JOIN USRam Pujan Singh of Ara in Bhojpur district is a distraught farmer. Despite having a fertile land and sufficient water, he has incurred heavy losses in the last couple of years due to large-scale damage caused to the standing crops by hordes of antelopes, also known as nilgais.
Singh has, therefore, decided to vote for any candidate who will solve his (and other farmers) peculiar problem – getting rid of the nilgais.
There has been a steady increase in complaints from affluent to marginal farmers in the area about how they have suffered immensely due to the extensive damage caused to the crops by the nilgais.
“I have six acres of land in Bhojpur. But the nilgais damaged lentil crops like arhar and moong (pulses), thereby adversely affecting production,” rued Krishna Prasad, an affluent farmer.
There are thousands of nilgais in this area. And their population is increasing by the day precisely because a female antelope breeds twice a year. Another reason for the increase in their population is the shrinking forest. The carnivores that kept a check on their population are fast dwindling. As a consequence, the wild herbivores nowadays roam freely and, of late, have entered human habitats.