Sivaraman lives in a small village near Karur town in Tamil Nadu. Karur is famous for its handloom
and powerloom fabrics. There are a 100 families in the village. Sivaraman an Aryunthathiyar
(cobbler) by caste now works as an agricultural labourer for Rs 50 per day. But that’s only for five to
six months in a year. At other times, he does odd jobs in the town. His wife Sasikala too works with
him. But she can rarely find work these days, and even if she does, she’s paid Rs 25 per day for the
same work that Sivaraman does. There are eight members in the family. Sivaraman’s 65 year old
widowed mother is ill and needs to be helped with her daily chores. He has a 25-year-old unmarried
sister and four children aged between 1 year to 16 years. Three of them are girls, the youngest is a
son. None of the girls go to school. Buying books and other things for school-going girls is a luxury he
cannot afford. Also, he has to get them married at some point of time so he doesn’t want to spend
on their education now. His mother has lost interest in life and is just waiting to die someday. His
sister and elder daughter take care of the household. Sivaraman plans to send his son to school
when he comes of age. His unmarried sister does not get along with his wife. Sasikala finds her a
burden but Sivaraman can’t find a suitable groom due to lack of money. Although the family has
difficulty in arranging two meals a day, Sivaraman manages to buy milk once in a while, but only for
his son.
1. What difficulties was Sivaraman facing?
2. How many members were there in his family?
3. What kind of a work he is engaged into?
4. Were all his children going to school? Why?
5. Suggest some measures wherein he can improve his condition.
Answers
Answers:
1) Sivaram is a very poor agricultural labourer who is facing a lot facing a lot of difficulties in life. Some of them are listed below:
✳ With the very few amount of money that he and his wife earns, he has to maintain a family of eight.
✳ They do not have a permanent job. Sometimes they have to stay unemployed.
✳ Sivaram's mother is also unwell and she has to be helped with her daily chores.
✳ His daughters are uneducated - this creates a vicious cycle.
✳ Sivaram's children are also malnourished due to the very small money he gets.
✳ He doesn't have the money to marry off his sister who has reached the age of marriage.
2) Sivaram's family consists of eight members - Sivaram, his wife, his sister, mother and four children (3 girls and a boy).
3) He works as an agricultural labourer. But when he is unemployed, he does odd jobs in the town.
4) No, all his children do not go to school. His three children who are girls are in the age of going to school but due to the gender discrimination that is present among the uneducated, they are not sent to school. But Sivaram plans to send his son to school in the future.
5) Many things can be done in both the individual as well as the government level to improve his conditions:
✳ Sivaram can enroll himself in yojanas of the central as well as the state government that help the poor.
✳ He can enroll his children in a government school. Government schools provide both good education as well as nutritious food that can help his children a lot.
✳ The government must take an initiative to find people who suffer from seasonal unemployment and take proper actions to employ them and so on.