New Delhi: Here is a shocking revelation by Zee Media which narrates a heart-wrenching survival story of poor farmers of Simra village situated in Bundelkhand's Tikampur region in Uttar Pradesh.
As per the Exclusive Zee Media report, the people there are so poor that they are forced to eat 'Ghas ki Roti' (grass bread) to beat their hunger pangs.
"We normally feed the grass to the cattle," said a villager and added "but now we have no choice but to eat its by-product".
Apart from grass, which are usually used to feed animals, villagers here boil some green leaves, which look like spinach, in hot water and consume it as so called 'vegetables'. These leaves are known as samai, a kind of weed that grows along river banks. There is little to season it, a small dish of oil and salt is poured in towards the end.
The impact on the region, especially the poor, has been acute. From three meals a day, they are down to one. The quality of food has plummeted, the recourse to 'rotis of grass' is an indication that they have reached the bottom of their food stocks.
This special coverage has been done by Zee News Correspondent Rahul Sinha who not only gathered the story but even tasted the 'Rotis Made of Grass' which according to him tastes like 'mud'!
Notably, people of Bundelkhand region are facing drought for the last two years. Scores of people have died due to farm crisis in the last kharif season and an equal number of people have died in the last Rabi season, only in the Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region.
Fifty of the state's 75 districts have been officially declared as drought-hit.
