Can't abandon, can't feed, can't sell.

The beef ban in Maharasthra in place since 2015 has had a direct impact on businesses that depend on cattle in Marathwada. The bovine is central to the rural economy and the impact has been debilitating. Watch | ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/no…
In 2017, @parthpunter found that across Marathwada in 45°C heat, farmers who were already trapped in the agrarian crisis walked many kilometres from market to market, trying desperately to sell their cattle to raise some money – a task made nearly impossible by the beef ban.
The growing water shortage in Marathwada and rising fodder costs have made it more difficult to maintain livestock. Added to this is a lack of cow shelters. When the beef ban was imposed, also promised were shelters where farmers could donate their cattle...
...instead of being forced to bear the costs of maintaining animals that could no longer work on their farms. The shelters haven't materialized - now farmers cannot raise money by selling their livestock and are stuck with the animals even after they become unproductive.
“How can we maintain our old livestock when we cannot even properly provide for our children? We spend 1,000 rupees per week on each animal's water and fodder.” says Appasaheb Kothule of Devgaon
Many others across the rural economic spectrum have been hit by this one amendment in the law – the beef ban. Dalit leather workers, transporters, meat traders, those who make medicines from bones, have all been hit hard.
Farmers try everything possible to seal a deal. Janardan Geete is getting the horns of his bullocks sharpened to make them more attractive. Bhandas Jadhav charged him ₹ 200/cattle. “I had bought them for ₹ 65,000. I'll settle for ₹ 40,000.” | 📹by @parthpunter c June 2017
Not quite a cash cow | The butchers have seen their income crash due to the beef ban. Full story: ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/no… by @parthpunter
People from all communities have been affected - be it Hindus, Dalits, Muslims as it is a relatively cheap source of protein.

“Replacing beef with chicken or mutton means spending thrice the amount,” says Qaleem Qureshi, who owns a beef shop in Aurangabad's Sillakhana.

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More from @PARInetwork

3 Apr
1914 | A small British port
1964 | A post-cyclone ghost town
Today, after being abandoned for all these years, the 400-odd fishing families are seen as obstacles to tourism. The what, when, and how of it. 🧵

📷Deepti Asthana | ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/br… Image
2 | After the cyclone, Dhanushkodi was left in a state of total neglect. However, 400-odd fish worker families still see this barren land as their only home. Some of them are cyclone survivors who've been living here for over 50 years without electricity, toilets or potable water Image
3 | Dhanushkodi is around 20 kms from Rameswaram. Tourists and pilgrims come here in vans that ply on the marshy terrain along the beach. The government is planning new and better roads to improve connectivity and draw in more visitors. Image
Read 15 tweets
18 Jan
Women are central to agriculture in India, and many of them – young and old, across class and caste lines – are present and resolute at the #FarmersProtests sites around Delhi. A photo thread this #MahilaKisanDiwas

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/wo…
Bimla Devi (in red shawls), 62, with her sister Savitri (60) reached the #SinghuBorder on Dec. 20 to tell the media that her brothers and sons protesting there are not terrorists. "I started crying seeing how the media was talking about my sons.” 2/n
Vishavjot Grewal’s family owns 30 acres of land in Pamal village of Ludhiana district, where they mainly cultivate wheat, paddy, and potatoes. “We want the reversal of these [farm] laws,” says the 23-year-old, who came with relatives to Singhu in a mini-van on December 22. 3/n
Read 11 tweets
18 Jan
She paused, exasperated by the mid-day sun in Vizianagaram. But remained bent over. She knew she would resume work in moments – in that very posture.
Working in the same cashew fields were 2 other groups of women from her village. All were bent over. 5/n Image
‘Manual’ planting, sowing and weeding involve a great deal of time spent in painful postures. Agricultural tasks show a strong gender divide. Women are barred from ploughing. But they almost exclusively do the transplanting, weeding, harvesting, threshing and post-harvest work. Image
Most of these activities mean a lot of bending and squatting. In Nuapada in Odisha, the rain did not stop this woman from weeding. Besides, many of the tools and implements used were not designed for the comfort of women. 7/n Image
Read 7 tweets
18 Jan
On #WomenFarmersDay, a photo story on the incredible hard yards that women put in each day in agriculture.

The landowner here in Anantapur is standing tall while the row of 9 women workers doubled over, are doing transplantation work on his field. 📷@PSainath_org | 1/n
He said he paid them Rs. 40 a day. The women, all landless workers from Rayagada, Odisha said it was Rs. 25. It is a typical case of visible work, invisible women. In India, even women from landed families have no rights to the land. 2/n

Full story: ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/vi…
These 2 young girls in the field in Anantapur, AP, are hunting for pests. It’s about all the paid work there is in their village. They get Rs.10 for every kg of red hairy caterpillars from the landowners. This means they have to catch over a thousand to make that much 3/n
Read 11 tweets
17 Jan
Once a sweeper with the BMC, Balappa Dhotre prefers to call himself a ‘karigar’– he has been chiselling stone grinders for decades, sitting on Mumbai's streets – though there are few takers now for his chutney crushers.
[Photo Thread]

ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/ba…
At the corners of busy suburban roads, he sets up ‘shop'. His customers are mainly people who can not afford an electric grinder, or want to showcase the old-style mortar-pestle in their homes, or prefer the taste the stone gives to food. 2/n
Balappa brought along to the big city his father’s and grandfather’s auzaar (implements) to make the grinders. The only raw material he needed is the black stone. He procures it from the city’s construction sites. 3/n
Read 6 tweets
15 Jan
“I call them Palenki, Iddi, Bori, Lingi...they are the names of our goddesses,” says 80-old-year Gantala Gori. In villages near the Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Telangana, the indigenous Poda Thurupu cattle are a farmers' precious resource. [Photo thread]

ruralindiaonline.org/articles/sturd… Image
The cattle have spots, people here call them 'Poda Thurupu' – in Telugu, 'poda' means spot and 'thurupu' mean the East. The Poda Thurupu are of great help to small and marginal farmers who cannot afford tractors and other farm machinery. 2/n Image
Women don’t usually herd or trade cattle in the communities here, but look after them when the animals are kept in the sheds at home. At times, if the cattle are taken to nearby forests, the women accompany their husbands and stay there in temporary huts. 3/n Image
Read 12 tweets

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