In Vidharba, even today, farmers are committing suicides for sums as low as Rs. 10, 000/-!!! This is the real India... Rural micro-credit needs to take off in India....
Rohit ChandavarkarCNN-IBNMumbai: There seems to be no end to farmers' plight in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. As many as eight farmers from three districts have committed suicide in the past 36 hours.
For the families of the victims, caught between political blame-game, the Rs 1-crore relief package announced by the state government comes a little too late.
Says Tara, wife of a farmer who committed suicide, “He had to repay the debt of Rs 10,000. Since he could not, he committed suicide,”
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties and farmer organisations have blamed the state government’s agricultural credit policies for the situation.
Office bearers of farmers’ organisations in Vidarbha say that while the crop failures in 1970s did not result in suicides, the moderns-ear globalisation policies have put the burden on farmers.
“Prices of fuel and everything else have gone up because of devaluation of rupee. The cost of living is rising but crop prices are falling. But the government is not helping the farmers and they are not getting the returns',” Vijaj Javandhia of Kisan Sangathan says.
However, the state government is satisfied with its performance and says it has reacted to the situation and is doing everything possible.
“Special package is being given for five districts of Vidarbha, this is mainly for the cotton growers, kisan credit scheme will also be launched, confiscation of farmers land by money lenders will not be allowed. The state government will support farmers in every possible way,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh says.
However critics have written-off the government’s face-saving efforts saying they will serve no purpose as most of that amount comes from the advance bonus - which was to be paid to farmers – and has already been withdrawn.
2 comments:
Mohit,
This is really a very good initiative to come-up with a blog focussing on social issues. It strucks me on the face everytime I come across this kind of news in the media. One question that pops up my mind is : Don't we have sufficient enough in this world to fulfill the basic needs of everyone inspite of ages of civilization and scientific advancement ?
Manohar
We surely have sufficient resources to fulfill the basic needs of everyone. Gandhiji had once famously said something like (I am forgetting the exact words) "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed".
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