While poverty-stricken 60-year-old Acheylal Aharwar tills his land, his two daughters Ravina, 13 and Shivani, 10, are forced to pull the plough every morning in Badagaon village of UP’s Jhansi district.
Lucknow: With no money to hire a tractor or buy a pair of oxen, a 60-year-old farmer was forced to plough his land using his two minor daughters Raveena (13) and Shivani (10), reports said. With severe financial constraints, the trio makes it to the field early in the mornings and ploughs the land.
The two minor daughters can be seen ploughing the field in place of the oxen.
Hailing from Badagaon village of Maurainpur in Jhasi district of Uttar Pradesh, the farmer Acheylal Aharwar claimed he does not have enough money to buy oxen for ploughing.
“I do not have enough money to buy or take care of bulls for ploughing. So, Im forced to use my daughters. Now, we are waiting to sow the land with sesame (oilseed) crop,” said Acheylal.
“With some good showers and overcast sky promising more rain, we saw a flicker of hope for a good crop and so we decided to do it ourselves. We never did such a task before,” said the girls.
“This, because they have no choice,” says Ramadhar Nishad, a farmer leader from the area.
On the other hand, rumours did round that the daughters felt that by the act they can appease the rain gods for rainfall in future as there has been no rain since several months.
Another farmer leader Shivnarain Singh Parihar, who also lives in Mauranipur town, said Acheylal lives in a kachcha (mud and thatch) house in Badagaon with his wife and two daughters. The other four daughters are married.
Acheylal said that he has a white ration card that gets him 20 kg of foodgrain each month (5 kg per person in the family). He has appealed for a red ration card that makes him eligible for government housing, toilet schemes, etc.
“I had presented my case at the tehsil diwas on May 15 this year. There is no response yet,” he says.
DM Shiv Sahay Awasthi could not be reached for comment as he was reportedly out of station. Chief development officer (CDO) Nikhil Tikaram Fundey said, “The matter has not come to our notice. We will get the case details and the application by the farmer checked.”
Nishad said, “Acheylal is not only poor but also under a debt of Rs 1.5 lakh from various money lenders. Even the clothes that he and his family wear are often the ones that villagers donate them. Villagers also donate him grains or some other crop produce from time to time.”
Ravina studies in Class 8 and Shivani in Class 7 in the village school. It is their vacation time, which they insist, are being well utilised.
PNN
