Every morning, we have to get up early and go near the river bank to relieve ourselves. Women go in one direction, men in another. During floods, it is hard to find a spot,” said Sajinara Bibi, 30, a mother of two. Pregnancy makes matters even worse as alternative methods will have to be explored.
Sajinara is from Simina village in Assam’s Kamrup district, about 30km from Guwahati. She suffers from stomach ache and frequent bowel movements. Her husband, Moinul Haque, 33, earns around ₹400 as a daily-wage labourer, whenever he gets work. Sajinara receives ₹1,250 in her bank account every month under the Orunodoi scheme, the Assam government’s cash payout scheme for women. The couple got an LPG connection by spending ₹5,500 from their savings, but they are unable to get refills regularly. They feed their cooking fires with dried weeds to reduce LPG consumption. “The price of an LPG refill is almost equal to three days of our wages. If we spend the entire amount on buying gas cylinders, we will have to skip meals for three days,” said Sajinara.
Unlike Sajinara, women in most households have received free LPG connections under the Ujjwala scheme of the Central government, but dumps of dried river weeds outside their houses tell the other half of their stories. During the last monsoon, this reporter saw villagers, mostly women and children, collecting driftwood from the flooded Brahmaputra, risking their lives.
この記事は THE WEEK India の April 14, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は THE WEEK India の April 14, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
The female act
The 19th edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival was of the women and by the women
A SHOT OF ARCHER
An excerpt from the prologue of An Eye for an Eye
MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE
50 years. after his first book, Jeffrey*Archer refuses to put down his'felt-tip Pilot pen
Smart and sassy Passi
Pop culture works according to its own unpredictable, crazy logic. An unlikely, overnight celebrity has become the talk of India. Everyone, especially on social media, is discussing, dissing, hissing and mimicking just one person—Shalini Passi.
Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping
PORTS AND ALLIED infrastructure development are at the heart of India's ambitions to become a maritime heavyweight.
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Trump’s preferred transactional approach to foreign policy meshes well with Modi’s bent towards strategic autonomy
DOOM AND GLOOM
Democrats’ message came across as vague, preachy and hopelessly removed from reality. And voters believed Trump’s depiction of illegal immigrants as a source of their economic woes
WOES TO WOWS
The fundamental reason behind Trump’s success was his ability to convert average Americans’ feelings of grievance into votes for him
POWER HOUSE
Trump International Hotel was the only place outside the White House where Trump ever dined during his four years as president
DON 2.0
Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable