Death brings relief to two Gujarat villagers

By Manas Dasgupta

POSHINA, MAY 1 : Saibabhai and Ditabhai had to give up their lives to earn bread for their families. The media attention their ``starvation deaths`` received has instantly set the ball rolling. The unknown Aajni and Sebalia villages, tucked away in the remote corners of Poshina sub-division of the tribal- dominated Khedbrahma taluk of Sabarkantha district in drought-hit north Gujarat region are suddenly seeing a fleet of Government cars running up and down.

Their families are being showered with Government alms both in cash and kind. On the very next day of Saibabhai's death, the Mamlatatdar (the local Revenue Officer) rushed to his hut in Aajni village and supplied 50 kgs of foodgrains. Ditabhai's wife Resiben has been given Rs 10,000 as compensation though the Government disagrees that either of them died due to starvation.

And just not their families alone, but the two villages have also benefitted from their deaths. Along with foodgrains, the local fair price shops have been supplied with medicines to fight malnutrition, malaria and even tuberculosis for free distribution. Doctors are busy checking daily the health of those engaged in scarcity relief works, instead of making the customary once-a-week visit which used to be observed more in the breach.

Not only local officials, but the Collector, the District Development Officer and other senior Government officials personally visited the two villages. The Health Commissioner rushed from Gandhinagar with a team of doctors to call on the family members of the deceased. And so did the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Mr. Amarsinh Chaudhary, who represents the constituency.

The Government, however, despite the demand from a convinced Mr Chaudhary, is yet to order a judicial inquiry into the two cases. Saibabhai's father, Archanbhai Hamirbhai, also does not seem to be subscribing to the starvation death theory though Ditabhai's wife, Resiben, insists that her husband was not suffering from TB as was made out by the Government.

Archanbhai does not think that food poisoning could be the cause of the deaths of his 35-year old son and seven-year old grand daughter, Savita, but agrees that the family was not going totally without food. ``There was not sufficient food to eat, but for the last two days Saiba was taking just about half a `rotla' a day leaving the rest for the children. ``Even on the day of his death on April 25, he had gone out to do relief work in the morning after drinking ``only a cup of black tea.''

According to Archanbhai, minutes before he died on way back home, Saiba had complained of ``ire`` in his stomach and head, which in the tribal dialect meant acute pain. His grand daughter had been running temperature for the previous two days and was unwilling to take food. He also agreed that four other children of the family were admitted to the Primary Health Centre at Poshina for treatment, but he does not know whether the hospitalisation was for food poisoning. ``They did not eat any such thing that could cause food poisoning,'' he says.

The family owns some land in the village but it does not yield enough for the family even in a good year. For the last couple of years, the rainfall in the region has been inadequate and there was not enough crop. ``About 300 kg of maize is sufficient for the family for a year but for the last couple of years, the production was far less.`` The crop failure was not a unique feature of the drought this year.

Archanbhai also concurs with the Government's claim that Saiba was earning wages doing scarcity relief work for the last two months, for Rs.10 to Rs.15 a day and not for Rs.40 as claimed. That may not be sufficient for the large family, but at least it could not lead to starvation deaths.

The Opposition Congress(I) is trying to gain political advantage of the deaths of Saibabhai and Ditabhai. True or false, but its sustained campaign of the starvation deaths has atleast helped the poor tribals in drawing the Government's attention to their plight.

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