Last updated:
On paper, Irappa no longer exists. And in the eyes of the system, a person who does not exist cannot receive subsidies, welfare benefits or any kind of official support.
For almost six months, this error has deprived them of government schemes on which small farmers depend. Their irrigation work has come to a standstill. Representative Image: Canva
Most mornings, Irappa Nagappa Abbai in Sutagatti village in Karnataka’s Belagavi district wakes up before sunrise, walks to his small sugarcane field, and settles into the quiet routine of agricultural life. At 53, he has learned to live with the general vagaries of weather and markets. He never imagined that he would have to fight a different kind of battle to prove to the government that he was alive.
For the past five months, Irappa has been carrying documents instead of farm tools, moving between offices instead of fields, trying to undo a mistake that turned him into a dead man on paper, while he remained alive in flesh and blood.
How a clerical error changed life
The story begins in July 2021 after the death of Irappa’s son. While issuing the death certificate, an accountant of the village made a fatal mistake. Instead of recording only the son’s details, the officer mistakenly marked Irappa as deceased as well.
From that day on, government records declared him dead. On paper, Irappa no longer exists. And in the eyes of the system, a person who does not exist cannot receive subsidies, welfare benefits or any kind of official support.
The moment he found out he was “dead”
The truth came out in 2025, when Irappa went to the nearby Murgod office to apply for the government drip irrigation scheme under the Minor Irrigation Department. The scheme could have helped them modernize their small farms by offering a subsidy of up to Rs 3 lakh.
Instead of forms and approval, they got a shock. Officials declared him ineligible. Not because of land records or income limits, but because, according to their system, he had been dead for more than 4 years.
long road passing through government offices
From that day on, Irappa’s life has been defined by traveling between government buildings. “I have been making repeated trips between the Murgod nada kacheri and the Savadatti tehsildar’s office, each trip taking about 1.5 hours,” he says, tired and perplexed.
Each trip brings fresh paperwork. Each form leads to another counter. Each counter sends him back to the beginning. What should have been a simple fix has turned into months of waiting, explaining and proving the obvious.
At one point, his frustration came out in a sentence that now defines his struggle. “I’m alive, not dead!”
For almost six months, this error has deprived them of government schemes on which small farmers depend. Their irrigation work has come to a standstill. His plans remain in vain.
Savadatti tehsildar Mallikarjun Heggannavar has now intervened in the matter. After examining the facts he accepted Irappa’s application and issued a notice to the village accountant responsible for the error. A departmental inquiry has been ordered and officials say that action will be taken if negligence is confirmed.
The tehsildar has also sent a detailed report to the district statistics office in Belagavi, which has forwarded it to higher authorities in Bengaluru. According to officials, the rectification process is underway and is expected to take around 20 days.
When paperwork turns people into ghosts
Irappa’s case is not an isolated one. Throughout rural India, small clerical mistakes often have life-changing consequences. An incorrect entry can block pensions, withhold subsidies, and erase people from the official systems that control access to needed assistance.
For farmers like Irappa, who rely heavily on government schemes to weather unpredictable weather and rising costs, such errors not only delay profits. They reshape daily life, turning survival into a bureaucratic battle.
Back in the field, and the fight for survival
Even now, Irappa continues to wake up early and tend his sugarcanes, though his days are divided between farming and paperwork. He waits for the moment when the record finally recognizes what his neighbors have known all along.
He is alive, working and entitled to the same support as any other farmer in the system.
Once improved, they hope to return to the irrigation application that started this journey. Until then, his fight for the simple right to exist on paper will continue just as he has already done in life.
January 12, 2026, 12:20 IST
stay ahead, read fast
Scan the QR code to download the News18 app and enjoy a seamless news experience anytime, anywhere.
