His strong foothold helps in farm work

He can peel coconut, cut wood, start an oil engine, irrigate farm land, dig up earth and do all other hard agricultural work. These apart, he can even use a mobile phone. What’s so special, you may wonder.

Well, Thimmarayappa does all these, and much more, with his legs. For, this 38-year-old resident of Thimmasandaram Village in Soolagiri Panchayat Union was born without hands. It was through will power and tireless practice that he learnt farm work and cultivated his small piece of land all by himself.

Talking to Express, Thimmarayappa said, “I have four brothers and a sister. All others were physically normal. Only I was born without hands. But I did not lose confidence. I may be physically handicapped, but I prepared myself mentally for  farm job that a normal person can do.”

Ten years ago, he married Thimmakka (25) and the couple has three sons. His first son, Balasubramaniam (12), was in the seventh standard in a government high school in Chettipalli village, while other two, Baskar (9) and Bagavant (6), were in fourth and first standards respectively in the local middle school. Thimmarayappa’s hard work was generating enough for family to make ends meet but, for the past one year, scarcity of water for irrigation had halted cultivation on his 60-cent farm. His wife found employment under the MGNREGA Scheme but she had already completed 90 days of work and, from next week, would be jobless as well. Though Thimmarayappa received cash dole of `1,000 a month under the differently abled persons welfare scheme, his repeated appeals to successive Collectors for government assistance did not yield result. “I can work and earn, but government should support me,” he said.

Though new rules permitted the employment of differently abled under the MGNREGS, which meant he would have to work for four hours to get full day wage of Rs 140, he recently lost his differently abled person identity card. To apply for a new card, he would have to go to Krishnagiri.

“Krishnagiri is expensive for me. The differently abled welfare department should arrange an ID card to me,” he said.  He sought government support for a new borewell at his farm land.