Bhola, Village Money Lender

Poverty is crushing in the villages. Rural income generally lags behind their consumption expenses. Consumption costs consisting of the basic human needs. The situation is exacerbated by the quintessential village money lender. Moneylenders down the years have financed the consumption expenses of the rural population against punitive conditions. The most punishing condition being taking the villagers' agricultural land by way of mortgage. The loan is given at an exorbitant rate of interest and mostly disbursed in kind. So there is no proper transparency in the loan advanced.

Generally, generations pass repaying the interest whereas the principal remains untouched. The money lenders take advantage of the illiteracy of the rural folks. Money lending is the most lucrative business in the villages. The gullible villagers for want of money give away their rich fertile land as mortgage and as a result, lose their only or major source of livelihood. So they forever live in debt and fall into debt trap passing it on down the line to future generations.

So in their personal interests, the money lender wants that the rural peasant should always remain illiterate and gullible. They also make sure that basic amenities should not reach down to the masses. Because being deprived of basic amenities the rural health conditions remained dismally poor. So for basic health needs the cost would be financed by the money lender. Hence their business module remained intact. Bola is our protagonist. He is the present day money lender. His training was given by his father as his father was likewise trained by his father. So this family business continued down the generations. Bhola knew that for his business to continue he should follow the techniques by his forebears.

Now things were different. There was development. happening everywhere. Various Govt. agencies are there to look after the needs of the rural people. Many educational institutions and health centres were being sanctioned in rural areas for people to get basic amenities. Banks were also now opening their offices to meet the needs of the populace and to counter the menace of the money lenders. Police stations now reached to the very interior to protect the masses from exploitation and extortion.

For, Bhola now his table was full with work. He had to fight vehemently to counter the march of development in the villages. He found this development as a threat to his personal growth. He had to keep direct liason with the village administration. The Police station and the Block development office were his regular points of call. He had to keep the officers there happy and contended. Because he knew that these officers were on transfer duty and so if he could pull the plug of development for a few years by delaying the processes his work could go on. These officers would change hands and the work would be delayed and Bhola's business could continue uninterrupted. To some extent Bhola was successful as the system is bureaucratic and due to red tapism it takes time for fruits of progress, the trickle down effect to take place. The likes of Bhola continued to thrive.

Recently the health condition especially in the villages was a challenge for the government. New types of diseases and epidemics were breaking and villagers for want of better treatment facilities were flocking the city hospitals. So better health centres with modern facilities were trying to be set up. Bhola's situation now became challenging. He wanted to put a stop to all this at any cost. But little did he realise how his actions would boomerang on himself. For the past few years, new viral disease dengue was attacking the villages every monsoon. This being a mosquito carried disease proved to be a menace. Previously there was only malaria which was not so deadly. So the government was taking special steps to arrest this spread. And Bhola ignorantly was fighting to stop the government's actions.

Then all of a sudden Bhola's wife took ill. Her temperature continued to soar and the primary health facility at his village was inadequate to manage her condition. So he was forced to take her to the city hospital. There she was diagnosed with acute dengue symptoms. The blood platelet count measure is a vital component for dengue cure. Bhola's wife's blood platelet count continued to plunge and doctors were showing their worries. Bhola was worried now. He was further harassed trying to collect blood platelets from various blood banks. Due to the prolonged illness of his wife he had to stay from his work. His income fell drastically as his expenses ballooned astronomically. He now realised the benefits of good medical facilities near to home. Bhola pledged to help create world-class medical facilities in his village after his wife became well. Because he now realised that keeping the people deprived of world-class facilities was indirectly making him suffer.