The previous week, this column celebrated life in the quiet corner of a Kumaon village. A life steeped in community and the lilting notes of birdsong. There is a harsh note amidst this idyll — ie, sarkar. Here the State is absent in a conspicuous way! Unlike, say, the hinterland, where sarkari dictat is ubiquitous, here it remains tucked away in tiny sheds, collecting salaries, fetching petty bribes, and just about doing nothing.
There is much however that the State ought to do. To understand its desired role, it is important to understand the life cycle of the people of this village, which by the way, is called Kafli, located four kilometres off the highway connecting Mukteshwar and Bhowali via Ramgarh. Kafli spans two facing hills with a little river dancing down the valley in between. The hills are ideally served by soil and weather to produce an immense variety of fruit, and some vegetables. Among fruit, the most prominent are peaches (not nectarine, but a more compact and aromatic variety), apricot, plum and apples. Besides the famous Halwani potato, which is currently being harvested, there is the cabbage/cauliflower crop which follows the potato crop. The hill on which I am resident has a motorable (barely though) road. That road terminates at the stream down in the valley. The other side of the valley is served by no more than a mule track. That track goes all the way to Padampuri, just 6 km away. Along the regular road the distance to Padampuri is about 35 km. Padampuri is a little place on route to Haldwani, the wholesale market for all that is produced in Kafli.
All this information might appear rather tedious, except for the following facts. There is an unfair advantage within the community when it comes to their produce. Whereas our side of the village saves on transport by having access to a motorable road, people on the other side pay mules @ Rs60 per load to get their produce to the road, from where the village’s two Tata 407s do roaring business in season. The State could widen the mule track to a regular road, a proposal to do which has been collecting dust since ages. Alternatively, the Government could construct a few motorised (or even non-motorised) pulleys to help people get their fruit on to the existing road. Just the other day I stood amazed as a single soul carted 14 sacks of potato from the hill across (first down to the valley, then up again) from morning to dusk. Each of these sacks weighs 40 kilos. That’s 700 kilos of dead weight.
The BJP MlA from the area is popular, mixes with the people, attends weddings, and does his bit. It is not therefore a case of political neglect. The problem is that sarkari thinking lacks the imagination to address the core problem that plagues the people of Kafli. The present season is fecund. Soon the rains will keep most people indoors. After that winter will set in, and not a leaf will grow in these hills. Unfortunately, the village people have little surplus, despite the bounty of nature. Exorbitant transport costs and zero marketing support by the state render them dependant on the middle men (about a thousand strong) at the Halwani mandi. These seths know almost everything about these villagers (how much land they own, what is their average yield, and so on). These middlemen finance Kafli’s farmers through the winter. The seeds they buy, besides all the tackle necessary for their farming needs (like pipes to channel scarce water), not to mention the food in their belly, comes from loans taken from these middlemen.
Result: Kafli’s bounteous produce, which fetches a king’s ranson in the big cities, earns little for the village folk. WhyIJ Because they can trade ‘only’ with their ‘benefactors’ in Haldwani. Notionally, these farmers are free to sell their produce anywhere. In truth, their labour is conscripted by the middlemen at prices set by the latter. I am amazed by the complicated arguments made against organised retail (in defense of the trader). What I see before my eyes clearly tells me that the state can dramatically alter the fortune of Kafli through infrastructural and meaningful marketing support, and smart policies (like setting up links between big retail and these farmers).