Dulema’s dilemma amidst lockdown
Today [27 April, 2020] I was
approached by a female farmer named Dulena Khatun, 45 years, wife of Soriful
Miah, Nayapara, Mahendraganj. She looked distressed and weak. Its been more
than a month that she is not able to go to her land where she was growing
vegetables and was looking forward to earn a handsome amount. Her husband is
deeply worried for survival in future. ‘I am facing immense hardship and loss
for not being able to pluck my vegetables in my land bordering Bangladesh’, she
said.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096 km-long
international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world. The
state of Meghalaya shares 443 km of this long border and out of this 329 km
border is fenced with iron wire and concrete. Fences are built anti-climb and
has three layers of wire making it extremely difficult for people to break or
cross over. Fencing of border was initiated in the 1980s. Over the
years, borders are highly securitised and militarised. People’s movement and
years of migration in the region abruptly ended with the partition of the
subcontinent. With the creation of Bangladesh further impacted the rural
livelihood and border economy. Fencing process further blocked the
unofficial fluidity and movement across the border. As per agreement between
India and Bangladesh, a distance of 150 yards, a sort of ‘buffer zone’ is
maintained along the fencing. Small farmers disowned their land in this zone due
to accessibility issues.
Dulema’s land is situated at
Charchapahati (Near Dafadar Bhita, Dargapara), Mahendraganj (Gate no 17) and is
outside the border fence. She can access this land only through the border gate
with due permission and frisking process at the border by the BSF guards on
duty.
Dulema has varieties of
vegetables in the land. ‘I have grown half bigha of ladies finger, half bigha
chilli, one bigha of bitter gourd, half bigha green vegetables (jute) and corn
plants’, she counted the list. After
lots of hard labour, the vegetables started to mature now and this month was the
time to harvest and sell in the market.
The sudden lockdown announced
on March 24 left Dulema baffled. ‘I am not able to access my land since its
outside the fence and the gate is closed temporarily. BSF informed me that the
border gate will not open even after the lockdown period’, Dulema said with
tears in her eyes.
The worries are also because of
the nature of the vegetables she grew. These agricultural produce are
perishable in nature and will get destroyed if not harvested in time. It will
cause her a loss of more than 90 thousand rupees. Part of her land is also on
yearly lease from another farmer. She pays 6000 thousand rupees annually
irrespective of the income from the land. ‘If I am not able to access the land
immediately, I will loose everything and will have nothing to survive for the
rest of the year’. Her savings are also exhausted in last one month of
lockdown.
Dulema along with her husband
is cultivating this land for vegetables and rice. This is her sole source of
income to feed a family of 8 persons.
The district authority was
informed of this issue and they were fast enough to take action and allow the
farmers to harvest for three hours every day. Dulema came back to me a few days
later and gifted me some fresh bitter gourd from her garden. Timely action by
all helped a female farmer to survive this economic crisis.
[Update: An appeal was made to
the Deputy Commissioner on 28 April, 2020 and the farmers were allowed to
harvest from 8-30 am to 12 noon everyday. Special thanks to the DC}
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