Lalgarh (Bengal): In 2004, Amlasol, a small village in West Bengal’s Jungle Mahal region, grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. Reports emerged of five Adivasis succumbing to hunger and malnutrition in the village, sparking national uproar. The area was already making news because of the Maoist problem then.In response, the government, then helmed by the Left, pledged a multitude of developmental schemes, vowing to uplift not just Amlasol, but over 8,000 similarly underdeveloped villages. In 2014, chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the poverty-stricken village and promised to make it a model for development.If you visit the place, change is visible. The place is slowly emerging as a weekend destination for Kolkata residents, with a few homestays offering modern amenities. The government has invested in infrastructure like roads, health centres, parks and a ration shop. Residents told The Wire that hunger is not an issue.But as we move to tribal villages deeper into the Jungle Mahal, things look drastically different.Maliara Sundarpur and Shankari Para are two tribal-dominated villages under Manoharpur gram panchayat in Paschim Medinipur district. A sizeable number of residents in these villages belong to the Sabar community.Photo: Joydeep SarkarWhen this reporter visited the area, he found that ration stores had indeed been set up – at a stated cost of Rs 9,42,292. However, Sabar residents said they don’t get rations at all because their “fingerprints don’t match” for them to be issued Aadhaar cards.By all human development parameters, these two villages fall way behind the state and national averages.The situation has worsened due to the scarcity of available work opportunities. With no means of income, the local population has resorted to collecting forest fruits and sal leaves to sustain themselves.Also Read: ‘Becoming Beggars’: As Lockdown Lifts, Hunger Returns to Bengal’s JangalmahalIn recent weeks, 12 deaths have been reported in these villages. Some community members are attributing the fatalities to the practice of witchcraft. Most residents observe the crippling role played by the lack of employment in creating such situations. Chandan Chakraborty, a resident of a neighbouring area, said, “There is not enough food, no income – how will these people survive? They have been dying after consuming roots collected from the forest.”Despite this alarming situation, the government has not acknowledged starvation or malnutrition as the cause of these deaths. However, for two years in a row, ‘Hunger Watch’ surveys have reported severe distress in West Bengal, with about 53% of its 2021 respondents noting that they have had to skip a meal.For more than a year and half now, the work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been stalled as the Union government withholds the payment of funds.According to a report by Down to Earth, there has been a significant decline in the number of people seeking employment under the MGNREGS in the state. In the fiscal year 2020-21, the scheme provided opportunities to over 13 million individuals. However, this number dropped to 12 million in 2021-22 and just 4,443 for 2023-24 as of April 25, 2023.MGNREGS workers from West Bengal protesting the non-availability of wages in their state from December 2021 and other changes in the scheme’s policies, in New Delhi in February 2023. Photo: Anirudh S.K./The Wire.According to official documents provided by the West Bengal government in response to activist Biswanath Goswami’s query under the Right to Information Act, a total of 122 farmers and farm labourers in Paschim Medinipur district died by suicide in 2021, in addition to at least 34 in 2022.While the government has since then retracted its reply, these numbers highlight the distressing situation faced by farmers – most of them growing potato – in the region. Tapas Ruidas, a potato farmer in Chandrakona, died by suicide recently. After taking a loan for cultivating potatoes, the farmer had to sell his produce for only Rs 5 per kilogram, which was selling for Rs 18 per kilogram in the open market. He sold a 50 kg bag of potatoes for Rs 250. However, his family did not report his death as a suicide. “We don’t want to get into police cases at this time. We’re already grieving. Police will term this as a family dispute and harass us. We are fearful of crying openly; the government is watching,” they told this reporter.Former minister and local Trinamool Congress MLA Srikanta Mahata attempted to play down the issue. “I have heard about the suicides, but not that they have taken place in such large numbers. Didi [CM Banerjee] has increased potato prices.”CPI(M) district secretary Sushanta Ghosh blamed the lack of government support and availability of farm credit for the farmers’ distress. “Farmers do not have access to institutional credit, and take loans from private moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates. Without government support, under a free-bond system, it becomes difficult for them to sustain themselves, leading them to take the extreme steps.”As panchayat polls near, hunger and distress are voters’ constant companions in this part of Bengal.Translated from the Bengali original by Aparna Bhattacharya.
