Tyranny Of Distance: How A Village In Greater Noida Remained In Darkness For 70 Years

The village of Tilwada in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, is one of those places where contradictions outnumber families. Tilwada is situated in Greater Noida, nearly a 40-minute drive from New Delhi, the luminous power centre with malls, glittering media houses, a world of comforting chaos and cliches. It is less than 3 kilometres from Yamuna Express way - pushed into calming obscurity by dull high rises, some under construction, on one side. There is Yamuna on one side and a vibrant village on the other. Tilwada, crunched in the middle, was electrified in March in 2018.

In Tilwada, these contradictions can puzzle you, mislead you and even make you lose your way. The village cradled by agricultural lands is not easy to find - even when you are standing right before it. It could be mistaken for a fragment of a village nearby. Village Gharbhara. The electricity transformer in Tilwada, I am told by people on the way to Tilwada, is a better landmark for the village than the village itself. More than a month ago, the transformer made news.

Tilwada had a tryst with history, in its own little way, in March this year. It welcomed electrification. A chapter of darkness had ended when Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh, the man described as the force behind this change by the villagers, inaugurated the transformer. Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) installed a 25kV transformer. Tilwada's people saw the first spark of electricity changing homes and lives. The first bulb flickered without the help of a diesel generator set, for the first time, ending the shameful theatre of darkness.

How can a village remain under a man made eclipse of darkness, in the backyard of New Delhi and Noida, for so long?

Twenty four hours from the moment Swarajya visits Tilwada, Leisang, a small village in Senapati district, Manipur, would create history for being the last village joining the national power grid. Electricity reaching Leisang is a milestone with which the central government marked and announced completion of the electrification drive of inhabited villages. And here, roughly a 40-minute drive from New Delhi, the capital of India, it is hard to believe that Tilwada got its electricity connect as recently as March 2018.

The village in Senapati district with 19 families became the last in India to be part of the national power grid. “Leisang village in Manipur, like the thousands of other villages across India, has been powered and empowered!” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. In another tweet dedicated to this story of power and empowerment of people living in India's villages, he saluted the efforts of workers on ground, technical staff and officials involved in making possible the electrification of Leisang. The message included four powerful images that narrate a story of grit, determination and a movement finding feet in difficult terrain, reflecting the essence of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. Tilwada had advantage geography. Yet, it remained at a disadvantage. Perhaps, of distance.

Tilwada got electricity, light and empowerment due to the efforts of Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL). Lines were extended, transformer installed and power meters fitted in the houses. Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikant Sharma says, "Tilwada is just one such story of success in Uttar Pradesh. We have covered 62,000 such majras in villages and approximately the same number of majras are still to be covered." According to the minister, in Gautam Buddha Nagar, majras unelectrified on 1 April 2017, were 148; majras electrified up to 31 March 2018 were 93 and majras waiting to be electrified are 55.

Bhati brothers, two villagers living in Tilwada, seem to have noticed the outsider shuttling back and forth on the kutcha road that cuts their agricultural lands. "What are you looking for?" they yell from a large compound. "Where is Tilwada?" I yell back from the fields. I see them grinning in return. “You are an outsider. It is natural to get puzzled. But what excuse did people familiar with this village and our problems had all these years and decades? They would simply forget about our basic needs. They would forget about the village while visiting villages around Tilwada for votes," Ranvir Bhati says. The few houses I see before me make Tilwada. Its many houses, now missing, after people living in them walked out to other villages, greener, less dark pastures, also make Tilwada. Marks of these missing houses remain, like stitch marks that remain on cloth, after the embroidery is pulled out.

What took so long to install a transformer in Tilwada and get the lines going? Dhirendra Singh, MLA, Jewar, who had made electricity one of his election promises and inaugurated the transformer in March, adds. "I have no answer for other people's inaction. What has been done now, could have been done all these years. It was a doob kshetra (flood prone area) then, so it is, even now. What has changed? It all depends on the willingness and will to instill change in people's lives. When I would go to Tilwada, I would feel ashamed to face women. They would tell me about the difficulties they faced. They would add that local candidates turned their back on Tilwada after becoming MLAs all these years," he says.

Sukhbir Nagar, a resident of a village near Faridabad spent his childhood in Tilwada with the Bhati family. He knows the difficulties the cousins in Tilwada have faced. According to Sukhbir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state and the centre has made a huge difference to not only their lives, but also to that of fellow villages across the state. Sukhbir says, "which government in the past has pursued the cause of electricity in villages and toilets with the consistency shown by the BJP? We managed what we could, within our limited means. Now, it is up to our children to prove their mettle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the facilities they have. Electricity should become their biggest incentive and reason to do better than us and our generation."

It is the year of realisation for Batee Bhati, the senior most woman in the village. A spark of light turned darkness into a thing from past. Bhati doesn't remember the date when the 25 kV transformer was installed a stone's throw from her compound, but she remembers years, decades, of darkness. "The best part is that we are able to sleep well in the night. Earlier, we would have a hard time swatting away mosquitoes. We would fall sick so often."

It is a year of light in Tanu Bhati's life. "1 March 2018". Tanu and her cousins rattle off the date of electrification from their sharp memory. Devender Bhati, who is pursuing a professional course at an institute in Rithauri, is impressed. "How can the kids forget the date of Tilwada electrification? It's the first time he, or any of us, saw electricity in our village. For us, it is a moment of our own history," he says.

According to Dhirendra Singh, providing electricity involved convincing the officials of NPCL and the time spent in doing that brought good results. He says, "It is the policy of the government to ensure electricity connection to every village and every majra.  No excuse or reason stands before this target. For my target of getting electricity to Tilwada, I was given reasons and hurdles by people who were responsible for working it out on ground.  The biggest was that it was a flood prone area, owing to the presence of Yamuna and Hindon rivers. The two rivers would swell during the rainy season leading to floods here.  But that's hardly an excuse.  People have been facing problems here for so long. How could I let them continue suffering on this account?"

Tilwada was without electricity since Independence. There were many factors conspiring to make it remain under this man made eclipse. The absence of electricity shaped its destiny. Villagers deserted it because there were floods and no electricity. Electricity deserted it because there wasn't the required number of villagers living in it to be eligible for a connection. The village has barely five houses in it today. But their people who had left Tilwada, according the villagers, are beginning to return.

The outside of their homes is unusually eerie on a summer afternoon. Nagar makes the feeling worse with his narration. He guides me to the back of the houses, to show areas and patches where houses existed, before his relatives and other families moved over to Gharbhara, to avoid the dark, dark Tilwada of the rainy season. "Earlier,  all this was inhabited by people who left Tilwada to settle in gharbhara and other villages around Jewar."

Using the connection to meet their agricultural needs fully is still not possible. The men say that the work they have done on the fields, has been their effort alone. It is discomforting to hear their narrative on diesel-based irrigation as being the only option, even in 2018. "The crop prices are not sufficient in comparison with the money we spend on irrigation. We can't stop being farmers. We made do with what we have. The village will do better when we get the third phase of supply. Currently, there are only two. Motors for irrigation would need a third phase. We have applied for it."

Who benefits from electrification the most? Women and children. The electricity connection has touched their lives,  most quickly and effectively. Ranvir puts it a bit too plainly. He says, "What would women of a village do when they get electricity the first time? They make up for sleep lost all these years. They would barely get to sleep in the night owing to the discomfort children experience. We live in a flood plain. You cannot imagine how big the mosquito menace is, here."  Asha Bhatti, a resident, tells that it is much more than just sleep. She says, "It would be impossible to expect children to rest during the day. They would be tired but would choose to play under that tree outside in the scorching sun and hot winds. Now, at least, I can call them all inside to rest and sleep during the day. It saves them from illness."

Access to power during the evening gives children a chance to read and write. Tanu is nine and studies in Class III at a school in village Gharbhara. Now, Tanu studies in the light of a bulb. She can pull off studies between 7 pm and 10 pm. Earlier, she would get tired studying under a kerosene oil lamp or an oil lamp or a candle. "That's true for not just Tanu, but all of the kids here. The power supply is just about enough for the kids and their needs as of now. We got them the dish connection. Thanks to the television, they now know what's happening in India and around the world. After their study session is over, they get a good sleep."

Ranvir points at his cousin Nemvir Bhati, who barely utters a word during our interaction. "My cousin Nemvir could not study after Class II. He would find studying in candle light difficult. During his examinations that year, the family could not arrange for candles. He did not take his examinations and did not study after that," Ranvir adds.

I request Batee to recount the days she has spent without electricity in her village. All these years. All these decades. She says, "Don't even remind me of how we spent all these years without electricity. I, like other women in the village, have spent all these years just adjusting wicks in kerosene lamps - which were the source of light for us when my kids were growing up. When they were infants and toddlers, their faces would turn dark with soot and smoke from these lamps. I would wipe their faces clean only in the morning. The younger women are luckier to get electricity."

In her compound, women have flocked together, after a short TV session in the house near by. Access to refrigeration has made living simpler, they discuss. The younger women poke fun at Batee, her generation, which has struggled with darkness, owing to no electricity connection. "She and women of her generation are darker because they have inhaled more kerosene from lanterns," says her relative.

Like any other person who was brought up in a small town or a village in Uttar Pradesh, one has been good friends with darkness, mosquitoes, sweat and sweltering heat in the 1980s and 1990s. The same decades when Batee's children were growing up, too. But, there was consolation. Consolation electrification, which has come to Tilwada in 2018.

The villagers take no pride in remaining cut off from the world or in not being educated or literate for decades. The absence of an electricity connection all these years meant that their actions and time would be utilised in filling up several holes for survival. Sometimes, things as basic as kerosene oil and candles would get exhausted or hard to access. What would they do then?  "Nothing. Just nothing. Even if a child became sick and needed attention, he would stay without a fan the entire day or night. We would ride him to medical care only when possible."

Currently, the villagers are thrilled about receiving their first electricity bill. They will preserve it. They are aware of how farmers in other towns and villages complain about bills and money charged.  "Our kids may not understand this emotion because the situation has changed at the right time for them. We villagers got the connection recently, but we know the value of electricity.  We believe in happily paying for services we receive from the government and there is no question of complaining about the bill," Ranvir adds.

The absence of electricity in the village made facing bigger challenges and difficulties tougher. "The darkness totally enveloped our lives. Had we had the back up of electricity, we would focus on our lives and education," Devender Bhati adds.

Politics and privilege don't hold ground in darkness these villagers have seen. In the glow of a bulb, the irony, neglect and apathy of the past glisten even more in Tilwada. The tyranny of distance from Noida and New Delhi surely has been puzzling in this case.

How darkness can push a village to obscurity and effect lives and generations when a village has no access to electricity can be seen clearly in Tilwada. Efforts are on to look at a better future. "The farmers in Tilwada will not even need a third phase of electricity. I am making efforts to give them access to better irrigation machines and equipment. These will run well even in two phases of electricity they currently receive,” said Dhirendra Singh.

Electricity has brought sort of festivities to the houses in Tilwada. And this is just a new beginning in this small village in Uttar Pradesh - a dot of light in a changing India.

Pictures : Sumati Mehrishi/ Swarajya