A loan of Rs 500 multiplies into Rs
26,000 in seven years; an amount of Rs 4,500 borrowed six years
ago has ballooned into Rs 1 lakh.
Barh's
most famous son, chief minister Nitish Kumar, has been talking about
sushasan (good governance) but he would do well to start
his campaign from home.
Dalit
villagers of Bahrama, 7 km from the subdivisional town of Barh and
85 km from Patna, have been "enslaved" by a money-lender
who has enmeshed them in a debt trap using his own method of "compound
interest".
No
one had dared to speak out against the money-lender until Shlok
Paswan, 35, did so on July 2. Shlok, a daily-wage earner, had gone
to a village tea-stall where he came across the money-lender, Bijo
Yadav, who asked him to repay the loan. As Shlok could only offer,
"Bhaiya, abhi paisa nahin hai (I don't have money)",
Bijo and his younger brother Dem thrashed him with a wooden spade
handle till he collapsed unconscious.
Though
Shlok had already paid Rs 8,000 against a loan of Rs 500 he took
six years ago, Bijo demanded Rs 18,000 more to "close"
his account. Shlok, though in great pain, did not go to hospital.
His wife Parmila applied turmeric paste on his wounds. He was lucky
to survive the assault as he had no internal injuries.
The
new village headman, Shivkumar Das, who is also from the same caste
as Shlok, could not take it lying down anymore. He convinced the
350-strong Paswans to register a case against Bijo and Dem Yadav.
Yadav-dominated
Barhama has a population of about 2,500. The village has about 100
houses of Paswans, all landless labourers.
Shlok
got a case (237/06) registered against the Yadav brothers at Barh
police station on July 6 for cheating, causing injuries, threatening
to kill and also under SC/ST Act provisions.
Neither
Bijo nor Dem could be contacted in the village. A neighbour said:
"We have no idea when he comes back home."
Shlok
is happy that he has shown the way to over 30 people, who remain
indebted to Bijo despite paying a hefty amount as interest on their
loan amount. At least 10 of them are made to work in the money-lender's
fields to erase loans in instalments.
The
loan, however, is never wiped out and the likes of Bhagwat, Ganga
and Jamuna keep working in Bijo's fields. A day's hard work cuts
down their loan burden by Rs 50.
Ramprasad
Paswan, 55, who had taken Rs 500 from Bijo six years ago, has not
been able repay the bloated loan despite working in Bijo's fields
for innumerable days. His son, Vinay, 20, fled the village only
because of the loan burden. Ramprasad, who cannot work now, depends
on the earnings of another son, Satish, a labourer, to feed a family
of four.
Ganga
Vishnu Paswan, 48, has the worst nightmares because of a Rs 4,500-loan,
which has multiplied in Bijo's book to Rs 1 lakh now. Says Ganga:
"Even If I sell my house, I cannot pay this sum." The
likes of Biso, 40, and Jamun, 45, have also been suffering for years.
Biso
said: "I had to sell a portion of my only plot of land to pay
Rs 7,500 to Yadav but he wants more."
Agwanpur
headman Shivkumar Das, who is from Bahrama village, says: "Enough
is enough, we will go to the chief minister's durbar now."
Das
said they knew their rights now and also got a cooperative society
with a one-time membership fee of Rs 55 to give loans to the poor.
Barh
police station in-charge Ravishankar Prasad said: "We have
been trying to arrest the Yadav brothers. If they continue to evade
arrest, a chargesheet will be filed and they might be declared proclaimed
offenders in due course of time."
Janata
Dal (United) Barh MLA Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, however, was not available
for comment. JD(U) spokesperson and general secretary Anil Pathak
said: "It looks like a sensitive matter."
(Courtesy The Telegraph)
