KANNADA
Woes of peasants
V. GOPALAKRISHNA
NELAVEDDU BADIYITU: Translation of Viswas Patil’s Marathi novel by Chandrakanta Pokale; Published by Sahitya Akademi, 35, Rabindra Bhavan, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 350.
IN THE name of economic development, people, who are entirely dependent on lands for their livelihood, are displaced by the government, which holds out tall promises on their resettlement and better living. The peasants are made to vacate their age-old dwellings and surrender their ancestral property to facilitate the construction of an irrigation dam. Due to the lack of proper planning, negligence on the part of the government, and corruption in bureaucracy, the native residents are reduced to a precarious existence.
This social novel depicts the woes of peasants who could not eke out their livelihood in their temporary camps. They are innocent and illiterate. Among them are tribals who, dependent as they have been entirely on forest produce for their living, are not used to working on farms. Their agony is narrated in a heart-rending fashion. .
In his translation, Chandrakanta Pokale has succeeded in bringing the colloquialism of the different sections of the Marathi to Kannada in spoken form.
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