Laxmanrao G. Raut, 52, Mandwa village, Vidharbha Laxmanrao Raut was a happy-go-lucky driver with the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. But the driving only brought in pocket money. The real money came from his six acres of land in Vidharbha's Wardha district. As things go in this part of the country, Laxmanrao who hardly fits the bracket of a marginal farmer was reasonably well off. Yet, the lure of easy lucre got to him. Cotton that king of crops had been on his mind. And last season, he decided to sow the seeds for prosperity. But things went awry all along. First, boll worms started making a meal of his crops. Then, to get rid of them he bought on credit vast quantities of pesticide. While the pesticide did not kill the insects, it ruined the wheat growing alongside. In April this year, Laxmanrao's fields were history-and his debts over Rs 40,000:Rs 3,400 to banks, Rs 8,000 to "villagers" (as moneylenders are euphemistically called) and Rs 30,000 to a credit cooperative society. Sucked into a financial black hole, Laxmanrao sat down and drank a glass of leftover pesticide. What shackled him in debt, finally set him free, forever. Today, his family tries hard to survive. And they do so on the same pesticide-infested wheat that brought about their ruin. His wife Chabutai points to a basketful of roti and says, "Now we eat this, something even the animals don't touch."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Aug 29, 2012--- ENDS ---
