TODAY IS Eid, but not a single family in the village has the money to celebrate it. I never thought we would see such dark days,” says 45-year-old Jaygun Bibi from Belma village. This year is the first time Bibi broke her 15-hour fast during the month of Ramadan with water and maadbhat, a simple dish of soaked rice in salted water. “We usually consume dates to break the fast, followed by water and other delicacies,” she says.
Just a week earlier, Hindu residents of Belma felt equally dejected when they did not have the money to celebrate Charak Puja, their most important religious event. “The celebrations last for a week when the village turns into a fair. Our relatives from faraway villages attend it. This year, we could not even afford a single festive meal,” says Kalupad Mahato, 64-year-old resident of the village that is located some 300 km away from state capital Kolkata.
Similar stories were heard across seven villages of Purulia and neighbouring Bankura districts that Down To Earth (dte) travelled to in April. The residents’ ordeal began in December 2021 after the Centre decided to stop transferring funds to West Bengal under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Later in June 2022, after six months of not paying wages, the Centre also stopped rolling out jobs under the scheme.
This story is from the May 01, 2023 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 01, 2023 edition of Down To Earth.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
CLIMATE SHAPES SPECIES
Gradual changes in a population that lives in a region with environmental shifts give rise to new species
LEAFY GOODNESS
Leaves of the bottle gourd can be a healthy green addition to the plate
'Story of human origin is still not figured out or over'
Fifty years ago, the discovery of a partial skeleton amid the barren desert landscape of northern Ethiopia transformed our understanding of where humans came from, and how we developed into Homo sapiens. \"Lucy\" was first spotted on November 24, 1974, by the American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and his student assistant Tom Gray. Named after the Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, a popular song in the their team's camp at the time, it was immediately clear she was a female, because of her small adult size, and that she had walked upright, unlike chimpanzees. Lucy was also very old-at almost 3.2 million years, she was anointed as the then-earliest known (distant) ancestor of modern humans. Over the following decades, rather fittingly given her name, she became a \"paleo-rock star\", going on a US tour from 2006 following a deal with the Ethiopian authorities.
Deadly discharge
Residents of an industrial cluster blame effluent and sewage treatment plants for discharging poorly treated water that contaminates the area, causes skin diseases
US drug regulator faces Trump heat
FAILED REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is making more news now than during his doomed attempt to get the party nomination for president. Ramaswamy's decision to throw in the towel and back Donald Trump after his campaign went nowhere showed acumen, the kind he is famous for in the investment world.
Distorted picture
India's groundwater recovery may be misleading, as new assessment methods inflate annual recharge figures and discontinue on-ground verification
A MAKE OR BREAK YEAR
Expect some stiff targets, radical policy measures and rapid innovations as polycrisis reaches a crescendo this year
Commons in crisis
A landmark 2011 Supreme Court ruling to protect shared resources deepens struggles for India's marginalised communities
Europe faces Russian natural gas supply cuts
UKRAINE'S PRIME Minister Denys Shmyhal said on December 16, 2024, that its gas transit agreement with Russia will expire on January 1, 2025, and will not be renewed. The agreement was to allow transit of natural gas to Europe amid the RussiaUkraine conflict.
Preserving a voice
Non-profit in Madhya Pradesh documents Korku language, makes education accessible for the tribal community
