Chapter 4, The Stool Makers of Jobra Village Summary and Analysis

Yunas begins to visit the poor of Jobra to ascertain their problems in 1976. The village has three sections: Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim. His assistant is Prof. H. I. Latifee, who is known to most of the villagers. One day they visit a woman who makes stools out of bamboo cane. He finds she buys her bamboo using the money of middlemen who then purchase the finished stool when it is completed. The middleman then sells the stool and receives the full market price. If she borrows from a moneylender, it costs more. She earns basically two cents a day for her efforts in the current situation. The whole economic system functions in such a way that Sofiya will never break out of her poverty and neither will her children...