HOW BHARAT COPES: By turning to person-to-person credit
GAVAN: Friday is market day in Gavan, a coastal hamlet near Panvel in Raigad district. Like she’s been doing for most of her life, Janabai Jhuge, from the neighbouring village of Kopar, has arrived early in the morning to sell fish, an essential part of the daily diet of the Agari, Koli and other tribal communities in this coastal region of Maharashtra.
The market is usually bustling. This Friday the stalls are empty, desolate.
“Last week too there were hardly any people here. Most of them are standing in the queue to get their old currency notes exchanged,” she mutters, frowning.
She has not brought much fish to sell today, less than a quarter of what she brings on a normal Friday. Whatever she brought today she bought on credit. Until November 8, she used to pay cash to the fishermen in her village but who has any money now? “They are good men,” says Janabai. “They told me I can pay them whenever I have the money.”
A bunch of other fish sellers had pooled in to bring fish from Uran. They were able to buy larger quantities, and could sell them cheaper. But they too are in trouble because they could not afford the transport costs.
The new international airport and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHP) projects are being built not too far from Gavan, and there is usually a lot construction activity going on. Most of the villagers now supply construction material to the projects or have become small contractors. But today, the construction sites are idle.