I could not believe my eyes on discovering that in this age, the village of Sadiqpur in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh has not known electricity for the last 68 years, that is, since 1947 when India won its independence from the British.
For me and many others it is unimaginable that this is happening in a country which has last year sent its first mission to Mars. Again, it is inconceivable that this remote village has boys and girls who are studying in the dim light of earthen lamps or candles to become the country’s top administrators.
They need to spend night after night to prepare for the civil services examination. A few well-off people ventured to install solar panels on their houses. But they were able to light up only a single electric bulb!
As in many other villages, Sadiqpur also has many unemployed young men. It is tragic that in this age of rapid technological developments, they are unable to use any gadgets, appliances or machines due to lack of electricity. Perforce, people have to do everything manually.
Some of the young men point out unhesitatingly that they have not experienced electricity all their life. They have become so used to ‘life without electricity’ that they no longer resent the deprivation. Some of the boys do not yearn for the all important electricity any more. Their frustration is best mirrored by one comment: “I do not hope to experience electricity in my future life either.”
Every day, we are touching new horizons of scientific and technological achievements. Is it not a shocking revelation that some 3,000 villagers are virtually living in the “dark age” in the 21st century? A shopkeeper says that 20 years ago when he was a kid, some electric poles were put up but these were never energised. Today, loose wires are dangling as a grim reminder of an unconcerned and callous administration.
The news report on the state of affairs in the region came to me as a big shock because I belong to Uttar Pradesh. I could have never visualised the existence of a powerless island in the midst of a region of plenty that abounds in industries and high-yield food grain crops. I am told that the unfortunate phenomenon occasionally threatens to disrupt the social fabric in the region. Electricity and lack of it has divided the people into ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ who have often clashed.
Power factor
Today, cell phones have become an intrinsic part of our lives. How did residents of Sadiqpur remain untouched by this phenomenon? People of all ages own them but due to the lack of electricity these residents are faced with the problem of charging their mobiles. So they trek to the nearby ‘electrified’ villages for that purpose which often leads to skirmishes.
The electricity factor has upset the male-female ratio in the village. For a number of years now, no parent wants to marry off his/her daughter in Sadiqpur, “the dark village”. Some of the residents of only those villages which are similarly without power have given away their daughters in marriage in Sadiqpur. In a few cases, refrigerators were gifted to the bridegrooms in Sadiqpur. But they were of no use. So, the groom’s family put them to the second best use; they used them as closets to store clothes! Villagers call them almirah instead of refrigerator. Ridiculous but true.
The helpless villagers feel the heat particularly during the summers when the temperature during the day hovers around 46 degree celsius. Not only can they not preserve perishable foodstuff, they cannot even enjoy a glass of cold water.
This is precisely the story of 3,000 inhabitants of a village that’s been left behind in this fast moving world.
Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.
