TOI Presents A Series That Looks At Polls & People’s Issues Through The Lens Of A Family
As one leaves the municipal limits of Meerut and enters Muzaffarnagar, a quiet, almost quaint village lies at the border between the two districts in UP. It’s the place Rajpal Singh Arya, a 74-yearold farmer with 25 bigha land calls home. “I’ve been here forever,” he says, smiling broadly at the sight of his five buffaloes.“I know almost everyone in Gagsona.”
There is little sign of the impending Lok Sabha elections in Gagsona, a small hamlet with around 3,500 people, 1,700 votes “and 12 major castes”. But like most others in the village, who till even 30 years ago used a barter system to get by, Arya knows what he wants and what he doesn’t.
Taking out a charpai on which his grandchild, daughter-in-law and wife plonk themselves, the farmer says, “See, politicians should have one mantra in their heads and hearts — improve schools, build hospitals. We are nothing without good health and education.”
A few villagers troop in from Arya’s gate that opens into a courtyard with a tractor parked on one side and a milk processing unit on the other. Besides farming, the family also sells milk at the Mawana market some 15km away.
As Arya, a father of four holds court, some of the others butt in to talk proudly about their clean village with neat winding roads and pucca houses. While Arya’s younger son Neeraj, 38, lives in the village with his family, the elder one, Naveen, moved to Meerut years ago and works as a consultant involved in getting environmental clearance for brick kilns.
Eager to contribute to the discussion, Arya’s wife, Meela Devi, 71, orders the group to be quiet and give her a chance to speak. “Unlike in urban areas, survival in rural belts is easier. Things are cheaper and many families grow their own food. However, one thing we’ve noticed in recent years is the strain on resources and infrastructure. Moreover, our villages are emptying out. People go to the towns the moment they get an opportunity.”

The conversation circles back to health. “We’ve had to wait for morning to rush our sick to hospital in Meerut, quite a distance from here. The health sector has not improved in our villages. It’s just that we have cars and motorbikes now,” says Neeraj’s wife Monika. “The anganwadi system has col lapsed. There are iron tablets for women and children and other things for nutrition that the government provides free of cost, but it never reaches us. Where’s the accountability?”
Monika has one more grouse. “Ever since private schools began to mushroom, we do see more children speaking in English. But it’s not for everybody. Not the poor certainly. Sarkari schools are in bad shape. The next government must think about it with the seriousness the matter deserves.”
As an afterthought, Monika adds, “Oh, and we want the government to do away with freebies. Because of free ration, people have lost the motivation to work. Farmers like us do not get labour easily.”