Deserted by state

Rural households in West Bengal are pushed into debt traps and forced migration after the Centre’s decision to withhold funds to implement India’s flagship public wage programme in the state

- HIMANSHU N

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.