HEADLINE

Kanwar Yatra Cancellation Jeopardises Employment Opportunities Of Several Villagers In Bihar and Jharkhand 

OR 

Kanwar Yatra Cancellation Triggers Unemployment and Financial Insecurities In Villages On The Pilgrim Route

दूसरी वाली हेडिंग ज्यादा अच्छी लग रही है, ऐसे आपको दोनों में जो ज्यादा ठीक लगे उसका उपयोग करें। Anchor:

The Kanwar yatra is an annual pilgrimage made by Shiva devotees, usually held in the Shravan and Badho months of the Hindu calendar. The devotees travel to places of pilgrimage such as Haridwar in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch holy water from the Ganga river. From Sultanganj, the saffron-clad devotees carry the sacred water to Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar, Jharkhand, where the Shravani Mela is held. Last year, the government had restricted the Kanwar Yatra and the Shravani Mela owing to COVID-19. The decision remains put even this year. 

Note 2 - Pls Write bhado month

Due to Yatra's cancellation, the Saha family's financial condition has deteriorated over the last two years. This dire situation has forced Saha to adopt an alternative source of income, i.e. making confectionery and food for events and parties. Talking about his family, Saha said that with the earnings of the pooja shop, they were able to marry off five of his sisters. However, now even running the household has become difficult. 'All the work is happening in the country, but it's only in the month of the Shravani fair that COVID's coming on. What must we do in this situation?" he questioned, expressing his displeasure with the system. 

The 108 km long Kanwar Yatra from Sultanganj to Deoghar and its 38 km extension from Deoghar to Basukinath Dham in Dumka district creates lakhs of temporary jobs in the several villages it passes through in the Bhagalpur, Munger, Banka, Deoghar and Dumka districts.

There are around 500 permanent shops [ON THE WHOLE ROUTE OR IN BASUKINATH OR DEOGHAR-SPECIFY] and 2000 temporary shops. These are usually set up by people from rural Bihar and Jharkhand when the Shravani Mela is organized.

Note 3 - only BASUKINATH

Deepak Kumar and Sonu Kumar Sao [OR SAV?], who run a shop next to the temple in Basukinath, said that 'temporary shops have remained unoperational over the last two years. Those with permanent shops have also suffered.' 

Note 4 - Sao

The households of thousands of people run for a year on the earnings of these two months. Many people in this region also take loans based on their potential gains in the Kanwar Yatra. 

Vinod Das, a 75-year-old man from Khijuria village in the Deoghar district, has been running a hotel for three decades with his two sons and other family members. However, for the last two years, his hotel has remained shut and is dilapidating without repairs. 

"We haven't been able to repay our loans due to the fair being cancelled the last two years," rued Das, who has neither agricultural land nor any other means of employment.  Das was supposed to undergo a prostate operation but has had to postpone it due to the loss of income. His sons are currently working as labourers. His wife Kalmi Devi said, "Corona has caused a lot of damage to us."

False Hopes

Last year, after the first COVID Wave had damaged the economy, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman had announced an economic relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore. One of the directions under it mentioned providing loans worth Rs 10,000 each for street vendors and small shopkeepers. Saha said that he had filled the form for this loan in [WHEN?]. However, he is yet to receive the money.

Amit's fate is similar to Sunil Kesari, who lives 108 km away from him in Deoghar. The 23-year-old opened a bangle shop near Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga temple, only three years ago. However, COVID-19 lockdowns and the fair cancellations for two consecutive years has affected his business.

Sanjeev Kumar Singh and his wife Sunita Devi run an eatery on the Kanwariya path in Teghra village in Tarapur block of Bihar's Munger district. They said that some officers from the administration had come to take stock of the area. 'They told us to prepare for the fair, as it would happen. We were excited about it, but now we will have to face problems,' they added. 

Estimating Losses

While there are no official figures to determine the loss to the economy due to the cancellations of Kanwar Yatra, the [locals?] make a rough estimate based on the number of Kanwariyas or pilgrims and the money they spend on food and other necessities etc. 

नोट 6 : हां स्थानीय लोग। मेले की अर्थव्यवस्था से जुड़े प्रमुख कांवरियों के खर्च पैटर्न पर एक मोटा अनुमान लगाते हैं। उनकी आवक प्रतिदिन एक से 2 दो लाख के बीच होती है और तीन से चार दिन की पूरी यात्रा होती है।

Sanjeev Jha, the chief priest or the 'panda' of Sultanganj and the President of Jhanvi[CONFIRM SPELLING] area's Panda Kalyan Mahasabha, said that there had been losses worth almost INR 1000 Crore in an area of about 150km due to the cancellation of Shravani Mela. [Is this an estimate of last year, this year or combined?] 

Note 7 - Janhvi Kshetra Panda Kalyan Mahasabha 

Note 8 - Estimate of only this year

Kartiknath Thakur, secretary of Panda Dharmarakshini Sabha of Baba Baidyanath Jyotirlinga said that this fair is expanding from Sultanganj-Deoghar-Basukinath to Tarapith in West Bengal because 10 to 15 percent of the devotees have even started going there for darshan. 'The economy of our region is temple-based. If the devotees don't come, the people's problems will increase,' he added.  

Thakur estimates that the cancellation of the fair is affecting the employment of 50,000 people in Deoghar and its surrounding areas. This figure excludes those in the 146 km long road stretch between Sultanganj and Basukinath.

He has made suggestions to the government to only allow those who have taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to enter the temple, in limited numbers with social distancing measures, so that people's income, including those of five thousand panda-purohits in the region, does not suffer. 

Thakur's suggestions are echoed by Manoj Panda, president of Panda Dharmarakshini Sabha based in Basukinath. 'People have reached the verge of starvation due to the fair's cancellation,' he said, adding that 'if the temple is closed here, that means that everything is shut.'

NOTES

All photos : Rahul Singh

Note: The photo that showcases Baby Devi is not mentioned in the story, she is showing her closed shop in Basukinath.

Another photo is by the name Panda Chandan Pandey Basukinath. Chandan Pandey is a panda in Basukinath temple and he says that the employment of priests, shopkeepers and others are being affected.

In the photo named Vinod Das, his demolished hotel is seen behind Vinod Das, his main source of income. Now there is an employment crisis.