The People

It’s becoming tough to live hand to mouth, we need to do something for long term, exclaimed Karun. Being a farmer he was managing to grow seasonal crops which was sufficient only to meet his basic needs.

He was not alone in Kshetra, a small village in remote corner of the country to have this concern. Depending on the monsoon, rain, season, demand for the crops etc., almost all the villagers were able to sustain themselves just to continue living.

What can be done to make ourselves financially strong, asked Karun to Dharma, who had better knowledge than anyone else in the village with a good heart? He said, give me time will research and come back soon on this.

Dharma didn’t had much land, he owned a small shop catering daily needs of the villagers, due to which he was well connected across sections of society and go to person if any help required.

Meanwhile, Government announced Panchayat (Local Council) election to all the villages in the state and Kshetra was also supposed to elect a member as its representative.

Dharma was encouraged by his friends to contest in this election, since he had good contacts across villagers. Stimulated by prospects, he did apply for the contest and went around promising good work for the village if he is elected.

While campaigning, Karun reminded him, what about the long term farm benefits they can expect from Dharma if elected. After much deliberation and thoughts, Dharma announced, if he is elected, he will ensure villagers will be rich in few years and that’s his promise.

Trusting his words, and been a known person, Dharma indeed got elected and as promised he started working on making the voters rich. He visited forest department, procured hundreds of Sandalwood saplings and called for a meeting of the villagers.

Look, as promised I am back with the plan which will make you and this village rich. Here are the sandalwood saplings, newly introduced in our part of the country. Though this is famous in state like Karnataka, for our region this is new, recently introduced. Trust me, this will be giving a good yield in a decade and with patience we can sure overcome our difficulties.

People were skeptical of this plants and some were disappointed.  They were expecting cash incentives, goodies and short term plans and this new plant which they never seen was not a prospect for them. Nevertheless, they planted in in their fields, hoping for good days. Dharma also ensured it was planted in the Government land along with other saplings of Teak and Rosewood. This also helped in improving the nature and create green coverage.

He acted promptly as elected representative, addressing grievances, introducing schemes, emphasizing health and education programs.

Time flew and fresh elections were announced and Dharma stood again for the election. He reminded people that by the end of his second tenure, most of the villages will see the benefits of his plan and requested them to vote once again.

By now, he had a competitor, Bablu, who had moved to this village few years ago and had political ambitions.

Bablu announced, elect me, I will make all of you instant rich , will give cash benefits as well, which stroked cord with villagers and eventually elected him by defeating Dharma.

The new leader as promised within few days decided to fulfil his promise.

He got a timber businessman to the village and asked people to surrender their trees to him, which will be rewarded with instant cash. He also informed, all the trees in the vacant government land will be chopped, to make money for development work.

Voters are confused, should they rejoice with fact of getting money, now or being trapped of losing their long term benefits.

Meanwhile electric saw machine from the businessman is busy chopping trees after tress.   

Disclaimer: All the incidents, characters, names are fictitious and any resemblance to anyone or event is pure coincidence.