MEDAWARA, Uttar Pradesh — A makeshift helipad was being built this week in this remote dusty village in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The potholed single-lane road that leads the village was under repair, and journalists, district officials and local politicians had come to call.
Medawara, population 2,000, has never seen this kind of action and attention before, residents said.
A brutal rape took place 600 miles away in New Delhi that shook the conscience of the nation and sparked angry nationwide protests. The rape victim, who struggled for her life for 12 days before dying, belongs to Medawara village. Her family came here to perform 13 days of death rituals.
The family’s presence in the village brought members of the media, which in turn brought politicians who were apparently eager to make political capital out of the situation. And the visits of the politicians brought other government officials.
The village is 7 kilometers (4 miles) from a real road and gets electricity for only three to five hours a day. There are no health facilities, and a government primary school up to fifth grade and a private school up to eighth are the only means of education. No other signs of development are visible in the village.
Residents largely depend upon agriculture for their livelihood, and they grow wheat, sugarcane, pulses, rice, potatoes and onions. The village lies in the floodplains of the Ganges River and its tributaries, and it experienced massive floods in 1972, 1982 and 1994.
Like the family of the rape victim, many others from the village have migrated to Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Gujarat for to earn a living.
Local politicians who were visiting the village this week told journalists “facts” about the village that were easy to disprove.
“The village gets electricity for 16 to 18 hours a day” said one, speaking to journalists sitting the victim’s family courtyard. “The village has a government high school” said another. Villagers who were there gave sceptical looks, but did not correct his statement.
“They do their dirty political games in every situation” one man who had lived in the village his entire life said after the politicians had left the family courtyard.
After decades of being ignored, though, this week backhoes were levelling the ground and tractors were bringing bricks to construct the makeshift helipad in a private school ground. Road rollers were pressing the freshly put growl to fill the road potholes. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was coming to visit, villagers said.
The locals were not immediately impressed by all the work.
“What will the helipad give to the village?” asked Ashwani Kumar, the founder of the private school. “If the big leaders would have come by road at least they will see the road condition and the backwardness of the area.”
Mr. Kumar is also worried that no one will remove the makeshift helipad from the school playground, leaving his students nowhere to play.
The state government was spending 3 million rupees ($55,000) sprucing up the village and its connecting road, a local official told India Today. Earlier, the state government said it would give 2 million rupees to the family of the rape victim.
On Friday, the chief minister touched down, carrying a check for that amount. He also promised development of the village, including construction of a primary health center.
India Ink: New Focus on Village of Delhi Rape Victim's Father
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India Ink: New Focus on Village of Delhi Rape Victim's Father
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India Ink: New Focus on Village of Delhi Rape Victim's Father
