People in the “maize bowl” of Bihar are dishing out vibes of reluctance and lack of enthusiasm towards the ongoing elections, as they believe the 400-paar refrain made popular by Narendra Modi is already a triumphalist assertion — so why go out and vote.
In Bihar, a big chunk of the maize that is being fed to the boiler chicken, the cattle, and used in making ethanol, which is mixed in car fuel, comes from Khagaria. This feat has been achieved in the past 13-14 years, making Khagaria the fifth-largest producer of the cereal in India.
In the Khagaria Lok Sabha constituency, part of the proverbial bowl rimmed by Araria, Purnea, Katihar, Begusarai, Samastipur and Madhepura, huge stretches of maize crop could be seen swaying in the hot westerly wind under the blazing sun at this time of the year.
Life here revolves around maize, grown twice a year in rabi and kharif seasons. Any discussion on the elections initiated by The Telegraph quickly diverted to the crop.
Though 12 candidates are in the fray, very few speak about them. Reason: “Modi 400 jeet hi raha hain. Bakio ke baarein mein kya kahein? Koi matlab hain iss vote ka? (Modi is anyway winning 400 seats. Is there any relevance of others in this election?)”
The unsaid unwillingness to step out and vote stretched far and wide.
“Vote kyu de (Why vote)? We have immense potential in maize, but nothing is being done to tap it. The already high input costs become higher because we have to buy fertiliser from the black market. No political party has done anything worthwhile for the farmers here,” says Chukti village farmer Rajesh Kumar Yadav, who moonlights at a “line hotel”, along National Highway 31, to augment his income.
Rajesh has a point. While the average productivity in the neighbouring maize-producing areas seems to be moving towards saturation, it jumped by around 2,000kg to touch 5,785kg per hectare in 2022-23, year on year, in Khagaria. It scored the highest growth in maize productivity in Bihar.
Khagaria district agriculture officer Vibhu Vidyarthi says around 67,000 hectares of land are under maize crop during the rabi season. Yet, it is far behind Araria, which has an average productivity of 9,872kg per hectare, way surpassing the national average to compete with the US.
“We can easily surpass every other area because the sandy loamy and clay loamy soil here is very good for maize. It can change our fortunes. But why would farmers take the initiative when they cannot get a suitable price for their produce?,” says Raman Mahto of Farakia.
The Centre has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) for maize at ₹2,090 per quintal for this year, but it is for the kharif produce. There is no mention of maize grown in the rabi season, leaving a territory open for the middlemen to prey upon smaller farmers by offering them lower prices.
Poverty is high and migration for work is higher.
The Centre thought of a mega food park as a solution to the woes of Khagaria. Then Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal laid the foundation stone for the park at Ekania village in 2015, to be developed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Private Limited.
It was to be completed in three years but the minister walked out of the inauguration ceremony in a huff in November 2018 after finding out that the park was incomplete and not a single industrial unit had come up on the 70 acres.
The Pristine Mega Food Park is now merely functional with some poultry feed production, cold storage and warehouses but the farmers point to it as a glaring example of Modi’s unfulfilled promises.
“The Modi government promised 10,000 jobs at the mega food park but just a few people got a chance to work there, that too as labourers to move sacks. They are the ones whose land was acquired for the park. We still have to sell our maize to middlemen because nobody from the food park procures directly from the farmers. You still think we will vote?” asks Manoj Paswan of Ekania village.
Another farmer and cattle herder Ajit Kumar of nearby Khutia village says the park sells mustard oil brought from Punjab, “poking fun at our fertile land”.
“This park is a joke on the politicians whom we had voted to power,” he said.
The Telegraph attempted to visit the food park to see how much progress it had made but had to return from its gates after its supervisor Rajeev Kumar refused permission to enter.
Paswan also points out the rampant corruption the state is facing at the hands of politicians.
“Of the 5kg free foodgrains the Centre gives each family a month, people get only 4kg. But we cannot blame the dealer because the 50kg foodgrain sack supplied to him contains only 45kg. System hi loot ka hain is desh mein,” he adds.
The main contest here is billed between Rajesh Verma of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), the NDA candidate, and Sanjay Kumar of the CPM from the INDIA bloc. Verma is banking on the BJP’s organisational structure up to the booth level, while Sanjay is banking on the RJD support base.
While the rural folks prefer discussing maize, the people in Khagaria town do indulge in poll talk.
“The contest would be tough and caste influence will play a huge role,” says Devendra Chaudhary, a stationery shop owner in Khagaria town.
Other people suggested that the result will depend on how the Extremely Backward Classes vote in a constituency where the Yadavs, Dalits, and Muslims are present in sizeable numbers.
Khagaria votes on May 7
