Arunachal : Ginger cultivation

By Mido Mena



People from other parts of Lower Dibang Valley have always expressed curiosity about the ginger production in Bizari village. How could a small village achieve such a colossal production? What are the methods Bizarians apply? But the truth is you have to be qualified. So what are the qualifications required? Do Bizarians have a degree in B.Sc agri? Well as I and you know that's not true for sure.The truth firstly one has to be a govt official of Dambuk Circle. One doesn't have to be afraid of a Transfer because he gets political blessings. Now what he does is very interesting. He makes false charges on labourers working in different farms and on that pretext takes them (the labourers) to his ginger farm to work there and the best part is his staff members are there to look over the works carried out. Barely educated staff members would not like to face the ire of the mighty official, sothere they are supervisors of a farm. Villagers are astonished to see the 'sahib' sir regularly in their village and wonder whether the office had been shifted to Bizari. A few people even visited him in this village to meet 'sahib' sir for official works. At the end of the season villagers were surprised to know that he had eighty bags of ginger. These numbers of bags will fetch him more than 50,000 Rupees as per that rate of the season. This time Mr.'sahib' has made bigger Ginger farms in collaboration and with a partner so now labourers are going to face similar problem. This is not the only story of Bizari. There is something more interesting. If you people had seen this time's CBSE results, you could have seen that no one in Bizari passed the exam. Though there are more than thirty students, five students achieved compartment. Why? What do you think teachers are doing? Of course teachers are also qualified for ginger farming. Though Monday to Saturday they are in their respective ginger farms, teachers attendance shows they are in school. Well anything is possible in Arunachal. Not only teachers work but students are asked to help them in their farms.This time new rules have been introduced wherein if a student is absent he has to pay a fine. How is this approach going to help students academically when teachers are themselves not there to teach?Infact they are taking revenge on those parents who dared to complain about local teachers actively being involved in ginger farming. Why can't teachers give such dedications to students rather than to ginger? Why such loose administrations in Dambuk circle? Why are teachers being paid for working in ginger farms? Local leaders don't say a word or else these people will vote against them. For leaders votes are more important than the future of Bizari. So what's the use of talking about quality education in this govt. School when it can only be achieved in private schools. Everybody cannot afford these private schools. So what's the future of these children who are taught Ginger farming in Bizari school? Their future is bleak! Infact, their parents can teach them these things in a better way than driving home the fear of a fine each time they miss a lesson in Ginger cultivation.