UP Elections: A Riverine Village Stuck in the Bronze Age

Parsawal (Barabanki): Gayatri Nishad, on the night of January 30, experienced false labour pain but had to spend the whole night at home in fear that she might deliver her baby at home. She was taken to the hospital only in the morning, not in an ambulance but on a motorcycle.

The about 20 years old housewife lives in Parsawal village, which is about 84 km from Lucknow and is an island village situated between two streams of the mighty Ghaghra river. This village is home to about 60 families, mostly belonging to the Nishad community. The primary health centre from the village is about 7 km from Parsawal village, but to reach that, the villagers have to cross two streams of the Ghaghra river either on a boat or by walking when the water recedes.

Gayatri was told that there was still time for the labour and was prescribed multivitamins, folic acid, and other medicines. She came back home on the same motorcycle and her husband and an uncle-in-law.

"The entire night, I thought that my baby would get delivered inside the house. I was very scared the whole night and prayed to God to stop the pain and wait till the morning to take me to the hospital. The pain did not ease the entire night, and I spent night turning sides, crying and screaming," says Gayatri, who is a mother of a years old daughter.

She further tells that she was so scared that thoughts of death started coming to her mind, and at one point, the pain increased so much that she fell unconscious and then she slept for about half an hour. She was given the pre-prescribed medicines the family had at home, but those medicines did not help in easing the pain.

"I remember shouting at my husband more than twice for taking me to the hospital, but he could not do anything due to the heavy fog in the night," the heavily pregnant woman said.

Dr Aparna Hegde, a euro gynaecologist and safe childbirth campaigner, says that antenatal care is critical, and as per the government guidelines, the pregnant woman should get her ultrasound done thrice in the ninth month of her pregnancy. Gayatri had got only one ultrasound done, and the doctors say that she could deliver her child anytime in a week or two.

The Parswal villages are part of Manja Parswal and Pratap Pur villages. Parsawal is surrounded by the river and has no marker of development. The village lacks road, electricity, toilets, pucca houses, healthcare services, schools and others. The village has yet not been visited by the contestant of any of the parties, and many of the women in the village do not even know about the assembly elections in their state.

Dhanlal Nishad, who is in his early fifties a resident of the same village, had contested the last panchayat polls for the post of Gram Pradhan, and the development of their village was his poll plank. He, since then, is fondly known as ‘Neta Ji’ despite losing the elections. Dhanlal, implying sarcasm, says there is no problem in the village. It is very peaceful because none of the houses in the village have television or any other medium of entertainment because there is no electricity. "I am a father of seven children, three sons and four daughters. My children help in farming and doing household chores," he says.

The father of seven further says that the main occupation or source of livelihood for the villagers of Parsawal is agriculture and no other profession because of no education facilities. "The nearest school is about 5 km from here, and there is no connectivity. The local administration gets the pontoon bridge (pipa pul) made in the river during summers. Still, when the river swells, the bridge becomes dysfunctional, and we are then only left with an option of using the boat as means of communication. I will not send my children for education to other villages in such conditions. Elections come every five years and were the leaders even a bit concerned about giving us facilities, we would at least have the bridge. We rely on the solar panels provided to us by the government to charge our mobile phones and light a bulb in the evening, but this also stops working during the floods and heavy rains," Dhanlal adds.

The district administration was not available for comments when contacted by the NewsClick.

‘JO NASEEB ME HOGA USKO KAUN BADAL SAKTA HAI’

Gayatri's husband Arjun, 24, who is a small farmer owing about 8-10 bighas land in the same village said that the only reason he could not take his wife to the hospital in the night was because of the heavy fog and also because the toll-free ambulance service asked them to come to the different side of the village after crossing the river but that was not possible on the motorcycle in the night due to dark and heavy fogging.

"My first daughter was in Bahraich district at my in-law's place, and that night when my wife experienced pain, I regretted not being at someplace with basic facilities, but this is my home, and I have my fields, mother, father, and everyone here. I was born here. I have to die here no matter if we ever get any facility from the government," says Arjun.

"It is risky to keep my wife here in the last month of her pregnancy, but we do not have any other options, and I am preparing for the worst. I will accept whatever is in my fate (jo mere naseeb me hoga usko kaun badal sakta hai)," he added.