Villages in Bajura district have started wearing deserted look as the youths there are increasingly leaving the places not only in search of jobs, but simply to make a living too. The most pressing issue they have been facing for quite some time now is the dearth of food. Youths who visited the villages to mark Dashain and Tihar festivals with their families are now leaving in droves.
Bhim Bahadur Sarki, a local resident of Budhiganga Municipality-7, Jhali, says that imminent starvation had forced him to leave his place. “Since off-season floods swept the crops away, I wonder how we will be able to solve the hand-to-mouth problem?” he questioned. Sarki has been struggling to repay his loans which he took during the first COVID-19 lockdown to cushion his family from the economic shock resulting from it. And now, the devastating flood has only compounded the problem.
He still vividly remembers the promise made by the local government: job opportunities will be created for the youths of Dalit and deprived community at their places. But those words of promise have now proven hollow, as every day he struggles to figure out where his next meal will come from.
It’s not that Sarki has no land to till. On the contrary, he has enough, but practically all remains deserted for lack of irrigation facilities. “I asked for the irrigation with the local government repeatedly, but they continue to ignore it,” he added. He said he was left with no option other than leaving his village to make some money.
Almost all planted paddy and millet (cow-grass) perished in the heavy rain that lashed the district in late October, putting many of the people there at risk of hunger. In an effort to escape imminent starvation, many youths have been heading for major Indian cities close to the border.
Around 500 youths of Budhiganga, Tribeni, Badimalika, Budhinanda, Chhededaha, Gaumule, Himali and Jagannath Rural Municipality have been leaving their villages daily these days. They have blamed the local bodies for their grim situation.
Padam Raule, another local of Tribeni Municipality, says that thousands of youths were leaving their villages because the local bodies failed to design employment-generating programmes for them. “We have fertile lands that give good yields. But in absence of irrigation infrastructure, the only option we have is to let it remain fallow,” he said.
Dhan Bahadur Rokaya, another local resident in Budhinanda Municipality-5, also expressed worries over the performance of the local bodies. “They make lofty promises, but fail to deliver on them,” he added.
According to him, the local bodies are only concerned about developing road access, but remain indifferent towards productivity enhancement. “It’s not a dream for the vast majority of these people to seek employment opportunities elsewhere; it’s a compulsion.”
“The local bodies have their own vision of developing the place,” said Govinda Malla, Chairman of Himali Rural Municipality, adding, “We had enough plans and programmes to engage the youths in their places, but the pandemic has made it harder for us to execute them.”
“The pandemic kept us from implementing our plans for much of the last two years, and now a massive flood, which ravaged the district only a month ago, has made things even worse.”
Source : TRN,
