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Widows of Vidarbha: Making of Shadows
Farmer suicides are the most brutal and unforgiving indictment of the neglect of agriculture by the state and the politics, obsessed with power and the market. The continuing farm crisis represents not only failure of economic and development models but also collapse of the democratic system. To divert the blame, the statistics have been fudged and the farmers accused of being too ambitious, reckless, even unstable, especially in places of high suicide incidence like Vidarbha.
But the story of the distress of the farmers has an immortality that does not end with the farmer's death. It lives on in the experience of the farm widow, who struggles in the shadows outside the boundaries of the limelight. Widows of Vidarbha is the story of 18 such widows of Vidarbha who have been invisible to the state, the community, and even their families. Tracked over two years of research from 2014 to 2016, the widows spoke about their lost dreams of education and identity, their diminished view of the world, and their helpless surrender to conveniences of patriarchy.
The book reveals the process through which the invisibility is imposed on the woman from the time she was a child, forced to relegate her rights to the male. The daughters, the wives, and the widows are the survivors of the farm crisis in India. Yet, there voices are hardly ever taken into account when the crisis is discussed. The subjugation of their voices will only delay the solution. For the first time, the narratives of the widows of Vidarbha bring to light the dark and desperate corners of their invisible world, which represent the state of the farm widows across the country.
But the story of the distress of the farmers has an immortality that does not end with the farmer's death. It lives on in the experience of the farm widow, who struggles in the shadows outside the boundaries of the limelight. Widows of Vidarbha is the story of 18 such widows of Vidarbha who have been invisible to the state, the community, and even their families. Tracked over two years of research from 2014 to 2016, the widows spoke about their lost dreams of education and identity, their diminished view of the world, and their helpless surrender to conveniences of patriarchy.
The book reveals the process through which the invisibility is imposed on the woman from the time she was a child, forced to relegate her rights to the male. The daughters, the wives, and the widows are the survivors of the farm crisis in India. Yet, there voices are hardly ever taken into account when the crisis is discussed. The subjugation of their voices will only delay the solution. For the first time, the narratives of the widows of Vidarbha bring to light the dark and desperate corners of their invisible world, which represent the state of the farm widows across the country.
- GenresNonfictionIndia
288 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 2018
About the author
Kota Neelima
8 books30 followersKota Neelima is a political author and has been a journalist for over 22 years. She holds a Master’s degree in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and was Senior Research Fellow, South Asia Studies at The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, USA. She is a former political editor for The Sunday Guardian and writes on farmer suicides, rural women, and electoral reforms in India. Her bestselling books include Shoes of the Dead, Death of a Moneylender, and The Honest Season. Neelima lives in New Delhi.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 3, 2018
Kota Neelima breaks down the epidemic that is farmers suicide in India, that has been growing steadily over the years without an actual working solution in sight. Neelima's investigation delves deeper into the incidents, exploring the family the farmer has left behind, the debts and the political aftermath. The families undergo emotional upheaval while trying to provide necessary documentation to support their claims. While the people are already weary of the unreachable welfare programs - as confessed by many families in this context, the extent to which the government agencies conduct unequivocal death investigation to determine the cause of farmers' death is nothing short of emotional voyeurism.
Neelima expands on families' experience with government programs with cost instability for seeds and pesticides, irrigation issues, failure in reaching agricultural goals and inability to meet everyday requirement. All the stories we read and told by the women who manage the household, raise children, work on a daily wage job, take care of the in-laws and struggle to receive the welfare that is promised to her. This is just one example from one village in rural southern India.
The book ends with this note:
"Most widows mentioned they did not want to be born again as women in India, while their daughters said they did. Perhaps the lives led in the twilight awaited the dawn of a different day in Vidarbha."
Neelima expands on families' experience with government programs with cost instability for seeds and pesticides, irrigation issues, failure in reaching agricultural goals and inability to meet everyday requirement. All the stories we read and told by the women who manage the household, raise children, work on a daily wage job, take care of the in-laws and struggle to receive the welfare that is promised to her. This is just one example from one village in rural southern India.
The book ends with this note:
"Most widows mentioned they did not want to be born again as women in India, while their daughters said they did. Perhaps the lives led in the twilight awaited the dawn of a different day in Vidarbha."
March 20, 2025
Every interview, though managed to be presented as unbiased as possible, as logical, fact rich, and to the point, breaks your heart and the conception of society and state you have. Questions asked here will never be answered cause we don't care enough to repair the broken part of our society, we just believe in putting a band aid and beautifying it.
Is the life of a poor man worth on 1 lakh rupees? Who decides the price? How do yoh even put a price on life? All these are emotional questions, I understand but logically shall we not think if that sum is enough to sustain lives or to even sustain hopes for better days.
I wish the interviews were longer, the strength and resilience of each and every woman in this book shines through every single line. One more thing we can see throughout is the loss of hope and sometimes dreams, how bad must it be on ground that one doesn't even dream.
Is the life of a poor man worth on 1 lakh rupees? Who decides the price? How do yoh even put a price on life? All these are emotional questions, I understand but logically shall we not think if that sum is enough to sustain lives or to even sustain hopes for better days.
I wish the interviews were longer, the strength and resilience of each and every woman in this book shines through every single line. One more thing we can see throughout is the loss of hope and sometimes dreams, how bad must it be on ground that one doesn't even dream.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews