HoneY
MaaPeya Da LaaDLa
New Delhi: Even as inflation continue to rise, it's the poor who are paying a heavy price.
In a low-income group colony of Delhi, Bano steps outside her home only when hunger becomes unbearable. She goes out not to buy food but to beg, not for money but for a handful of food grain.
She asks from strangers what she expected from her son. But spiraling food prices have forced the son to look only after his own family of five.
"I feel ashamed but my son earns barely Rs 50. He has his family to look after. What can I ask of him?" Bano says.
At the end of the day Bano has about half a kilo wheat flour and some rupees. She waits until evening to light the fire, makes exactly three rotis (chapatis). She has one with salt and saves the other two. It will be the next evening before she lights the fire again.
"It is because of the price rise that I started to beg. I had never asked anything of anyone earlier," she cries.
In the house next door, the food is the same. With two daily wagers and eight mouths to feed, others have to do their bit. The kitchen is not yet split but here too the elderly have to do their bit.
"We have no option. We go out to beg. At least we don't steal. We don't cheat," Khaitun says.
Inflation became a cause for concern for the government only when it breached the danger mark of 5 per cent. But the poor had started feeling the pangs of hunger much earlier about a year back.
A hike of even Re One for a kg of wheat or pulses meant a drastic cut in the already fragile food basket.
"The shopkeeper pushes us away if we ask for oil worth Rs Five," Khaitun says.
In another colony, Najma is also facing a crisis. Unable to provide for the family, her husband abandoned her. Her father-in-law earns about Rs 50 daily and it is not enough for the five people.
"I'll not be able to speak. I can't give anything that my children want. We can't do anything for them," Najma says.
Rising food prices have induced a new kind of vulnerability in the houses of poor where no one has enough to spare anything for the neighbour.
This is forcing people out on the road to beg for food. Rising prices have also severely challenged the traditional safety net provided by families.
In a low-income group colony of Delhi, Bano steps outside her home only when hunger becomes unbearable. She goes out not to buy food but to beg, not for money but for a handful of food grain.
She asks from strangers what she expected from her son. But spiraling food prices have forced the son to look only after his own family of five.
"I feel ashamed but my son earns barely Rs 50. He has his family to look after. What can I ask of him?" Bano says.
At the end of the day Bano has about half a kilo wheat flour and some rupees. She waits until evening to light the fire, makes exactly three rotis (chapatis). She has one with salt and saves the other two. It will be the next evening before she lights the fire again.
"It is because of the price rise that I started to beg. I had never asked anything of anyone earlier," she cries.
In the house next door, the food is the same. With two daily wagers and eight mouths to feed, others have to do their bit. The kitchen is not yet split but here too the elderly have to do their bit.
"We have no option. We go out to beg. At least we don't steal. We don't cheat," Khaitun says.
Inflation became a cause for concern for the government only when it breached the danger mark of 5 per cent. But the poor had started feeling the pangs of hunger much earlier about a year back.
A hike of even Re One for a kg of wheat or pulses meant a drastic cut in the already fragile food basket.
"The shopkeeper pushes us away if we ask for oil worth Rs Five," Khaitun says.
In another colony, Najma is also facing a crisis. Unable to provide for the family, her husband abandoned her. Her father-in-law earns about Rs 50 daily and it is not enough for the five people.
"I'll not be able to speak. I can't give anything that my children want. We can't do anything for them," Najma says.
Rising food prices have induced a new kind of vulnerability in the houses of poor where no one has enough to spare anything for the neighbour.
This is forcing people out on the road to beg for food. Rising prices have also severely challenged the traditional safety net provided by families.
