Chhayarani Sahu, 57, Farmer

A farmer from Bhadrak in Odisha, Chhayarani Sahu went each morning for a month with her husband and two sons to distribute three-four kg packets of vegetables grown in her seven acres of land to families in nearby villages. After the lockdown, when her produce started getting a lower price in the local market seven kilometres away, she decided to rather give it away free to the villagers. From April 5th, for a month, she spent around two-three hours distributing vegetables—brinjals, tomatoes, onions, okhra, pumpkins, green chillies—covering 15 panchayats which include 30-40 villages. “Some villagers had lost their jobs. Some didn’t have land. The government gives rice, not vegetables. Since we had vegetables, we decided to give it to the villagers,” says the mother of four in Oriya, as her son translates it to Hindi. After the rains, she has only two-three vegetables on her farm, which she gives away when someone knocks at her door.

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