When she said "we dont grow NREGA in our village"

It's Indira Gandhi ‘s birth anniversary today. No, I am not going to write about achievements or failures of congress, much has been written about that and much more will be written. It’s one political party that has been laying too much emphasis on agricultural and rural development from the very beginning. So much that it almost ignored Industrial and other developments. But we could neither achieve desired agricultural revolution nor the industrial one. We all know that our country is an agriculture dominant country, around 65% of the total population is engaged into agricultural practices but still around 60% of agriculture is still dependent on monsoons.

Coming to the point, today I met a woman outside CSMMU who came here in Lucknow from Amethi to get treatment for her stomach ulcer. She must be in her late thirties and she was one of the skinniest person I have ever seen. It seemed like she was having no blood in her body, she was not even able to talk. What I got to know from her was that her name is Kanti and she helps her husband in farming. One of her sons is working as a labour in Lucknow who took her to the hospital. Her son was gone to make some arrangement for doctor leaving her alone to wait outside.

As she came straight away from Amethi she was looking even more fatigued. It was lunch time so I brought her some bananas. Her face literally lit up as she saw the fruit. She told me that she likes bananas very much but she hadn’t had them since long as her family can hardly make square meal.

Amma, subhah kya khaya tha? (What did you have in the morning?)

Kucho na (nothing)

Raat me khaya tha kuch( Did you eat at night?)

Haan Ek katora chawal or namak tel ( Yes, a bowl of rice with oil and salt)

Daal sabji nahi milat hai ( Dont you get pulses and vegetables?)

Kabo milat hai kabo nahi. Kabhi chawalo nahi milat hai (Sometimes we do sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we don’t even get rice)

Yes no wonder, she was so pale.

Amma NREGA me kaam nahi milta( Dont you get work under NREGA)

NREGA nahi hota hamar gaon me . Hum dhan gehu ugate hai(We don’t have NREGA in our village, we grow paddy and wheat)

Arey Amma NREGA vo jo card banwa k 100 din kaam milta hai( That NREGA that provides 100 days of work with a issue of card)

Nahi , hum nahi jaanat( No I don’t know).

She said she lives in a village named REBHA, though she couldn’t tell me the name of her block. Then I asked her if there are people in her village who work for 100 days. She said there are none. Later on I asked her son if he has heard of something called NREGA. To my surprise even he never heard.

I am sure there might be thousands (or even millions) of Kantis who are deprived of NREGA schemes. But she was from Amethi which is known as the “seat of power of Gandhi political dynasty”. So when did Congress General Secretary last visit Amethi? I read on PTI website that he will be visiting today only with his sister.

God knows why he is so much into “exploring rural India”, what was the reason behind spending a night at dalit’s house with his firang friend. May be to get some attention. It might be his way to express that he cares. I am not criticizing Rahul, I strongly believe that we should appreciate whatever little bit efforts he is making. But he should also make constant effort at least to better his own constituency as we all know charity begins at home.

And yes there is no doubt that NREGA is doing a good job and also no second thought it is transparent as each and every transaction goes on their website.