Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh : Addressing a symposium entitled ‘Atmanirbha Arthavyavastha’ (self-reliant economy) organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on February 2, 2022, while seeking second term of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made an astounding claim that during the past five years of his party’s government in the state, three crore impoverished people were given ‘pucca’ houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY) — making them “lakhpatis” (millionaires).

He had emphasized that the majority of these houses were registered in the names of women who had become “malkins” (owners). He further said his government has always strive for social fairness.

Two years after his tall claims regarding ensuring social justice, The Mooknayak visited tribals-concentrated hinterland of Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district to check the ground realities. We found that indigenous people are struggling to make ends meet. They neither own permanent houses, nor are they millionaires.

Only 250 of the 800 houses in the Sendur Gram Panchayat’s Obra (reserved) Assembly segment — which includes three revenue villages of Sendur, Labhari and Makara — are made of bricks and concrete. The panchayat houses around 7,05,000 people, most of whom belong to the scheduled tribes (STs), scheduled castes (SCs) and other backward classes (OBCs).

Panchayat or Gram Panchayat is a basic governing institution in Indian villages. It is a political institution, which acts as the cabinet of a village or group of villages. Gram Sabha functions as its general body. Its members are elected directly by people. It is headed by an elected president and vice president, who are assisted by a secretary who acts as the administrative head of the panchayat. In northern India the chairman of a village panchayat is known as “pradhan” or “sarpanch”. There are around 250,000 Gram Panchayats across the country.

According to Ram Bhagat, former pradhan Sendur panchayat, a little over 100 houses were built under the PMAY, while the remaining dwellings were constructed under the Indira Awas Yojna (which has now been renamed as the PMAY).

“This is a dummy scheme meant to fool people. Thousands of residents here apply to have roofs over their heads, but only a few applications get approval. And even those whose house gets sanctioned don’t get the full amount — which is Rs 1.30 lakh for rural areas. Fifteen to 20% of the total is taken by the pradhan. It is a well-known deal. The pradhan is only the shareholder of the corrupt practice. The amount also goes to officials in the tehsil (block). The beneficiaries get a maximum of Rs 80,000-90,000 — which is insufficient to construct a two-room house in this era of skyrocketing inflation,” alleged Dinkar Kapoor, a local activist.

As a result, the poor villagers end up erecting only four walls without a roof in the sum they get. “They bear the burden of further construction from their own pockets. If the government is so serious about giving benefits to people under PMAY in rural areas, the scheme should be available throughout the year or, at least, once a month, instead of a limited period,” said the campaigner for the marginalized upward mobility.

But how is this possible when payments are credited to beneficiaries’ Aadhaar-linked bank accounts? “It is mutual consent. Most of the beneficiaries are illiterate. As the amount is sanctioned and credited to their bank accounts, they are called by the pradhan for withdrawal. Following the biometric verification, he takes his bribe and hands over the remaining amount to them,” he explained.

The PMAY is a credit-linked subsidy scheme by the Government of India to facilitate access to affordable housing for the low and moderate-income residents of the country. It has two components — the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana — Gramin (PMAY-G or PMAY-R) for the rural poor. While the former is administered by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the latter by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Under the PMAY-Gramin, a sum of Rs 1.20 lakh is allocated for rural areas in plains and Rs 1.30 lakh in hills to people belonging to the below poverty line.

This scheme converges with other schemes to ensure that houses have a toilet, Saubhagya Scheme for universal electricity connection, Ujjwala Yojana for LPG connection, access to drinking water and Jan Dhan banking facilities, etc.

The villages here lack even the most basic amenities such as drinking water, efficient medical facilities, toilets in households, quality educational institutions and irrigation facilities. These villages are situated in a hilly parched region.

Near these settlements lies the country’s largest artificial lake (Rihand Dam — which is also called Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar) at Pipri. But the villages do not have a canal network to divert the dam’s water to the agricultural fields.

Rainfall is the only natural resource available to small farmers in this area for irrigation. If it rains, they get yield; otherwise, the crops get destroyed. There are 14 wells — eight at Makara and three each at Sendur and Labhari villages (Sonbhadra’s Dudhi tehsil or block) — for agricultural farming and domestic needs.

“Farming depends on God’s mercy in the villages where there is no well,” said Bhagat.

Makka (maize), arhar (pigeon pea) and til (sesame seeds) are the main crop here; however, paddy and wheat are also grown in some areas. Lack of irrigation water causes low yield. Barring fewer than 10, who have a big landholding and are relatively well-off, the majority of the farmers are not able to grow crops more than their own household needs.

Because the depth of the groundwater varies from 80 to 200 feet (about 50 feet in places near water bodies), the impoverished peasants are unable to extract it by deep drilling — which can cost up to Rs 1 lakh.

The residents claimed they either don’t get benefits from government schemes such as old-age, widow or handicap allowances, or the money is never credited on time.

“Noone gets payments under different government schemes on time. It is credited to beneficiaries’ accounts in either six months or a year, with the exception of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi — which the farmers here receive timely in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each,” alleged Bhagat.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi is an initiative by the Central government under which the farmers, who have valid documents to prove their legal title on the land they possess, get a sum of up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support.

Only 28–30 of the 50 widows living in the three villages The Mooknayak visited receive a pension from the state government, and that too after many months. Similarly, only 300–400 villagers receive an old-age pension that is Rs 500 every month.

Under the Public Distribution System (PDS), the poor villagers are provided with a free supply of ration (three kilograms of wheat and two kilograms of rice per unit or individual) once in a month.

“This is the only support poor villagers get from the government. They will starve to death if they do not receive free ration because farming is always fraught with uncertainty,” Bhagat added.

The quantity of the free supplies was more and the frequency was twice a month during and a few months after the Covid-induced lockdown. Apart from the food grains, they used to be supplied with one kilogram of gram and salt and one liter of refined oil.

Low wage and late payment of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) has made the villagers less interested in it.

Ajay Prajapati, who had got 10-day work under the programme in the construction of an interlocking road a year ago, said, “Every time I ask the incumbent pradhan about my dues, I get a one-line reply, ‘It is under process’. Over a year has passed, but the wages — which is just Rs 250 per day — is still ‘under process’.”

The locals said if any of their family members falls sick, the family gets trapped under a debt burden.

“There is one doctor at Makara’s primary health center (PHC) who rarely shows up. We purchase expensive medications from the market. The community health centre (CHC) and the district hospital are far from here. Although the state government claims that a free ambulance service is available round the clock, the patient transportation vehicles don’t reach our villages because we don’t have roads. Patients are treated like animals by the hospital staff. They often refer serious and complicated cases to multispeciality hospitals — which are outside the district. And therefore, We are forced to depend on private healthcare facilities,” they complained.

Strangely, despite the fact that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet has Sanjeev Gond, the local MLA, as minister of social welfare, these areas receive the least attention.