MP villages waist-deep in water yet not officially submerged

Backwater from the Narmada river reaches the threshold of the house of Gajanand Yadav, a resident of Chikhalda in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, he breaks into tears as he readies himself to leave the village where he has lived all his life. At a time when not only the neighbourhood but almost the entire village has been vacated because of the backwaters from the Narmada, he is one of the last few to leave the village, which is where he has made all his memories. While Gajanand did receive a piece of land from the government as part of the rehabilitation package, it’s unfit for living. He didn’t even receive the compensation in full. Residents who have been affected by the backwaters of Narmada in Madhya Pradesh are yet to be rehabilitated and are struggling to survive amid the sinking villages and farms.After Sardar Sarovar Dam’s maximum height was increased from 121.92 metres to 138.68 metres in 2017, backwaters have been causing a lot of problems to the residents of Dhar, Barwani and Alirajpur districts of Madhya Pradesh. According to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), about 192 villages and one town of Nisarpur are affected by the backwaters. The former Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government submitted affidavits in court, saying that 76 villages are submerged. The current government has increased the number to 178. The discrepancies are numerous as the houses that have water till the main door are not considered to be affected in the area even if the pathways to the house have been blocked. PS Mandra, an official with the land acquisition department of Barwani district, told 101Reporters that a new survey will be carried out to arrive at the correct number of affected villages.Delayed compensationOn September 15, the dam reached the full reservoir level. With the increasing water level, the trouble in the surrounding villages also increased. For Ranjana Bai, a resident of Khaparkheda village in Pipariya tehsil of Hoshangabad district, the situation is dire. The water level at her home reaches till her waist but she still doesn’t want to leave the house. Her husband Hiralal Vishwakarma is a government employee and that is why he was deemed ineligible for a plot and monetary compensation.Yusuf Mansoori, a resident of Chikhalda, said he has been demanding a plot at the rehabilitation site for three years but hasn’t received it. He added that even the compensation amount of Rs 5.8 lakh hasn’t been provided.  In Chhota Badda village of Barwani district, 52 families haven’t received compensation. Since the survey for affected areas was carried out in 2017, the residents demand that the compensation should be fixed as per the rates that were prevalent in 2017. However, it has been fixed according to the rates in 2012. Mandra added that according to fresh directives, the acquisition of the land belonging to these 52 families will be carried out as per updated rates.The home and banana cultivation of Nanuram Prajapati, a resident of Semalda village in Manawar tehsil of Dhar district, have been submerged. While he is eligible to receive agricultural land, the Narmada Valley Development (NVDA) hasn’t allocated any land to him yet. He has refused to leave his home and survives on the supplies from his farm that he had stored. ‘Dhikkaar Divas’ on PM’s birthdayThirty-five houses have been submerged in Pichodi village. Homes on the border of Jangharwa and Sondul in Barwani district have also been filled with water. Over 100 buildings in Jangharwa have been isolated from the rest of the region as the backwaters have hindered their physical connectivity to the rest of the world. The families residing in such families are yet to receive compensation or rehabilitation benefits.In villages such as Awalda, Bhavti, Sondul, Morkatta, Bijasan, Amlali and Datwara, Rajghat, Bhilakheda, Nandgaon, Pendra, Jamda, Chhoti Kasrawad, Kundiya, Dehadla, Bagud, Piplud, Awali, Mohipura, Segawa, Ekkalbara, Semalda, Kavathi,Perkhad, Urdana and Gangali, the water has already entered or is on the verge of entering the houses. Over thousands of residents from these villages haven’t been rehabilitated. As the electricity lines have been disconnected, they are also without the facility of drinking water.Hectares of land in Barwani and Dhar districts have been submerged underwater. Several villages such as Karondiya, Bajarikheda, Khaparkheda, Gehlgaon, Ekkalbara, Semalda, Kasrawad, Kundiya, Kali Bedi, Eklera, Sungaon, Dehadla, Segawa, Jangharwa, Pichodi, Borkhedi and Datwara haven’t been surveyed by the NVDA till date. Land acquisition officer Mandra clarified that villages that weren’t surveyed will be added in the latest survey.Social activist Medha Patkar, who’s spearheading the NBA, highlighted that there has been a lot of confusion regarding rehabilitation. She said even the areas that weren’t considered submerged during the survey have started filling up with water. She urged the state government to set up a high-level committee to identify areas and people that need to be rehabilitated. On September 9, a meeting between members of the NBA and government officials took place in Indore wherein the administration agreed to carry out a fresh survey of the affected areas. On September 17, the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, members of the NBA organised a protest rally--Dhikkar Divas (Condemnation Day)--on the Narmada bridge near Barwani.Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath said that since the project is an inter-state one, the compensation amount as part of the rehabilitation package is taking time to be sanctioned by the Gujarat government. He added that the state government has demanded that the dam gates be opened. He asserted that the state government is committed to the issue and every claim and issue of the affected people will be resolved.

'Marriage gangs' make merry as MP villages run short of brides

The skewed sex ratio in Madhya Pradesh has ruined the dreams of many unmarried men in the state. The problem has become so severe that in order to fulfil their dreams of getting married, lakhs of rupees are being given to brokers/middlemen to find a bride. However, in many instances, the bride disappears within a few days with jewellery and cash.In popular culture, this modus operandi was portrayed in Dolly Ki Doli, a Bollywood film released in 2015. Many people have become victims of cases of absconding brides. While there are a few prominent cases, sometimes people don’t even register a complaint owing to the fear of slander.Sonal Sharma, a social worker, said the number of girls attending classes has reduced and with it, the number of suitable brides has taken a hit. She added that even after the victims are looted of lakhs of rupees by wedding gangs, they don’t file a complaint to avoid bringing dishonour to the familyRecently, a newly wed bride escaped two days after the wedding in Burhanpur. She took Rs 1 lakh in cash and some gold jewellery with her. While the husband, who is differently abled, is in a state of shock, the police are looking for the bride’s mother and maternal aunt.A resident of Telephone Colony, the groom Rahul Upasane wasn’t able to get married owing to his physical condition. Even though his financial condition wasn’t good, he paid a broker to find him a wife. On July 27, Rahul married Yogita Patil of Parola, Maharashtra. Two days after the wedding, she disappeared with the cash and jewellery, leaving Rahul on the verge of bankruptcy. He visited Parola to find her but was unsuccessful. Then, he filed a complaint with the police, who have already arrested the broker and the priest who conducted the ceremony.Inter-faith deceptionIn the last one-and-a-half year, more than a dozen cases of absconding brides have been registered in the region. In Khilchipur of Rajgarh district, a broker took Rs 1.25 lakh from a Hindu priest and got him married to a married Muslim woman. The priest Ashok Sharma wasn’t able to find women in his community to marry, and then he approached the broker Narayan Singh, who convinced him to marry Geeta Bai whose actual name was later found out to be Hina Khan. When the bride tried to run away after claiming that she was ill, the villagers sensed her intentions and handed her over to the police.Khilchipur police station in-charge Virendra Singh Dhakad revealed that the actual name of the bride was found out during the course of the investigation and she was found to be a resident of Chhindwara. He mentioned that while Narayan Singh is absconding, the police suspect his arrest could expose the entire gang.In November 2018, Singh had taken Rs 1.3 lakh from the groom’s father in Rajgarh district’s Jagniyapura village. Two days after the wedding, the bride escaped after stealing Rs 50,000 cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees. She is still absconding.In July, a newly wed bride bolted from her husband’s home in Khairod village near Sadalpur in Dhar district, saying her sister was unwell. Pawan Singhal, a Town Inspector at Sadalpur police station, attributed the existence of such rackets to the absence of eligible girls for marriage. He highlighted that some miscreants have identified the problem and exploit it to rob people. Skewed sex ratioMadhya Pradesh is twentieth in the country in terms of sex ratio. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled in the state assembly on March 24, there is a significant difference in the number of boys and girls. Between 2011 and 2016, the sex ratio stood at 52 to 48.Amulya Nidhi, a member of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement), informed that the sex ratio in 2001 was 932, which has reduced to 912 girls per thousand boys in 2011. Between 2011 and 2016, 33.36 lakh girls were born against 35.89 lakh boys, he informed.“It is clear from these figures that in these five years, there has not been any specific change in the direction of correcting the ratio. The situation is deteriorating even after all the schemes are being implemented to encourage girl childbirths in the state,” he told 101Reporters.