I was in Tanjore for a day recently to understand the situation and was a witness to the relief work being done by the Ramakrishna Misson and Math amongst the farmers there. This note is my impression on the situation and the sincere work being done by this prestegious organisation amidst all the political showmanship and learned indifference which has masked the gravity of a very bad situation - Ram.
There is a small village
in Tanjore called Thennakudi. The village consists of the main village
in which the land owners belonging to the upper caste live and the colony
where the scheduled caste farm workers live. They perhaps have lived together
in this manner each doing their role in producing plenty of paddy. The
pannaiyar family have, for years, served the village and traditionally
the pongal festival is the occasion when they distribute freshly harvested
paddy to the landless labourers who work in their farm.
The last crop was a failure,
the government's indifference to their yield and the failing mansoon along
with the refusal to release water on the Cauvery by the Karnataka government
has resulted in a current crop failure. With two successive failures,
the villagers have had no pongal this year. The standing crop has been
left for the rodents and the cattle to graze, there is no paddy for distrubition,
the land owners and the labourers both suffer.
The entire village gathered
in a warm january afternoon outside a small pandal erected in front of
the panniyar's house. The Ramakrishna Math & Mission of Chennai is
distributing rice for the labourers who have been affected in this severe
crisis. The land owners who were feeling bad about the plight of their
land-less brerthen had done all the arrangements with only the required
rice being arranged by the Mission. Each family was given 18kgs. Of rice,
enough for about a week as a immediate relief measure.
"We are here as your
relatives. You have fed the world and it is a sad day when you don't have
food for yourselves. Just as anyone amongst us visiting our relatives
would carry something to give them, we have come with this rice. It is
not substantial and would not last very long. However, this is just a
beginning and we would continue to expolre relief opportunities and also
long term rehabilitation", said Swami Gauthamananda, the President
of Ramakrishna Math, Chennai. There was an instant chord struck amidst
the villagers. The distribution started after a small prayer.
The entire village colony
had been distributed with tokens the previous day by volunteers of the
Mission and every family was given the rations.
"Just like someone would
visit his brother going through bad times to show solidarity and support
we have come here", spoke Swami Gauthamanandaji later sitting outside
the temple in the Colony of the village. "We are not giving too much
and your problem will not be solved with this, however, now that we have
started, we will try to talk to local people here in Tanjore. They should
come forward to help, they will. We will try our best. We will also try
to explore other long term opportunities", he said. As he started
to walk through the streets of the colony and speaking to people in front
of their houses, a frenzy of activity saw every house front cleaned up,
sprinkled with water and decorated with kolam - the traditional rangoli
of these parts.
"There is a need to
create sustainable opportunities for the people here, apart from agriculture,
many village crafts persons too have a fast disappearing markets, their
markets are being taken over by new and cheap factory products from large
companies and MNCs", opined Swami Satyajnanandaji, who is heading
the relief efforts. He cited the instance of the potters in this village
being rendered jobless with the deluge of plastic pots invading the markets.
Already, the Mission has chosen school drop-out boys from some of the
villages they have visited to be trained in automobile engineering and
maintenance and girls for nursing training with job possibilities after
the training period is over.
The Mission has responded
in time and when I enquired with some of the beneficiaries about it, they
were all happy. Many of them compared it with the noon-meal scheme of
the government (it had changed its plans since then) and how that was
humiliating for them; some wanted alternate employment opportunities created
for them; many wanted the Swamiji's to pray for speedy release of water
and rains. But, they were all happy that someone had come to their rescue
in time.
The Mission had chosen all
those villages in Thiruvarur, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts which
had abject poverty and cases of suicide was reported for their relief
efforts as a criteria and once they chose the village, they did not differentiate
between the haves and have not's and distributed rice to every one. "In
one village, the thalaivar himself told us that he can manage somehow
and we should give it to others more deserving", said Nagesh, a volunteer
with ther Mission. "We have tried to keep the colonies where the
labourer class live, as the focus, they are the most affected", said
Kanakaraj another volunteer. As of 2nd Feb., the Mission had distributed
about 100 tons of rice worth Rs. 12.5 lakhs to abut 5500 families in the
3 worst affected districts.
As I finished writing this
report, I learnt that the relief work team from the Mission is on a second
tour to the same villages with further relief material.