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 Basically they did not want to put in any work in actually tilling the land; their sole aim was to locate a buyer for that land which they had got for free from the government and thereby make some money. After selling off that land, they would again be eligible to get some more land from the government under some other scheme! While concluding this sad story Joshi wrote, ‘But in all this they were not making any mistake; the mistake was mine. While getting the initial loan sanctioned from the bank itself I had realized that after spending the money on digging a well, making arrangement for giving water and actually start cultivating the field, no matter what crop they grew, throughout their lifetime they could not have repaid the bank loan. Even if one were to assume that every year they would have a good crop, still they could not have covered their costs. That time I had not realized the mystery behind it all. But all villagers knew it. Those bhumiputra also knew it. But they were not revealing the truth to me. That deepest of mystery of our society I had to explore and solve myself, through my own prolonged painful penance. ‘I bid them farewell saying, “Send me a message when you all are ready to go and stay on that land.” I had learnt one lesson. From now on no more attempts to do something for the benefit of others. The problem of poverty does not get solved by projects of charity. All these years I had accepted a path to solve the problem of rural poverty without ever questioning it; now I had my doubts. Once again I was back to square one. I wonder how I resisted the temptation to return to Switzerland!’

While doing all these forays in rural development Joshi’s work on his own farm continued. He would try out any new idea he came across – different seeds, different fertilizer, different pattern of giving water. 86

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Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage