Non Stop Death Dance in Nizamabad

NIZAMABAD: Despite chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy asserting a few days ago that the government would ensure that no farmer would commit suicide due to crop failure or mounting debts, 15 ryots have committed suicide in Nizamabad district in the last 22 days alone. And in many of these instances, erratic power supply was stated as the reason for them taking the extreme step.
“Unable to come to terms with the drying up of standing crops, the farmers who sowed the crops by borrowing huge loans from private moneylenders are resorting to suicide,” farm expert Ch Krishnamurthy said. Though it rained for a couple of days in Nizamabad town, the prolonged dry spell has hit the district farmers badly. Nearly 30 out of 36 mandals have recorded deficit rainfall in the last two months, officials said.
The heavy rainfall the district has been receiving in the last few days has come as too late for many farmers. Pokala Sailoo, 45, of Mudhelli village in Gandhari mandal and Toorpu Gopal, 48, of Gandhari, were the latest who ended lives on Wednesday.
If clearing the mounting debts was hanging like a sword of Damocles, the farmers were also crippled by withered crops and erratic power supply. “Do I have any other option? It (suicide) is the only alternative for us to run away from the debts,” said Kalali Srihari Goud of Devunipalli village in Machareddy mandal. Holding back the tears, Goud said besides the paddy seedlings, his maize crop sown in one acre had dried up at the budding stage itself due to lack of rainfall.
Taking a dig at the government, Goud, who recently borrowed Rs 2 lakh to perform his daughter’s marriage and dig borewells, said: “Will the real YSR please come to our rescue?” And Goud is no small farmer — he owns five acres of agriculture land!
It was Nenawat Govind, 25, who set the alarm bells ringing by hanging himself on August 6 at Piskalgutta thanda in Gandhari unable to clear the Rs 2 lakh debt. Debt-ridden Poshatti of Nagepur in Navipet mandal and Bhumanna in Donchanda of Morthad followed Govind and soon it became a death dance.
Three more farmers — Anantha Reddy of Borgam, Beerappa of Nyalkal and Krishana of Mudakpalli of Nizamabad mandal — also ended their lives due to distress. In the intervening period, Macha Karrenna of Gadkol in Sirikonda mandal, Chandu of Madnoor, Gaddam Saireddy of Darpalli, Ramulu and Sailu of Pitlam mandal have committed suicide.

Technorati Tags: Farmers’ Suicides

Farmers suicides in Karnataka

BANGALORE, AUGUST 29: Like other states, Karnataka too showing signs of severe agrarian distress in the current financial year. More than 50 farmers committed suicides in less than five months in the current fiscal year.

The BJP government has already declared 86 taluks in 20 districts as drought hit. Standing crops on 16 lakh hectares got damaged on account of deficit rains since June 1. The crop loss in rainfed areas has been estimated at Rs. 720.20 crore and horticultural crops on over 60,000 hectares have been ruined due to scanty rains. In fact, more than 3/4th of lands in the state is rainfed. Only 23 per cent the sowing was depended on irrigation facilities in Karnataka.

Standing food crops and commercial crops got withered in 20 districts following scanty rainfall. The central team visited to the state to said the state’s demand for Rs. 394 crore relief is realistic demand.

According to sources in the Government, as on July end, the highest number of suicide cases has been reported from Shimoga (7), followed by Tumkur – six cases, Belgaum and Hassan – five each, Chikmagalur, Bidar, Davangere, and Bijapur – three each, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada – two each and Mysore district – one.

Out of the last nine years, the State has experienced droughts for seve

Technorati Tags: Farmers’ suicides

n years and this is one of the major reasons for farmers taking extreme step. A large number of farmers committed suicide during the drought period from 2000-01 to 2003-04. As many as 337 suicide cases have been reported in 2008-09.

Despite several steps taken by the State government, farmers suicides continued over the years. Cooperatives have been disbursed loans at three per cent rate of interest. To learn new farming methods, the Government sent 633 farmers to China at a cost of Rs. 423.79 lakhs. The government had given Rs. 1,000 each to small and marginal farmers who are dependent on dry lands farming, officials said.

Farmer couple writes to president, demands mercy killing of four sons

Ani

August 28th, 2009

NEW DELHI – The farmer couple Jeetnarayan and wife of Prabhawati living in Bashi village of Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh have written to the President of India seeking permission for mercy killing of their four sons aged between 10 and 16 years.

The brothers are suffering from an affliction caused by muscular dystrophy, leaving them to lead a life in a vegetative state.

The four children, Durgesh, 16, Sarvesh, 14, Brijesh, 11, and Suresh, 10, were afflicted with the disease when they turned five.

Children cannot even stand on their feet, move their body below the neck, and have to rely on their parents’ for every daily activity.

Jeetnarayan has sold everything of financial value in his house to foot the hefty sums spent for the children’s treatment.

“Now we are very tired as we just take care of them day and night. There is no time to work even to earn our living. Then we submitted an application to the Prime Minister and also chief of the state. But there was no hearing to our plight. No one came to our door. It’s better for the entire family to die rather than live in such a miserable state,” said Jeetnarayan

“We wanted treatment to be done. But it’s not happening anywhere. We don’t have any other option, we are very poor and there is no way to go. We wanted them to be treated but that’s not happening anywhere and no treatment can be done. So it’s better that we die,” said Prabhawati.

Indian laws do no permit euthanasia or mercy killing. (ANI)

Technorati Tags: Farmers suicides

Kisan Incorporated

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/kisan-incorporated-414

 

August 28th, 2009

By G.V. Ramanjaneyulu & Kavitha Kuruganti

Some recent developments in India’s agri-related laws might make former finance minister P. Chidambaram’s infamous dream of seeing “only 15 per cent of Indians in villages” come true much faster than anyone thought possible. Moves are afoot to ensure large-scale displacement of farmers and agricultural workers — the most blatant move is already underway in Andhra Pradesh, under Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. An experiment under the garb of “farmers cooperative” was approved by the state Cabinet recently, not very different from what his rival N. Chandrababu Naidu attempted some years ago. The arguments too are old: Small holdings lead to low productivity, low income, low investments and, this vicious cycle goes on.

This argument ignores the fact that more than 900 scientists from 110 countries have recently concluded an international process, called the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), pointing out that small-holding ecological farming is the way forward. We are also familiar with the subsidies that prop up intensive, large-scale models of farming elsewhere, despite claims of efficiency. Numerous studies have confirmed the inverse relationship between the size of farms and the amount of crops they produce per unit.

A study from Turkey shows that farms less than a hectare are 20 times more productive than farms that are over 10 hectares! But why should anyone be looking at such data when the sizes of land holdings and their alleged low productivity is used as an excuse to grab land?

This is what the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister is proposing: Get farmers to pool their land into a cooperative/society/company. Farmers sell their land to the new entity in return for some shares, which will then take up all agricultural operations and pay dividends. Farmers can exit by selling their share to existing members and, if there are no takers, government will buy the shares at a pre-determined market price. Land cannot be obtained back. Though many questions remain unanswered — what will happen to the farmers and how will they take part in any decision-making? What will tenant farmers and agricultural workers do? Why will land not be returned to the farmers? — the state Cabinet has decided to take up a pilot project in 50 villages by investing Rs 5,000 crore and there are moves to introduce a new legislation along these lines.

To begin with, the entire reasoning that bashes small holdings is faulty. Two, an experiment taken up by Mr Naidu some years ago along these lines (“Kuppam Project”) failed in delivering the promised benefits and had environmental repercussions. Most importantly, this move will take away land permanently from farmers and is truly an exit mechanism.

Incidentally, it is in Andhra Pradesh that the world’s largest ecological farming project is unfolding, supported by the state’s rural development department, which is proving that farming can indeed be made viable through alternative technologies and people’s organisations.

This programme, yielding results on more than 20 lakh acres, all small and marginal holdings, has attracted great attention already. Is it by design that the state government chose to ignore such vastly successful models and set about “to make farming viable” through proven-to-have-failed models?

While this is happening in Andhra Pradesh, in neighbouring Tamil Nadu a bill was introduced in the Assembly and supposedly passed on a day when 30 bills were passed without much discussion. This new legislation, called Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Council Act 2009, is about setting up a council that will be empowered to inspect agricultural institutions, courses of study, examinations etcetera, all to ensure that standards are conformed to.

“At present, there is no law to provide for the regulation of agricultural practice… it’s been considered necessary to regulate agricultural practice and registration of agricultural practi-tioners…” states the object of the legislation. Sounds inane enough? However, the law says that no one can render agricultural services unless his/her name is registered in the “Tamil Nadu Agricultural Practitioners Register” with a formal agricultural qualification from Tamil Nadu (outsiders can register within 90 days of their entry!).
In a country which has always had a rich tradition of farming based on an oral and experiential knowledge and in a state where paddy productivity levels are recorded to have been up to 13 tonnes per hectare (in 1807 in Coimbatore) without qualified agriculture scientists, this move is an outright rejection of the vast untapped knowledge of our farm women and men.

Worse, in the name of regulating agricultural services, this seems to be a way of controlling the farmer-to-farmer spread of ecological farming in the state, which is led by farmers themselves, their networks and other civil society groups. Tamil Nadu is also the state where the anti-genetically modified protests against Tamil Nadu Agriculture University’s unthinking capitulation to agro-MNCs like Monsanto are running at a high-pitched level. A connection between the resistance movement and this new law cannot be ruled out.

This new regulation of “agriculture services” will effectively provide more and more markets for particular kinds of technologies at the expense of farmers, as the advisories will be driven by the mindsets that prevail in the agriculture education/ research system in the country and the commercial interests of the agri-services to be set up. This route of a “qualified” advisory system will obviously facilitate conflicting interests and help in improving exclusivity of “markets” by reducing competition, while ignoring the causes for the current agrarian crisis. While a law of this kind should regulate services provided by agricultural research and agri-business bodies to ensure accountability for their services, especially in relation to economic, environmental and social viability and sustainability of farming, it should not be used as a weapon to penalise farmers and civil society

Technorati Tags: Farmers Cooperatives,Land grabbing

groups which are trying to promote sustainable farming.

These two initiatives in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are not to be seen as isolated attempts to create more markets for agri-businesses, but as an orchestrated move towards an unwritten “exit policy” for farmers.

These two moves will set a bad precedent for the rest of the country.

Given that agriculture is contributing a lower and lower share in the country’s gross domestic product, its importance in the mainstream economic development model might be diminishing for many policymakers. However, this is a question of livelihood for millions of Indians — without ensuring access and control over basic productive resources and without moving towards sustainable production technologies, the current saga of agrarian distress, including suicides, will only increase.

Such legislations and programmes cannot be brought in without comprehensive debates and without the government clearly stating its vision for farming livelihoods and how they would be liable when things go wrong.

* Dr G.V. Ramanjaneyulu is the executive director of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad, and Kavitha Kuruganti is a trustee of Kheti Virasat Mission, Punjab.

A hidden truth of farmer’s suicide

BY CHENNAIVISION AT 27 APRIL, 2009, 2:29 PM

Ludhiana, A glaring and sad aspect of suicides in the agriculture sector in Punjab is that the families of the victims not only had to sell land, but also other assets such as farm machinery, gold to repay their debts.

A government-sponsored study conducted by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Bathinda and Sangrur districts came across 2,990 suicides in the farm sector from 2000 to 2008. Of these, 1757 were farmers and the remaining farm labourers. Of these, 1288 farmers and 671 labourers ended their lives because of debts.

As many as 227 families in Bathinda district sold land worth Rs 7.36 crore to repay their debts. The average value of land sold was Rs 3.24 lakh.

In all 550 farmers committed suicide in Bathinda district due to debt. A majority of them (87 per cent) were small and marginal farmers owning land upto five acres while 13 per cent cases were reported among the medium and large farmers owning more than 10 acres.

The debt ranged from Rs two lakh to Rs 8.20 lakh in case of farmers who committed suicide.

In the case of Sangrur district, 738 farmers committed suicide owing to indebtedness. Of these, the families of 353 farmers sold land worth Rs 19.05 crore to pay off their debt.

The average debt burden in Sangrur was Rs 5.39 lakh. Besides, 58 families of these farmers sold even machinery and other assets.

In Sangrur, 57 per cent farmers were in the marginal category and 29 per cent were small scale farmers. The remaining 14 per cent were medium and large farmers.

The debt against them ranged from Rs 2.8 lakh to Rs 7.87 lakh in Sangrur district.

Average debt against labourers who committed suicide was Rs 70,036 in Sangrur district, and their average income was Rs 19,419.

The average debt against labourers who committed suicide in Bathinda was Rs 47,347 and their average income was Rs 21,710.

In Bathinda district, the most affected villages include Vhauke where 18 farmers ended their lives while in Mandi Kalan 17 farmers and in Pitho 13 farmers committed suicide.

In Sangrur district the most affected village were Andana where 18 suicides were reported followed by Bhutal Kalan (20), Seron (14), Bhattiwala Kalan (11) and Nagara (10).

Technorati Tags: Farmers suicides,Punjab

Farmer & Agricultural Labourers Suicides due to Indebtedness in the Punjab State — a pilot project of Sangrur and Bathinda districts

A Punjab Agricultural Univeristy report Farmer & Agricultural Labourers Suicides due to Indebtedness in the Punjab State — a pilot project of Sangrur and Bathinda districts, submitted to the Punjab government a few days back has sirred a political storm.
The survey report says that 2,990 farmers had committed suicide in two districts — 1256 in Bathinda and 1634 in Sangrur district — between 2000 and 2008. This report, more or less like a household census, is considered to be the first authentic survey of the spate of suicides among farmers and agricultural workers.
This report comes within a month of the Punjab government’s decision to fix a price for farmer suicides — Rs 2 lakh to the families of those farmers who have committed suicide in the past one year.
In Sangrur district, 738 farmers who took the fatal path to escape growing indebtedness, had an average outstanding debt of Rs 3.36 lakh per farmer. For another lot of 246 farmers who committed suicide for other reasons, the average outstanding amount standing against their name was Rs 79,935. As far as farm labourers are concerned, the average debt was Rs 70,036.
In Bathinda, the average outstanding due against farmers who could not sustain the growing indebtedness, was Rs 2.94 lakh. As many as 550 farmers belonged to this category. For another lot of 223 farmers who too committed suicide but for other reasons, the average outstanding debt was Rs 85,825. For the workers, the outstanding amount against their name was Rs 47,347 on an average. The report also provides a list of such households.
Meanwhile, another report in The Independent, London, says 1,500 farmers in Chattisgarh State have committed suicide. It blames crop failure and the falling water table to be responsible for the serial death dance. If this is true, I don’t see why the Punjab farmers, who are endowed with assured irrigation, have to commit suicide. That means lack of irrigation alone cannot be the reason. The PAU report blames growing indebtedness for the spate of suicides. Indebtedness comes from various reasons, and somehow I find we shirk from pointing to the real causes.
Reports about suicides in Vidharba belt in Maharashtra also ascribe it to lack of irrigation and distress sale of produce. While all this may be true, but I sometimes wonder why are we all reluctant to dig it deeper and find out the real causes that triggers indebtedness.

Devinder Sharma Groundreality

Technorati Tags: Farmers Suicides,Punjab

1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India

Technorati Tags: farmers suicides,chattisgarh

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

“The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago,” Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine

“Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well.”

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

“The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds,” said Lakhnu’s friend Santosh. “There were no rains at all.”

“That’s why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans.”

Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: “Farmers’ suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death.”

Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

“Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.

All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies,” he said.

This article is from The Belfast Telegraph

1,232 farmers committed suicide in MP

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20081217/1712101.htm

Bhopal, Dec 16: Though Maharashtra has once against toped the list of suicides by farmers in the country with the state recording 4,238 such cases last year, the situation in Madhya Pradesh on this front is also turning out to be grim with the state recording 1,232 cases of suicides by farmers last year, as per the latest report of the National Crimes Record Bureau.

In terms of suicides by farmers in the country, Madhya Pradesh ranks fifth. The states which are ahead of Madhya Pradesh in this regard include Maharashtra (4,238), Karnataka (2,135), Andhra Pradesh (1,797) and Chhattisgarh with 1,593 cases of suicides by farmers. However, if the figures of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh are clubbed together, the total number of suicide cases by farmers in both these states will only be next to Maharashtra.

A study by the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS), as quoted in The Hindu last year, also puts the number of farmer suicides in the two states at well over 2,000 a year from 1997 onwards when the Institute began documenting suicide figures. According to its data, 2,390 farmers committed suicide in the two states in 1997; 2,278 in 1998; 2,654 in 1999; 2,660 in 2000; 2,824 in 2001; 2,578 in 2002; 2,511 in 2003; 3,033 in 2004; and 2,660 in 2005 respectively.

On the other hand, the state has ranked third in terms of statistics of family members committing suicides jointly under a common suicide pact. As per the National Crimes Records Bureau report, out of 264 deaths (which included 118 males and 146 females) reported under this category last year, Madhya Pradesh ranked third with a total of 12 persons committing suicides under a common pact. In this category, Kerala attained top position with 39 such cases followed by Andhra Pradesh (34).

Among 35 Indian cities, Bhopal has turned out to be family suicide capital of the country from where the highest number family suicides (8) were reported. It was followed by Surat (6) and Rajkot with 5 family suicide cases respectively. The suicide rate in cities (13.3) was higher as compared to All-India suicide rate (10.8). As per the NCRB report, while Bangalore and Chennai recorded the highest suicide rates of 42.7 and 36 respectively, the same was found to be the lowest in Indore (the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh) and Kolkata with the suicide rates of 2.0 and 1.5 respectively.

As far as reasons of suicides in Indian cities are concerned, Allahabad has taken the lead with almost 50% of the people committing suicide due to family reasons. It was followed by Indore and Amritsar with 43.8% and 42.3% of the people committing suicides for the same reasons. `Dowry dispute’ took lives of 37.5% of suicide victims in Indore. Of total suicides in Indore, 56.3% suicides were committed by house wives, while 68.8% of the victims committed suicides by consuming insecticides.

In Bhopal, `death of a dear person’ drove 8.3% victims towards suicide, while 11.4% suicide victims were engaged in farming/agriculture activity.

Krishna K Jha

Technorati Tags: Farmers’ Sucides

Institutionalised corruption in Vidharba-hostile to farmers: VJAS writes to Maharashtra CM

VJAS has been monitoring vidarbha farmers suicides and agrarian crisis since 1999 and we are glad that your Govt. and UPA govt. at the centre has first officially admitted that west vidarbha cotton famers are in pathetic condition and committing suicides and has declared timely relief packages in 2005 and 2006 but as on today if we look at the net result of these Rs.5000 crore relief packages it is crystal clear that all relief packages failed to stop on going farm suicides on vidarbha more over it failed to provide any help or healing touch to the 2 million distressed farmers of west vidarbha .please look at the graph which is true picture of result of relief packages.

Institutionalised corruption has made hostile condition of administration

The massive corruption in which minister are directly involved are mainly responsible for the failure for the failure of these relief packages, In the relief packages main chunk of money around Rs.2500 crore which is 70% of total relief package under AIBP has been released for but money was siphoned out and it failed to increase not even 2% land to be covered under irrigation .all other schemes of relief packages the money was has not reached to distressed farmers and touts and agents have been benefited along with minister concerned deptt.

With this letter I want to thorow light on the fact that entire Indiais quite aware with the gravity and the depth of the issue of continued grave plight of Farmers in light of unpresented & unfortunate situation arising out of hundreds of suicides committed by distressed farmers in the Cotton Cultivating Belt of Vidarbha Region of State of Maharashtra. The gross failure of the State Administration even to take the cognizance of the Survey Report prepared by the State Controlled Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawlamban Mission at Amravati Commissionerate in the month of May-June 2006, in which the information pertaining to farmers’ families in distress and with the extreme illness have not been attended by the State Administration even after 18 months from the Survey conducted in May-June, 2006.

The Government has formed a High Power Committee headed by Vice-Chancellor of Pune University, Dr. Narendra Jadhav to examine the shortcomings in the Farmers’ Packages under implementation and to suggest remedial measures to stop farmer suicides. At the time of visit of Dr. Jadhav to Vidarbha Region, the Farmers Organization – Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS) – which is following the issue since last almost 9 years on the basis of the ground study & analysis of each and every case of unfortunate suicides of the farmers in different villages of Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State has submitted a detailed report to the Jadhav Committee.

In the context of the report submitted by Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee, it is relevant to throw light on certain facts. At the time of visit of Dr. Narendra Jadhav to Nagpur, various Organisations submitted Memorandum to the said Committee, but the Memorandum submitted by VJAS through its President Shri Kishore Tiwari highlighted the detailed analysis the causes of the Farmers Suicides and after reviewing the success of implementation of the State Government Package & PMO Package for Farmers, the Committee admitted that the Packages have totally failed to provide any immediate help to those farmers’ families in the category of “Farmers Families in Extreme Distress” (total families 4,34,291) and “Farmers Families with extreme illness” (total families 92,456),though the complete data of which is available in the Report of the Survey conducted by Govt. of Maharashtra in June, 2006. It is required that it must act now, otherwise it will be too late to sort out the broken social structure in dying Rural Vidarbha.

VJAS pointed out that we all are very well aware that though the issue is complex and is the overall effect of various factors governing it, still we have few points to be highlighted for your immediate action in the interest of dying farmers, apart from the various long term measures suggested by various agencies including the High Power Committee appointed by Your Government under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, Former Chairman of National Commission of Farmers & the Father of Green Revolution in the country.

VJAS highlighted these points on the very basis of the above referred document, which is the Survey Report dated 15^th June, 2006 conducted by the Government of Maharashtra’s Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawlamban Mission at Amravati in connection with the Farmers’ plight and also reflected in the report submitted Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Committee.

It is evident from the Survey Document that the farmers ‘in extreme distress’ as mentioned in the column 9 of the Survey Chart are 4,34,291 and the farmers families suffering from serious illness are 92,456.

The detailed survey was conducted by the said Government Controlled Mission at Amravati under the guidance of Divisional Commissioner at Amravati, in the 8351 Villages of 6 Districts of Vidarbha comprising of Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Washim & Wardha in which 17,64,438 families were surveyed by the Mission.

On the basis of the in-depth study and analysis conducted by VJAS, out of such a huge numbers of families from those surveyed villages, VJAS had drawn the immediate attention of the Jadhav Committee towards the facts pertaining to the farmers in extreme distress and farmers with serious illness as stated above.

THE FACTS & OUR EXPERIENCE :

VJAS pointed out that in majority of cases of farmers suicides, we came to know that there is no food or medicine available to them and this plight has continued to result the extreme step of suicide by the said farmer and / or its family members.

Now, it is imperative on the part of the Union of India and State of Maharashtra that this known factors / points are to be attended to immediately so that these two class of farmers families i.e. the Farmers in Extreme Distress and Farmers Suffering from Serious Illness need to be attended immediately to remediate the plight of such farmers on the verge of committing suicides. It is regretted that the State Administration has miserably failed to attend these two known categories even though these required immediate relief measures to control the unfortunate incidents of suicides.

1) NEED OF FOOD SECURITY TO FARMERS IN EXTREME DISTRESS –

IDENTIFIED FAMILIES : 4,34,291.

CAUSES IDENTIFIED :

After visiting the families of the farmers which committed suicides, we came to know that there was no food even sufficient for 2 days in the houses of such farmers. These unfortunate facts of non-availability of Food or money to buy food grain and / or the medicine, resulted in the ultimate sad and unfortunate incident of suicide by the said farmers who were unable to face the agony and distress of such unfortunate plight of indirect hunger and ultimate starvation of the family members including small children and old parents.

REMEDY SUGGESTED :

The Union of India through State of Maharashtrais providing food grain at the subsidized rate to the BPL families amongst the farm / landless labours. In order to stop the indirect hunger and starvation of these 4,34,291 Identified ‘Families in Extreme Distress’, most of them are small farmers of which the economic condition is not above the landless labourers (Col No. 9 of the Survey Chart), State of Maharashtra to provide 25 Kg of Food grain per month at the subsidized price @ Rs. 3 – 5 per kg under the PDS and/or any other special scheme to be announced at least for a period of 18 months now onwards. This will immediately result in providing direct food help to the 4,34,291 Identified Families in Extreme Distress and the indirect starvation of such families can be stopped so that the ultimate effect which is leading to the unfortunate suicide of the farmer family can be stopped, once the hunger and the indirect starvation of such families is attended to.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended to provide immediate Food Security to 4,34,291 Identified Families in Extreme Distress and order to formulate immediate scheme to provide 25 Kg of Food grain per month at the subsidized price @ Rs. 3 – 5 per kg under the PDS and/or any other special scheme to be announced at least for a period of 18 months i.e. upto December, 2009.

FARMERS FAMILIES SUFFERING FROM SERIOUS ILLNESS –

IDENTIFIED FAMILIES : 92,456.

CAUSES IDENTIFIED :

After visiting the families of the farmers which committed suicides, we also came to know that there was no medicine in the houses of such farmers where the family members are seriously ill or suffering from such diseases. The non-availability of medicine or money to buy food grain and / or the medicine, resulted in the ultimate sad and unfortunate incident of suicide by the said farmers who were unable to face the agony and distress of such unfortunate plight of indirect sufferings due to illness, hunger and ultimate starvation of the family members including small children and old parents.

REMEDY SUGGESTED :

The State is providing medical / health services to BPL families at the subsidized rate amongst the farm / landless labourers. In order to stop the indirect plight due to serious illness coupled with hunger and starvation of these 92,456 Identified Farmers Families with Serious Illness, most of them are small farmers of which the economic condition is not above the landless labourers (Col No. 8 of the Survey Chart), State of Maharashtra to provide Special BPL / Health Cards to such families so that they get the subsidized health care in Government run hospitals at par with the landless labourers or BPL families. This will immediately help in providing direct health care to the 92,456 Identified Families with Serious Illness and in Extreme Distress and which can help to stop the unfortunate suicide of the farmer families with serious illness.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended to provide direct health care to the 92,456 Identified Families with Serious Illness and in Extreme Distress and which can help to stop the unfortunate suicide of the farmer families with serious illness

OTHER IMPORTANT CAUSES NEEDS GOVERNMENT’S IMMEDIATE ATTENTION :

1. ISSUE OF INADEQUATE AND POOR AVAILABILITY OF CREDIT FACILITIES TO THE FARMERS :-

It has been observed that the financial Institutions mainly Nationalized Banks are not providing credit facilities to farmers as per their actual needs. The scale of finance is extremely discriminatory. In Western Maharashtra, farmers are getting upto Rs.2,00,000/- per Hectare Crop Credit, but in Vidarbha it is extremely poor, not even Rs.10,000/- per Hectare. It is mockery of Credit Policy and Govt. Control thereon. The banks are not carrying out the periodic review exercise for increasing the scale of finance. In some cases it is observed that though the farmers are eligible for increment in scale of finance, but it is not made available merely for the reason of the extra staff / manpower for the purpose of documentation and credit papers at bank is not provided by the Regional Offices of the Banks. For want of such bank documentation and paper works, the farmers are denied the fresh incremental loans / credit facilities even though they are eligible for enhanced credit facilities. This is indirectly causing great hardships to the farmers and they have been denied the enhanced scale of finance / credit facilities for the failure of banks to revise the documentation or papers. Thus, inadequate and poor availability of credit facilities to the farmers is the main reason of exploitation of the farmers community at the hands of private money lenders / sahukars, who all are charging exorbitant rate of interest for such short term crop loan / credit made available to farmers by such sahukars. This is ultimately resulting in the unfortunate incidents of farmers’ suicide across the Vidarbha Region.

IMMEDIATE REMEDY

All the Nationalized banks be strictly advised / ordered to review the scale of finance and accordingly have extra manpower / staff for documentation and / or the paper work for reviewing and revising the scale of finance / credit facilities to the farmers as per their eligibility. The Banks be advised / instructed / ordered to make suitable computer software for the purpose of assessment and documentation for providing the new scale of finance / credit facilities to the farmers, which is being denied due to manual / lengthy / time killing and labourious documentation system presently being implemented in the Banks and could not be effectively made operational for want of staff / manpower and infrastructure in the Rural Sector Branches of the Banks. The farmers who have been denied the new scale of finance be given additional finances / credit facilities by extending the last date for such short term of loan. The forms / formats for credit facilities to the farmers be revised in such way that the time consumed in lengthy documentation can be avoided at the time of the review / revision of the credit limits on account of enhancement in the scale of finance, to the advantage of farmers as well as banks. It is unfortunate that the banks have not done computerization alongwith other infrastructures / net working for the agricultural sector and as such the benefits arising out of the advantages of new generation techniques / networking is being denied to the farmers especially in the Rural Vidarbha.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended that all the Nationalized banks be strictly advised / ordered to review the scale of finance and accordingly have extra manpower / staff for documentation and / or the paper work for reviewing and revising the scale of finance / credit facilities to the farmers as per their eligibility.

2. ISSUE OF SUPPORT PRICE OF COTTON TO BE ENHANCED TO RS. 3,000/- PER QUINTAL :-

It has been observed that the rate of cotton has not been increased as compared to the cost of input. It is not viable to sell cotton below Rs.3,000/- per quintal but since the support price is much below, the cotton purchasing agencies are not giving any rise and the rates are maintained just to the level of Rs.2,100/- per quintal maximum even though the national / international market rates are much much above. The increment in the minimum support price to the level of Rs. 3,000/- per quintal alongwith monopoly guaranteed cotton purchase scheme is the effective need of the hour. The farmers need support of the price as well as guaranteed purchase scheme other wise market players will exploit them and the unfortunate incidents of farmers suicides will continue unending and our civilized country will face an awkward position in the world.

IMMEDIATE REMEDY

The minimum support price of the cotton be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per quintal. State Controlled Cotton Procurement Centers be started immediately from the first day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers at the hands of Private Players in the Cotton Trade.

It is relevant to place on record that Government of India has increased and enhanced the support price to wheat to make it Rs. 1000/- per quintal by giving 40% hike this year. The same rationale and equity principle may please be adopted for the Cotton Cultivating Farmers in the Vidarbha Region as a Special Case, in view of the unpresented crisis being faced by the farmers.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended that The minimum support price of the cotton be increased immediately to Rs. 3,000/- per quintal. State Controlled Cotton Procurement Centers be started immediately from the first day & date of arrival of cotton crop to avoid exploitation of the farmers at the hands of Private Players in the Cotton Trade.

3. ISSUE OF UNCONTROLLED & UNRESTRICTEDSALE OF BOGUS & DUPLICATE SEEDS :-

It has been observed that Bogus & duplicate seeds being sold to poor and illiterate farmers due to Non implementation by the Govt. of Maharashtra of the Seed Control Order, 1983 issued under Sec. 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to arrest and control the big wig seed trades and manufacturers. This massive corruption in sale of duplicate & bogus seeds has resulted in cheating of the farmer and increasing of debt due to improper farm yield because of poor and bogus quality of seeds being sold freely due to apathy of State Government. This has indirectly resulted the unfortunate suicide of the farmers who lost their crops due to poor quality of seeds being provided to them in lack of proper administrative control by the agriculture department quality & input of the seeds which otherwise could have been possible due to the stringent provisions contended in the SEED CONTROL ORDER, 1983 OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES ACT, 1955 if implemented in its true spirit & meaning. This failure on a part of State of Maharashtra to control the quality & input of seeds is one of the prime cause for the overall cheating and exploitation of the poor and illiterate farmers residing in the villages.

IMMEDIATE REMEDY

FOR IMMEDIATE CONTROL OF QUALITY & INPUT OF SEEDS, IT IS HIGH TIME THAT THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA BE ORDERED BY UNION OF INDIA TO IMPLEMENT THE PROVISIONS OF SEED CONTROL ORDER 1983 AND TO INSTRUCT TO ISSUE DELEGATION OF POWER TO ITS INSPECTING OFFICER FOR CONTROL OF QUALITY & INPUT SEEDS AS REQUIRED UNDER SEC. 12 OF THE SEED CONTROL ORDER OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES ACT, 1955 WHICH IS THE PRIME TOOL FOR THE CONTROL OF QUALITY & INPUT OF SEEDS.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended that the State of Maharashtra be ordered by Union of India to implement the provisions of Seed Control Order 1983 and to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for control of quality & input seeds as required under sec. 12 of the Seed Control Order of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds.

4. ISSUE OF HIGH COST OF BT COTTON SEEDS :-

It has also been observed that the farmers are not being given proper advice and training by the Government of Maharashtra in Department of Agriculture since last several years. The costly and improper BT cotton seeds which are not suitable for dry land farming is being freely propagated and sold at a very high cost of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3600/- Per Kg of BT cotton seeds, cost of which is virtually killing the farmers due to high input cost and low yield.

REMEDIES SUGGESTED :

There must be the blanket ban on BT cotton seeds in the dry land farming and rainfed areas. This has to be done immediately in order to save the farmers from undue exploitation and cheating. There must be ban on sale and mis leading advertisement of BT cotton seeds in the dry land areas of Maharashtra where such seeds are not useful for cultivation of cotton due to the high cost of input as compared to the yield. The so called upgrade technology is killing the farmers. So immediate steps may please be initiated by the Union of India in this regard to stop free trials and sales of GM and BT seeds to protect the farmer community at large.

JADHAV COMMITTEE has accepted the suggestion given by the VJAS and recommended that the good quality BT Seeds to be provided by the Government to stop the exploitation by the Multi-National Seeds Company.

5. DR. NARENDRA JADHAV COMMITTEE HAS ALSO MADE VITAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS l

A) The Interest Remission Scheme under Packages have not been implemented properly by the State Government. The benefit of concessional rate of interest and also of interest remission has not reached to the Thousands of Farmers. Only Banks have been benefited. In Restructuring of Loans, Banks are tactfully exploiting the Farmers. The higher rate of interest is charged & in no case the concessions have been passed on to the farmers. The amount of Rs. 800 Crores have been shown as spent for the interest remission, but it has benefited only to the sick co-operative Banks and Nationalised Banks to clear their NPA on account of crop loans defaults.

B) The amounts spent on Accelerated Irrigation Development Programme (AIDP) has benefited only to the contractors of Irrigation for clearing their old dues. The amount so far spent is shown as Rs. 780 Crores, but it has given benefits to contractors and even no long term irrigation benefit in sight for the farmers, because only routine old work is going on even after spending Rs. 780 Cr.. The officers are enjoying. Farmers are dying. Please review it by heart.

C) The Subsidy actually meant for farmers for developing Cold Chain and Cold Storage / Warehousing should be made available only to the farmers and the Farmers Group and not to the Corporates – Companies – Multinationals like Walmart, Trumart, Reliance, ITC, Subhiksha, Birla, Godrej, TATA, Hindustan Lever, DLF, etc. etc., otherwise the basic purpose of providing Food Processing subsidies / Infrastructure benefits to farmers for Value Addition will be defeated and if given to the Corporates, the basic advantage to the farmers will be taken away for want of proper statute to control such lapses.

D) The amount spent on subsidy on fertilizers be passed on to actual farmers / users instead of the fertilizer manufacturing corporates.

E) To promote use of bio-fertilisers, Union Ministry of Agriculture had set up Directorate of Bio-fertilisers having Regional Centers across the country to educate the farmers about use of Bio-Fertilizers. However, now this Directorate is changed to Directorate of Organic Farming and the whole thrust of the Regional Centres have now shifted to Organic Farming being propogated without proper Infrastucture & Market Support to the Organic Farming Sector. Union of India should separate out Organic & Bio-Fertiliser Wings to function independently. So that the basic purpose of Bio-Fertiliser and Organic Farming be protected in its true sense & meaning.

F) Farmers in the extreme distress categories may please be provided with free education facility to their wards.

G) Farmers in extreme illness categories should be provided with Special Health Card in order to facilitate them with the concessional medicine and health care. This will directly help to reduce the distress and depression level and save the farmers from committing suicides.

H) Special Schemes for promotion of Food Crop Farming and natural farming may please be introduced with the attractive schemes of subsidies for food crop farming and natural / low budget farming.

I) The farm sector insurance companies be advised / directed to settle the claims of farmers in stipulated time period of 30 days.

J) Contrary to the interest of the poor farmers, the Government is blindly promoting the Contract Farming which is being implemented with a help to corporate and multi nationals. The farmers interest is not protected at all. Proper legislation be enacted to regulate & control the contract farming to protect the interest of small farmers.

K) Food Processing Policy of Union Ministry of Food Processing be simplified in such a way that the illiterate farmers will get direct advantage out of it.

Technorati Tags: Vidhaba,Farmers’ Suicides

Maharashtra tops the list of farmers’ suicides

New Delhi (PTI): Fourty-six farmers commit suicide every day in this country even as packages were rolled out in a bid to bailout the debt-ridden community from crisis.

A whopping 16,632 cases of suicides by farmers, including 2,369 women were reported across the country last year with Maharashtra retaining the dubious distinction of having the largest number of such incidents despite a slump in figures.

Farmers’ suicide constituted 14.4 per cent of the total 1,22,637 suicides in the country in 2007, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said in its latest report, Accidental Deaths and Suicide Report — 2007′.

In 2006, the figures were 17,060 and since 1997 there were 1,82,936 cases of farmers’ suicide in the country.

In a grim reminder of the appalling conditions of the farmers in this agriculture dominated country, the NCRB said besides Maharashtra, six other states have recorded over 1,000 cases of farmers’ suicides each in 2007.

Maharashtra, where the Central Government pitched in with a special package, reported 4,238 suicides last year, a decline of 215 from 2006, it said.

Karnataka (2,135), Andhra Pradesh (1,797), Chhattisgarh (1,593), Madhya Pradesh (1,263), Kerala (1,263) and West Bengal (1,102) followed Maharashtra in the list.

These states were in the top-seven list in 2006 too. While Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh showed a decline in the number of farmers’ suicide last year compared to 2006, such cases witnessed an increase in Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal.

Technorati Tags: Farmers suicides,data