Spectre of debt amid loss of job looms large in Dharmapuri’s villages
The Hindu
The State government’s cash relief of ₹4,000 for every ration card has cushioned the impact of joblessness briefly.
The little black goat hungrily drank cow’s milk from the feeding bottle Muthammal held to its mouth. Muthammal had just bought half a litre of milk from her neighbour Ambigai, who stood by holding her aluminium milk can, measuring to refill the feeding bottle. “She [Muthammal] bought this kid as a new-born from someone, who needed money. She will raise it, and then sell it to make some money,” Ambigai explained the economics of goat-rearing. “Sometimes it may go up to ₹10,000, if she is lucky. As Muthammal fed the motherless kid, one of her three adult goats, threw a tantrum by bumping her from behind. She would take them to graze around this M.Thanda village in the dry Eiryur block of Dharmapuri. As they wait, Muthammal informs Ambigai that she withdrew the last of the MGNREGS work payment of ₹1,200 this week. That was the six-day work wage credited for March that she saved up until now. “There is no more work now,” says Muthammal. It has come down to three weeks work a year now with more people and less work, never 100 days, says Ambigai.The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.
The Deputy Commissioner and the Election Officer for Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency M. P. Mullai Muhilan said here on Friday that over 600 staff will be involved in the counting of votes cast in the April 26 elections, at the counting centre at the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka, Surathkal, on June 4.