, in many cases, continues until the end of October.
Jharkhand's performance in the agriculture sector is poor, with 18.04 lakh hectares of net sown area, as against 38 lakh hectares of total cultivable area. Irrigation facilities are available for only 1.57 lakh hectares, which is 8% of the net sown area.
Traditionally, the tribals have engaged in 'jhum' cultivation, clearing the forests, by burning, for staple food-based cultivation (rice, sorghum and millets). But this form of cultivation is not possible anymore with modern concerns for the country's forest cover and the introduction of new seed varieties.
JUS field coordinator Mahendra Mahato says the pattern of agriculture has changed over the years. "The tribals used to cultivate a number of varieties developed over generations, each of them having different characteristics. They needed less water and no fertiliser. Then came new varieties of high-yielding seeds that produced twice as much with fertiliser input, but destroyed the fields and drained out the water resources."
According to his colleagues at JUS, land alienation is another serious problem leading to poverty and displacement among tribal societies. There is a special land law, the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, which prohibits the transfer of tribal lands to non-tribals; but this is observed more in the breach. A recent study on land alienation in Ranchi showed the large-scale dispossession of tribals from their lands by organised middlemen and housing societies, allegedly for "public purposes". The market-oriented agricultural development, as envisioned by the World Bank, would force tribals to transfer land to big corporations in the name of "economic efficiency". "There is some confusion even among NGOs over the twin issue of agriculture and livelihood. In spite of all efforts, agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for these people," says JUS secretary Rakesh Kumar Pandey.
But agriculture among tribal communities is done more out of habit than with a purpose. "When it rains they collect the implements and go to the fields. Till they start farming for specific gains they cannot achieve food security," says Pandey. The illiterate farmers across the state are not even aware of their assets and available resources except for knowledge passed on down the generations. "Where is the water to irrigate our fields? We cannot afford expensive varieties of seeds and fertilisers for our small holdings," is the refrain of tribal farmers across Jharkhand.
How to ensure one square meal a day for this impoverished lot is the real challenge for governments, civil society organisations and professionals working with agricultural development.
Typically, the per capita availability of net cultivable land in tribal belts is the lowest in the country. Most farm holdings are marginal to small, and fragmented. Soil erosion is high. Dependency on a single crop, namely paddy, has ensured that agricultural growth in the last two decades has averaged just about 1%. Post-harvest management is poor, at 8-37%.
The Planning Commission of India admits that the rate of agricultural growth has been slower in this region than in the rest of the country. "A breakthrough in the human development graph can be achieved only by addressing the key issues of agriculture and allied activities." But ground-level professionals like Pandey disagree with the Planning Commission's diagnosis of providing multiple livelihood opportunities to agricultural communities faced with deficits on all fronts -- basic needs, infrastructure and resources. "The sluggish growth is mainly due to low irrigation coverage, an erratic monsoon with a high deviation in rainfall of 20% or more every third year. The low-input, low-yield subsistence agriculture has proved a vicious circle," says Pandey.
The way out for Jharkhand's 'generation next' from this vicious circle is migration. Some 40 boys and girls in Khatanga, which has a population of 998, have migrated to faraway places like Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Mumbai. A recent report says that at least 1 lakh young adivasi women from Jharkhand are presently working as housemaids in middle-class homes in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa. "Young Jharkhandi men and women are lured by middlemen promising them good money, taken out of Jharkhand and sold like cattle to contractors and brick-kiln owners," says Rajen Kumar, secretary, Sinduartola Gramodaya Vikas Vidyalaya. "Severe exploitation, human degradation, sexual harassment are the order of the day."
The elderly women of Khatanga are saddened by the fact that adivasi women, who are held in honour and respect in their communities, are working as domestic servants in affluent homes in faraway towns and cities. "Illiteracy is the main cause for our not being able to till our farms properly nor get better employment opportunities outside," says Chandramani Tirkey from Sharamvel village in Ranchi's Chand block. "This is extremely depressing for the tribal communities," says Mahato. What elevates this agricultural crisis, say field workers like Mahato, is not just its daunting scale and complexity but its resistance to the familiar formula of governments and civil society organisations unloading development schemes onto communities.
Chronic drought, rampant poverty, rapid globalisation and corruption are becoming the villains in the lives of Jharkhand's tribal communities. The desperation is apparent. In Sithiyo Pokhar Toli, the women say the only option left is to labour on the nearby railway construction site. Here, the women earn Rs 40 for a grinding 12 hours' work, while the men get Rs 60. The minimum wage in Jharkhand is Rs 72. "We cannot fight the authorities for better wages on an empty stomach," says Ratni Tigga.
In the absence of labour opportunities, the women turn to the nearby forests for survival. "The trees, grass and herbs known to us traditionally help sustain our families for six months," says Pardeshi Toppo of Goelkera in Rania block, Ranchi. "The men refuse to share the burden of feeding the children. In the absence of agricultural activities, they take to drinking and loitering."
Women across villages in Jharkhand wonder whether there will ever be enough water to irrigate the fields. This is not impossible but it requires political will on the part of the state's rulers, says Pandey. The Second State Irrigation Commission has identified 16 river basins that can be harnessed through major, medium and minor irrigation schemes. The commission also identified potential for reservoir schemes and lift irrigation schemes. Groundwater resources have been assessed at 5,482 million cubic metres. With the huge groundwater potential available in the state, 8-10 lakh additional wells can be constructed.
The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is looking at macro management of agriculture in Jharkhand, focusing on the National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA), horticulture development schemes and the Integrated Cereal Development Programme (ICDP) for rice. "How these schemes will prevent the hunger deaths is anybody's guess, as the implementation is sloppy. Rural poverty in Jharkhand is not only alarming but is increasing by the year," says A K Singh of the Society for Participatory Action and Reflection (SPAR).
Having lost all faith in government schemes, the tribals of Jharkhand pray for rain and leave it to the gods. Many forms of quackery have emerged in the villages as a relief from the suffering and uncertainty of drought. "All we request is a one-time meal," says Augustina Horo. The land of Jharkhand, charming and chaotic to the outsider, is a battle for survival for its sons and daughters.
(Anosh Malekar is a Pune-based journalist)
InfoChange News & Features, November 2005