The Hindu Business Line : Story of change: Philanthropist sends cheque to farmer

Surprise gift: Bheemrao Manigempure, a farmer of Kabalabad village in Bhalki taluk in Bidar district of Karnataka, speaking to a Delhi-based philanthropist, Mr Swapan Roy Chaudhary, over phone after receiving a cheque for Rs 10,000.

T.V. Shivanand

Bidar , Dec. 12 Life for Bheemrao Manigempure and his family hardly changed after the soul-stirring picture of the 75-year old with his son and daughter-in-law yoked to a plough appeared in the columns of this paper in July 2006.

That graphic image of rural poverty, and the accompanying story by Mr Rishikesh Bahadur Desai on the life of the farmer from the obscure Kabalabad village of Bhalki Taluk in Bidar District made headlines for a day and then, like most news, disappeared from public memory.

But not for Mr Swapan Roy Choudhary, a Delhi-based philanthropist. Moved by the story, he sent a cheque for Rs 10,000 to Manigempure through Business Line. It was an overwhelmed Manigempure who received the cheque in his village.

“I did not expect this surprise gift. I am grateful to that good soul in New Delhi who has come to my help when all the local leaders and State government failed to respond to my sorry condition,” he told this correspondent.

Tears welling from his eyes, the farmer personally thanked Mr Choudhary over the telephone — “Mera pet bhargaya, bahut shukriya sahib.”

(“Thank you, Sir, I am fulfilled”). Mr Choudhary told the farmer that whatever he has done was but a small gesture and wished him all the best in life.

Manigempure, who lives in a three-room tin roofed house constructed out of mud and stone, said that he and his family lead a virtual hand- to-mouth existence on the meagre income from his agricultural fields.

His five children are married. One son and his family are with him, another works in Hyderabad as a coolie.

Asked what he plans to do with the money, Manigempure said: “I will save this for digging a borewell in my field.”

Soon after the publication of the photograph of Manigempure with his younger son Shivasharanappa and wife Saraswati ploughing their lands, help came in the form of a subsidy-linked loan for the purchase of two bullock for ploughing the land. While the government paid a subsidy of Rs 10,000, the remaining portion of Rs 18,000 was provided as a loan by the local bank.

More debt

Ironically, this act of help has pushed Manigempure even deeper into debt. The farmer says that he does not have the resources to repay the loan and has not repaid even a single paise of the instalment to the loan portion.

Although the two bullocks have eased his burdens the income from his four acre land had not seen any increase as his land is rain-fed. While almost all the lands surrounding his four acre piece of land, including the nine acre land owned by his brother is irrigated by borewell, his land remains dry as he could not afford to spend nearly Rs 1 lakh for digging the borewell and installing a motor pump.

The last Khariff season was fairly good and he harvested about three quintals of green gram and two quintals of black gram, but the last rabi season was bad due to the failure of the rains. His jowar and bengal gram crop failed.

Manigempure said that if the government provides him a borewell under any scheme free of cost, he could lead a life of honour and dignity.

He also wants the government to write off the loan provided by the bank for purchasing his bullocks. The farmer felt that the borewell in his agriculture field would change his life and he could rest in peace about the assured agriculture income in future for him and his family.

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