In this parched region of Gujarat, cattle are either starving to death or have been abandoned.
Two months ago, Bhimabhai Chhaiya made a hopeful trip to the government ration shop near his village of Sumri in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district.
After three consecutive years of poor rainfall, the cotton farmer was heavily in debt. Food prices, meanwhile, seemed to be at an all-time high. Wheat, which had cost Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg three years ago, was being brought from Madhya Pradesh and sold at Rs 40 per kg. It had been six months since anyone in Sumri had bought tomatoes.
Chhaiya had been classified as “above poverty line” under the National Food Security Act, and was not eligible for special subsidised food rations. But in early April, Gujarat declared 623 of its villages to be affected by “semi-scarcity” and started distributing subsidised fodder and food rations to everyone in those regions – even to those with "above poverty line" cards.
At the ration shop, wheat is priced at Rs 2 a kg and rice at Rs 3 a kg. Chhaiya lined up with other villagers for his quota of five kg of grain per person per month. But the queue didn’t seem to move.
“They were giving rations only after putting our thumbs on those scanning machines,” said Chhaiya. "And after some time they told us, tower nahi mil raha hai, ghar jao." The thumbprint scanners to verify their identities couldn’t connect to the local internet network, so the villagers were asked to go home. “We had to make another trip to the shop the next day to get our rations.”
Please click here to read more.