Fearing crop loss, Bihar landlords resort to violence to ensure harvest

The 21-day nationwide lockdown, a testing time for the nation, has yet again exposed the age-old brutality of the land owners towards farm labourers in the rural parts of Bihar.

Despite the government’s restrictions, landlords who fear crop loss have reportedly started pressuring local labourers to work for them. Reports say landlords who are unable to hire farm help from neighbouring states, have also resorted to assaulting local labourers when they refuse to harvest crops in the former’s fields.

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In Kevai village of Patna district, when Bholu Yadav, a landlord approached Hardayal Manhji, a dalit labourer to harvest wheat, he was refused. Yadav, in a fit of rage, allegedly picked up a bamboo stick and mercilessly beat up Manhji, fracturing one of his hands.

In a similar incident in Bedua Tola village of Gopalganj district, a Dalit family was assaulted by Satyendra Singh, a local landlord when they refused to obey his orders. Singh, accompanied by his men reached the Dalit hamlet on March 31 to ask the family to come for harvest. When they refused and said they would rather stay at home, the family of six including four women were allegedly beaten up ruthlessly by Singh’s men.

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Local MP Alok Suman brought the incident to the notice of the local district superintendent of police only after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

“This is a very serious incident and we are investigating it. We will take action once we get the probe report,” said Manoj Kumar Tiwari, the district superintendent of police.

Ruling Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Alok Kumar Suman strongly condemning such “inhuman” acts by landlords, said no law permits anyone to inflict such pain on anyone.

Violation of human rights

Other districts like Darbhanga and Madhubani too are witnessing similar incidents of violence on farm hands.

“We have been informed that the landlords are frequently threatening the labourers who are unwilling to work during the lockdown. The government should take immediate action in this regard,” the general secretary of All India Agriculture and Rural Labour Association Dhirendra Jha said.

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Civil right activist Shiv Prakash Rai described such acts as violation of human rights. “We understand that farmers and land owners are under pressure to harvest crops during the lockdown. But assaulting labourers for not harvesting their crops is an act which deserves serious condemnation and punishment,” Rai said.

However, few landlords shot down the allegations saying they are false and baseless. ” These allegations are aimed at tarnishing image of a particular class. Now, each community wants to live with peace and harmony,” said Baliram Sharma, a landlord from Gaya district.

Dilemma of farmers

The situation also points to the desperation of the farming community to harvest Rabi crops, maximum by mid-April. Lack of farm labourers has made it a nearly impossible task.

Wheat followed by gram, pulses and mustard are the major Rabi crops that are grown in Bihar. The season which begins in mid-November approaches harvest time in mid-April or May.

Bihar produces almost 59.89 million tonnes of wheat on 21.06 million hectares of area with an average yield of 2,843 kg per hectare.

Experts say the crops are ready in the field and must be harvested before April 15 for better gains or 20 per cent of the ripe grains could fall on the ground due and thus get wasted due to further delay.

They fear the change in weather conditions, such as the easterly winds, rains or hailstorm could damage the crops if they are not harvested in time.