2 Couples in West Bengal Die by ‘Suicide’ due to Poverty, no MGNREGA Work

Kolkata: Two couples recently allegedly committed suicide in West Bengal due to extreme poverty and loss of livelihood after the Mamata Banerjee government discontinued the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA in 2021. The Centre had frozen MGNREGA funding to the state on December 21, 2021.

A tribal couple, Pradip Sardar and his pregnant wife Savitri, was found hanging by a tree in front of their house in Bhuakana village, in Bankura district’s Hirbandh block, on Thursday. They are survived by Pradip’s 15-year-old sister Purnima and their migrant labourer brother Sandip, a migrant labourer in Hyderabad.

In 2020, Pradip’s agricultural labourer father and mother died within three months due to malnutrition and the lack of medical treatment. The couple was married last year, and Pradip was a daily wager at construction sites while Savitri was an agricultural labourer during the paddy reaping season. 

According to Purnima, the family survived on a meagre quantity of rice for the last 10 days. 

Seventy of the 80 families—mostly Adivasis, Bhumij, Santhal and Muslims—staying in the village are far below the poverty line with the suspension of MGREGA. The condition of inhabitants in the adjacent villages is the same. Brick kilns are on the verge of shutting down and sand excavators have stopped hiring.

In the second incident, a Dalit couple, Santu Duley and his wife Rita, committed suicide in Garhbeta village, West Medinipore district. Santu hanged himself while Rita consumed rat poison. The couple, earlier employed under MGNREGA, was in dire straits after not being paid for 17 months. They committed suicide after sending their son and daughter to school, where they get midday meals.

“Dalits and tribal people have been hit by poverty due to the Central and state policies,” Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch general secretary Ramchandra Dom told Newsclick. “The poor are facing more hardships after the 100-day work scheme, the main source of livelihood, was discontinued.”

He added that the civil society, which had “protested the hunger deaths in Amlashole village (West Midnapore district) years ago, is maintaining a stoic silence”. 

Dom strongly criticised the state government’s “lack of action in ensuring employment to the poor” and warned of “more suicides if MGNREGA dues are not cleared and a blueprint for improving the lives of Dalits and the tribal population is not made”.