Sunday, December 31, 2006

TIMES NEWS NETWORK reports-Vidarbha village gives up cotton farming

Vidarbha village gives up cotton farming
Ramu Bhagwat
[ 1 Jan, 2007 0118hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Vidarbha_village_gives_up_cotton_farming/articleshow/1002827.cms

NAGPUR: Farmers of Kolzari village in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha have decided to give up cotton cultivation in the New Year. More than 70 families of the village took a resolution "no price, no crop" at a meeting on Sunday.

Even as Kolzari villagers decided to give up cotton farming, the suicide spree continued in the region with five more farmers dying on Saturday, taking the toll to 1,065 in 2006, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.

At an emotionally-charged meeting, widow of Shivlal Rathod, who committed suicide recently, stood up to move the proposal. "Cotton cultivation has killed my husband. Let us stop growing the crop," she said.

She was seconded by Prakash Pawar, whose father, being unable to buy wedding gifts for his niece and nephew, ended life in May.

"Cotton is the root cause of our distress and economic crisis," said Prakash. Raju Rathod, sarpanch of Ambezari, a neighbouring village, said they will follow suit and more from the district may boycott cotton farming.

Mohan Jadhav, a local farm activist said cotton had become a high-cost, high-risk crop with low-price and no-buyer problem making its cultivation unsustainable

Is the problem with the policy itself or with the corrupt bureaucracy

On 1/1/07, shezad@berkeley.edu wrote:
Dear Tiwariji,

Thank you for all your work, your regular releases are a great resource.
I have a few questions (pasted below) regarding the issue and I was hoping
you could answer them and provide me with some additional perspective.
Thank you for all your help.

Sincerely,
Shezad Lakhani


What role has the Maharashtra state monopoly over cotton played in the
rise of the suicides over the past few years? Has the promise of high
prices (which were not fulfilled) made the farmers continue to produce
cotton?

if you after wto and free trade and import huge cotton in India from us ,cotton economy failed to sustain then high cost seed and other input added fuel.
in mahrashtra monopoly scheme was giving rs.200 to rs.300 more rate than market so it helped the farmer to larger extend but when advance bonus was withdrawn that govt. subsidy then it triggered the cotton farmers suicides in june-2005 on ward.

Is the problem with the policy itself or with the corrupt bureaucracy
associated with the system?

yes agrarian crisis due to wrong policies of state and it is wested interest of corrupt executives and politicians.

Do you think that the continuation of the policy will help or hurt the
farmers in the long term? Is it financially viable?

no,agrarian crisis will be increased due to total collapse of civil and social administration at ground level.anarchy will lead to the unrest may result in to civil crisis too.

What can the government do to stop the rise in suicides?

Restoration of primary support(income base agriculture economy with protected market)system in order and provide proper secondary support system(health care,education,food security and rural employment) in rural sector that controlled social and civil order is must to control suicide as it is accumulated result long pending problem of economic failure and bad habits at large .


Is cotton cultivation possible in Vidarbha? If not then what type of crops
can the farmers turn to?



in vidarbha it has 1000 year history of cotton cultivation and cotton was known as white gold as it was economy of region.in cotton gins and pressing factories in mass farmers of west Maharashtra mostly sholapur distt.used to work as workers in yavatmal ,amaravati and akola and they are till leaving here.now you can under stand the issue.

'No cotton cultivation in 2007'



Full Story can be found at http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1072156

'No cotton cultivation in 2007'


DNA Special
Say Kolezari farmers as they feel declining prices and spiralling production costs have sealed their fate.
NAGPUR: Vidarbha farmers have vowed not to grow cotton in 2007 till prices become profitable. This in view of the series of suicides that rocked Vidarbha and the consequent protests that sent ripples across the state.
Raising the slogan, 'Say no to cotton', farmers of Kolezari, a Banjara-dominated village in Yavatmal district, resolved to give up cotton and "shift to alternative pattern that is financially feasible and economically paying". The village, with 70-odd families, roughly has 450 acres of land.
"A day before my husband committed suicide, he said that the cotton has usurped us," said Chayabai Rathode, widow of Shivala Rathode. "I will not grow cotton myself and advise others to do the same," she said.
Prakash Rathode, whose father committed suicide in summer last year, read out the resolution before villagers during a symbolic protest demonstration. It said cotton cultivation is a high-cost and a high-risk business and hence needs to be dumped. With no substantial rise in the Minimum Support Price of cotton over the last decade, the prices in the domestic level are crashing due to surging imports and global subsidies, especially in the US, European countries and China. Declining prices concurrent with spiralling production costs have spun misery for the farmers.
It's in this background that the villagers came together on Sunday to defiantly say 'no' to what was once known as 'white gold' in the region. Among other alternatives, the villagers have decided to jump to food-crops that may not be alluring, but can restore soil nutrients that have eroded phenomenally due to chemical farming model. "There is no uptake of cotton this year, and the prices are falling despite the state government's promise to buy it from the farmers," Kishor Tiwari, the convenor of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, told DNA.
At procurement centre across the region, farmers' protests have reached a deafening crescendo. "Thousands of cotton farmers are waiting for the marketing federation to buy their yield for days," he Tiwari added. "This has been their fate year after year. And with no change in the policies, this is the only pragmatic step the farmers can take," he said.
Fighting the demon
Kolezari farmers have resolved to give up cotton
Kolezari is a Banjara-dominated village in the Yavatmal district
The villagers are planning an alternative occupation that is economically paying
They see cotton cultivation as a high-cost and a high-risk business
Declining prices and spiralling production costs have spun their misery, say farmers
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Theatre of the undead

Theatre of the undead

This year, as hundreds of impoverished farmers from Vidarbha committed suicide, rustic protests in Maharashtra hit the conscience of the metros with breathtaking innovations.

Bella Jaisinghani reports

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?
Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzEyLzMxI0FyMDI
xMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

The cotton belt of Vidarbha observed a white Christmas for the sheer number of shrouds that were required this season. Ten farmers killed themselves the Saturday before Christmas. On an average, five per day continue to follow the dead on the only path that delivers them from the debt trap.
Voluntary organisations working with cotton growers estimate 1,300 suicides have taken place since July 2005. They say four lakh small farmers, owning anywhere from one to five acres of land, are in a financial situation that makes them likely candidates. A website dedicated to the cause is running a novel protest by posting a detailed update of suicides every day. The name of the deceased farmer and the circumstances of his death are announced, with a picture of the corpse when available. NGOs have been known to hold rallies where they place the body of the deceased farmer before a huge blown-up picture of a politician in power, which is then garlanded by the peasant's widow.
The wave of protests that is sweeping Vidarbha is unprecedented. It is dark, celebratory and outrageous. Never has a natural uprising in India unfolded as a performing art. Terrified at the prospects of their cause, once of national importance, receiving the great Indian shrug, farmers are doing desperate things to sustain the attention of media and politicians.
Inspired by the message of Gandhigiri in the year's most influential film Lage Raho Munnabhai, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan, a vocal opponent of the government's policies in Vidarbha, devised a series of protests under the banner 'Kisanbhai Lage Raho'. "On October 12, hundreds of debt-ridden families approached the manager of the State Bank of India with a unique proposal. The men garlanded him with fresh flowers while a woman from the group washed his feet, begging him to disburse the loans that had been promised to them," says Kishor Tiwari, founder of the Andolan.
The villagers were so heavily under debt that they were being forced to commit suicide. But until they found the courage to take the extreme step, they knew they could only survive if they continued to borrow. The irony of their request was not lost on anybody, least of all the bank manager, who expressed sympathy but was unable to help because the branch had run out of funds.
Lago Raho Munnabhai is not the only film that has inspired Vidarbha. On December 12, about 300 farmers led by an NGO called Prahar, named after the Nana Patekar film, made a point. They adapted a scene from Sholay where the inebriated Veeru climbs atop a water tank and threatens to jump unless Basanti agrees to marry him. The group replicated the feat at various places in Amravati, cleverly timing their agitation to coincide with the birthday celebrations of agriculture minister and Vidarbha's patron saint, Sharad Pawar. But the agitation went horribly wrong in Chandur Bazar where 35-year-old Dnyaneshwar Salao actually jumped. He had to be shifted to Nagpur to be treated for head injuries and broken limbs. The NCP leaders, whom the farmers wanted to meet, were in New Delhi, waiting for Sharad Pawar to cut his birthday cake. The Sholay-style protestors agreed to climb down from the water tank when Vilasrao Deshmukh personally assured them that their demands would be addressed. "Anything that goes up must come down," a police official said unemotionally.
Pawar's birthday was celebrated with unusual fanfare in Dorli village, which has volunteered to sell itself lock, stock and barrel to multinationals. All of Dorli festooned their homes, wrote slogans on cattle wishing the minister a happy birthday and asked if he would use his influence to facilitate this deal.
Observers caution that such dramatic moments may be orchestrated by vested interests ― political characters who would like to use impoverished farmers as performers in a drama meant to corner power. A highly placed police official in Nagpur says, "It is true that the farmers of Vidarbha are in distress, but it is also true that people like Prahar founder Bachu Kadu, who is an MLA, have political leanings."
The risks inherent in a revolution are not likely to stymie the widows of Vidarbha, though. They are preparing to meet Vilasrao Deshmukh with a new year offering of green bangles that symbolise marital happiness and fertility.
Vidarbha is not alone in masquerading dirge as a carnival protest and converting despair into a show. In May this year, sugarcane farmer Laxman Ghugre from Satara stood out among other agitators when he chose to protest by ringing a cow bell at a rally in Mumbai's Azad Maidan. Earlier, members of the Karnataka State Farmers' Association threw vegetables in the streets of Kolar to highlight their demand for higher procurement prices. They littered the road with tomatoes, cauliflower, brinjal and other vegetables, stopping only to deliver a memorandum to the authorities. Not so long ago, milkmen in Uttar Pradesh, disillusioned with the government, reached the banks of the Ganga with huge vats of milk and emptied them into the river. TNN

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Publication:Times Of India Nagpur;
Date:Dec 30, 2006;
Section:Times Nagpur;
Page Number:2


Farm activists call for emergency measures

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=TkdUT0kvMjAwNi8xMi8zMCNBcjAwMjA0&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
Nagpur: The farmer suicide toll in Vidarbha has climbed to 105 in the current month, taking the 2006 tally to 1060, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has claimed on Friday. Over three million cotton growers in the state are reeling under an unprecedented agrarian crisis. Samiti president Kishore Tiwari has urged the government to come out with emergency measures to bail out distressed cotton growers of Vidarbha who have been forced to embrace death as they find surviving on poor returns from the cotton crop too tough. The state government had a year ago announced a relief package for the six worst affected districts of Yavatmal, Amravati, Akola, Washim, Buldana and Wardha. On July 1, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the region announced a special relief package for the distressed farmers. Earlier this month, the state once again announced a cash compensation of Rs 1500 per hectare with a ceiling of two hectares for cotton growers. But all these measures have failed to bring the farmer out of the despondency. Farm activists like Tiwari argue that basic demands of a hike in procurement price and waiver of outstanding bank dues have not been granted to farmers and as a result the cultivators continue to remain under unbearable debt burden. In Yavatmal district alone, 344 farmers have committed suicide this year, the Samiti claimed. “The large number of suicides in west Vidarbha which was once the most prosperous agricultural region in the state is primarily because of the government’s wrong policies and neglect of farm sector,’’ Tiwari alleged. “To complicate matters, there is a collapse of old social and community support system in the villages which has multiplied distress levels. Sustainable farming is the need of the hour and the government should ensure food security to improve living standards of the three million farmers in the region.’’
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Vidarbha farmer’s suicide and emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie

KISHOR TIWARI
After Indian prime minister visited vidarbha in June 2006 and declared relief package of rs.3750 crore and vidarbha farmer’s suicides turned as epidemic as more than 650 cotton farmers in suicide prone west vidarbha committed suicide earlier to this package Maharashtra chief minister on 19th December 2005 declared rs.1075 core relief package but more than 600 farmers suicide forced Indian prime minister to visit vidarbha on 30th June and 1st July 2006 and administration worked formula to slow down farm suicides after all reports were studied and relief package was provided when but it failed to work, we as activist turned package as eye wash as major demands of the farmers of higher price to cotton and loan waiver were turned down. when vidarbha agrarian crisis as been worst ever disaster to rural innocent mankind, we are forced to look in to sociological aspect of agrarian crisis and anil bansod who is working as additional collector yavatmal(mobile-09422917017) who has studied sociological aspect of vidarbha agrarian crisis and asked to study Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, introduced the concept of anomie with reference to present pathetic condition of farmers who are under extreme distress and taking extreme action of suicide resulting social disorder and economic mess creating much more complex problems in rural vidarbha
Quote-
According to Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, introduced the concept of anomie in his book The Division of Labour in Society, published in 1893. He used anomie to describe a condition of deregulation that was occurring in society. This meant that rules on how people ought to behave with each other were breaking down and thus people did not know what to expect from one another. Anomie, simply defined, is a state where norms (expectations on behaviours) are confused, unclear or not present. It is norm lessness, Durkheim felt, that led to deviant behavior. In 1897, Durkheim used the term again in his study on Suicide, referring to a morally deregulated condition. Durkheim was preoccupied with the effects of social change. He best illustrated his concept of anomie not in a discussion of crime but of suicide.
In The Division of Labour in Society, Durkheim proposed two concepts. First, that societies evolved from a simple, non-specialised form, called mechanical, toward a highly complex, specialised form, called organic. In the former society people behave and think alike and more or less perform the same work tasks and have the same group-oriented goals. When societies become more complex, or organic, work also becomes more complex. In this society, people are no longer tied to one another and social bonds are impersonal.
Anomie thus refers to a breakdown of social norms and it a condition where norms no longer control the activities of members in society. Individuals cannot find their place in society without clear rules to help guide them. Changing conditions as well as adjustment of life leads to dissatisfaction, conflict, and deviance. He observed that social periods of disruption (economic depression, for instance) brought about greater anomie and higher rates of crime, suicide, and deviance.
Durkheim felt that sudden change caused a state of anomie. The system breaks down, either during a great prosperity or a great depression, anomie is the same result.


In
Suicide
Durkheim and Anomie
Society is a stable system.
Balance
Equilibrium
All parts work together to promote stability and order
Essence of a society==> Moral order==> "Collective Consciousness"
Study of Suicide: Focus on "Social Currents" that can sweep through the "collective consciousness." These currents push people in different direction, determine patterning of behavior.
Critical elements of moral order: The Social Bond
Normative structure (regulatory function)
Integrative function (relation between individual and the group
Each forms a continuum, "Normal" society is in balance.
Durkheim and 'SUICIDE'
To Durkheim, men were creatures whose desires were unlimited. Unlike other animals, they are not satiated when their biological needs are fulfilled. "The more one has, the more one wants, since satisfactions received only stimulate instead of filling needs." It follows from this natural insatiability of the human animal that his desires can only be held in check by external controls, that is, by societal control. Society imposes limits on human desires and constitutes "a regulative force [which] must play the same role for moral needs which the organism plays for physical needs." In well-regulated societies, social controls set limits on individual propensities so that "each in his sphere vaguely realizes the extreme limits on individual propensities so that "each in his sphere vaguely realizes the extreme limits set to his ambitions and aspires to nothing beyond. . . . Thus, an end or a goal [is] set to the passions."
When social regulations break down, the controlling influence of society on individual propensities is no longer effective and individuals are left to their own devices. Such a state of affairs Durkheim calls anomie, a term that refers to a condition of relative norm lessness in a whole society or in some of its component groups. Anomie does not refer to a state of mind, but to a property of the social structure. It characterizes a condition in which individual desires are no longer regulated by common norms and where, as a consequence, individuals are left without moral guidance in the pursuit of their goals.
Although complete anomie, or total normlessness, is empirically impossible, societies may be characterized by greater or lesser degrees of normative regulations. Moreover, within any particular society, groups may differ in the degree of anomie that besets them. Social change may create anomie either in the whole society or in some parts of it. Business crises, for example, may have a far greater impact on those on the higher reaches of the social pyramid than on the underlying population. When depression leads to a sudden downward mobility, the men affected experience a de-regulation in their lives--a loss of moral certainty and customary expectations that are no longer sustained by the group to which these men once belonged. Similarly, the rapid onset of prosperity may lead some people to a quick upward mobility and hence deprive them of the social support needed in their new styles of life. Any rapid movement in the social structure that upsets previous networks in which life styles are embedded carries with it a chance of anomie.
Durkheim argued that economic affluence, by stimulating human desires, carries with it dangers of anomic conditions because it "deceives us into believing that we depend on ourselves only," while "poverty protects against suicide because it is a restraint in itself." Since the realization of human desires depends upon the resources at hand, the poor are restrained, and hence less prone to suffer from anomie by virtue of the fact that they possess but limited resources. "The less one has the less he is tempted to extend the range of his needs indefinitely."
By accounting for the different susceptibility to anomie in terms of the social process--that is, the relations between individuals rather than the biological propensities of individuals-- Durkheim in effect proposed a specifically sociological theory of deviant behavior even though he failed to point to the general implications of this crucial insight. In the words of Robert K. Merton, who was the first to ferret out in this respect the overall implications of Durkheim's thought and to develop them methodically, "Social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in non conforming rather than conforming conduct."
Durkheim's program of study, the overriding problems in all his work, concerns the sources of social order and disorder, the forces that make for regulation or de-regulation in the body social. His work on suicide, of which the discussion and analysis of anomie forms a part, must be read in this light. Once he discovered that certain types of suicide could be accounted for by anomie, he could then use anomic suicide as an index for the otherwise unmeasurable degree of social integration. This was not circular reasoning, as could be argued, but a further application of his method of analysis. He reasoned as follows: There are no societies in which suicide does not occur, and many societies show roughly the same rates of suicide overlong periods of time. This indicates that suicides may be considered a "normal," that is, a regular, occurrence. However, sudden spurts in the suicide rates of certain groups or total societies are "abnormal" and point to some perturbations not previously present. Hence. "abnormally" high rates in specific groups or social categories, or in total societies, can be taken as an index of disintegrating forces at work in a social structure.
Durkheim distinguished between types of suicide according to the relation of the actor to his society. When men become "detached from society," when they are thrown upon their own devices and loosen the bonds that previously had tied them to their fellow, they are prone to egoistic, or individualistic, suicide. When the normative regulations surrounding individual conduct are relaxed and hence fail to curb and guide human propensities, men are susceptible to succumbing to anomic suicide. To put the matter differently, when the restraints of structural integration, as exemplified in the operation of organic solidarity, fail to operate, men become prone to egoistic suicide; when the collective conscience weakens, men fall victim to anomic suicide.
In addition to egoistic and anomic types of suicide, Durkheim refers to altruistic and fatalistic suicide. The latter is touched upon only briefly in his work, but the former is of great importance for an understanding of Durkheim's general approach. Altruistic suicide refers to cases in which suicide can be accounted for by overly strong regulation of individuals, as opposed to lack of regulation. Durkheim argues in effect that the relation of suicide rates to social regulation is curvilinear--high rates being associated with both excessive individuation and excessive regulation. In the case of excessive regulation, the demands of society are so great that suicide varies directly rather than inversely with the degree of integration. For example, in the instance of the Hindu normative requirement that widows commit ritual suicide upon the funeral pyre of their husbands, or in the case of hara-kiri, the individual is so strongly attuned to the demands of his society that he is willing to take his own life when the norms so demand. Arguing from statistical data, Durkheim shows that in modern societies the high rates of suicide among the military cannot be explained by the deprivations of military life suffered by the lower ranks, since the suicide rate happens to be higher for officers than for enlisted men. Rather, the high rate for officers can be accounted for by a military code of honor that enjoins a passive habit of obedience leading officers to undervalue their own lives. In such cases, Durkheim is led to refer to too feeble degrees of individuation and to counter pose these to the excesses of individuation or de- regulation, which account, in his view, for the other major forms of suicide.
Durkheim's discussion of altruistic suicide allows privileged access to some of the intricacies of his approach. He has often been accused of having an overly anti-individualistic philosophy, one that is mainly concerned with the taming of individual impulse and the harnessing of the energies of individuals for the purposes of society. Although it cannot be denied that there are such tendencies in his work, Durkheim's treatment of altruistic suicide indicates that he was trying to establish a balance between the claims of individuals and those of society, rather than to suppress individual strivings. Acutely aware of the dangers of the breakdown of social order, he also realized that total control of component social actors by society would be as detrimental as anomie and de-regulation. Throughout his life he attempted to establish a balance between societal and individual claims.
Durkheim was indeed a thinker in the conservative tradition to the extent that he reacted against the atomistic drift of most Enlightenment philosophy and grounded his sociology in a concern for the maintenance of social order. As Robert Nisbet has shown convincingly, such key terms as cohesion, solidarity, integration, authority, ritual, and regulation indicate that his sociology is anchored upon an anti-atomistic set of premises. In this respect he was like his traditionalist forebears, yet it would be a mistake to classify Durkheim as a traditionalist social thinker. Politically he was a liberal--indeed, a defender of the rights of individuals against the state. He also was moved to warn against excesses of regulation over persons even though the major thrusts of his argument were against those who, by failing to recognize the requirements of the social order, were likely to foster anomic states of affairs. Anomie, he argued, was as detrimental to individuals as it was to the social order at large.
Durkheim meant to show that a Spencerian approach to the social realm, an approach in which the social dimension is ultimately derived from the desire of individuals to increase the sum of their happiness, did not stand up before the court of evidence or the court of reason. Arguing against Spencer and the utilitarian’s, he maintained that society cannot be derived from the propensity of individuals to trade and barter in order to maximize their own happiness. This view fails to account for the fact that people do not trade and barter at random but follow a pattern that is normative. For men to make a contract and live up to it, they must have a prior commitment to the meaning of a contract in its own right. Such prior collective commitment, that is, such a non-contractual element of contracts, constitutes the framework of normative control. No trade or barter can take place without social regulation and some system of positive and negative sanctions.
Durkheim's main shafts against individualistic social theories notwithstanding, he was by no means oblivious of the dangers of overregulation to which Spencer's social philosophy had been especially sensitive. Durkheim saw man as Homoduplex--as body, desire, and appetite and also as socialized personality. But man was specifically human only in the latter capacity, and he became fully human only in and through society. Hence, true moral action lies in the sacrifice of certain individual desires for the service of groups and society. But such sacrifices redound in the last analysis to the benefit of individuals, as well as society, since unbridled desires lead to frustration and unhappiness rather than to bliss and fulfillment. Modern society seems to contain, for Durkheim, the potentialities for individualism within social regulation. In contrast to earlier types of social organization based on mechanical solidarity that demanded a high degree of regimentation, modern types of organization rest on organic solidarity obtained through the functional interdependence of autonomous individuals. In modern societies, social solidarity is dependent upon, rather than repressive of, individual autonomy of conduct.
Though Durkheim stressed that in modern societies a measure of integration was achieved through the intermeshing and mutual dependence of differentiated roles, he came to see that these societies nevertheless could not do without some common integration by a system of common beliefs. In earlier social formations built on mechanical solidarity, such common beliefs are not clearly distinct from the norms through which they are implemented in communal action; in the case of organic solidarity, the detailed norms have become relatively independent from overall beliefs, responding as they do to the exigencies of differentiated role requirements, but a general system of overall beliefs must still exist. Hence Durkheim turned, in the last period of his scholarly life, to the study of religious phenomena as core elements of systems of common beliefs.
Unquote
When I look at the venerable condition of west vidarbha farming community who are mostly in distress due to economic collapse of the region due to wrong policies adopted by the govt. regarding cotton crop as such and as first step to put system in some what social order and in such a crisis, if subsidies are withdrawn, then the costs of farming, and even of subsistence, become unaffordable. Media reports and studies conducted by independent researchers have cited instances of farmers who took their lives when they are forced sale in distress or presented with an electricity bill for a huge and unaffordable sum of interest charged by the bank. The economic reform programme has identified the agriculture sector as one of the critical areas for reform and farming community under cash will be under more pressure and will need further protection.
The targeted food distribution system and the decision to cap the food subsidy have denied more and more cash crop farmers access to cheap food and non-functional health care support system has added fuel in the crisis.
emile Durkheim’s concept of anomie has been very much active in vidarbha and restoring primary support in economical sustainable farming is must more providing secondary support system like health care ,education ,communicable society to put social an civil administration in order is must and we will resolute to work in this direction to end anomie in year 2007

KISHOR TIWARI
VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

Friday, December 29, 2006

Thursday, December 28, 2006

IN DECEMBER 105 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES TAKING RECORD 1060 SUICIDES IN YEAR 2006: VJAS URGED INDIAN GOVT. TO DECLARE CRISIS AS NATIONAL DISASTER.

IN DECEMBER 105 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES TAKING RECORD 1060 SUICIDES IN YEAR 2006: VJAS URGED INDIAN GOVT. TO DECLARE VIDARBHA AGRARIAN CRISIS AS NATIONAL DISASTER.
====================================================================================================

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

REGD. OFFICE: 11, TRISARAN SOCIETY, KHAMLA, NAGPUR - 440 025.
PH. 2282447/457 MOBILE-9422108846.
vidarbha@gmail.com

REF: - FARMERS SUICIDES VERY-URGENT- PRESS-NOTE DATED- 29TH DEC. 2006

IN DECEMBER 105 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES TAKING RECORD 1060 SUICIDES IN YEAR 2006: VJAS URGED INDIAN GOVT. TO DECLARE VIDARBHA AGRARIAN CRISIS AS NATIONAL DISASTER.

NAGPUR-29TH DECEMBER -2006,

WITH TOTAL TOLL OF VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDE IN YEAR 2006 TO 1060 VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI URGED INDIAN GOVT. DECLARE VIDARBHA AGRARIAN AS NATIONAL DISASTER AS PROVIDE RELIEF AS PER DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT IN ORDER TO SAVE MORE THAN 3 MILLION COTTON FARMERS OF VIDARBHA REGION OF INDIA.

AS TILL 29TH DECEMBER 105 FARMERS SUICIDES REPORTED, IT HAS BEEN WORST HIT MONTH REPORTING MORE THAN 100 FARM SUICIDES PER MONTH AS EARLIER NOVEMBER 107, OCTOBER (112), SEPTEMBER (124), AUGUST (111) THAT MORE THAN 100 FARM SUICIDES REPORTED WHEREAS JULY MONTH TOO 90 FARMERS COMMITTED SUICIDE AS PER MAHARASHTRA GOVT. RECORD. IN 2006 THIS KHARIFF SEASON AFTER INDIAN PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCED RS.3750 CRORE RELIEF PACKAGE MORE THAN 650 FARM SUICIDE REPORTED THAT IN LAST 184 DAYS DAILY 4 FARMERS SUICIDES REPORTED @ ONE FARM SUICIDE IN 6 HOURS. . INFORMED KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI.

HERE IS THE TABLE WHICH SHOWS THE YEAR 2006 HAS FARM SUICIDE YEAR AS 1060 FARMERS COMMITTED SUICIDE IN THIS YEAR TILL 29TH DECEMBER WHICH IS MORE THAN TOTAL FARM SUICIDE RECORDED IN LAST 7 YEARS OF THIS AGRARIAN CRISIS.

YEAR

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

FARMER SUICIDE

36

46

54

102

156

324

412

1060

FIRST COTTON FARMERS SUICIDE WAS REPORTED IN 1999 IS RAMDAS CHINNAYYA AMBARWAR OF VILLAGE TALANG TAKALI IN YAVATMAL DISTRICT COMMITTED SUICIDE 0N 16 JAN.1999 AND CHIEF MINISTER THEN NARAYANRAOJI RANE VISITED HIS HOUSE AND PAID COMPENSATION TO THE WIDOW AND THAT YEAR GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA ON RECORD ADMITTED 36 FARMERS SUICIDE. KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI FURTHER ADDED.

YEAR 2006 HAS BEEN VERY BAD YEAR FOR COTTON FARMERS OF VIDARBHA AS IT HAS REPORTED MAXIMUM 1060 RECORD FARMER’S SUICIDE TILL DATE REPORTED MONTH WISE DETAILS ARE SHOWN IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE

MONTH OF 2006

JAN.

FEB.

MAR

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG

SEPT.

OCT.

NOV

DEC

FARMERS SUICIDES

68

54

77

65

62

68

90

111

125

112

107

105

IN YAVATMAL DISTRICT ALONG MORE THAN 344 COTTON FARMER COMMITTED SUICIDES IN YEAR 2006 AND OUT OF WHICH 70% FARMERS ARE TRIBAL, DALIT AND BANJARAS, VJAS RELEASE ADDED

IT IS KNOWN FACT THAT THE EXISTING PACKAGES SPECIALLY ANNOUNCED FOR WEST VIDARBHA IN ORDER TO CONTROL THESE ON GOING FARMERS SUICIDES ARE NOT TARGETED TO THE REASONS OF DISTRESS IN THE RURAL AREA OF COTTON GROWING REGION MASS SUICIDES OF FARMERS ARE LIKELY TO BE REPORTED IN NEAR FUTURE AS THERE IS NO ADMINISTRATION TO SEE THESES HELPLESS FARMERS AND THERE COMPLETE CURIOS AND HOSTILE CORRUPTION INCREASING DISTRESS AMONG FARMERS, EVERYBODY KNOWS PLIGHTS OF THE FARMERS BUT NOBODY IS KEEN TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS’ KISHOR TIWARI ADDED.

IF ANY BODY ASK WHAT IS WRONG WITH ONE TIME VERY RICH COTTON ECONOMY OF WEST VIDARBHA HAS BEEN SO COLLAPSED THAT OUT OF 3 MILLION FARMERS MORE THAN 75% FARMERS ARE UNDER EXTREME DISTRESS AND COMMITTING SUICIDES, ACTIVIST SAYS IT’S RESULT OF WRONG POLICIES OF GOVT. AND ADMINISTRATION CLAIMS THAT FARMERS ARE KILLING THEMSELVES BECAUSE OF THEIR WRONG HABITS BUT WHEN POLITICAL LEADERS BEING ASKED REGARDING THE FARM SUICIDES THEN THEY BLAME POLITICAL PARTY IN POWER FOR THESE KILLINGS. THE FACT IS THAT FARMER’S SUICIDE IS ACCUMULATED RESULT OF MASS DISTRESS DUE COMPLETE FAILURE SOCIAL AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION IN THIS AREA. IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT LEADERS AND BUREAUCRATS WITH WASTED INTEREST AT ALL LEVEL HAVE CREATED THIS HOSTILE CONDITION.

RESTORATION OF SOCIAL AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION IS UP MOST PRIORITY THEN PROVIDING SUPPORT SYSTEMS LIKE HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, FOOD SECURITY AND LOCAL EMPLOYMENT IN ORDER TO SLOW DOWN THE GOING SUICIDE IS MUST BUT NOBODY IS SERIOUS ON THESE ISSUES.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING IS NEED OF HOUR BUT ANY RELIEF PACKAGE TARGETING THESE ISSUES WILL NOT IMMEDIATELY STOP ON GOING EPIDEMIC OF FARMERS SUICIDES AS THEY FOOD STARVED, THEY MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY ILL HENCE HEALTH CARE AND FOOD SECURITY TO THESE FARMING COMMUNITY IS MUST, WE HAVE BEEN DEMANDING THESE BASIC DEMANDS BUT INSTEAD OF LOOKING TO THESE DEMANDS WE ARE BEING SENT TO JAIL ALL THE TIME. NOW IT’S YOUR RESPONSBILITY TO SAVE THESE 3 MILLION FARMERS OF WEST VIDARBHA, VJAS URGED TO SOCIETY.

VJAS PRESIDENT KISHOR TIWARI HAS WRITTEN LETTER TO INDIAN PRIME MINISTER AND INDIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER TO PROVIDE THE RELIEF AID UNDER PROVISION OF NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE ARRANGE TO RELEASE THIS PRESS NOTE
THANKING YOU,
YOURS TRULY,

KISHOR TIWARI

PRESIDENT
VIDARBHA JANADOLAN SAMITI
CONTACT-MOBILE-09422108846

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

save vidarbha farmersi



this is another food starved tribal farmer who committed suicide today on 27th december in village jam in yavatmal distt. vidarbha were more than 1400 farmers committed suicides in on going agrarian crisis.please help to save these farmers
kishor tiwari
vidarbha jan andolan samti
vidarbha@gmail.com

Monday, December 25, 2006

Vidarbha reality: No respite for cotton farmers--NDTV reports.

Vidarbha reality: No respite for cotton farmers

http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=
No+respite+for+cotton+farmers&id=98422

1."The attitude of the farmers is changed completely. They are bent on making physical assaults. They attacked our men. We are really fed up with the Maharashtra's government's policy,"

2.the crisis could have been avoided if the government took a decision earlier.


3.The farmers have had no option but to wait as no one else is offering a better price and the government has not opened any more purchase centres.


Sunday, December 24, 2006 (Vidarbha):

A little over two weeks ago a mob of farmers in Wani in Vidarbha turned violent in

protest against the government's delay in purchasing their cotton.


One farmer died in police firing, adding fuel to fire.

The state federation has now issued notices to temporarily shut some of the purchase centres.


"We have received this notice from the state federation to close down for a week.
There are about a thousand carts coming daily. And in the middle of all this, comes this notice.

The farmers are not thinking twice before attacking our officials and office bearers," said Abhay Dongre, Deputy Chairman, APMC.


The farmers have had no option but to wait as no one else is offering a better price and the government has not opened any more purchase centres.

"We have come from 40 km. Our neighbouring centre at Mauda is still closed.
The one at JodMoha can't weigh more than 25 quintals.
And we are not getting the price here," said Sitaram Rathod, farmer.


Locals say the crisis could have been avoided if the government took a decision earlier.

"The attitude of the farmers is changed completely. They are bent on making physical assaults.
They attacked our men. We are really fed up with the Maharashtra's government's policy," said Dongre.


The farmers, quite clearly, are frustrated and there is more bad news waiting for them.

=================================================================================================

Sunday, December 24, 2006

YEAR 2006-VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDE YEAR

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

REGD. OFFICE: 11, TRISARAN SOCIETY, KHAMLA, NAGPUR - 440 025.
PH. 2282447/457 MOBILE-9422108846.
vidarbha@gmail.com

REF: - FARMERS SUICIDES VERY-URGENT- PRESS-NOTE DATED- 25TH DEC., 2006

14
MORE FARMERS SUICIDE IN THREE DAYS REPORTED (SEE LIST) TAKING TOLL 1254 SINCE JUNE 2005

NAGPUR-25TH DECEMBER -2006,

14 MORE FARMERS COMMITTED SUICIDES IN VIDARBHA IN LAST THREE DAYS TAKING TOLL 1254 SINCE JUNE 2005,PROVING WRONG GOVT. OF MAHARSHTRA’S CLAIM THAT RATE OF SUICIDE HAS BEEN DROP DOWN, INFORMED KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI.

IN 2006 THIS KHARIFF SEASON, MONTHS OF JULY (90), AUGUST (111), SEPTEMBER (124), OCTOBER (112) AND NOVEMBER 107 AND DECEMBER TILL TODAY 24TH OF DECEMBER 92 FARM SUICIDE REPORTED. THIS YEAR HAVE REGISTERED SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF SUICIDES AND , 2006 HAS YEAR OF VIDARBHA FARMER’S SUICIDE YEAR AS TILL DATE 2006 MORE THAN 1150 FARMERS SUICIDES HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED BY THE ADMINISTRATION DUE TO AGRARIAN CRISIS.

HERE ARE NAMES OF THE 14 FARMERS WHO COMMITTED SUICIDES IN LAST THREE DAYS.

1

RAMBHAU HARIBHAU BANDE

22-DEC-06

DUDHORA

KARANJA-LAD

WASHIM

2

VIJAY GANPAT GANORKAR

22-DEC-06

KHAIRGOAN

NARKHED

NAGPUR

3

RAMRAO DASHRATH WAGH

22-DEC-06

TARODA

ARVI

WARDHA

4

RAM LAXMANRAO WAJURKAR

23-DEC-06

SHELGOAN

MALEGOAN

WASHIM

5

DILIP ARJUN DHAWAS

23-DEC-06

NAWARGOAN

CHANDRAPUR

CHANDRAPUR

6

PRAKASH CHANDRABHAN INGOLE

23-DEC-06

KHAIRA

NANDURA

BULDHANA

7

MANDHAR VISHRAM LAHANE

23-DEC-06

DAHEGOAN

CHIKHALI

BULDHANA

8

GOPAL EKNATH GAIGOL

23-DEC-06

PIMPARI

SAGAMRAMPUR

BULDHANA

9

GANESH RAMKRISHANA KEDAR

24-DEC-06

SHIRAJGOAN-KASABA

CHANDUR BAZAR

AMARAVATI

10

SANJAY NATHU UPASE

24-DEC-06

WATHIDA

(CHANDAK)

WARUD

AMARAVATI

11

DAYARAM GANGARAM MASRAM

24-DEC-06

PETH AHMEDAPUR

ASHTI-SHAHID

WARDHA

12

LAXMAN BABA INGOLE

24-DEC-06

WASHIM

WASHIM

WASHIM

13

HARICHANDRA DEVIDAS PADOLE

24-DEC-06

CHENUSHTTA

TIWASA

AMARAVATI

14

VISHWASLAWA DADAJI WANKHEDE

24-DEC-06

KOLHAPUR

DEOLI

WARDHA

IT IS KNOWN FACT THAT THE EXISTING PACKAGES SPECIALLY ANNOUNCED FOR WEST VIDARBHA IN ORDER TO CONTROL THESE ON GOING FARMERS SUICIDES ARE NOT TARGETED TO THE REASONS OF DISTRESS IN THE RURAL AREA OF COTTON GROWING REGION MASS SUICIDES OF FARMERS ARE LIKELY TO BE REPORTED IN NEAR FUTURE AS THERE IS NO ADMINISTRATION TO SEE THESES HELPLESS FARMERS AND THERE COMPLETE CURIOS AND HOSTILE CORRUPTION INCREASING DISTRESS AMONG FARMERS, EVERYBODY KNOWS PLIGHTS OF THE FARMERS BUT NOBODY IS KEEN TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS’ KISHOR TIWARI ADDED.

IF ANY BODY ASK WHAT IS WRONG WITH ONE TIME VERY RICH COTTON ECONOMY OF WEST VIDARBHA HAS BEEN SO COLLAPSED THAT OUT OF 3 MILLION FARMERS MORE THAN 75% FARMERS ARE UNDER EXTREME DISTRESS AND COMMITTING SUICIDES, ACTIVIST SAYS IT’S RESULT OF WRONG POLICIES OF GOVT. AND ADMINISTRATION CLAIMS THAT FARMERS ARE KILLING THEMSELVES BECAUSE OF THEIR WRONG HABITS BUT WHEN POLITICAL LEADERS BEING ASKED REGARDING THE FARM SUICIDES THEN THEY BLAME POLITICAL PARTY IN POWER FOR THESE KILLINGS. THE FACT IS THAT FARMER’S SUICIDE IS ACCUMULATED RESULT OF MASS DISTRESS DUE COMPLETE FAILURE SOCIAL AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION IN THIS AREA. IRRESPONSIBLE AND CORRUPT LEADERS AND BUREAUCRATS WITH WASTED INTEREST AT ALL LEVEL HAVE CREATED THIS HOSTILE CONDITION.

RESTORATION OF SOCIAL AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION IS UP MOST PRIORITY THEN PROVIDING SUPPORT SYSTEMS LIKE HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, FOOD SECURITY AND LOCAL EMPLOYMENT IN ORDER TO SLOW DOWN THE GOING SUICIDE IS MUST BUT NOBODY IS SERIOUS ON THESE ISSUES.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING IS NEED OF HOUR BUT ANY RELIEF PACKAGE TARGETING THESE ISSUES WILL NOT IMMEDIATELY STOP ON GOING EPIDEMIC OF FARMERS SUICIDES AS THEY FOOD STARVED, THEY MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY ILL HENCE HEALTH CARE AND FOOD SECURITY TO THESE FARMING COMMUNITY IS MUST, WE HAVE BEEN DEMANDING THESE BASIC DEMANDS BUT INSTEAD OF LOOKING TO THESE DEMANDS WE ARE BEING SENT TO JAIL ALL THE TIME. NOW IT’S YOUR RESPONSBILITY TO SAVE THESE 3 MILLION FARMERS OF WEST VIDARBHA ,VJAS URGED TO SOCIETY.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE ARRANGE TO RELEASE THIS PRESS NOTE
THANKING YOU,
YOURS TRULY,

KISHOR TIWARI

PRESIDENT
VIDARBHA JANADOLAN SAMITI
CONTACT-MOBILE-09422108846