Palamu: 24 hours with a farmer

Enroute to the Parsalia village in the dense jungles of Palamu district of Jharkhand, NDTV team meets Shankar Yadav -- a 40 year old farmer -- taking his five buffaloes back to the village from the river.

"My biggest worry is what to feed them. Fodder is fast running out. I tried to sell them, but no one is willing to buy the buffaloes," he says.

But is there a major shortage of fodder?

Shankar replies: "There is. The river has dried up and there is no water as well. I tried to sell them but no one is willing to buy."

We get to the village only by 2 and meet his wife, Lalo Devi drawing water from a fast drying up well. At 5 , we take a tour of  Shankar s fields. The maize crop, was sown in June. Now it is rotting due to lack of rain. Shankar Yadav says he spent 5000 rupees to sow the crop. "I was hoping to make a profit of about 5000 rupees on the crop, that money would have sustained my family for the next 6 months."

Q: How much money did you invest in this crop? Shankar: Rs 5000. Q: Had the crop been a success how much could have you earned?

Shankar: Almost Rs 10000 and that would have sustained the family for the next six months

Shankar's other field, where he was hoping to sow paddy, is just this sheet of grass. And now he can't afford any alternative.

"What will I do...will ask private moneylenders for money. But even they need guarantees. I don't have any," he says.

Q: Whom to you borrow money from?

Shankar: Private moneylenders. But even they demand guarantees. I don't have any

By 7 pm, the couple's three children have returned, and its dinner time. The family can only afford rice and watery dal in rationed quantities. In the last few days they've had to cut out the vegetables. "What can we do? Can't afford anything else. I know its not enough nutrition for my children," Shankar says.

"We are miserable. We are surviving on rice. I have three kids but none of them get the nutrition they need."

After this meal, the family goes to sleep.

It's an early wake up call for Shankar the next morning to send his buffaloes out to the fields. "I pray for rain every night. It gets cloudy which gives me hope but it never rains."

NDTV team leaves with the realisation that if government help does not reach families like Shankar soon enough, the situation could take a desperate turn.

Tags: Palamu