Kerala - Alappuzha   

Swallowed by Kuttanad’s darkest hour

ALAPPUZHA: As they sat in silence, waiting for the speeches to be over, the three women in the front row of the Alappuzha District Collectorate’s conference hall on Sunday were struggling to hold back tears.

At one end, a man sat lost in his thoughts.

But Ratnamma, Maniyamma and Sarojini, the wives of three farmers who died within two weeks in Kuttanad after summer rain played havoc with their crop, could not hold back their tears as the names of their husbands were read out for the ex gratia amount to be distributed.

Even Kunjumon, the son of John Vettikatu who committed suicide in Neelamperoor, was overwhelmed as he was called on stage to receive a cheque of Rs.50,000 from Coir Minister G. Sudhakaran.

For Ratnamma, her husband T.G. Govinda Pillai’s death was a bolt from the blue. Pillai had fainted on his 1.6-hectacre field in Pacha, near Edathua, while trying to harvest his crop without combine harvesters and labourers. Pillai left behind a heavy debt of Rs.1,34,863 as loans from four banks.

These included a loan of Rs.50,000 from State Bank of Travancore, Edathua; Rs.10,000 from State Bank of India, Edathua; another Rs.14,000 from SBT again; Rs.50,000 from Card Bank, Alappuzha; and Rs.10,863 from the District Cooperative Bank.

Again emphasising the difficulties Kuttanad’s farmers had to go through to manage funds for cultivation was the case of Pushkaran of Ramankary, for whom his wife Sarojini received the ex gratia payment.

Pushkaran, who owned a 0.2-hectare paddy field and held 1.2 hectares on lease for cultivation, had taken a gold loan of Rs.44,465 from State Cooperative Bank, Oorukari; Rs.50,000 through the micro-finance scheme of S.N. Trust; and another loan of Rs.8,696. Unable to harvest his crop, Pushkaran consumed pesticide on March 28.

The suicide of Valiyaparambil Gopi of Veeyapuram was reluctantly accepted as a case of farmer suicide. But for his wife Maniyamma, her husband was a farmer who had tried with all his might to continue cultivation.

To sow on his 0.2 hectares and the 0.4 hectares that was in the name of his daughter and to run his small vegetable farm, Gopi took a loan of Rs.6,280 in his daughter’s name from SBT, Payippad; Rs.15,000 as a gold loan from a private money lender; and hand loans totalling Rs.11,000 from various persons.

“It is because of the grit and determination of the Kuttanad farmer that there were no more suicides this year. Otherwise, instead of four the toll could have been at least 400,” said Mr. Sudhakaran, adding that efforts by the government had also played a role in preventing more suicides.

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