VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI(mobile-91-9422108846)

2007-07-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

- MIDDAY SPECIAL -

INDIA'S COTTON FARMERS' SUICIDES CONTINUING

FARMERS GATHER at a recent meeting in the Nagpur area to hear proposed government solutions to the country's ongoing cotton farming dilemma. Previous government assistance has fallen short of goals to alleviate the plight of farmers and surviving widows.

Farmers meeting photo from Vidarbha@gmail.com

Toll Over 8 Thousand Last 4 Years

- C O T T O N C A L L E D K I L L E R C R O P -

By M. R. Lawrence, Editor
Update 2350 GMT, 26/07/07
Reprint: ©2007
(Vidarbha, India) - Pradip Kumar Maitra was quoted in an email to Midday as saying, "Three debt-trapped farmers commit suicide every day in Vidarbha. And the cotton has now been dubbed "the killer crop" as the growers could not get the reasonable returns because of the high cost of farming. Tiwari urged the government to promote low-cost farming so farmers can earn enough returns for surviving.

Maitra added, "Two relief packages have been announced for the region by the state and union government since December 2005, but the suicides continue. The suicide rate that was declining since December, drastically went up from February this year."

Independent sources report more than 500 farmer suicides have occurred already this year, leaving many grieving and destitute widows looking after their starving children.

The Hindustan Times mid-April summaries for Nagpur elaborated on two recent deaths: Venkat Reddy was the cousin of former chairman of Jhari Panchayat Samiti, Ramanna Yelktiwar. Twenty-seven-year old, Venkat was a progressive farmer who consumed poison on a Saturday morning. He had taken a loan of Rs 35,000 from the local State Bank of India and could not repay the loan because of not getting remunerative prices of raw cotton, reports said. Another victim, Bhimrao Bone (65) ended his life by hanging himself. Extreme indebtedness and crop failure were said to be the cause of these suicides.

Kishor Tiwari, leader of the farmers advocacy group, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), pointed out the about-face on banking loan policy as established in a government issued directive aimed at providing working capital for cash strapped farmers, a change said to be now the main cause of recent suicides.

Tiwari said, "As bankers have stopped giving fresh crop loans and have dropped down the credit (financing) facility by 40% from the original NABARD order, debt starved cotton farmers are killing themselves."

When India's finance minister submitted his annual budget for year 2007-08, it was warmly welcomed as the "Agriculture Budget". However, complaints of funding misallocations have

FARMERS’ WIDOWS and children at a June meeting await announcements of possible government financial assistance. - Photo via VJAS

since surfaced claiming some farming areas are obtaining disproportionate loan amounts at the expense of other areas such as Vidarbha.

According to Tiwari, "The Yavatmal district, which has reported the maximum number of suicides, has been earmarked a loan standard representing a 30% decline from its 2006-07 target. Washim district shows a decline of 41%, Akola 36%, and Buldhana 38%, against the previous fiscal year targets. These district credit plans have been finalised on the basis of broad guidelines prepared by NABARD."

Proposed cotton farmer loan repayment waivers have also been the victim of official government policy reversal. Veteran Gandhian leader Mohan Dharia, in a letter to VJAS, supported Vidarbha cotton farmers' efforts for fresh credit and complete loan waivers. As a result of Dharia's intervention according to VJAS representatives, "... the Maharashtra government promised to fulfill these demands, but then backed out."

"Cutting down on credit allocations and curtailing promised loan waivers amounts to punishing Vidarbha for being chosen in the PM's package," Tawari says. He concludes that now cotton farmers are left at the mercy of private money lenders, which will invite more farm suicides.

Additional protests and community meetings are planned, according to VJAS.

Compiled from Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Statements - SuicideEcho@gmail.com

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Vidharbha’s one-litre-per-cow package-p.sainath

2007-07-27T00:43:00.000-07:00

Date:27/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/27/stories/2007072754131100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Vidharbha’s one-litre-per-cow package

P. Sainath

By the Maharashtra government’s own count, the 14,221 high-breed cows it gave farmers in Vidharbha add just 1.16 litres each to the milk collection in the region.

— Photo: P. Sainath

Kamlabai Gudhe with her high-eating, low yielding cow that cost Rs. 17,500 of which she paid Rs. 5,500.

One year, two ‘packages,’ and many crores of rupees later, each of the 14,000 high-breed cows distributed by the Maharashtra government in Vidharbha is adding just 1.16 litres a day on average to milk collection in the region. The State government’s own monthly journal says so.

However, the State sees in this, the success of the relief packages of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister for that region. The Maharashtra government’s journal Lokrajya views it as a vindication of ideas going back to t he days of “Mahatma Jyotiba Phule amd Sant Tukudoji Maharaj.” It goes on to say: “These great men’s ideas are being translated in the form of the farmers’ packages in Vidharbha. In fact, good results are seen.”

“Both those great souls — among the nation’s foremost reformers — would have been stunned by the claims being made in their names,” says Mohan Jadhav, secretary of the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS). “Both packages have collapsed months ago. And the cow scheme was the worst part of those. Imagine raising collection by one litre per very costly cow.”

The government, though, believes the project has “helped bring back the reign of Bali Raja.” (A sacred king of farmers in folklore, in whose time great prosperity prevailed.) It says 14,221 cows have been given to Vidharbha farmers. (Lokrajya July 2007.) Because of this, “milk collection there has risen by 37 per cent.” Earlier, it says, “that averaged 44,600 litres daily in these six districts.” But with the success of the packages, “there has been an increase of 16,600 litres.” Or 1.16 litres a day per new cow.

As a result, says Lokrajya, “the farmers are flush with cash more regularly. Their daily financial problems could be solved. They do not need to wait for their crops to grow.”

Giving quality cows to thousands of poor farmers in the six most troubled districts of the region was a high profile element in the relief packages of both Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The first aimed to bring 40,000 new cows to the region in three years. The second, 18,000 in the same period. Close to two million people in these six districts are officially recorded as living “under maximum distress.” Another five million are “under medium distress.” And there have been — in the State’s own count — well over 2,000 farm suicides since 2001. (The real figure is much higher.)

At the time the ‘packages’ were announced, the scheme had been attacked as “insane” by Planning Commission members and farm activists alike. (The Hindu, July 14, 2006). It gave costly cows to poor farmers in drought-hit regions without water and fodder. Besides, the beneficiaries had to fork out quite a bit for cows they did not want. (The Hindu, November 23, 2006). Many complained that the animals had been forced on them and were eating more than “our entire families.” Kamlabai Gudhe’s cow in Lonsawla village of Wardha district cost Rs.17,500. Of this, she had to pay Rs.5,500 and the government the rest. Within weeks, Kamlabai tried hard to give it away to neighbours who did not want it either. “It was too costly to feed it,” she says.

The 14,221 cows have cost already indebted farmers over Rs.7.5 crore. And that does not include the cost of maintaining them. Which could range from Rs.85 to Rs.150 a day depending on who you are and what you can afford. So maintaining these cows would cost Vidharbha’s bankrupt farmers over Rs.50 crore a year. For 1.16 litres more a day, that is a lot of money. (If fully carried out, the State and Centre will together have spent Rs.165 crore on the scheme in three years.) “This must be the costliest per litre milk collection rate in the world,” says Mohan Jadhav of the VJAS.

“It takes Rs.45 a day to keep that creature alive,” says Vijay Jawandia, the region’s leading thinker on agriculture. “So on an increase of one litre, the farmer loses Rs.30 a day in the added cost this cow brings.” Senior officials in Amravati insist that total collection might be much higher. “They could be selling more to private buyers,” says one. But there are no figures to show this.

“If farmers are doing better with private buyers,” asks Mohan Jadhav, “why would they sell these 16,000 litres to government and lose lakhs of rupees each year? Or, if they are getting a better price from government, why would they sell more milk to private parties and lose a fortune?”

The State, though, is pleased with the scheme’s progress. Washim district, says Lokrajya, has seen “an increase of 328 per cent in milk collection.” Not impressive, since its earlier figure was just 700 litres a da y. (Now it is 2300 litres daily.) There are single villages in Western Maharashtra that outdo this entire district. Also the “103 per cent increase” in Yavatmal brings its daily collection to 6,100 litres. “That’s still a fifth of what it was two decades ago,” says Dada Rhode, a leading milk contractor. Also, he says, a lot of milk from Andhra Pradesh is being sold in Yavatmal. So private collection cannot be much better,

“People do not keep cows because there is no fodder and no water. Nothing in the packages has changed that,” says Mr. Jawandia. “There was no real promotion of jowar, which would have brought the fodder. In any case, the farmer gets at best Rs.9 per litre of milk on average. Which is Rs.3 less than what a bottle of Bisleri water sells at. When there is no higher income, what sense does it make?”

Minister promises more cows

The State’s Dairy Development, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Minister, however, finds that “a transformation has begun.” The impact of these programmes, Anees Ahmed told Lokrajya, “can be seen in the fact th at in the last few days the number of suicides has reduced.” (Shortly thereafter, Vidharbha saw 28 of them in a week.)

The cow programme, though, will not suffer. The Minister promises the State will increase the money it spends per cow to Rs.20,000. “In that way, the financial burden (on the farmer) will be reduced.” What’s more, “in order to increase their [farmers’] awareness, we are going to have Chetna Dindis.” (That is, awareness or consciousness-raising rallies and campaigns.) Vidharbha’s march to progress is unstoppable.

2007-07-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

- MIDDAY SPECIAL -

INDIA'S COTTON FARMERS' SUICIDES CONTINUING

FARMERS GATHER at a recent meeting in the Nagpur area to hear proposed government solutions to the country's ongoing cotton farming dilemma. Previous government assistance has fallen way short of goals for alleviating the plight of farmers and surviving widows.

Farmers meeting photo from Vidarbha@gmail.com

Toll Over 8 Thousand Last 4 Years

- C O T T O N C A L L E D K I L L E R C R O P -

(Vidarbha, India) - Pradip Kumar Maitra was quoted in an email to Midday as saying, "Three debt-trapped farmers commit suicide every day in Vidarbha. And the cotton has now been dubbed "the killer crop" as the growers could not get the reasonable returns because of the high cost of farming. Tiwari urged the government to promote low-cost farming so farmers can earn enough returns for surviving.

Maitra added, "Two relief packages have been announced for the region by the state and union government since December 2005, but the suicides continue. The suicide rate that was declining since December, drastically went up from February this year."

Independent sources report more than 500 farmer suicides have occurred already this year, leaving many grieving and destitute widows looking after their starving children.

The Hindustan Times mid-April summaries for Nagpur elaborated on two recent deaths: Venkat Reddy was the cousin of former chairman of Jhari Panchayat Samiti, Ramanna Yelktiwar. Twenty-seven-year old, Venkat was a progressive farmer who consumed poison on a Saturday morning. He had taken a loan of Rs 35,000 from the local State Bank of India and could not repay the loan because of not getting remunerative prices of raw cotton, reports said. Another victim, Bhimrao Bone (65) ended his life by hanging himself. Extreme indebtedness and crop failure were said to be the cause of these suicides.

From VIdarbha Jan Andolan Samiti - SuicideEcho@gmail.com

Send Midday your News & Comment. You may see it here!

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2007-07-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

FARMERS’ SUICIDE -TIMES EXPOSES GOVT. STAND

2007-07-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

FARMERS’ SUICIDE
NGO blames govt for down playing agrarian crisis

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=TkdUT0kvMjAwNy8wNy8yMyNBcjAwNDAx&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
Nagpur: With eight more farmer suicides reported from the region on Sunday, the state government has been accused of playing down agrarian distress that has already resulted in around 600 suicides in cotton belt of the region this year. ‘‘The government and chief secretary Johny Joseph's claims on Saturday about sharp decline in cases of farmers committing suicide for purely agrarian reasons, are grossly misleading,’’ said Kishore Tiwari, president, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a farmers' rights group that is keeping a close tab on the situation. ‘‘The government has admitted that out of 600 farmers ending their lives, compensation has been paid only to 85. Ratio of rejection of compensation cases has shot up in recent months,’’ noted Tiwari adding that there have been instances of relatives of the suicide victim farmer being harassed so that they do not claim compensation. After a high-level review meeting presided over by the chief secretary in which the divisional commissioners of Amravati and Nagpur district besides secretaries of department concerned and district collectors participated, it was announced that relief measurers under the Prime Minister's package and that of the state government were reaching the farmers and suicides because of agrarian reasons were on the decline. "It's shocking. If there is no crisis, why have the PM and the state come out with relief packages," asked Tiwari. He said that the lack of a food security for farmers had only worsened the situation. "To get government aid, the victim's family has to prove that he had suffered crop loss and was under debt burden. That is reason most cases are being rejected," said Tiwari.

2007-07-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Indian Cotton Meadows Turn Into Killing Fields

2007-07-18T07:57:00.000-07:00

Bernama.com
Malaysian National News Agency

Indian Cotton Meadows Turn Into Killing Fields
Business
July 18, 2007 15:48 PM

NEW DELHI, July 18 (Bernama) -- One middle-aged Indian cotton farmer kills himself every eight hours -- either unable to overcome grinding poverty or repay his debts.

Over the last 48 hours at least eight farmers committed suicide in hard-pressed Vidarbha in Maharashtra, a cotton-farming village -- now turning into one of India's killing fields as more vulnerable farmers kill themselves in this remote district.

Since January this year, 506 farmers had taken their own lives despite the government's multimillion relief package to help cotton farmers, simply because aid failed to reach the target group, claim relief workers.

And, since June 2005, more than 5,000 farmers pathetically killed themselves all over India, leaving their wives and children in worse financial doldrums.

The death tolls tell a poignant story of how Indian farmers succumb to free trade competition that has destroyed their revered economic lifeline -- cotton farming -- with cotton prices dipping in the global market while highly subsidised farmers from rich nations corner cotton trade, leaving Third World widows in grim villages.

"Vidarbha was once a white gold mine. We gave the world the best soft cotton. Our cotton was liked by Europeans because it was cheap and shirts made from our cotton kept them warm," Kishore Tiwari, the president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (Peoples' Protest Forum), a farmers lobby group, told Bernama.

With cotton prices fetching poor prices, at merely 1,700 rupees (RM154) per quintal or 100kg compared to 2,500 rupees (RM227) in 2005, farmers with paltry earnings found it impossible to cope with spiralling cost of living, even in rural areas, said Tiwari.

"Cost of healthcare, education and food has gone up but farmers' earnings continue to drop. In fact, each farmer's income, according to a government survey, is negative (-400 rupees), which means economically he is not earning anything," he added.

Citing a government national survey conducted last June, Tiwari said about 1.3 million farmers out of 1.72 million, from eight villages, lived in financial distress while 400,000 were in a critical stage.

"It's a mass genocide here," he described, adding that some two million farmers were now in dire need of financial aid because the only cash crop they relied on had failed miserably.

Since the cotton and textile quota restriction was removed in 2004, Third World cotton planters suffer to keep their livelihood fertile -- facing severe rivalry from producers like China and the highly-subsidised American farmers, who can dispose their cotton cheaply in the international market.

Moreover, the majority of Indian farmers grow BT cotton (genetically- modified cotton) that requires a large amount of investment, for irrigation and fertilisers, which are not within the reach of these poor farmers.

"Ninety five per cent of BT cotton are grown in non-irrigated land here, where there is no proper irrigation or water supply. So the yield is low and BT cotton farming requires a lot of money for fertilisers," said Tiwari.

In booming India, the agriculture sector remains an integral part of the economy though contributing a fifth of India's economic output. Some 600 million people rely on farming for direct or indirect source of income.

Yet in a largely investment-driven Indian economy, the third largest in Asia, after Japan and China, with a projected nine per cent gross domestic product growth for 2007-2008, farmers are still squeezed for a living.

There is no quick-fix to revive this ailing sector and Tiwari said only a long-term, government-backed programme could remove farmers' misery in Vidarbha, located about 1,000km from the bustling financial hub of Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra.

"We want protected economy for cotton and credit facilities for farmers. Government must restore healthcare, education and create employment opportunities for the masses, and promote organic or natural farming which is cheaper than growing BT cotton," he added.

On the horizon, the Indian monsoon may continue to drench India for at least another month, perhaps bringing some respite for Vidarbha farmers.

"But when the monsoon slips away the "mass genocide" will bound to continue," cautioned Tiwari.

--BERNAMA

Copyright © 2007 BERNAMA. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form except with the prior written permission of BERNAMA. Disclaimer

Eight more farmers commit suicide-TIMES REPORTS

2007-07-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

Eight more farmers commit suicide
18 Jul 2007, 0447 hrs IST,TNN

SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Eight_farmers_commit_suicide_in_Nagpur/articleshow/2212522.cms

NAGPUR: Eight more farmers committed suicide in the last 48 hours in cotton belt of Vidarbha taking the toll this year to 506, said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti on Tuesday.

Of the deceased, four were from Amravati district and identified as Bajirao Ingle of Gorkheda village, Waman Dewan from Deolwada, Janrao Warhade of Phiggaon, Suresh Pande of Valruli, two from Yavatmal — Eknath Kale of Korada village and Vikas Punwatkar of Ramwaki —, Pandurang Ingole of Wadavi village in Washim district and Shankar Mange of Sawara in Akola.

VJAS president Kishore Tiwari attributed the fresh spate of suicides to reduction in credit outlay in the six affected districts by 40% by Nabard. A large number of farmers mainly in Amravati district had to incur extra expenditure as they had to undertake a sowing for the second time after heavy rains washed away their nascent crop, he added.

Readers Opinion

Eight more farmers commit suicide

1 Comment:I earnestly appeal to leaders of the Corporate World - Tatas, Birlas, Infosys, Reliance, Wipro and others - to jointly come out with some concrete programme (with or without government support) to prevent poor farmers from committing suicide. I am sure with their vast resources of top brains and finance they can evolve some novel scheme of action to guide and assist these farmers so that they do not go to the extreme step of committing suicide. Please help them.

Name:GD Jasuja

Location:Ahmedabad

18 Jul, 2007 1506hrs IST

High Court takes serious note on bouncing of farmer's cheque

2007-07-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

November 4, 2006

Pradip Kumar Maitra, Hindustan Times

Email Author

Nagpur, July 13, 2007

First Published: 20:09 IST(13/7/2007)

Last Updated: 20:16 IST(13/7/2007)

High Court takes serious note on bouncing of farmer's cheque

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court had taken a serious note of the recent dishonouring of the cheque of a widow in the neighbouring Yavatmal district and directed the state government to place the entire factual position before it within one week. However, the Court also asked the lawyer of the petitioner to file a separate application in this regard.

It was an embarrassment for the Vilasarao Deshmukh government when a cheque issued by the Yavatmal district collectorate was bounced owing to lack of adequate balance in the account last fortnight. Taking the serious note of the lapse on the part of the district administration, the chief minister even ordered a probe into the incident last week.

The Yavatmal district administration had issued a cheque of Rs 10,000 in the name of one Vandana Shende, whose husband Anil had committed suicide in August last year. Vandana was shocked and surprised when the district central cooperative bank dishnoured the cheque because of paucity of funds in the concerned account of district administration.

Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) on the on-going farmers’ suicide and half-hearted implementation of relief packages, filed by Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti, a division bench of the Court, comprising Justice Dilip Sinha and Justice BP Dharmadhikari, directed the state to submit a detailed programmes and status of special economic packages, announced by the Prime Minister and the state government.

The Court also wanted to know the implementations of various directives, given by the Court earlier occasions, on the issue. It asked the government that whether the suggestions made by the petitioner, Kishore Tiwari were taken into consideration in this regard.

Several debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha, forcing the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh government to announced a special economic package of Rs 3750-crore last year and a sum of Rs 1500-crore by the state government to bail out the crisis-ridden farmers.

However, these packages could not succeed to stem the tide of suicide so far. Around 1200 farmers, most of them cotton growers, had ended their lives in the region since Prime Minister toured the area and announced the package. As many as 32 farmers have committed suicide this month alone.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ebe2c6f4-dbbe-403f-a956-569c5f0cef25

'Not one but hundred of cheques to Vidarbha farmers' widows have bounced'

2007-07-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

'Not one but hundred of cheques to Vidarbha farmers' widows have bounced'

Posted July 10th, 2007 by Tarique

India News

VJAS writes open letter to PM

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jul/09/not_one_hundred_cheques_vidarbha_farmers_widows_have_bounced.html

Bhopal : The Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), in an open letter to the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh has urged him to arrange Central Vigilance Commission probe to investigate the failure of the relief package, given by him, on all fronts in resolving the agrarian crisis pervading in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state.

The letter suggested that as a first step this can be done by sacking of Relief Commissioner Dr. Sudhir Goyal, at present taking advance management training in the United States of America, and Dr. Harshdeep Kamble recently promoted as Deputy Secretary in Mantralaya, (secretariat of Maharashtra state).

The relief package failed on all fronts due to complete apathy of the administration, poor implementation of schemes under the package, corruption and political interference, the letter stated.

The letter emphasized to address the need to better health care and education for the farming community besides total waiver of debts of Bt. cotton growing farmers whose crops have failed.

The letter to the Prime Minister send by Kishor Tiwari, president VJAS, said: "Nowadays your media adviser Sanjay Baru is very busy in issuing press release after press release regarding one cheque retuned back by the bank due to lack of adequate balance in your relief fund account. However, this is not a single case in isolation as hundred of cheques issued to the farm widows and distressed families have been returned by banks in six districts of west Vidarbha".

The letter pointed out that "The Times of India" newspaper reported that Maharashtra Government has ordered a probe into cheque-bounce case issued to Vidarbha farmer's widow Mrs. Vandana Shende of village Bhadumri in Yavatmal but as per the information available with us that the massive corruption and misuse of funds by Dr. Harshdeep Kamble, the then collector Yavatmal District, who has literally made a mockery of complete relief operations".

As Collector Kamble has not only opened a separate account of Prime Minister Relief Fund but he used it at his sweet wish and will. This, thereby, resulted in diversion of funds to the tune of Rs. 74 lakhs out of Rs.80 Lakhs made available for clearing his personal touring bills and to release of fund to people other than widows of farmers who committed suicides and members of farmers' families who are in distress, the letter alleged.

Meanwhile, VJAS president Kishor Tiwari told this Correspondent on phone from Nagpur that Yavatmal District administration on Sunday approached Vidarbha farmer's widow Mrs. Vandana Shende, whose cheque got bounced due to lack of adequate balance in Prime Minister Relief Fund account, with Rs. 10,000/- in cash which she refused to accept. Seeing this the administration, after making special arrangements, got the money deposited in her account in a cooperative bank of the area despite the fact the banks are closed on Sundays, Tiwari informed.

This was apparently done to nullify the adverse publicity the bounced cheque had received in the national media.

Tiwari said that Mrs. Shende has vowed not to withdraw the said amount and if she withdraws it then she would send it back to Prime Minister Relief Fund. He said that Prime Minister Office had directed to disburse Rs. one lakh each to the widows of farmers who had committed suicide but Dr. Harshdeep Kamble, the then collector Yavatmal District, issued cheques of paltry sum of Rs. 10,000 only.

It may be mentioned here that VJAS under the stewardship of Kishor Tiwari is spearheading the cause of widows and farmers of Vidarbha region.

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

Indian farmer suicides spiral despite cash plans- Reuters reports from india

2007-07-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

Indian farmer suicides spiral despite cash plans

By Reuters

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=
topNews&storyID=2007-07-06T163214Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-283485-1.xml

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070706/137/6hrp0.html

By Krittivas Mukherjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of farmers unable to repay crop loans killed themselves in India's richest state in the past year, despite a multi-million dollar cash plan to improve their lot, activists said on Friday.

The spate of suicides in Maharashtra since last July touched 1,132, they said, highlighting the failure of highly publicised efforts by New Delhi to ease the financial burden of cotton farmers.

Debt-ridden farmers have been committing suicide in four Indian states and government statistics have recorded more than 4,500 deaths in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala in the past six years.

Activists and farmers' groups say the figure is at least five times more.

They say the "accumulated distress" of the cotton growers of Maharashtra was the highest because of $400 million in one-time grants, interest waivers and debt restructuring announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year had not been properly implemented.

"Even crop seeds promised were never given," said Kishor Tiwari, head of Vidharba Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers' lobby.

"The money lies unutilised because of a callous bureaucracy. There are at least 1.2 million farmers under distress now."

STILL DYING

Most of India's farming community is poverty-stricken and many farmers borrow -- often amounts that would only buy a few drinks in an upmarket London or New York pub -- from the village moneylender at rates as high as 10 percent a month.

Their debts soar when crops fail due to poor rains or when prices tumble.

Those borrowing privately are not eligible for government relief. Even those who borrow from banks, including state-run rural banks, often have to pay bribes for their loans.

Agriculture supports 600 million of India's 1.1 billion people, but contributes only a fifth of gross domestic product and accounts for only 12 percent of bank credit.

A Maharashtra government Web site said 454 farmers had killed themselves between January and May this year.

Officials said the relief plan was starting to benefit farmers, but more time was needed.

"Suicides have come down by 50 percent in the last one year," said Ramesh Kumar, a top Maharashtra relief official.

But activists said the government was playing down the crisis which the special relief package had not been able to deal with.

"Just go and see if there has been any change in their lot. They are still dying," said Sharad Joshi, chief of Shetkari Sangathan, a powerful farmers' group.

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

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2007-07-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

Vidarbha was deprived of its funds: CAG

By - Jaideep Hardikar
Full Story can be found at

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1107932

Western Maharashtra benefited as the region's backlog piled up,
but the powers that be don't care
NAGPUR: In what could explain the developmental backwardness of Vidarbha and Marathwada, the Maharashtra government, it is learnt, diverted huge funds in the budget to the influential western and northern parts of the state, while ducking the Governor's directives for equitable provisions, thus fuelling the already irreversible regional imbalance.
Underlining the non-compliance of the Governor's directives by the government, the 2006-07 Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India finds that in percentage terms Vidarbha was robbed of 70 per cent of its funds, while the neighbouring Marathwada, 55 per cent, in the last financial year.
In absolutely terms, the state government made a provision of Rs1662.58 crore for Vidarbha in the budget though the Governor's directive was for an allocation of Rs 5434 crore. Similarly, on Marathwada, the government spent Rs 1512.71 crore, when the Governor's directive was for an allocation of Rs 3469.91 crore.
For irrigation sector alone, the government allocated only Rs 1391.58 crore for Vidarbha. The Governor had directed to allocate Rs3919.79 crore.
Interestingly, the government tabled this report in the dying moments of the last day of budget session of the state legislature on April 17, apparently to skirt any discussion on the issue. The report was ready in November 2006, so it could have been tabled during the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur as well.
What's more, the Principal Secretary to the government has not yet replied to the CAG report, sources in the regional office of the CAG revealed to DNA.
The Government of Maharashtra constituted separate development boards for Vidarbha, Marathwada and the Rest of Maharashtra under Article 371(2) of the Constitution of India on April 30, 1994. After the establishments of these boards, an Indicators and Backlog Committee was set up in November 1995 to calculate the actual backlog of development in the three regions.
The committee found the government would need to spend Rs 14,006 crore in the state, mostly in Vidarbha and Marathwada, to liquidate the developmental backlog in nine main sectors: Irrigation, Roads, General Education, Technical Education, Water Supply, Land Development, Veterinary Services, Health and Energisation of Pumps.
Following the recommendation of the boards and subject to the need of the state as a whole, the Governor directs the government to allocate funds equitably for development expenditure over the areas of development board.
The CAG report adds that the Governor had to issue fresh directives on March 2007 following the violation of his directives in 2006, to liquidate the backlog in irrigation sector by 2010 and in other sectors by 2009

---------------------------------------------------------------.

5000 farm suicides in vidarbha-hindu reports

2007-07-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

Date:06/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/06/stories/2007070656301400.htm

National

Six more farmers commit suicide

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Six more farmers have committed suicide in the cotton belt of Vidarbha in the past two days raising the total number of farmer suicides, due to debts, to 1,132 in the last one year. Kishore Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has urged the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh to review the relief package of Rs. 3,750 crore for 30 lakh farmers of the region. The package, according to him, has failed on all fronts due to complete apathy of the administration, poor implementation of schemes under the package, corruption and political interference.

Mr. Tiwari wanted the Prime Minister to investigate the failure of the package in resolving the agrarian crisis.

He said that measures aimed at raising the farmers’ income that would provide relief in loan repayments were not sufficient. He urged for free health care and education for the farming community besides total waiver of debts. More than 5,000 farmers had committed suicides since 2002.

SIX MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS COMMITS SUICIDES - VJAS URGED PRIME MINISTER TO REVISIT “DYING LAND”

2007-07-04T23:08:00.001-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

11,Trisaranagar,Khamala,Nagpur-440025

Mobile-09422108846, VJAS BLOG-andolan.blogspot.com,email-vidarbha@gmail.com

Ref-Vidarbha Farm Crisis PRESS-NOTE Dated-05th july/2007

SIX MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS COMMITS SUICIDES - VJAS URGED PRIME MINISTER TO REVISIT “DYING LAND”

NAGPUR-5th JULY-2007

Farm suicides are no way to stop in vidarbha cotton belt as six more farmers killed themselves in last 48 hours when Maharashtra Chief Minister, Chief Secretary along with more than 62 ministers and babus are world tour including relief commissioner Dr.Sudhir Goyal who has been sent to US for special quality improvement progrmme titled “potential leadership development workshop” in new York at the cost relief aid of dying farmers of vidarbha, VJAS has strongly objected this wastage of public money as last five years our Chief Minister along with his team are going on World tour and after return they have been making toll claim of FDI but nothing has come so far,it’s all misleading ,Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan andolan Samiti informed to day .

Six debt trapped farmers who committed suicides in last 48 hours in vidarbha are

1.PRAKASH GOVINDA DARANE,YERABALA IN YAVATMAL

2.SURESH SHANKAR GHUGE OF GONDI MAHAGAON IN NAGPUR

3.SHANKAR BAPU ANDHALE OF DHABA VILLAGE IN AKOLA

4.GOKUL LAXMAN BOSARI OF PADHA IN YAVATMAL

5.SALOBA YASHAWANT NIKALAJE IN SHELGOAN IN BULDHANA

6.RAJU BHIKA CHAVAN IN MAGRULPIR IN WASHIM

Six farmers suicides are in line with record 1132 farmers suicides in last one year sine 1^st july-2006 day on which Indian prime minister announced the special relief package to more than 3 million farmers of west vidarbha ,here is chronological account of farm suicides in vidarbha month wise and district wise

MONTH	FARM SUICIDES	DISTRICT	FARM SUICIDES
JULY-2006	90	YAVATMAL	291
AUGUST-2006	111	AMARAVATI	186
SEPTEMBER-2006	124	AKOLA	131
OCTOBER-2006	112	WASHIM	151
NOVEMBER-2006	107	BULDHANA	146
DECEMBER-2006	105	WARDHA	104
JAN-2007	70	NAGPUR	27
FEB-2007	86	BHANDARA	32
MARCH-2007	82	CHANDRAPUR	41
APRIL-2007	90	GADCHIROLI	12
MAY-2007	79	GONDIA	14
JUNE-2007	68
JULY-2007	08
TOTAL	1132	TOTAL	1132

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) has urged Indian prime minister Dr.Manmohan Singhji have review to failure of relief package on all front due complete apathy of administration and poor implementation of all scheme under relief package. Huge corruption and political interference has made farmer’s condition in vidarbha more hostile as all the time feed back provided by the state administration was misleading, kishor tiwari added.

Now it’s urgent need of the hour to restore rural social and civil system in vidarbha as his Rs.3750/- crore relief package has failed to stop on going farm suicides in vidarbha as more than 1132 farmers mostly debt trapped cotton farmers who are in distress due economic crisis have committed suicide since 1^ST July -2007Kishor Tiwari VJAS leader informed in a press release today.

VJAS asked Indian prime minister to arrnge the detail investigation in to fact that now it’s after one year after PM visit to west vidarbha to under stand the Agrarian crisis in which more than 5000 farmers suicides reported since 2002 ,In fact before the visit of Indian prime minister , Dr.S.W.Swaminathan as Chairman of National Commission for farmers NCF visited vidarbha in the month October-2005 then in the months of march-2006 team of expert from Planning Commission visited the vidarbha ,vidarbha farm crisis is the part of Indian Agararian crisis in which farmers are killing themselves and as per official record since 1995 more than 1,00,000(one lac)farmers mostly cotton growers or coffee growers are the main victims of economical collapse of rural system after we opted open trade and free economy ,your vidarbha visit was part of relief exercise to address this national issue of farmers suicides and experts have already prepared the relief package before PM visit to vidarbha and announcement of package on 1^st July 2006 ,VJAS protested the relief package as farmersr main demand of debt waiver and income base solution for the cash crop of the cotton farmers was missing resulting complete failure of package after one year.

FARMERS WANTS RURAL SYSTEM RESTORATION

VJAS has urged indian prime minister that unless income package is given to vidarbha farmer nothing will change hende relief of credit and cost front is need as drop in income and sudden increase in input cost of cultivation couple with high cost being paid to health care ,education and maintaining daily livelihood has very difficult to farming society. farmers needs restoration civil and social system in order that they need profitable farming couple with free health care and education. VJAS urged Prime Minister that to look in to these aspects and arrange to provide the relief solutions based on the policy changes to protect rural economy of west vidarbha, kishor tiwari said.

Please arrange to release this press note

Thanking you,

Yours Faith Fully

Kishor tiwari

President

Vidarbha jan andolan samiti

vidarbha@gmail.com

andolan.blogspot.com

contact-094222108846

PRESIDENT OF INDIA DR.A.P.J.KALAM MEETS VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS

2007-07-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

PRESIDENT OF INDIA DR.A.P.J.KALAM MEETS
VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS ,VJAS LEADER KISHOR TIWARI
RELIEF COMMISSSINOR DR.SUDHIR GOYAL ,
FARM LEADER PRAKASH POHARE
ARE ALSO SEEN IN THE PICTUREI

2007-07-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article
=03_07_2007_006_007&typ=1&pub=264

VIDARBHA FARM CRISIS SCENARIO AFTER ONE YEAR PRIME MINISTER PACKAGE-1120 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES AS RELIEF PACKAGE FAILED

2007-06-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

11,Trisaranagar,Khamala,Nagpur-440025

Mobile-09422108846, VJAS BLOG-andolan.blogspot.com,email-vidarbha@gmail.com

Ref-Vidarbha Farm Crisis OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER Dated-30/06/2007

VIDARBHA FARM CRISIS SCENARIO AFTER ONE YEAR PRIME MINISTER PACKAGE- DEAR PRIME MINISTERJI : PACKAGE FAILED TO ADDRESS THE AGRARIAN ISSUES

TO,

DR. MANMOHAN SINGHJI,

HON.BLE PRIME MINISTER,

PMO,NEW DELIHI-110011

REF- 1120 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES AS RELIEF PACKAGE FAILED TO ADDRESS THE AGRARIAN ISSUES.

Dear sir,

Now it’s after one year that you visited west vidarbha to under stand the Agrarian crisis in which more than 5000 farmers suicides reported since 2002 ,In fact before your visit Dr.S.W.Swaminathan as Chairman of National Commission for farmers NCF visited vidarbha in the month October-2005 then in the months of march-2006 team of expert from Planning Commission visited the vidarbha ,vidarbha farm crisis is the part of Indian Agararian crisis in which farmers are killing themselves and as per official record since 1995 more than 1,00,000(one lac)farmers mostly cotton growers or coffee growers are the main victims of economical collapse of rural system after we opted open trade and free economy ,your vidarbha visit was part of relief exercise to address this national issue of farmers suicides and experts have already prepared the relief package before your visit to vidarbha and you announced it on 1^st July 2006 ,we protested the relief package as our main demand of debt waiver and income base solution for the cash crop of the cotton farmers was missing but farmers but it was shown the dustbin .

Now we are informed that you are reviewing the relief package that you announced year before on 1^st july 2006 and we want update some of the facts to support our claim that relief package has been failed to address the basic issues of rural crisis in west vidarbha.

1.Record 1120 farmers suicides in last one year ,here is chronological account of farm suicides in vidarbha month wise and district wise

MONTH	FARM SUICIDES	DISTRICT	FARM SUICIDES
JULY-2006	90	YAVATMAL	283
AUGUST-2006	111	AMARAVATI	180
SEPTEMBER-2006	124	AKOLA	131
OCTOBER-2006	112	WASHIM	151
NOVEMBER-2006	107	BULDHANA	145
DECEMBER-2006	105	WARDHA	104
JAN-2007	70	NAGPUR	27
FEB-2007	86	BHANDARA	32
MARCH-2007	82	CHANDRAPUR	41
APRIL-2007	90	GADCHIROLI	12
MAY-2007	79	GONDIA	14
JUNE-2007	64
TOTAL	1120	TOTAL	1120

Farm suicide is not the any way indicator of vidarbha agrarian crisis but we would like to draw your attention to 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.

2.Sir, 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.

Relief package failed to address the basic issue of vidarbha farmers that is credit and cost

RELIEF PACKAGE FAILURE DETAILS

SR.NO.	RELIEF AMOUNT	DISBUSEMENT	RESULT
1	RS.710 CRORE TO THE BANK AS INTEREST WAIVER THAT HAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED NPA OF BANKS.	ADDITIONAL RS.840 CRORE CROP LOAN GIVEN TO THE COTTON FARMERS.	THIS YEAR DEBT AMOUNT INCREASE AS NABARD FAILED INCREASE CROP LOAN CREDIT. TILL DATE ONLY 2LACS FARMERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN FRESH CROP LOAN AS AGAINST 8 LACS LAST YEAR.
2.	RS.2460 CRORE FOR MAJOR AND MICRO IRRIGATION PURPOSE	ONLY RS.231 CRORE RELEASED ON PAPER	NO SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN AREA UNDER IRRIGATION IN FACT IT WAS ONLY 12000 ACRE AGAINST 80000 ACRE IN LAST RUBY SEASON
3	RS. 90 CRORE AID FOR OTGANAIC FARMING	NIL AMOUNT WAS GIVEN BY THE STATE	AREA UNDER B.T. COTTON DOUBLE IN THIS SEASON
4.	RELIEF WIDOWS	PMO FAILED TO MONITOR THIS AID TOO	OUT OF 1200 SUICIDES 890 CASES WERE REJECTED BY ADMINISTRATION.

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 our organization, out of such a huge numbers of families from those surveyed villages, we would like to draw your immediate attention towards the column No. 8 & 9 pertaining to the farmers in extreme distress and farmers with serious illness as stated above. Hon'ble Sir, 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.

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. The Union of India through State of Maharashtra is 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.

As per Maharashtra govt. official report that more than

95 000 farmers families suffering from serious illness and when we visited families and 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. The State is providing medical / health services to BPL families at the subsidized rate amongst the farm / landless laborers. In order to stop the indirect plight due to serious illness coupled with hunger and starvation of these around 95,000 Identified Farmers Families with Serious Illness, most of them are small farmers of which the economic condition is not above the landless laborers (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 laborers 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.

FARMERS WANTS RURAL SYSTEM RESTORATION

Drop in income and sudden increase in input cost of cultivation couple with high cost being paid to health care ,education and maintaining daily livelihood has very difficult to farming society. farmers needs restoration civil and social system in order that they need profitable farming couple with free health care and education.

dear prime minister you are kindly requested to look in to these aspects and arrange to provide the relief address .

Thanking you,

Yours Faith Fully

Kishor tiwari

President

Vidarbha jan andolan samiti

vidarbha@gmail.com

andolan.blogspot.com

contact-09422108846

2007-06-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

leading US TV channel PBS exposes reality of vidarbha farm suicides when maharashtra chief minister visiting US

on 26th june-2007 on prime news hour slot US TV channel has shown the in depth story on vidarbha farmers suicides same day maharashtra chief minister was talking to NRI in US that vidarbha farmers are not true as INDIA is growing fast we are also growing fastest speed not at the cost of farmers suicides but reality is different pl look at it,
release in public interest by
kishore tiwari
vidarbha jan andolan samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
====================================================================
PBS REPORTS
Agricultural Problems Lead to Farmer Suicides in India
Farming in India has become difficult and costly, leading to thousands of farmers taking their own lives. The NewsHour reports on why the industry has become so challenging and what farmers are doing to get through this tough period.

HERE IS THE LINK

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june07/farmers_06-26.html

kishore tiwari
vidarbha jan andolan samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com

As Bankers Stopped Giving Crop Laon- Six More Debt Trapped Vidarbha Farmers Committed Suicides In Last 48 Hours

2007-06-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

11,Trisaranagar,Khamala,Nagpur-440025

Mobile-09422108846,VJAS BLOG-andolan.blogspot.com,email-vidarbha@gmail.com

Ref-Vidarbha Farm Crisis PRESS-NOTE-VERY URGENt Dated-25/06/2007

As Bankers Stopped Giving Crop Laon- Six More Debt Trapped Vidarbha Farmers Committed Suicides In Last 48 Hours-Marashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is visiting America for the MNC investment in “DYING LAND ”of Vidarbha

Nagpur-25^th June 2007

After NABARD has reduced the credit outlay to vidarbha by 40% that is Rs.1860 Crore To Rs.1230 Crore bankers have stopped giving fresh loan to illegible farmers as result six more debt trapped farmers killed themselves in last 48 hours ,

They are

1. EKNATH JAGANATH KOHLE OF TULJAPUR IN BULDHANA

2. GANPAT SHANKAR KHAEDIKAR OF POHARA IN BHANDARA

3. KISAN GANPAT WANKHADE IN KURHAD IN YAVATMAL

4. BHIMRAO BAPURAO ZAMARE OF DHANODA IN YAVATMAL

5. PUNJAB ANANDA TAYADE OF PATHARDI IN AKOLA

6. SANTOSH NAGORAO NEMADE OF RAIKHED IN AKOLA

taking the toll of farmers suicide 55 in june and total 470 since jan.2007,vidarbha jan andolan samiti informed in press release today.

The decision of banker’s not to give fresh crop loan has put more then 2 million cotton farmers in fix as money lenders too exploiting the situation and more & more farmers are being forced to commit suicide as they are failed to do sowing ,kishor tiwari of VJAS added In Press Note.

Earlier NABARD announced that banker will go to door step of the every farmer to give them crop loan but in fact now they have asked bankers not to give fresh crop loan to any illegible farmer where as farmers main demand of complete loan waiver has been shown the dust bin, it’s really unfortunate kishor tiwari said.

MAHARASHTRA CHIEF MINISTER IS ON AMERICA TOUR

Here in Maharashtra since June -2005 there is mass genocide of cotton farmers and more than 4000 farmers suicides have officially reported by the sate administration and it has been widely published in American media too,it is ridicules for the mahrashtra chief minister to invite American MNCS for direct investment in the dying land of vidarbha.

VJAS has urged NRIs in America to ask about Maharashtra chief minister compete failure to stop the mass genocide of vidarbha farmers ,Kishor Tiwari added.

Please arrange to release this press note

Kishor tiwari

President

Vidarbha jna andolan samiti

vidarbha@gmail.com

andolan.blogspot.com

contact-094222108846

VIDARBHA farmers demands DEBT RELIEF

2007-06-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

COTTON FARMERS IN YAVATMAL DISTT.

OF VIDARBHA AGITATING FOR DEBT RELIEF

HUNDERES OF FARMERS STARTED DHARANA AGITATION BEFORE BANK FOR FRESH CROP A S BANKS REFUSED TO GIVE FRESH CREDIT TO FARMERS IN VIDARBHA

2007-06-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS demands DEBT RELIEF

2007-06-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Vidarbha farmers to start 'Hallabol' stir against NABARD for fresh crop loan
Posted June 17th, 2007 by Tarique
India News
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jun/17/vidarbha_farmers_start_hallabol_stir_against_nabard_fresh_crop_loan.html
Bhopal, June 17: Thousands of farmers of west Vidarbha region in Maharashtra will start "Hallabol" agitation at all NABARD controlled banks demanding fresh crop loan to every defaulter farmers from tomorrow.
The Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), president Kishor Tiwari, who is spearheading the cause of the widows of farmers of Vidarbha region who have committed suicides in the last four years, said this in Press release today.
The reported decision of NABARD that "the decline in credit allocation targets is surprising in the context of Centre's directives to banks to double flow of credit to the agriculture sector in three years starting 2004-05," Tiwari informed. Vidarbha farmers will strongly protest and will not only restore credit outlay to Rs. 3, 300 crore but will have loan waiver too, he added.
Tiwari said it is complete injustice that while cotton farmers are committing suicides in west Vidarbha, the most of the growth in priority sector lending has gone to districts in western Maharashtra and Marathwada. This is largely due to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar whose base regions have been obliged more as compared to Vidarbha. For instance, Pune gets a 91 per cent rise in its credit allocation target.
NABARD is acting against the agriculture sector plan for six districts of Vidarbha. The plan was prepared based on the last three years' trend though an upward revision of Rs 1,275 crore was made specially under the PM's relief package during 2006-07.
"The PM's package, among other factors, rightly appreciated lack of an extensive network of formal credit in Vidarbha as one of the root causes of farmers' suicides, Tiwari pointed out.
Cutting down on credit allocations for this reason amounts to punishing Vidarbha for being chosen for the PM's package, now cotton farmers are left at the mercy of private money lenders inviting more farmers to commit suicides.
The Press release said that when Indian Finance Minister submitted his annual budget for the year 2007-08, it was warmly welcomed as "agriculture budget". But in result as per order of NABARD bankers association has taken the decision to suddenly drop down the credit outlay for Vidarbha cotton farmers.
After aggressive lending in the previous fiscal, the credit allocation targets set under the annual credit plan for 2007-08 for six districts of Vidarbha show a steep decline. Incidentally, these are the districts that have been reporting maximum farmers' suicides and where farmers' dependence on illegal money-lenders has been one of the root causes.
Credit lending targets for six districts have been revised downwards compared to last year, as per recent decision of bankers association. In 2005-06 fiscal, banks disbursed credit of Rs. 765 crore in six districts. But thanks to the PM's package, the crop credit shot up to Rs. 2,033 crore in the last fiscal.
The current plan, however, allocates only Rs. 1,683 crore for crop credit For instance, Yavatmal district, which has reported maximum suicides, has been earmarked a target of only Rs. 434.96 crore which is almost a 30 per cent decline from its 2006-07 target. Washim district shows a decline of 41 per cent, Akola 36 per cent and Buldhana 38 per cent, against the previous fiscal targets. District credit plans have been finalised on the basis of broad guidelines prepared by NABARD.
Now, the time has come for separating Vidarbha region from Maharashtra state due complete contrast in fiscal condition and increasing backlog of region.
"We will press this demand in future too if we are being neglected and forced to kill ourselves, Tiwari declared. (pervezbari@eth.net)
=================================================================================================

2007-06-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Vidarbha farmers' widows meet President, urge for blanket ban on BT cottonseeds sale

Posted June 18th, 2007
India News
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/jun/16/vidarbha_farmers_widows_meet_president_urge_blanket_ban_bt_cottonseeds_sale.html
Bhopal, June 16: At long last a delegation of the hapless farmers' widows of Vidarbha region who have committed suicides got an audience with the President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday to draw his attention to their hapless and helpless condition.
Dr Kalam in rapt attention heard the woes of the widows who reportedly broke down while narrating their tale of woes and plight। The scheduled allotted time of five minutes for the meeting got stretched to 25 minutes.

The widows' delegation led by Mrs। Kamlabai Gosavi Pawar and his son Prakash Pawar of suicide-prone village Kolzari along with Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), president Kishor Tiwari, who is spearheading the cause of the widows, met the President Dr. Abdul Kalam at Yavatmal airport when he visited the place to attend a private function. The delegation having 10 other widows submitted a memorandum to the President requesting him to save the dying Vidarbha farmers from annihilation.

According to VJAS leader Tiwari Dr। Abdul Kalam was disturbed and assured to raise the issue with the officers concerned at the Centre and the State."

The memorandum demanded, among other things, a blanket ban on Bt। cottonseeds in the dry land farming areas. It also urged a ban on misleading advertisements of Bt. cottonseeds.

The memorandum urged the President to call for the information from the Prime Minister of India as per the provisions of Art. 78(B) of the Constitution of India and give suitable directions to provide food and health care to the families of the farmers in distress in the Cotton Cultivating Belt of west Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra where more than 4000 unfortunate farmers have committed suicides in the last 4 years.
The memorandum also urged to implement the provisions of the Seeds Control Order, 1983 in true letter and spirit, to instruct to issue delegation of power to its inspecting officer for control of quality & input seeds as required under Section 12 of the Seed Control Order of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 which is the prime tool for the control of quality & input of seeds and also arrange to stop free sale and trials of Bt। Cotton seeds in dry land areas of India, so that the unfortunate incident of farmers' suicides could be stopped to some extent.

The memorandum said 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 are being freely propagated and sold at a very high cost of Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3600/- per Kg, cost of which is virtually killing the farmers due to high input cost and low yield.

There must be a blanket ban on Bt cotton seeds in the dry land farming 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 misleading advertisements 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, the memorandum emphasized.
The VJAS has been 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 western Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State, the memorandum said। .

"We all are 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".

These points on the very basis of the above referred document, which is the Survey Report dated June 15, 2006 conducted by the Government of Maharashtra's Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawlamban Mission at Amravati in connection with the Farmers' plight. 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।

"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, the memorandum said, it is imperative on the part of the Union of India and State of Maharashtra that these known factors / points are to be attended to immediately so that these two classes of farmers families i।e . the Farmers in Extreme Distress and Farmers Suffering from Serious Illness need to be attended immediately to provide relief to such farmers who are on the verge of committing suicides.

The memorandum suggested remedies that the Union of India through State of Maharashtra should provide foodgrains 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 must provide 25 Kg of foodgrains 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 from now onwards.

This will immediately result in providing direct help of foodgrains to the 4,34,291 Identified Families in Extreme Distress। The indirect starvation of such families would then be stopped so that the ultimate effect which is leading to the unfortunate suicides of the farmers' families can also be stopped.

The copies of the memorandum were also submitted to Governor of Maharashtra, Prime Minister of India Office, Union Minister for Agriculture & Food – Civil Supplies etc. (pervezbari@eth.net )

2007-06-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Kalam hears woes of ryots' wives
Date:16/06/2007 URL: http://www।thehindu.com/2007/06/16/stories/2007061601861300.htm

National

Kalam hears woes of ryots' wives
Arunkumar Bhatt
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti presents memorandum

if they had benefited from government packages
Memorandum seeks blanket ban on BT cottonseeds

— YAVATMAL: It was a poignant scene at the airport here on Friday।

A delegation of the wives of farmers who committed suicide in distress, met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday.
The women wept while narrating their plight. A sympathetic Mr. Kalam enquired if they had benefited from the government packages. They replied in the negative.
Mr. Kalam delayed his departure to interact with the wives and activists of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti who have been working hard to salvage Vidarbha's sinking agrarian economy, particularly that of the cotton growers, who are committing suicide by hundreds every year.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his Cabinet colleagues were not present during the interaction, according to a spokesperson of the Samiti.
"Contrary to our fears, the President was well aware of the situation and questioned the women while reading the memorandum presented to him," Samiti leader Kishore Tiwari told The Hindu .
The President even chided officials who tried to hurry him up.
Mr. Kalam spent nearly 25 minutes with the women, who told him that their condition had further deteriorated and they were unemployed. They even blamed the BT Cotton for their plight. "We told him that the yield of the BT cotton was as low as 50 kg per acre and pointed out how claims about its usefulness were false," Mr. Tiwari said.
"I am disturbed"
He quoted Mr. Kalam as saying, "I am disturbed and will raise the matter with the officers concerned at the Centre and the State." Among other issues, the memorandum blamed "uncontrolled and unrestricted sale of spurious seeds" for the distress and sought a blanket ban on BT cottonseeds in the dry land farming areas. It also demanded a ban on misleading advertisements the BT cottonseeds.
The memorandum urged the President to invoke the constitutional provisions and seek an explanation from the Government on the hopeless situation of the farmers and direct it to provide food and healthcare to the families besides implementing the provisions of the Seeds Control Order, 1983, for immediate quality control of seeds input and stop the trials and sale of the BT cotton seeds in dry land.
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

2007-06-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

Farmers’ widows pour out grief to Prez
Aneesh Phadnis I TNN
Yavatmal: She had perhaps not met a single minister in her life। However, on Saturday, Saraswati Ambarwar, widow of a Yavatmal cotton farmer, came face-to-face with President APJ Abdul Kalam, had a photo clicked with him and handed over a memorandum seeking loan waiver and jobs. The President, who attended the concluding cerermony of the Amolakchand College golden jubilee in Yavatmal, promised to look into the grievance of the widows. In fact, a meeting with the women was not part of the original schedule till Thursday, but the President consented to meet them for a few minutes at the airport. The women, whose husbands committed suicide owing to indebtedness, were accompanied by Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. “The President said he was very disturbed because of the situation in Vidarbha. He said he will study the memorandum and will ask the state and Centre to act on the demands. He said the widows should be rehabilitated and said he would call for a meeting of concerned officials,” Tiwari told reporters after the meeting. “He wondered why the farmers were not included in the list of people below poverty line,” Tiwari added. “Even now we have no money and can’t till the farm. One of my daughters died of kidney failure. I don’t have money to educate my second daughter,” said Saraswati Ambarwar of Telangtakdi village. She and the two other women Nanda Bhendare and Kamlabai Gosavi Pawar claimed that they did not receive compensation from the government. A government official countered the claim and said all the three women were given Rs 1 lakh in compensation. “The President gave them a patient hearing and said he was concerned about the problem. While he spoke in English he had a Marathi interpreter from Delhi. He said training should be imparted to improve skills of the women,” the official added. “The President heard them patiently but I don’t the think he gave them any assurance regarding a meeting on the farmers issue,” he added.

2007-06-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

President’s visit to the ‘Land of Dying’

By Deepak Kumar mohanty

June 15: Today, President A.P.J.Kalam is going to visit the most talked about Vidarbha region to attend a couple of cultural programmes. In his visit he will attend some educational institution but won’t be visiting hundreds of widows of the farmers who killed themselves in intense misery.
Newspapers and TV channels have flashed the President’s visit to Vidarbha as a grand show. Is it worth the pomp and the popularity that media is endowing it with? Why not have a look at the number of farmer suicide in this region from the past couple of years and what the government has done in this regard. It is democracy; the sovereign powers need not to be treated as some kind of Hollywood stuff. They are our leaders, not just titular heads attending parties and grand shows.
According to a Nagpur based organization Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which is constantly working on this prime cause, has so far recorded 432 farmer suicides in this year. The records for the year 2006 are miserable with more than 1400 suicide cases, though the government report defers. From 2001 onwards the number of deaths is rising every day, however government official deny and insist on the declining numbers.
West Vidarbha, especially the Yavatmal and Wardha district, is the prime concern as these two areas are mainly affected with agrarian crisis due to the increased costs of cotton farming. It is really a shame for a developing nation with more than 9 per cent economic growth that its people are dying due to hunger; whether it is Maharastra’s Vidarbha or Orissa’s Kalahandi.
Under these circumstances, the local NGO, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, has sought permission from the state government of a meeting between the affected families and President Kalam. The families have been insisting to brief a high official or Indian leadership, about the prevailing situation but the authorities have denied citing the law and order problem in the region. Reportedly, the President’s office has shown eagerness but it is not clear why the state administration has been hesitant over this issue.
In response the NGO is organizing a protest gathering with the residents of those affected areas today, and may express their anger and hoist a black flag। This may further politicize the whole issue but it’s unlikely to solve the current agrarian crisis and the death of the farmers. As the president of India, Dr. Kalam has an obligation and duty to show his interest in this regard and try out something before his term ends.

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

PRESIDENT OF INDIAN DR.KALAM MEETS VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS

2007-06-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

In Yavatmal, life goes on -P. Sainath

2007-06-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

Date:13/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/13/stories/2007061301671100.htm
Opinion - News Analysis

In Yavatmal, life goes on
P. Sainath
This district, which President Kalam visits on June 15, has a higher concentration of families of farmers who killed themselves than most others in the country।

— Photo: P. सैनाथ

Saraswati Amberwar with two of her daughters in Yavatmal district. Her husband's was the first Vidharbha farm suicide to be highlighted in the media nine years ago.
"THE BANK recovery teams have stopped coming to my home," Saraswati Amberwar told us in Yavatmal. She lives not far from where President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will visit on June 15. Her husband Ramdas was the first farm suicide case in Vidharbha to be highlighted in the media, way back in 1998. Since then she has faced years of pressure from his creditors to repay his loans. So it was surprising that the bank recovery men had let up.
"Kishor Bhau gave me a letter which I showed them the last time they were here," she says. "After that, they stopped coming." Even stranger. Kishor Tiwari is the president of the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) and the region's foremost agitator on farm issues. Hardly a friend of the banks, given the countless times he has gheraoed and badgered them on farm loan problems. So what did his letter say?
Roughly translated, it read: "Dear Recovery Officers, Ramdas has appeared before me more than once from Heaven. He says: `I have the money and am waiting to repay you.' Please rush your team to Heaven. Yours sincerely, Kishor Tiwari." After that, says Saraswati, the team never showed up again.
Mr. Tiwari's open letter this week to President Kalam is more polite. It begs him to "spare a few minutes to meet the unfortunate widows of farmers either at Yavatmal or Wardha."
Those and Nagpur are the places the President will touch during his day-long visit. His trip takes him to an event at Amolakchand College in Yavatmal. Also to the Mahatma Gandhi Hindi International University in Wardha. It does not so far include any agrarian distress-related meetings.
Issue of cotton prices
Yavatmal, where the President's main function is, remains one of the most dismal parts of Vidharbha, the region hardest hit by the farm crisis. "This year alone, there have been 428 farmers' suicides in Vidharbha," points out Mr. Tiwari. "Unless urgent action is taken on cotton price, on debt and credit — it will be our worst year ever." And that would be something. The Government officially admits to 1,296 farm suicides due to the "agrarian distress" last year. It records a further 1,348 farm suicides in the same six districts the same year, but denies they were due to agrarian distress.
Yavatmal is one of six districts in this region that together have seen more than 6,000 farm suicides since 2001. Saraswati is among more than 100,000 women across the country who have lost their husbands to suicides driven by the agrarian crisis since the mid-1990s. There are hundreds like her in Yavatmal alone. But her home has seen many VIP visits over the years, including that of Narayan Rane when he was Revenue Minister in the Shiv Sena Government. The compensation of Rs.1 lakh she got was long ago wiped out by debt.
"We're spending Rs.30,000 on my daughter Meenakshi's illness," she says. (Another daughter died in 2004.) "We've sold off several acres and some cattle over these years to cope. But farming gets costlier and more difficult." Yet she sees few options and keeps at it, hoping things will turn around.
In Pisgaon village of the same district Varsha Rasse grabs any work she gets, no matter how poorly paid it is. For two seasons her husband Maruti had leased out their eight acres — throwing in his own labour as part of the deal. "He had to get his sisters married," neighbours told us, "and farming was collapsing." Then, with his own cultivation hit by excessive rains, Rasse committed suicide in 2004. His debt remains a problem for Varsha and their son and daughter are both under five years of age.
"They work harder and harder, and might produce more, but it only gets worse," says Vijay Jawandia, the region's foremost intellectual on agriculture. "All these farmers are fighting impossible odds. The most basic issues have not been touched. They are widows because of indebtedness. The cost of living is rising, so are farming costs. Only their income goes down."
"The Prime Minister's package helped some get fresh loans, but they got no help with the old ones. So now their debt has doubled. The central issue of price has never been addressed by the government. Nor has the issue of huge subsidies in the West for cotton producers there. So prices collapsed and these farmers cannot recover the cost of production. The new debt destroys their creditworthiness. So the banks will not touch them this season. Which pushes them back to moneylenders."
Annapurna Suroshe would agree with him. "We've paid off all our debts from the compensation," she says in Nageshwadi village, "but it doesn't end." It hasn't for her, with two boys and a girl to put through school. When the lease ends on the four acres her husband Rameshwar let out before killing himself last year, she wants to cultivate them herself. "I might as well put in my labour on our own land."
Meanwhile, she's trying to run things from the Rs.25 a full day's labour now fetches her.
Mangalabai Mokhadkar in Rampur — from the only Brahmin farm household seeing such a suicide — has held out longer. In the nine years since her husband Prabhakarrao committed suicide, she's got three of her eight daughters married. Some were married before his death. "No dowry," she makes a point of telling us. Though each wedding set her back by around Rs.40,000. She has not taken a paisa from her sons-in-law. "They took no dowry, how can I do that?" She's also managed to educate the girls. "All of them are matric pass or fail," she says. "Three completed their schooling after he died."
After years of leasing them out, "we will farm our seven acres ourselves this year." But Mangalabai knows the risks. "Look at our village. All families here are in the same boat. Unless something changes in farming, we'll all sink."
"This is the situation in Yavatmal and other districts," says Mr. Tiwari, "these widows are farmers who represent the true picture."
As Mr. Tiwari's letter to President Kalam also says: "We strongly feel that it all is not well in Vidharbha and therefore, it's not the right time for any cultural or dancing session inauguration ...We would be highly obliged if you could spare a few minutes to meet the unfortunate widows."
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

Farmers to greet Prez with black flags -TIMES NEWS NETWORK reports

2007-06-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Farmers to greet Prez with black flags
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Nagpur: Even as security arrangements for President A P J Abdul Kalam's visit, which is scheduled for June 15, were finalised at a high-level meeting of officials on Friday, farmers' leader Kishore Tiwari has threatened to greet him with black flags at Yavatmal, the district known as the epicentre of the unending spate of farmer suicides in the region। Kalam is to visit Yavatmal and Wardha during the day-long Vidarbha tour. Divisional commissioner Anand Limaye, state protocol department's principal secretary B P Pandey, joint protocol officer Shailesh Bijoor, joint commissioner of police Sayyed Ahmed, special IGP (Nagpur range) Ashok Ghivre, Amravati additional commissioner S M Sarkunde, Nagpur police special branch ACP Arvind Giri, Yavatmal collector Abha Shukla, Wardha collector Eknath Khobragade and Nagpur additional collector Chintaman Dahalkar were present at the meeting. Kalam will reach next Friday at 10.30 am by a special flight and proceed to Yavatmal where he is to attend a function at Amolakchand college. Later he will proceed to Wardha where he is to visit the Mahatma Gandhi Hindi International University. He will return to Nagpur in the evening and attend a function at the National Academy of Direct Taxes before flying back to New Delhi. Tiwari, president of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, has also written an open letter to the President. Regretting that Kalam or his office had failed to respond to the daily information being sent by e-mail about farmer suicides and agrarian crisis by the Samiti, Tiwari has urged Kalam to spare some time to hear the grievances of the wives of those farmers who ended their lives because of the economic distress. In a statement the Samiti has said the widows will stage a protest during the visit. More than 428 farmers ended their lives this year, taking the toll to more than 4,000 in the past five years, Tiwari said. Meanwhile, Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti has also sought to raise issues plaguing the international Hindi university before the President.

न्ह्र्क तें विस्तिंग VIDARBHA-KOLAM STARVATION

2007-06-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

11, Trisaran Society, In front of Somalwar School, Khamla, Nagpur – 440 025

Tel No. (0712) 2282457 Mob No. 9422108846 / 9371137653 / 9373121947

(Regd Office : At Post : Pandharkawada-445 302, Tq : Kelapur, Distt : Yavatmal)

Ref No. VJAS/PIL-HC/Kolam Deaths/175/2007, June 2, 2007

PRESS NOTE – URGENT

NHRC ON STARVATION & MALNUTRITION DEATHS OF KOLAM TRIBALS :

NHRC Team to visit vidarbha on 4^th june to have on the spot of fact finding report on kolam starvation death and condition regarding Drinking Water, Health Care & BPL Benefits to Kolam Tribals

Petitioner VJAS to raise all issues of plights of Tribals and lack of support from Government before NHRC

NAGPUR, DATED 2^nd june 2007

After having very difficult atsk to save the maharashtra govt. before Nagpur Bench of Mumbai High Court in PIL pertaining to most serious issues of Starvation & Malnutrition Deaths of Kolam Tribals in Yavatmal District, Now team of NHRC(Natinal huma right commission) headed Dr.L.P..mishra is visitng on 4^th june to vidarbha .this NHRC team will visit all kolam pods to see in to facts raised by the kishor tiwari of vidarbha jan andolan samiti regading Government Apathy & lack of timely support from Mantralaya to address the various issues involving Right to Food, Shelter – Gharkul, Health Care, Education, Drinking Water, etc. to be made available to the distressed Tribals family in the Yavatmal District by the Ground Level Administration in solving the issues and the look in to the the Officials limitations in speedy implementing the Tribal Schemes for want of budgetary supports and approvals of the State Government.

Along with NHRC team ,it is reported Amravati Divisional Commissioner Dr. Sudhir Goyal , PIL Petitioner Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti President Sh. Kishore Tiwari and Counsels Adv. Firdos Mirza, Adv. Vinod Tiwari, Adv. Ajay Somani, Asst. Govt. Pleaders Smt. Bharti Dangre & Sh. Arvind Mujumdar and host of the Government Officials from Yavatmal District including District Collector Dr. Harshwardhan Kamble, Z.P. CEO Dr. Sikar Pardesi, Additional Tribal Commissioner Sh. Hmant Limaye, Dy. Commissioner - Civil Supply Sh. Hemant Pawar, Dy. Commissioner Sh. Jaywant Choudhari, I.D.T.P. Project Officer Sh. S.N.Saidane, Dr. Rathod (District Health Officer), Dy. Director of Health Services of Akola and other Officials of Tribals Development and District Administration will visit these kolam pods.NHRC is investigating the complaint filled by Petitioner Sh. Kishore Tiwari in the year 2003, in the wake of untimely, sudden starvation deaths of 52 Kolam Tribals which rocked entire nation in the year 2003.

It may be recalled that the report of High Power Committee appointed by the Hon'ble High Court had pointed out serious issues pertaining to Poor Health-Care, Contaminated & Poisonous Drinking Water, poor conditions of Ashram Schools run by Politicians, short coming in BPL Schemes and denial of benefits to the poor & innocent tribals families residing in 710 villages of tribals belts of Yavatmal Districts. Upon perusal of the report and on the request of PIL Petitioner, the High Court had ordered State Government to take immediate steps and submit Action Taken Report on the serious points raised by the High Power Committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner, Amravati in which Top IAS Officials where the Members of the said fact finding committee who all are the part of administration governing the control of various schemes. But in the joint meeting, officials express their limitations in solving various burning problems of the Tribals inspite of knowing fully well, as they lack in getting timely support from the State Government at Mantralaya even after their repeated efforts.

According to VJAS NHRC team will certainly be shocked to note that many of the villages are forced to drink fluoride contaminated and poisonous drinking water, non availability of Doctors in Tribals area, miserable conditions of shelter and housing, mis-managed Ashram Schools run by the Politicians, non inclusion of illegible families in BPL List due to delay in finalization of BPL list at Mantralaya level, guaranteed employment to the Tribals, etc.

NHRC has been adked for urgent needs for protection of deprived Tribal families whose fundamental Rights to Live & Liberty is infringed due to negligence of State Government as the Tribals have been denied Right to Food, Shelter, Health – Care, Drinking Water & Education inspite of the directions from the Hon'ble High Court.

limitations of timely support from Mantralaya, the results expected have not been seen effectively, even after four years of continued efforts of the District Administration. The Petitioner was very critical upon the lack of support from State Government and its apathy towards the burning issues of the Tribals in Yavatmal district for which the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti is fighting continuously since last Seven Years.

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

Please arrange to release / publish the above Press Note & oblige.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

Kishor tiwari

president

Vidarbha JanAndolan Samiti

Farming does kill, no matter how you say it-ET

2007-06-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Economic Times Online Printed from economictimes.indiatimes.com > Politics/Nation
Farming does kill, no matter how you say

ABHIRAM GHADYALPATIL TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, JUNE 02, 2007 12:05:25 AM]
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Farming_does_kill_no_matter_how_you_say_it/articleshow/2092974.cms

1.VJAS president Kishore Tiwari, who has unwittingly earned the reputation of being a spokesperson of this agrarian tragedy, echoes the same view. "The phenomenon has to be defined as rural crisis and not an agrarian crisis. For the debate to be more inclusive and the entire exercise to be corrective, we must address the larger issue of systemic failure," Mr Tiwari said. He pointed out that post-1991, rural India had undergone drastic changes in its socio-economic profile, which have added new dimensions to the crisis.

2। The state told the PMO that the number of suicides due to "agrarian reasons" had come down to 20 per month in 2007, from 60 per month in early 2006. But what the state did not tell the PMO is this: between January 1 and April 30, 2007, more than 400 suicides have taken place in six districts of Vidarbha, where the PMO is implementing a special rehabilitation package. By May 30, the suicide toll had touched 416, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), which is meticulously recording every farm suicide in the region.

MUMBAI: Earlier this month, when the state told the Prime Minister's Office that farm suicides in Vidarbha were on the decline, it had the right statistics to quote. The state told the PMO that the number of suicides due to "agrarian reasons" had come down to 20 per month in 2007, from 60 per month in early 2006. But what the state did not tell the PMO is this: between January 1 and April 30, 2007, more than 400 suicides have taken place in six districts of Vidarbha, where the PMO is implementing a special rehabilitation package. By May 30, the suicide toll had touched 416, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), which is meticulously recording every farm suicide in the region. What's intriguing is the state's effort to differentiate between "agrarian crisis" and "agrarian distress". A committee under the district collector probes every incidence of suicide to conclude whether it happened due to agrarian reasons ― debt, crop failure or drought. This is how only 42 of the 416 suicide cases this year have been found to be eligible for government compensation. An interesting point is that the government does not dispute the high number of suicides. Sudhir Goyal, divisional commissioner, Amravati, HQ of all relief measures, acknowledges that the rate of farm suicides continues to be the same. "The number of suicides due to agrarian reasons has gone down in the first four months, compared with the corresponding period last year. But the number of suicides due to agrarian distress remains the same," Dr Goyal told ET. But the bureaucrat, who was the chief of state's agriculture directorate, wants to look beyond numbers. "When the prime minister talked about the agrarian crisis at the National Development Council, he did not mean numbers. The suicides are the symptom of a much larger socio-economic disease that has gripped agriculture not only in Vidarbha, but almost everywhere in rural India. The rate of suicides due to agrarian distress continues to be the same in all the states reporting the phenomenon. That's why statistics is not a good way to approach this crisis," Dr Goyal pointed out. VJAS president Kishore Tiwari, who has unwittingly earned the reputation of being a spokesperson of this agrarian tragedy, echoes the same view. "The phenomenon has to be defined as rural crisis and not an agrarian crisis. For the debate to be more inclusive and the entire exercise to be corrective, we must address the larger issue of systemic failure," Mr Tiwari said. He pointed out that post-1991, rural India had undergone drastic changes in its socio-economic profile, which have added new dimensions to the crisis. "The lifestyle of farmers has also changed. Market forces have entered hinterland, but the farm income has not kept up. Cost of education, healthcare and household items has gone up. The inability to keep pace with these changes has also contributed towards the crisis," Mr Tiwari said.

©Bennett, Coleman and Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.

Debt-ridden farmers to protest agianst banks-freepressjournal reports

2007-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Debt-ridden farmers to protest agianst banks
Hozefa Merchant, Nagpur
http://freepressjournal.in/31052007/State5.htm
Six vidarbha farmers comitted suicide on Tuesday bringing the overall suicide toll to about 410 since January 2007. Agitated by the Government's lithargic stand to help the situation, farmers from the vidarbha region have decided to start 'Hallabol agitation' before the banks in order to get fresh crop loan. The 'dharna' would start from 18th June, Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti informed on Wednesday.

The agitation has been decided due to the fact that the debt-ridden farmers have been denied additional loan because of non-payment of previous loans. There are about 2 million farmers in debt, claimed a local NGO. The Indian Government waived off Rs. 710 crore overdue interest last year and reconstructed crop loan amounting to Rs. 1860 crore bringing around one million farmers under institutional credit. But due to cotton crop failure and poor market price, more than 90% farmers failed to pay their debt.

One of the few reasons for the crop failure is due to the use of 'bollgaurd 2' a genetically improved BT cotton crop manufactured by Mosanto and which is clearly not suitable for the climatic conditions in Vidarbha. More then 3 million Vidarbha farmers are in debt and an overdue loan waiver is the only solution to reduce the suicide rates, claimed Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti through a press release.

THE WAIT NEVER ENDS-TIME REPORT

2007-05-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

Publication: Times Of India Nagpur;
Date: May 31, 2007;
Section: Times Nagpur;
Page: 2
THE WAIT NEVER ENDS
Will ‘defaulting’ farmers get fresh loans?
There is a fear that around five lakh farmers of Vidarbha will not be able to get institutional finance and will be left on the mercy of private moneylenders
Ramu Bhagwat TNN Nagpur:

For farmers in Vidarbha, where most agriculture is still rainfed, monsoon is a time to look forward to. But even as preparations for the kharif crop have begun, a new worry has gripped nearly 75% of farmers who have yet to repay crop loans they took last year: Will they get new credit this year? This, when suicides remain unabated in six distressed districts of the region.

Apprehending that denial of farm loans by banks and credit societies may push farmers, who have defaulted on loans, further to the brink, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) has already given a call for a ‘Hallabol agitation’ against banks from June 18.

“At the high-level National Development Council meeting, though the prime minister expressed concern over distress prevailing on the farm front in Vidarbha, the Centre or the state has not come out with any plans to increase farm credit in the region or helping out those farmers rendered ineligible for fresh credit,’’ pointed out VJAS convenor Kishore Tiwari.

There is a fear that around five lakh farmers will not be able to get institutional finance and will be left on the mercy of private moneylenders who charge usurious rates from the helpless farmers. After the prime minister visited the crisis-hit Vidarbha last year and announced relief of interest waiver, restructuring of loans and a year’s moratorium on repayment by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) infused a big rise in credit inflow from Rs 750 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 2,000 crore in 2006-07. A large number of farmers availed of institutional credit in the last crop season, adding to their pile of earlier unpaid dues.
Now, most of them are unable to repay loans because of poor returns from cotton growing. These farmers will find it difficult to get funds for fresh crop. What has worried even farm experts is that despite being unremunerative, farmers are continuing their preference for cotton as cash crop even in the coming season. In fact, there is a mad rush for Rashi-II brand of Bt cotton in the countryside and the seed is in short supply. “Clearly, the situation is getting worse. There is hardly any increase in procurement price of cotton. How will the farmers repay after meeting the rising input costs?’’ they asked. The government has admitted that Bt cotton is not suitable for cultivation in rain-fed areas of Vidarbha but, unmindful of the consequences, farmers are being carried away by promises of a bumper crop from Bt seeds. Bt seeds manufacturers are aggressively selling their brands.
While Amravati divisional commissioner Sudhir Goel, who also heads special mission implementing farmers’ relief packages, was not available for comment, banking sources said the fund flow would be increased to Rs 2,860 crore this year. But they were not sure if majority of farmers would be able to get it as they have yet to repay the old dues.
The distressed farmers here, who until now ended their lives due to their inability to repay debt, will now wonder whether they will get it in the first place.
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NDTV bogus farm widows story under scanner

2007-05-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Suicides are about the living, not the dead -p sainath

2007-05-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Kamlabai Gudhe at her home in Lonsawla.
When she does get work, she only gets paid in grain.
Normally, Rs.25 worth of jowar for a day's labour.

Suicides are about the living, not the dead -p sainath
Date:21/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/21/stories/2007052103541100.htm
Opinion - News Analysis
Suicides are about the living, not the dead
P. Sainath
In society's eyes, Kamlabai is a `widow.' In her own, she's a small farmer trying to make a living and support her family. She is also one of about one lakh women across the country who've lost their husbands to farm suicides since the 1990s.
. A FARMER in her mid-60s, Kamlabai Gudhe works as a labourer whenever she can — for grain, not cash. It's all she can get. So she labours, sometimes for 12 hours, for Rs.25 worth of jowar. This is apart from slogging on her own four-and-a-half acres whenever she can. When her crop does succeed, she mostly loses it to wild animals as her farm is on the edge of the jungle. The better her cotton and soybean, the more wild boars and Nilgai it attracts. Fencing the farm would cost Rs.1 lakh. Money she can't dream of.
Kamlabai is one of over 100,000 women who have lost their husbands to farm suicides in India's agrarian crisis since the mid-1990s. She lives in the worst-hit zone: Vidharbha. Her village Lonsawla is located in Wardha, one of the six districts in the region that have together seen more than 6,000 farm suicides since 2001. Her husband Palasram, bogged down in debt, took his life a year ago. She has pulled on, trying to run their farm, living in a house with its roof half gone and two walls about to cave in again. This tiny ramshackle residence is home to five human beings. That includes her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. In society's eyes, Kamlabai is a "widow." In her own, she's a small farmer trying to make a living and support her family.
How did a landless Dalit come to own a farm at all? The same way she keeps it going. Every moment of Kamlabai's life has been a struggle. She began as an agricultural labourer on a daily wage of Rs.10-12. "That bought a lot more in those days," she says, of a time nearly four decades ago. To this, she added a little bit by collecting and selling fodder to farmers.
"I remember how my mother trudged for hours to collect chara [fodder] and sell it for next to nothing," says her son Bhaskar who is central to her plans to keep their farm afloat. "I got ten paisa per penda [fistful]," she laughs. "But I made so many trips for it, I could make up to ten rupees daily from the chara." That is, she walked more kilometres than she could count to fetch and sell one hundred pendas of fodder each day. Her 16-18 hour workdays paid off, though. From these pathetic earnings she and her husband saved and bought land no one else would at the edge of the forest. That was nearly 40 years ago. She paid Rs.12,000 for four and a half acres. The family then worked like galley slaves to cultivate a very difficult farm. "I had another son, too, but he died."
Kamlabai walks long distances even today, in her mid-60s. "What to do? The farm is six kilometres away from our village. I earn as a labourer when I find work. And then I go to the farm to help Bhaskar and Vanita." She is too old to find work on government project sites. And on those, anyway, exist huge prejudices against lone women in general and widows in particular. So she takes any work she finds.
Between them, the family have nurtured the farm. It looks good and productive. "See this well," she points to a rather large one created by mostly family labour. "If only we could get it cleaned and repaired, we'd have much more water." But that would need Rs.15,000 at least. And that's apart from the Rs.1 lakh that fencing the field would cost. They could convert one acre to a water body at the bottom of a slope on their land. That would mean even more money. Bank loans are now impossible. And proper repairs to her crumbling house would cost another Rs.25,000. "My husband killed himself because of crop loss leading to debt of Rs.1.5 lakh," she says. They've paid off bits of that and the family has run through most of the Rs.1 lakh compensation she got from the State. But creditors still trouble her. "We were doing alright. But then agriculture really failed for several years and we suffered big losses."
Like millions of others, her family was hit by the biggest agrarian crisis in decades. Rising input costs, falling output prices, lack of credit, withdrawal of State support. "It's the same with everyone else in the village, too," she says. Last year brought crop disaster as well. She lost hugely, with Bhaskar betting on Bt cotton. "All we got was two quintals," she says.
The Government then added to the damage. Late last year, it made her a "beneficiary" of a "relief package." Under this, Kamlabai was made to buy a costly "aadha Jersey" (half Jersey) cow she did not want. Though heavily subsidised, she still had to pay her share of Rs.5,500 for it. "The brute ate more than all of us put together," she told us. (The Hindu, Nov. 23, 2006). And "it yielded very little milk."
Reverse rental
Since then, "I have twice given away the cow, but they always bring it back," she says with resignation. Those she gifts it to return it saying "we cannot afford to feed it." So now "I am paying a neighbour Rs.50 a month to look after the animal." A kind of reverse rental. The deal being that if the cow starts giving milk as it should, she will get a half-share. That belongs to an optimistic future. Right now, Kamlabai is paying to take care of a cow the Government promised would take care of her.
But her spirit is as yet unbroken. She still makes that long walk to the farm every day she does not find work. Today her tiny but energetic grandchildren make a slightly comical picture alongside her on the trail. Their survival and future is her biggest motivator. As always, her head is held high, but she can't hold back the tears when she looks at them. Kamlabai has decided that suicide is not about the dead. It's about the living. And for them she soldiers on.
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

Farm suicides spiral in Vidarbha, 401 dead since January

2007-05-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Farm suicides spiral in Vidarbha, 401 dead since January

Even as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) pats the Maharashtra government for bringing down the rate of farmer suicides to 'only 20' per month from 60 last year, the count kept by an activist group reveals a staggering 401 suicides in the first five months of this year.

Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, 2007-05-28 15:45:01 (IndiaPRwire.com)

Even as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) pats the Maharashtra government for bringing down the rate of farmer suicides to 'only 20' per month from 60 last year, the count kept by an activist group reveals a staggering 401 suicides in the first five months of this year.
As many as 51 distressed farmers in the six cotton growing districts of western Vidarbha have ended their lives in the month of May, claims a press release by the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS). It gives the names and details of 15 farmers who have committed suicide in the last six days.
The VJAS tally shows a whopping 70 suicides in January this year followed by 88, 97 and 95 in February, March and April. Most of these suicides have occurred in the districts of Yavatmal, Buldana, Akola, Amravati, Washim and Wardha covered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Rs.37.50 billion ($925 million) relief package of July 2006.
The activist group that has persistently highlighted farm distress in the region in the last two years, quotes figures from the government website to show that the 1,564 suicides since July 1, 2006 were more than those reported in the last decade.
Indeed, the government website, which has claimed substantial drop in suicides, does show more or less matching statistics, albeit with a rider that all suicides are not related to agrarian distress.
Refusing to grant a one-time loan waiver, a price of Rs.2,700 per quintal for cotton and restoration of advance bonus of Rs.500 on cotton purchase, the government has however claimed to have exceeded the interest waiver target. It says it has brought an additional one million farmers in the credit net after restructuring their exiting loans.
Consequently, it has claimed doubling of loan disbursement amount and coverage of an additional 34,000 hectares under irrigation with an expenditure of Rs.6.15 billion on 11 irrigation projects. Critics have ridiculed the claim saying it is only a part-fulfilment of a long overdue measure.
Highlighting the heightened distress levels, VJAS leader Kishore Tiwari pointed out that cotton production in the region this year had come down to 1.34 million quintals from 3.10 million quintals in 2002-03 and the selling price had dropped to Rs.1,890 from Rs.2,700.
'Farmers had to spend Rs.5,600 per hectare last year on cottonseeds alone compared to Rs.1,100 that they had spent four years back; and they will end up paying much more in the coming season,' Tiwari told IANS. He pointed to the wholesale promotion of the costlier Bollguard II variety by the government.
The earlier version of the BT cottonseed (marketed by the US based company Monsanto), which, by the government's own belated admission, is not suitable for rain-fed farming, inflicted a heavy loss on the farmers and forced the government to pay compensation in two consecutive seasons, Tiwari said.
Why then is the government promoting the costlier Bollguard II and why are the farmers keen to buy it?
'The government is under tremendous pressure from the US seed giant, whose selling point this year is that the new variety is suited for dry-land farming,' Tiwari explained. 'And hoping against hope for a bumper yield sans pesticide costs, the farmers are ready to wager another gamble.'
The farm leader wants the government to sincerely promote low-cost farming and bring in some kind of regulatory mechanism to ensure cultivation of a minimum proportion of food crops. 'They should also promote soybean, which is a guaranteed, low-risk crop that requires little water.'
- Indo Asian News Service
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Farmers commit suicide as Indian PM asks for economic equity

2007-05-27T07:03:00.001-07:00

Farmers commit suicide as Indian PM asks for economic equity

By The Associated Press
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 04:13:55 pm CDT

NEW DELHI — At least 11 farmers have committed suicide in the past few days in a western Indian state after failing to repay bank loans because of crop failures, an activist group said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged business leaders Thursday to ensure the poor benefit from India’s economic boom, and to shun the West’s “wasteful lifestyles” of greed and conspicuous consumption.

“Such vulgarity insults the poverty of the less privileged,” Singh said at the annual conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry, a leading business group.

He promised to continue fostering a business-friendly environment, but said businesses that have benefited from the boom must do more to improve conditions for ordinary people. Nearly 40 percent of the 1.1 billion people in India live on less than $1 a day.

In the cotton-growing districts of Maharashtra, three farmers hanged themselves and eight others swallowed pesticide, said Kishore Tiwari, president of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, or People’s Movement.

Despite the government lowering interest rates on loans and helping more farmers borrow money, many farmers have been unable to meet their commitments.

“The farmers’ deaths were due to distress at crop failure and worry that there was no money for the coming sowing season,” Tiwari said. “Many have defaulted on bank payments. When they can’t pay back bank loans, farmers are killing themselves.”

The farmers have been demanding that the government write off their loans.

Mounting debt and poverty has triggered thousands of suicides by farmers in Maharashtra and the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in recent years.

Economic growth has surged since India changed from a closed, heavily regulated socialist economy. Its gross domestic product — the total value of goods and services products in the country — has grown by more than 8 percent annually in the past four years, fueled by an outsourcing and technology boom.

A new class of incredibly wealthy Indians can now afford luxurious foreign vacations, high-end fashions and imported cars, and spend huge amounts on weddings.

Singh — who as India’s finance minister in the early 1990s was widely credited with setting off its economic transformation — criticized “ostentatious expenditures,” and said rising unchecked inequality could lead to social, environmental and economic problems if left unchecked.

“Even profit maximization should be within the bounds of decency,” he said.

“This is not an imported Western management notion,” he said. “It is part of our cultural heritage,” referring to Mohandas Gandhi’s belief that the wealthy are obliged to provide for the poor.

Lokmat editor slams NDTV story on Vidharbha widows

2007-05-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Lokmat editor slams NDTV story on Vidharbha widows

Saturday, May 26, 2007
Lokmat daily, one of the country's top ten newspapers with a readership of millions, has devastatingly criticised NDTV's bogus story (in 'Witness') on the widows of Vidharbha's farmers' suicides. The mass circulation Marathi daily has come out in strong defence of the struggling widows and their reputation which was savaged by an NDTV story that maligned them as prostitutes. The scathing piece in Lokmat carries the byline of the newspaper's editor, the highly-respected journalist Vivek Girdhari. Below: his article

Who is doing the 'business?'

This profession too follows rules and ethics. Television channels may not agree. In the recently concluded DSK discussions in Pune, representatives of the TV channels strongly claimed that they are aware of social responsibilities. That is why they avoid airing programmes that would endanger law and order situation. But this is a business, not charity. Therefore they have to show what the viewers want. Amidst the competition for TRP ratings, TV channels ought to be market-driven and technology-oriented. But should we equate market-driven as market-savvy? And should the social responsibility be only restricted to law and order issues?

A serious and fairly dignified channel like NDTV recently aired a bogus story as a sensational scoop. The widows of farmers who committed suicide in Vidarbha are taking to prostitution, the story claimed. The widows are falling prey to the sex mafias. They show a so-called widow called Rekha on the screen. Actually, she isn't either a wife of a farmer, nor has her husband committed suicide. She's in fact a commercial sex worker. And the entire Amravati town knows that.

Yet, ironically, clinging on to Rekha's drooping apparel, NDTV cooked up this story of farmers' helpless widows taking to prostitution. While doing so, they tactfully tried establishing a connection between the decked up commercial sex workers in Mumbai's Kamatipura area and mourning widows of the debt-driven Vidarbha farmers, who are no more. What's the link between the two?

The story shows many prostitutes who tell you that they have come from Satara, Latur and Solapur. None of these is actually a Vidarbha town. But the market-driven journalism does not stop here. It goes beyond. Showing the inconsolable widows and the photographs of the farmers who have committed suicide, the reporter says in the narration that these widows are taking to prostitution. Even Rekha, interviewed in the beginning of the story, never claims even once that she is a farm widow. The reporter claims it for her in the narration!

We also get to see the reactions of two other women – Neerja and Sulekha. They never say in their interview that they are into prostitution. Again, the reporter says this for them. The reporter shows another woman named Reshma and says, "they are forced to sell their bodies." What follows on the screen thereafter is a collage of condoms. What sort of investigative journalism is this?

The story tells us that a prostitute named Seema is a daughter of cotton farmer. Seema herself doesn't say it anywhere. The news channel then claims that it had even unearthed her 'adda' (meeting point). The reporter converses with her near Mumbai airport on a spy camera and tells the viewers that her agent "brings the girls especially from Vidarbha and sends them to Mumbai and Vadodara."

Basically, this one's is a rabidly fake and cooked up story. But NDTV showed it as a hundred per cent true story "only on this channel." What could be the long-term social fallout of this story? By defaming the widows, who are trying to resurrect their lives, suffering unending hardships and penury, how much TRP ratings must this news channel have clocked? Vidarbha has seen thousands of farmers commit suicide in few years. Their widows and children are resolutely fighting a battle for life. What has NDTV gained by maligning them?

Television has a remote control. But there is no remote control to reign in the journalists who run such blatantly irresponsible and untrue stories. The advent of technology should actually serve to reinforce the foundations of journalism and increase its maturity. Here, journalism and business are losing their tenets.

A segment on Latur in this story is extremely serious. They show a very old CSW named Shantibai. Her grouse: "My business is being affected because young girls are coming into it." What has this got to do with the Vidarbha farm widows, who are trying to live with dignity after the death of their husbands?

Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti lodged a complaint with NDTV. He got an assurance for an inquiry. Nothing has been done yet. A news channel sold this blatantly false news item as its market-driven business. So tell us, who's actually in the business?

Vivek Girdhari

vivekgirdhari@hotmail.com

Sermon in Delhi, suicides in west

2007-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

zj
Sermon in Delhi, suicides in west

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070525/asp/frontpage/index.asp

Mumbai/Nagpur, May 26: As Manmohan Singh spoke in Delhi to men in suits at a top business conclave about taking the poor along, many in Vidarbha's killing fields might have thought it was a cruel joke.

Eleven cotton farmers ended their lives, six of them on Wednesday, unable to cope with a grim harvest and piling debts. A day earlier, five perished in a similar fashion.

Last July, the Prime Minister toured the suicide-stalked region, but the special package he announced during that visit has done little to solve farmers' problems.

Wednesday's deaths occurred in Buldhana, Wardha and Akola districts. Tuesday's casualties were in Amravati (two deaths), Yavatmal (two) and Washim (one). The number of suicides this month alone stands at 47.

As the deaths rise, so does the anger. "The Prime Minister's office recently praised the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for implementing the relief package and reducing suicides. Then, why are so many farmers still dying?" asked Kishore Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which keeps a "suicide register".

So far this year, 397 farmers took their lives, indicating that the package had failed to strike at the root of frustration, Tiwari said. His records show 70 deaths in January, 88 in February, 97 in March and 95 in April. The number since July last year stands at 1,500.

During his visit, the Prime Minister had met 90 families of suicide-affected farmers. His Rs 3,750-crore package was mainly aimed at solving the region's rural credit crisis.

But the Centre had not agreed to two key demands of farmers: an increase in the support (assured) price of cotton from Rs 3,000 a quintal, and a loan waiver. Only an interest waiver of Rs 712 crore was provided. Another Rs 2,255 crore was given for irrigation.

Tiwari said the rate of suicides has increased since the Centre announced its package. He blamed authorities for not doing enough to rein in private moneylenders who often charge farmers high rates of interest.

Farming — it's what they do-p.sainath

2007-05-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

Date:24/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/24/stories/2007052402321100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Farming — it's what they do

P. Sainath

The agrarian crisis has seen over a lakh of women farmers lose their husbands. But survivors like Kalavati Bandurkar — with seven daughters — still run their farms.

— Photo: P. Sainath

Kalavati with some of her daughters and grandchildren. It's a smiling if noisy household that still runs the farm even after her husband committed suicide.

KALAVATI BANDURKAR has personally conducted the delivery of five grandchildren at home. All her married daughters are as poor as she is and cannot afford hospital costs. So she's done the job herself. There are 10 persons staying at her home when we visit. Besides looking after all of them, she runs a failing nine-acre farm and also works on the land of others for Rs.30 a day. In the off-season, like now, she earns just Rs.20 from fetching and selling firewood. Her last source of income is the milk from a buffalo she owns.

She's managed, she says, to get her fourth daughter married without expense. And is now trying to see if she can conduct the wedding of the fifth "without spending too much." Kalavati is the mother of seven girls and two boys in Jalka village of Yavatmal district in Vidharbha. She is also one of over a lakh of women farmers across the country who have lost their husbands to farm suicides in the past 14 years.

No compensation

"I never got a paisa's compensation from government," says this ever-smiling, matter-of-fact grandmother. The reason: the land they cultivate is not their own but leased from others. So when her husband Parsuram — hit by debt and crop failure — took his life, his death was recognised as a suicide, but not as a "farmer's suicide." The official logic: if there's no land in his name, he's not a farmer. The family, though, has received some help from the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS)

Parsuram's debt of over Rs.50,000 led him to even "mortgage my mangalsutra. What could he do? This agricultural crisis raised all our costs." It didn't help, though. Their nine acres yielded just four quintals that fetched Rs.7,000. The day he sold his cotton, he redeemed his wife's mangalsutra with the money, went out to the field and killed himself. Kalavati, always a breadwinner, decided to carry on. "Farming is what we do," she says, without a trace of self-pity. "We'll keep doing it." She's worked and paid off most of his debts. She settled a loan from the local input dealer without paying interest. "Now we owe only Rs. 15,000 to relatives and there's no interest involved."

"No. I'm not a member of any Self-Help group. I cannot afford the Rs.20 a month it takes." Four of her girls are married. Three before Parsuram took his life. But one is estranged from her husband and has returned home. And three others have come back to her for their deliveries.

"My daughter Maltha and I," she says, "are the only earning members here." Between them, they make Rs.40 a day from the tiring task of gathering and selling firewood in this period.

The buffalo's milk fetches the rest of the income. "Rs.60-80 a day. Sometimes a little more." On these earnings, some ten human beings exist. Maltha is the eldest at 25, Chaitanya the youngest at 8. Despite the hardship, it's a smiling if very noisy household ruled by lively youngsters. Most of her own children, of course, dropped out of school long ago.

Kalavati does not maintain the buffalo herself. "That would cost more than we earn." Instead, she pays Rs.40 a month — or less than Rs.2 a day — to a professional herder for whom "the animal is just one of dozens he looks after daily. And I share the dung with the rakhwala."

Fragile system

This is an animal the family bought on its own. It is not part of the bizarre government scheme that has bankrupted many small farmers by saddling them with costly cows they do not want and cannot feed. So far, her system works but is most fragile. Any damage to the buffalo would shatter the family's economy. Right now: "we sell all the milk." Even the kids at home don't get to consume a drop of it. And two other daughters who could work, can't do so right now because they've just borne children.

"We've found a good alliance for our fifth girl, Lalita," she says. "The boy's family has kindly not asked us for money. But they want us to host a proper lunch here. Or go to their village — which is even costlier. Well, we'll have to do something." She probably will. Even when Parsuram was alive, Kalavati managed to get two daughters, Savita and Sunita, "married on the same day on the same pandal. After Maltha's wedding cost us over Rs.1 lakh, we had to save money somehow."

She's annoyed at not being recognised as a farmer and thereby losing out on the compensation. "We do own 3.5 acres in Chandrapur district," she says. "But that land is still in our parents' names and has not yet been settled in our names." So technically, they are not `farmers.' Here, "we pay just Rs.10,000 a year to lease these nine acres. That tells you how poor its quality is," she laughs. It's hard work, but Kalavati wastes no time moping. What bothers her is "it's been tough finding work since the Pola festival." And also: "the costs of inputs are rising too much. No more cotton for us. We have to do something else."

Kalavati is one survivor who asserts that she would like her children too, to go into agriculture. This is rare in a countryside where people desperately seek jobs outside farming for their young. But she's already planning for the next season. "We'll stay with agriculture," she says. "It's what we do."

INDIAN PRIME MINISTER FAILED TO STOP VIDARBHA FARM SUICIDES

2007-05-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Suicide-affected Vidarbha farmers protest Maharashtra CM's birthday bash

2007-05-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Suicide-affected Vidarbha farmers protest Maharashtra CM's birthday bash

Posted May 25th, 2007 by Tarique
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/may/25/suicide_affected_vidarbha_farmers_protest_maharashtra_cms_birthday_bash.html

India News

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal, May 25: Massive celebrations are being organized today in farmers' suicide-affected Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra on the occasion of birthday of the state's Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh while reports of more farmers' suicides are being published in all the leading national newspapers.

Farmers in large scale in Latur, the hometown of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, along with the Vidarbha region farmers are protesting the ongoing Chief Minister birthday celebrations and police force is being used to curb these protests, a Press release of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), issued from Nagpur today said.

VJAS president Kishor Tiwari has urged the All India Congress Committee president Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to sack the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh due to his failure to solve the agrarian crisis in the state.

Tiwari, a local farm activist, informed that Vidarbha region is in the grip of agrarian crisis and more than 3500 farmers have committed suicides since 2004. But, recently sugarcane growers in the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's region Marathwada have committed suicides due to agrarian crisis and recession in sugar that has lowered down the demand of sugarcane and farmers are being forced to burn the standing sugarcane crops. The condition of sugarcane growers has been
too bad to explain, Tiwari stated.

He said that the farm suicides had been a serious issue and Indian Prime Minister himself visited the Vidarbha region last year in July. He had then provided Rs. 37,500 million relief package but it failed to slow down farm suicides in West Vidarbha and now farmers' suicides is spreading in other parts of Maharashtra too, Tiwari added. (pervezbari@eth.net)

Bt cotton one again in vidarbha

2007-05-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

	Warnings aside, more Bt cotton seeds arrive farm woes
	Experts warn of impending disaster if monsoons fail " We don't know yet if these varieties will suit the agro-cli- matic and soil condi- tions. Releasing the second generation Bt for commercial use is surely disastrous." -A scientist
	Jaideep Hardikar . Nagpur

Beleaguered cotton farmers in Vidarbha are staring at another disaster in the ensuing sowing season. Almost the entire belt would be cultivating Bt cotton, which have not yielded encouraging results in the past in the rain-fed region.

While cotton prices are crashing every year, a total shift to genetic cotton will spiral production cost phenomenally, leading to heavy losses, farm activists say An . estimate suggests that over 30 lakh packets of Bt cottonseeds would be sold this season, enough to cover well over ten lakh hectare farms in the region.

That's a rise of more than double in the acreage over the last year. A disaster of unforeseen and unmanageable proportions is on the cards, if there is any fluctuation in the arrival of monsoon, fears Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. "The gov ernment is selling a new disaster to the struggling farmers."

Interestingly, the Maharashtra Agri culture Minister, Balasaheb Thorat, recently admitted that Bt had failed in Vidarbha and cautioned farmers not to sow it.

Also, the state government has paid about Rs 400 crore to farmers in the last four years as compensation due to the failure of Bt cotton. Farm activists point out the government-run Mahabeej seeds corporation is marketing Bt cottonseeds to inputs dealers, while the minister advises caution.

Yet, what's concerning the activists is the permission granted to nearly 53 new genotypes of Bt cotton by the Genetic Engineer ing Approval Committee (GEAC). As many 35 of those varieties would be introduced in the central parts of India.

Over 60 Bt varieties are already in the market here and more will arrive soon. And there's hardly any study on the performance of new genotypes in Vidarbha.

"We don't know yet whether these varieties will suit the agro-climatic and soil conditions. Moreover, releasing the second generation Bt (Bollguard II) for a widespread commercial use is surely disastrous," admits a senior scientist.

He also warns that it is only a matter of time before the widespread emergence of resistance in bollworms will cause the Bt cotton technology to collapse.

Peasants' confusion would be compounded by the introduction of new varieties this season. As companies compete for a greater market share, their fierce and relentless promotional tactics will expose the farmers to far greater risks.

Farmers' leader Vijay Jawandhia argues, "Bt cotton has not brought about any increase in productivity. Also, it has not reduced the use of chemicals."

Various state government reports and statistics too suggest that Bt cotton has not brought about any rise in productivity or decline in the pesticide use.

TOP

2007-05-24T03:41:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

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

===============================================================
REF: - FARMER'S SUICIDES URGENT-PRESS NOTE DATED-24th MAY,2007

SIX MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES A DAY: MAXIMUM DISTRESS AND FARM SUICIDES AT ITS PEAK BUT NO RELIEF AT SIGHT

NAGPUR-24THMAY 2007

SIX FARM SUICIDES IN DAY ON 23^RD OF MAY REPORTED DAY AFTER PRIME MINISTER OFFICE HAS GIVEN CERTIFICATE TO MAHARASHTRA GOVT. THAT RELIEF PACKAGE GIVEN BY INDIAN PRIME MINISTER ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED PROPERLY AND FARMERS SUICIDES IN WEST VIDARBHA DRASTICALLY REDUCED, KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI.

1.SANJAY TUKARAM KHARAT OF TISOLI IN BULDHANA DISTRICT.

2.JAGO RAMA UIAKE OF SINDHI IN WARDHA

3.RAMRAO SURYABHAN AWATHALE OF PIMPRI IN BULDHANA

4.RAMESHWAR LAXMAN MENDALE OF NAKHEGOAN IN AKOLA

5.RAVINDRA RAMDAS GAWANDE OF DHADA IN WARDHA

6.MAHADEOGHANBA GHARPURE IN MANIKWAD IN WARDHA

ARE SIX FARMERS THREE FROM WARDHA DISTRICT, TWO FROM BULDHANA AND ONE FROM AKOLA HAVE KILLED THEMSELVES DUE TO ECONOMIC CRISIS AS THEY WERE UNDER HUGE DEBT FROM DIFFERENT BANKS AND PRIVATE MONEY LENDERS. EARLIER ON 22^ND AND 23^RD MAY IN VIDARBHA FIVE MORE SUICIDES WERE REPORTED, THEY HAVE BEEN ALREADY REPORTED IN OUR YESTERDAYS PRESS REALEASE, KISHOR TIWARI INFORMED, THEY WERE

7.SANTOSH CHINAJI DALMAL OF VILLAGE ADEGOAN KHURD IN WASHIM

8.KISAN KHANDAR SURPAM OF SHRIRAMPUR IN YAVATMAL

9.BALIRAM MATHU GAJBHIYE OF ADAGOAN IN AMARAVATI

10.KIRAN KRISHANNA SOLAV OF RAMPUR IN AMARAVATI

11.SURESH GANPAT KHANDARE IN KOPAMADVI IN YAVATMAL

ARE THE ELEVEN FARMERS IN VIDARBHA WHO COMMITTED SUICIDES IN LAST TWO DAYS IN DIFFERENT PART OF VIDARBHA TAKING TOLL OF SUICIDE IN MAY TO 47.FARMERS WHO ARE SMALL AND MARGINAL BELONGING DALIT AND TRIBAL COMMUNITY ARE IN DEEP DISTRESS AND COMMITTING SUICIDES DUE TO FRESH CREDIT CRUNCH AS MOST OF THEM WHO BARROWED THE CROP LOAN FROM THE BANK AFTER INTEREST WAIVER AND RECONSTRUCTION OF PENDING FAILED TO REPAY DUE COTTON CROP FAILURE AND POOR PRICES FOR RAW COTTON, INFORMED KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI.

IN YEAR 2007 RECORD 397 VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES REPORTED (JAN-70, FEB-88, MARCH -97 APRIL 95 ,MAY-47) THAT HAS EXPOSED LOCAL ADMINISTRATION THAT PACKAGE IMPLEMENTATION HAS DROPPED DOWN THE FARM SUICIDES IN VIDARBHA BY 50% AS FARM SUICIDE FIGURE OF THIS YEAR SINCE JAN TO APRIL IS ALL MOST DOUBLE AND FARM SUICIDES IN VIDARBHA ARE DAILY INCREASING BUT ADMINISTRATION IS USING OFFICIAL MEDIA TO MISLEAD THE WORLD THAT VIDARBHA FARM SUICIDES ARE ON DECLINE .DR. MAN MOHAN SINGH INDIAN PRIME MINISTER VISITED VIDARBHA ON 1^STJULY 2006 AND ANNOUNCED RS.3750 PACKAGE TO THE COTTON FARMERS OF SIX DISTRICTS BUT OFFICIAL RECORD SAYS THAT THERE RECORD INCREASE IN COTTON FARMERS SUICIDES AFTER THIS PACKAGE ANNOUNCEMENT AS GOVT. OF MAHARASHTRA HAS OFFICIALLY ADMITTED 1564 FARMERS SUICIDES AFTER 1 ^ST JULY 2007 AS THIS SUICIDE FIGURE IS ALL MOST EQUAL TO SUICIDE FIGURE OF LAST DECADE AND THIS FACT IS KNOWN TO GOVT. OFFICIALS VERY WELL TILL THEY ARE SAYING THAT SUICIDE ARE DECLINE AND AFTER PACKAGE SUICIDE RATE HAS COME DOWN THIS IS MATTER OF SHAME KISHOR TIWARI ADDED. NOW PMO HAS ALSO JOINED THE WITH STATE ADMINISTRATION CLAIM THAT THERE IS REDUCTION IN SUICIDES OF FARMERS OF VIDARBHA AS PER NEWS AGENCY REPORT.

I QUOTE

REDUCTION IN INCIDENCE OF FARMERS' SUICIDES IN VIDARBHA

HTTP://WWW.NEWKERALA.COM/NEWS5.PHP?ACTION=FULLNEWS&ID=31711

MUMBAI, MAY 21: THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (PMO) HAS EXPRESSED SATISFACTION OVER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL FINANCIAL PACKAGE TO DISTRICTS IN VIDARBHA THAT ARE PRONE TO SUICIDES BY FARMERS.

THE PMO RECENTLY REVIEWED THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PACKAGE, AN OFFICIAL RELEASE ISSUED HERE TODAY SAID.

IT SAID DUE TO EFFECTIVE STEPS TAKEN BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT, THE NUMBER OF SUICIDES DUE TO AGRICULTURE-RELATED PROBLEMS, THAT WERE AROUND 60 A MONTH, HAS COME DOWN TO 20.

PMO ALSO NOTED THAT CHIEF MINISTER VILASRAO DESHMUKH WAS PERSONALLY MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PACKAGE.

OF THE TOTAL PACKAGE FO RS 3,650 CRORE, ABOUT 40 PER CENT (RS 1,526 CR) HAVE BEEN SPENT IN THE LAST NINE MONTHS. THE PMO HAS SAID THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PACKAGE IN THE FIRST YEAR HAS BEEN SATISFACTORY. THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WILL ACHIEVE THE TARGET OF 75 PER CENT IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

THE OBJECTIVE OF WAIVER OF INTEREST RATE ON PENDING LOANS HAS EXCEEDED RS 712 CRORE TO RS 825 CRORE. ABOUT 10 LAKH FARMERS HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE AGRICULTURE CREDIT. THE LOAN DISBURSEMENT HAS DOUBLED DURING 2005-06.

AN ADDITIONAL 34,000 HECTARE IRRIGATION CAPACITY HAS BEEN CREATED DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PM'S PACKAGE SO FAR. AS MANY AS 11 PROJECTS HAVE BEEN SANCTIONED AND RS 615 CRORE HAVE BEEN SPENT.

DURING THE RABI SEASON OF 2005-06, 1.25 LAKH QUINTAL SEEDS WERE DISTRIBUTED. DURING THE KHARIF SEASON OF 2007, ADDITIONAL FOUR LAKH SEEDS HAVE BEEN KEPT READY, THE RELEASE ADDED.

UNQUOTE

MAHARASHTRA GOVT. CLARIFICATION IS MISLEADING AS RS.1526 CRORE OF PRIME MINISTER PACKAGE RS.712 CRORE WENT TO THE BANK AND REMAINING AMOUNT RS.800 CRORE WERE GIVEN TO IRRIGATION CONTRACTOR AFTER TAKING 20 % COMMISSION FROM THEM,KISHOR TIWARI OF VJAS INFORMED.

MAHARASHTRA GOVT. CLAIM OF CREATING ADDITIONAL CAPACITY OF 34,000 HECTOR FOR IRRIGATION IS ONLY ON PAPER AND 1.25 LACS QUINTAL SEED DISTRIBUTED IN LAST RABI SEASON HAS NOT EVEN INCREASED 1.25 LAC QUINTAL OF ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION IN RABI SEASON DUE WRONG SELECTION OF SEED AND MASSIVE CORRUPTION IN DISTRIBUTION OF SEED AND SAME WILL HAPPEN TO FOUR LAC QUINTAL SEED BEING DISTRIBUTED IN THIS YEAR AS THESE SEED ARE GIVEN ON 50% SUBSIDY NOT FREE AND COST FIX BY THE GOVT. IS 100% LOADED THAN MARKET PRICE OF THE SAME SEED MORE OVER IT IS BEING GIVEN ONE POCKET PER FARMER WHICH HARDLY COVER LESS THAN ACRE OF SOWING HENCE IT IS ONLY PAPER CLAIM NOT RELIEF, KISHOR TIWARI ADDED.

TOTAL FAILURE OF RURAL HEALTH CARE SUPPORT SYSTEM, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL CUM CIVIL ADMINISTRATION ARE THE MAIN REASONS OF FARMER'S SUICIDES IN WEST VIDARBHA AND DR.SUDHIR GOYAL WHO IS RELIEF COMMISSIONER AND IMPLEMENTING PRIME MINISTER PACKAGE HIMSELF HAS ASKED INDIAN GOVT. THAT LOW COST SUSTAINABLE FARMING IS ONLY SOLUTION OF STOP THESE SUICIDES. BAN ON BT. COTTON AND CHEMICAL FARMING IS NEED OF HOUR AND COTTON FARMERS SHOULD CULTIVATE THERE THAN COTTON SHOULD THE PROGRAMME OF THE STATE THE OFFICIAL FURTHER DEMANDS. RESTORATION SECONDARY SYSTEMS LIKE RURAL EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH IS ALSO NEEDED TO STOP THESE ON GOING SUICIDES BUT NOBODY IS ACTING IN THIS DIRECTION MORE OVER MISLEADING PRESS RELEASES ARE ADDING FUEL TO EXTREMELY CRITICAL SITUATION IN VIDARBHA ,KISHOR TIWARI ADDED.

Please arrange to release this press note

Yours faithfully

Kishor Tiwari

President

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti

vidarbha@gmail.com

Contact-09422108846;

BT seeds to gain half of India's cotton area -REUTER

2007-05-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

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BT seeds to gain half of India's cotton area - trade body Tue May 22, 2007 5:02 PM IST By Rajendra Jadhav MUMBAI (Reuters) - The total area under cotton in India, the world's third largest producer, may see little change in 2007/08, but genetically modified varieties would account for half of it, a trade body official said on Tuesday. Kishorilal Jhunjhunwala, president of the East India Cotton Association, told Reuters the crop had covered 9.1 million hectares in 2006/07, with good yield and prices. Thus, farmers would have little incentive to shift to any other crop now. "Any kind of change in area will not be more than 5 percent down," he told Reuters over the telephone. The last year was marked by a sharp rise in productivity, with cotton yield rising to 500 kg per hectare, largely aided by adoption of BT cotton, Jhunjhunwala said. Bio-engineered cotton covered 35 percent of total area. Based on technology from seed giant Monsanto Co., BT cotton helps fight boll worms, a major worry for Indian farmers. However, it has faced stiff opposition from environmental groups who claim such products deplete bio-diversity. "Whether people like or dislike, the BT system is accepted by Indian farmers," Jhunjhunwala said predicting BT cotton could cover as much as 80 percent of area within two years. Jhunjhunwala said, "farmers are very happy with cotton prices and productivity. But I don't think farmers will shift towards cotton from other crops or towards other crops from cotton." An official with the government in Maharashtra, which accounts for the nation's largest area under the crop, concurred with that view. "Farmers are aggressively buying BT cotton seeds, certainly there will be increase in area under BT," the official, who declined to be named, said. But a farmer activist in Maharashtra, where 1,448 impoverished farmers killed themselves in 2006 to escape the burden of debt, said the growth in BT cotton area resulted from intense marketing and shortage of normal hybrid seeds. "When seed distributors say they don't have hybrid seeds, farmers have no option but to buy BT cotton," Kishore Tiwari, president of farmer group Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, said. Indian trade officials estimate the country's cotton production will go up to 27 million bales in year to September 2007, up 11 percent from year ago. Jhunjhunwala said cotton farmers would not be distracted by the high prices for oilseeds and pulses. "I don't think farmers will shift towards cotton from other crops or towards other crops from cotton." Jhunjhunwala said India's total cotton export in the cotton year ending September would cross 4 million bales but would be below earlier expectations, due to the rupee's strength against the U.S. dollar.

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SEED OF SUICIDE-TIME MAGZINE REPORTS

2007-05-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday, May. 17, 2007

Seeds of Despair

By Simon Robinson / Sunna

It might have been borrowing another $100 just to keep his family going that finally convinced Pravin Bakkamwar to end his life. Or maybe it was knowing that he needed to find a husband for his 18-year-old sister Suwarana, and then pay her dowry and arrange a suitable wedding—responsibilities that would push him further into debt. What his family knows is this: on a sunny morning in central India in late November last year, Pravin, 27, rode his motorbike to a nearby town, bought a few meters of red and yellow nylon cord, returned to his gently sloping cotton farm and hanged himself from a concrete power pole. Neighbors found him within minutes, blood trickling from his mouth.

The story of India today is one of great expectations, as soaring economic growth lifts tens of millions of people out of poverty and swells the ranks of the middle class. But India's progress has also brought sorrow to many farmers and rural workers, who still make up two-thirds of the country's workforce. The income disparity in the new India is massive: there are now 36 billionaires in India—and some 800 million people living on less than $2 a day. In the most desperate pockets of rural India, a confluence of factors, from poor rainfall to the new availability of consumer goods, has driven some farmers into crushing debt. The financial hardships are so extreme that thousands, including Pravin, commit suicide every year. Far from benefiting from the country's new prosperity, whole villages of India's rural poor are being left adrift, eager to join in the boom but unable to afford it.

The crisis is worst in Vidarbha, an orange- and cotton-growing region in central India famed for its black soil and the fact that Mahatma Gandhi built an ashram and lived there for a time in the 1930s. Now Indians know it as their nation's rural suicide capital. According to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, or Vidarbha People's Protest Forum, an activist group that keeps track of farmer suicides in the area and lobbies the government for help, more than 1,250 farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha's six central districts alone in 2006, up from 248 in 2004.

What's causing so many rural Indians to take their lives? According to a study by the government of Maharashtra, the state in which Vidarbha sits, almost six in 10 of those who kill themselves have debts of between $110 and $550. Many farmers complain that banks don't offer them credit, forcing them to turn to rapacious moneylenders, who typically charge up to 20% interest on a four-month loan. As collateral, explains one lender in the bustling town of Pandharkawada, farmers often sign away title to their land. "If they pay back the loan, we give them back their deed," says the lender, who called himself "Ratanbhai" but refused to give his full name because of a recent government crackdown on unlicensed lenders. "If they don't, we get to take their land."

Predatory lenders are only part of the problem. Health-care and education costs have risen dramatically in the past few years, while the global price of cotton has become depressed, largely because of the billions of dollars in subsidies Washington hands out to U.S. farmers. "Expenses have increased, eating habits have increased. Health, education, all increased," says Gajanan Madhavrao Akkalawar, 70, who has farmed cotton for more than half a century. "It's difficult to run the family show." And then there's the growing obsession with the luxury goods that now consume much of Indian families' incomes. Television has given even the poorest a glimpse at the world outside. India is adding more than 6 million cell-phone subscribers every month, many of them in small villages and towns; its road network is quickly expanding, bringing increased commerce, trade and ideas. "If I say to people that materialism is upsetting the equilibrium of society, they stand up and say, 'Why should we be deprived of all these things? Why should only the people in the cities get these things?'" says Kishor Tiwari, the head of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. "The natural tendency is to adopt all these new things, whether the pocket permits it or not."

That's how it went with Pravin, who wanted the best for his family even if he couldn't afford it. Pravin's family lives near Pandharkawada town, in Sunna, a village of dirt streets and pale blue and whitewashed brick houses. The air hangs heavy with the smell of goats, cattle and chickens, and farmers use wooden bullock carts to carry their cotton and animal feed. Doors are strung with mango leaves to bring good luck, and women stretch their washing over twig fences. Pravin took over the family farm from his father four years ago when the old man tired of the task. The son proved a natural farmer, increasing yields and, initially at least, bringing in more money. His wife Smita, a distant cousin, was studying literature at university, but says she was happy to stop once it was time for them to marry. "Pravin was in the village and I had been to the city, but he didn't let me down in any way," says Smita. "He was very much a hard worker. No one in the village will deny he was the best young man."

Pravin put enormous pressure on himself to be a success. Smita came from a middle-class family far wealthier than his own. Her father had been an operator at India's National Thermal Power Corp., a job that paid well and enabled him to give all his four daughters a good education. Pravin wanted to keep Smita the way her father had. His motorbike, a black-and-gold 97-cc Hero Honda Splendor Plus, cost him just over $1,000, a fortune considering he made just a few hundred dollars a year. "I told him it was not affordable, not needed," says his father Vijay. "He said he needed it to get to the fields. The young these days—they want more luxuries with less tension." Pravin had taken a loan from a local banking cooperative for the motorbike, and further loans from moneylenders to buy seeds, fertilizer and pesticide. But like most rural Indian men, conservative and proud, he had not discussed his worries with his wife. "He was smiling all the time," says Smita. Yet Pravin owed at least $2,800 when he hanged himself.

The government says it is taking steps to assist Vidarbha's farmers. Mindful that a backlash in the countryside led to the last national government's ouster from office, the Maharashtra state administration and the Congress Party-led coalition in New Delhi have promised to pump almost a billion dollars into Vidarbha's rural sector. Authorities have arrested dozens of unlicensed moneylenders and pushed banks to offer more farmers credit at reasonable rates. The government is also trying to encourage farmers to diversify into other crops and into dairy and poultry production. A little more than half the money in the rescue packages will go to irrigation projects that could transform the region in the long term but offer little relief in the near future—a bone of contention for many farmers who say they need government help now.

No amount of help will be enough for widows like Smita, who tried to kill herself when she learned of her husband's suicide (the villagers stopped her). "Just like impossible," says Smita's sister Durga when asked if Smita, who is 23, might ever marry again. "She wants to be independent and get her own job, but in this place it's difficult." Her grieving father-in-law says that Smita was pregnant when Pravin killed himself but lost the baby after her own suicide attempt. When asked what she and Pravin had wanted for the future, Smita's eyes well up: "We wanted what every husband and wife wants. Nothing more."

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Aid yet to reach Vidarbha farmers -DNA exposes maharashtra chief minister.

2007-05-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

Aid yet to reach Vidarbha farmers

Surendra Gangan

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1097122
Ameagre number have till now received the package of Rs25,000
Though the state government has been claiming the implementation of 88 per cent of its special package for debt-ridden farmers of the Vidarbha region, the package of Rs25,000 each to thousands of farmers has not reached them yet, this apart from the government's non-compliance with its crop insurance schemes.
The state had earmarked Rs150 crores, out of the entire package of Rs1,075 crores allocated by the state, to help the debt-ridden farmers of Vidarbha. But, only Rs85 crores were allocated for the package of Rs25,000 each to nearly 60,000 farmers, out of which a meagre number of farmers have received the personal help. Expenditures have reached a mere Rs49.99 crores of the allocated amount. Even the crop insurance scheme has spent only Rs9.87 crores out of the allocated Rs19 crores.
In its presentation made to the central government last week, the state claimed Rs884.32 crores were spent of the package with a layout of Rs1,075 crores under nine different heads. The centre had also announced a special package of Rs3,750 crores to be utilised over the next three years. "We have spent Rs1, 551.66 crores in the first year, which is 102 per cent of the allotted lay out. We have been successful in bringing 17,171 hectares under irrigation," an official from the rehabilitation department said.
The state has been prompt in its compensation to cotton-growing farmers. The state had targeted Rs370 crores and allocated Rs405.15 crores for three per cent capital formation fund, out of which Rs396.59 was spent. Interest subsidy on rescheduled crop loan, had a target of Rs225 crores and allocation Rs240.98 crores, out of which Rs 239.12 crores were spent.
The report states that 2,990 cases of suicides of debt-ridden farmers were registered during January 2001 and May 5, 2007, out of which 1,333 families of the deceased farmers have received ex-gracia assistance of Rs1 lakh each.
===========================================================================================

vidarbha farm widows wants justice

2007-05-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI

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

===============================================================
REF: - vidarbha farm widows humiliation DATED-16^th MAY 2007

NDTV continues to humiliate widows of Vidharbha farmers suicides

Channel covers up bogus story

NAGPUR-16^TH MAY 2007

For more than a month now, Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti has appealed to NDTV to retract from the fraudulent story it carried on "Witness" claiming that that the widows of those farmers committing suicide were becoming prostitutes and falling into the hands of "sex trafficking networks." In between, we even received calls from NDTV's Mumbai office which suggested they were looking into our complaint. We were told by their Western India Burau chief that he would be coming down to Nagpur to inquire into the matter. And we were happy as we felt our complaint was being taken seriously.

But finally, nothing happened, nobody came to meet us. Even if they are trying to evade or bury the issue, the problem has not gone away. In fact, the women were subjected to worse humiliation because NDTV story was used by Shiv Sena in their campaign in Nagpur rural Lok Sabha byelection.

Udhav Thackeray used a CD version of the story at a press conference in Nagpur with many journalists present. It is worth asking: who gave him the CD? He was very happy with it since the NDTV reporter had planted a sentence saying those approaching the prostitute were "Congress workers." People protested even at the press meet, but damage was done and once again the women were mercilessly identified in public. The story itself identifies them. In one case, it zooms in on the photograph of one of the dead husbands and shows his name and village "Vishwanathrao Mankar, Kharda Village," Amravati. Imagine her humiliation now. As for "Rekha" the first case study interviewed, she is neither farmer nor a widow but a professional sex worker in Amravati.

Since NDTV management remains silent, our activist are asking: is NDTV is also supporting such stories to increase its TRP. This is humiliating to us who know the dedication of Roy family in ethical values in journalism. We are also deeply disappointed, since VJAS has helped NDTV to do many of its stories fom Vidharbha, right from the first reported farm suicide of Ramdas Amberwar in 1998 when we escorted the then NDTV reporter to Amberwar's home. We do not regret that since the channel did number of good stories then and later. Therefore, we even cooperated with then any number of times later also.

We are protesting this one story which is by a reporter notorious wherever he has worked in the past. One who had to leave three earlier jobs in disgrace for very similar reasons to our protest. But this person is being protected. Is this because the channel wants to do more of these fake sensationalised stories for its TRP? Or because a few people are desperate to win awards by telling 'unique and exclusive' stories at the expense of poor widows and their reputations even if it causes them more misery and shame? We attach below a note on the 'Witness' episode. People may read it see the programme and judge for themselves.

Kishor Tiwari

"WITNESS" SHAMES AND HUMILIATES VIDHRBHA FARM WIDOWS

"Rekha" the first "farmer's widow" shown in the story is neither a farmer nor a widow but a professional sex worker in Amravati. Even in the story, she does not say she is a farmer's widow. Only the reporter does. Her real identity is well known to people in Amravati. This is a central fraud of this story.

Ø Before the start of the 'story,' itself , several different pictures are shown of both grieving widows in Vidharbha and sex workers in Kamatipura. The two are unrelated, but a connection is made by showing the latter in Kamatipura while talking of "a new widow" everyday in Vidharbha and the "chilling reality" of the "daughters of suicide country." It is as if the women shown in Mumbai are from Vidharbha though they are not.

Ø Throughout the story, several women sex workers are saying they are from Satara, Latur, Solapur. None of these places is in Vidharbha. Most basic errors exist. Solapur is shown on the map as being in "Marathwada." It is not there. It is in Western Maharashtra.

Ø Right at the beginning, even as the "horrifying journey" is being announced and grieving women are shown - -- the photograph of a man who has committed suicide is shown, thereby identifying the family and the widow. At least one or two women in that shot are identified already (and these are pictures of Vidharbha farm widows).

Ø The story is not about poor women forced into sex work. It singles out the widows of farmers who have committed suicide becoming prostitutes. Some 5,000 women are vilified without any evidence. Even if one or two instances are there, (and in this story they are untrue) how can you generalise across this group? As it is, these are women in misery and pain. The story, also shown in Hindi, has made the pain double.

Ø The first interview is with "Rekha, a prostitute." Rekha does not anywhere say she is the widow of a farmer who has committed suicide. There is no quote from her on the subject. The reporter says it for her. In the car with the reporter is "Razia, an anti-trafficking activist." By saying this person is an 'expert' there is an attempt to give credibility to the report. But nowhere this 'expert' gives even a single quote on farmers' widows, though she is described as a 'local' activist" who must therefore have a better knowledge. The one comment on prostitution attributed to her comes from the reporter, not from her. It is in his voice. Same pattern is followed right through the show. The sensational comments are always from the reporter, not from the women he speaks to.

Ø Later, another woman is interviewed. Her face is shielded, so is the face of her husband's photograph. But then the camera zooms in on the name of the man and his village very clearly on the base of the photograph. With NDTV allowing the man's name "Vishwanathrao Mankar of Kharda village" to appear on screen, the woman's disguise is destroyed. What will her life be now in the village?

Ø Even worse, the two women named "Neerja" and Sulekha, do not say that they are doing sex work. The reporter says it for them. He commends one for her courage to which she says she has little choice. Then, the reporter says: "Neerja says she will sell her body so that her daughter and Sulekha's daughter never have to." Nowhere in the interview does Neerja say this. If she did, why not use her own words. Why should these words come from the mouth of the reporter? After all, the story quotes her on other things, why not this one?

Ø Three or four times, the words "forced to sell their bodies" for survival are used by the reporter and the anchor, never by the women. When "Reshma" is described - by the reporter – as "selling her body" condoms are flashed on the screen. Is this investigation or titillation?

Ø "Rekha" is shown negotiating with clients on the highway, while a hidden camera records this. The story declares the three men on the scooter to be "Congress workers" without evidence. It also shows one of the men trying to paw her. In NDTV's online version of story this becomes they "try to tear her clothes off." Actually, she is not even afraid of them and tackles them confidently The "tearing off" of her clothes is so fake. She does not even attempt to run from them but stands her ground.

Ø Rekha is a sex worker, not a farmer and is not a widow. Another woman interviewed says she has been in the trade for just one month. Women who are so new to the profession do not tell even their families what they are doing. But "Reshma" has no hesitation at all in confiding this to the reporter. The story implies Vidharbha is emerging a hub of the flesh trade in Maharashtra. There is no shred of evidence to make this claim.

Ø In Gujarat: Seema is the "daughter of a cotton farmer from Vidharbha." But she never says so on screen. Only that her father was a farmer. The Vidharbha link is claimed by the reporter.

Ø Then the reporter claims to have tracked down "Seema's pimp" Hamid bhai Mansoori and talks to him near the Mumbai airport with "a secret camera." The "pimp" immediately "tells us" that his agents pick up girls "especially from Vidharbha and send them to Mumbai and Vadodara. " But on screen you hear nothing of this.

Ø Nowhere this man says in the story that he is Seema's pimp or that he is a pimp at all. Only the reporter says it . Secondly, if he is really her pimp, then, thanks to NDTV, he knows how he has been traced. He will brutally thrash, if not kill Seema. Again, another girl "Sonia" is shown later on as working for Hamid bhai in a "seedy Chembur Hotel." The reporter seems to be posing as a client, which means the recording might have been a sting. Again, the girls are in serious danger if they really work for Hamid Mansoori. He will brutalise them for exposing him. How could this have been allowed? It places them in great danger. But again, the claims are those of the reporter. Neither Seema nor the other girls speak of Mansoori as their pimp, nor does the story actually show him saying he is one.

Ø 'Sonia' is claimed to have an agricultural background. Once again, she does not speak of such background. The reporter does. And what is this agricultural background of this woman from Satara in Western Maharashtra? Her father was "sacked from a pesticide company." She does not say it. The reporter does, to make a connection with "agrarian crisis." With other sex workers in the show, too, words are put into their mouths that they do not say.

Ø By the time the programme looks at Mumbai and Marathwada, it does not even pretend that the sex workers shown are "widows" of farmers who have committed suicide. Even the reporter makes no claim. The story is about flesh trade and titillation. "Chaya and Mangala" are introduced as daughters of bankrupt farmers. It is the reporter who says that not them.

Ø In the last part of the Marathwada story, a quote is falsely attributed to 'Shantibai, "the oldest prostitute in Latur" in Marathwada. The reporter says she is angry that because, young women are coming into her area and her own business is suffering. Firstly, what way is this connected with the agrarian crisis Is it not just a sex and titillation story?

Ø In fact what she does say in Marathi is that the father of these girls was in debt and these poor girls are paying the price for it. It is a sympathetic statement towards the girls. But the reporter falsifies it as an abuse from a jealous rival. Conveniently, rest of what she says is inaudible. This is also a pattern throughout this 'story.' Only some statements become inaudible.

All this is done in the name of 'agrarian crisis,' and causes nothing but damage to the real issues. The story just uses that for showing sex and titillation. Huge damage has been done to the real issues, especially to the poor farmers widows struggling so bravely for their families. Will NDTV do justice to the thousands of widows who have been maligned and humiliated this way?

PLEASE ARRANGE TO GIVE JUSTICE VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS

THANKING YOU,
YOURS TRULY,
KISHOR TIWARI

PRESIDENT
VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI
CONTACT-MOBILE-09422108846

vidarbha farmers needs credit not interest rate reduction

2007-05-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

CM’s Yavatmal visit riles vidarbha farmers

2007-05-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

CM’s Yavatmal visit riles vidarbha farmers

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA3LzA1LzEzI0FyMDA1MDI=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

Prafulla Marpakwar I TNN

Mumbai: Debt-ridden farmers from Yavatmal district which has witnessed the largest number of farmers suicides in the recent past were s u r p r i s e d and overwhelmed when they were told that chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh would be visiting them to review steps taken by his government to tackle the crisis. But their joy was shortlived when they found that Deshmukh was, in fact, visiting the district to attend the marriage of senior Congress leader Manikrao Thakre’s son and, after the celebrations, would review the prime minister’s package for Vidarbha region. The CM’s office confirmed that Deshmukh had attended the marriage on Saturday and also reviewed the present status of the PM’s package for the Vidarbha region. Farmers’ leader Kishore Tiwari slammed Deshmukh for playing with the sentiments of the farmers. “Every one knows Deshmukh has come for the marriage, then why this farce of review? It has send a wrong signal to the agricultural community,’’ Tiwari said. Tiwari, a self-styled champion of farmers, claimed that post prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, the Vilasrao Deshmukh government has not taken concrete steps to implement the Rs 3,750 crore PM’s package. “My information is that out of Rs 800 crore provided for interest waiver, only Rs 326 crore has been disbursed so far,’’ Tiwari claimed. On the number of suicides too, Tiwari said the state government was not revealing the facts. “We have asked the government to present a white paper on the agrarian crisis in the Vidarbha region,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Deshmukh, during his meeting with Manmohan Singh on Friday, submitted a comprehensive note on the present status of implementation of the PM’s package for Vidarbha. Deshmukh claimed that since the PM’s visit to the region, they had achieved nearly 40% of the target, particularly on implementing the schemes recommended by the PMO. While 6,000 farmers’ families were paid ex-gratia, loans worth Rs 1,407 crore of 9.33 lakh farmers were restructured as per the recommendations of financial institutions. In addition, 3.80 lakh farmers were issued kisan credit cards, more than 10 lakh farmers in the six districts had benefited following release of Rs 746 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 2,013 crore last year. On interest waiver, Deshmukh claimed that so far Rs 825 crore has been waived. On the irrigation facilities, Deshmukh submitted that in the next three years, Rs 2.177 crore would be utilised to irrigate 1.59 lakh hectares of land, out of which 54,000 hectares would be irrigated by June 2007.

VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES REDUCED DRASTICALLY IS NOT TRUE-CHIEF MINISTER MISLEADING MEDIA-VJAS

2007-05-13T02:51:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA FARMERS SUICIDES REDUCED DRASTICALLY IS NOT TRUE-CHIEF MINISTER MISLEADING MEDIA-VJAS
FROM DESK OF
KISHOR TIWARI
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
contact-09422108846

NAGPUR-13TH MAY 2007

It is reported by times news network that Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the number of farmers' suicides has reduced sharply from 61 in March last year to 16 for the same month this year. According to the figures given by Deshmukh to the Prime Minister, 575 farmers had committed suicide due to agrarian crisis in the six worst-affected districts of Vidarbha in 2006 with the first three months accounting for 168 deaths. During the first three months of this year 40 farmers have committed suicide in the six districts of Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal. While nine farmers committed suicide in January this year, the number has risen to 15 in February and 16 in March. here is the news item

QUOTE

Farmers suicides reduced drastically: Maharashtra govt
13 May, 2007 l 1200 hrs ISTlPTI
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Farmers_suicides_reduced_drastically/articleshow/2040612.cmsNEW DELHI: The spate of farmers suicides in crisis-ridden Vidarbha of Maharashtra has drastically come down this year, the state government has claimed. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the number of farmers' suicides has reduced sharply from 61 in March last year to 16 for the same month this year.
\u003cbr\>According to the figures given by Deshmukh to the Prime Minister, 575 farmers had committed suicide due to agrarian crisis in the six worst-affected districts of Vidarbha in 2006 with the first three months accounting for 168 deaths. \n\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>During the first three months of this year 40 farmers have committed suicide in the six districts of Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal. \u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>While nine farmers committed suicide in January this year, the number has risen to 15 in February and 16 in March. \n\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>Singh had announced a special relief package of Rs 3,750 crore for the six districts where most suicides by farmers in distress were reported. \u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>"The prime minister's relief package has helped a lot in providing succour to farmers in Vidarbha," Deshmukh said. \n\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>The package provides a waiver on interest on loans, rescheduling of loans, and greater thrust to irrigation, seed replacement, extension and subsidiary income facilities. \u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>Interestingly, the Maharashtra government in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in connection with a PIL had accused the PMO of delay in release of funds to keep operational the relief schemes announced by Singh. \n\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\>The allegation, that caused an embarrassment to Singh and the Congress, a senior partner in the coalition government in Maharashtra, were withdrawn later. \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>UNQUOTE\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti who is tracking vidarbha farm suicides and moved against maharashtra in mumbai high court and human right commission has claimed that this information provided by maharashtra chief minister to indian prime minister is purely bogus and misleading and it is completely contradicting to the own official figure of vidarbha farm suicides of their own web site ,he is the link\n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.vnss-mission.gov.in/docs/suicide.pdf\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>http://www.vnss-mission.gov.in\u003cWBR\>/docs/suicide.pdf",1]
);
//-->
According to the figures given by Deshmukh to the Prime Minister, 575 farmers had committed suicide due to agrarian crisis in the six worst-affected districts of Vidarbha in 2006 with the first three months accounting for 168 deaths. During the first three months of this year 40 farmers have committed suicide in the six districts of Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal. While nine farmers committed suicide in January this year, the number has risen to 15 in February and 16 in March. Singh had announced a special relief package of Rs 3,750 crore for the six districts where most suicides by farmers in distress were reported. "The prime minister's relief package has helped a lot in providing succour to farmers in Vidarbha," Deshmukh said. The package provides a waiver on interest on loans, rescheduling of loans, and greater thrust to irrigation, seed replacement, extension and subsidiary income facilities. Interestingly, the Maharashtra government in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in connection with a PIL had accused the PMO of delay in release of funds to keep operational the relief schemes announced by Singh. The allegation, that caused an embarrassment to Singh and the Congress, a senior partner in the coalition government in Maharashtra, were withdrawn later.
=====================
UNQUOTE
Vidarbha Jan Andolan samiti who is tracking vidarbha farm suicides and moved against maharashtra in mumbai high court and human right commission has claimed that this information provided by maharashtra chief minister to indian prime minister is purely bogus and misleading and it is completely contradicting to the own official figure of vidarbha farm suicides of their own web site ,he is the link
http://www.vnss-mission.gov.in/docs/suicide.pdf
\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>(we are attaching this pdf file ready reference)\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>farm suicides in west official fig is for 2006 is 1448 and for 2007 is 295 now chief minister's claim that farm suicides in 2006 were 557 and now in 2007 it's only 168 is ridiculous and most unfortunate."suicide number is not important the important is govt. admission that in west vidarbha more than 13 lacs farm family are in deep distress and there is complete collapse of social and civil administration due support system \nfailure.VJAS has demanded that now time has come to ask hostile chief minster of maharashtra vilasrao deshmukh to step down as face saving device for congress otherwise the situation in west vidarbha will lead anarchy,kishor tiwari added. \n\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003cWBR\>\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003cWBR\>\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003cWBR\>\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003d\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\n\u003cdiv\>KISHOR TIWARI\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003ca href\u003d\"mailto:vidarbha@gmail.com\" target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\>vidarbha@gmail.com\u003c/a\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>contact-09422108846\u003c/div\>\u003c/div\>\n\u003cdiv\>\u003cbr\>\u003cbr\> \u003c/div\>\n",0]
);
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(we are attaching this pdf file ready reference)

farm suicides in west official fig is for 2006 is 1448 and for 2007 is 295 now chief minister's claim that farm suicides in 2006 were 557 and now in 2007 it's only 168 is ridiculous and most unfortunate."suicide number is not important the important is govt. admission that in west vidarbha more than 13 lacs farm family are in deep distress and there is complete collapse of social and civil administration due support system failure.VJAS has demanded that now time has come to ask hostile chief minster of maharashtra vilasrao deshmukh to step down as face saving device for congress otherwise the situation in west vidarbha will lead anarchy,kishor tiwari added.
====================================================================================================
KISHOR TIWARI
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
contact-09422108846

COTTON FARMERS NEED POLICY CHANGES TO PROTECT FROM MNC NOT PACKAGES, FOLK ART AND KRITAN- VJAS URGED MAHARASHTRA CHIEF MINISTER

2007-05-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

CM TO ATTEND EX-MINISTER’S SON MARRIAGE RECEPTION NOT TO REVIEW FARMERS' PACKAGES IN YAVATMAL-VJAS

2007-05-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI
REGD. OFFICE: 11, TRISARAN SOCIETY, KHAMALA, NAGPUR - 440 025.PH. 2282447/457 MOBILE-9422108846. vidarbha@gmail.com
=============================================================== REF: - FARMER'S SUICIDES VERY-URGENT-PRESS NOTE DATED-11th MAY, 2007

CM TO ATTEND EX-MINISTER’S SON MARRIAGE RECEPTION NOT TO REVIEW FARMERS' PACKAGES IN YAVATMAL-VJAS
NAGPUR: 11TH MAY 11, 2007
VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI TO STRONGLY CRITICISED MISUSE OF PUBLIC MONEY FOR ATTENDING MARRIAGE RECEPTION OF EX-MINISTER AND CONGRESS LEADER MANIKRAO THAKARE’S SON RAHUL WHO WAS MARRIED IN NAGPUR ON 10TH AND HERE ALSO 20 MINISTER ATTENDED MARRIAGE AS THEY CAME REVIEW SO CALLED FARMER’S KHARIFF SEASON REVIEW .LAST YEAR TOO IN APRIL THEN CHIEF SECRETARY PREM KUMAR HAS ALSO ATTENDED MARRIAGE OF HIS UNDER SECTARY THAKARE’S DAUGHTER THIS TIME TOO WHOLE MANTRALAYA RUSHED TO NAGPUR FOR REVIEW MEETING OF FARMER’S PACKAGE . NOW IT HAS BEEN ESTABLISH TREND IN MAHARASHTRA GOVT. FOR ATTENDING ANY MARRIAGE OR PRIVATE FUNCTION FARMER’S SUICIDE PACKAGE REVIEW MEETING IS CALLED BUT AS THERE IS NO FUND AVAILABLE SINCE JULY-2006 AFTER PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCED IT, WHAT THE HELL THERE ARE REVIEWING, KISHOR TIWARI FARM ACTIVIST AND VJAS LEADER ASKED CHIEF MINISTER VILASRAO DESHMUKH.
ONCE THE PRIME COTTON GROWING DISTRICT WITH THE LARGEST AREA UNDER ITS CULTIVATION, NOW LARGEST NUMBER OF SUICIDES ARE REPORTED FROM THERE AMONG THE SIX COTTON GROWING DISTRICTS OF THE REGION. AS PER RECENT REPORTS IT IS INDICATED THAT THROUGH THE SPECIAL PACKAGE ANNOUNCED BY PRIME MINISTER MANMOHAN SINGH ON JULY 1 LAST AND THE CM'S PACKAGE UNVEILED MONTHS BEFORE THAT, OVER 12 LAKH FARMERS IN THE SIX DISTRESSED DISTRICTS WERE PROMISED A RELIEF OF OVER RS 5000 CRORE. EVEN AS A CONTROVERSY IS RAGING AFTER JOINT SECRETARY (RELIEF AND REHABILITATION) PRAVEEN SHRIVASTAV'S FILING OF AN AFFIDAVIT CLAIMING POOR FUNDS FLOW, THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE RELIEF MISSION (VASANTRAO NAIK SHETKARI SWAWALAMBAN MISSION) INDICATES THAT ONLY ABOUT RS 38 CRORE OF THE PROMISED FUNDS FOR LOAN WAIVER TO FARMERS HAS BEEN RELEASED BY THE CENTRE. WHILE VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI CONVENER KISHOR TIWARI ALLEGED THAT FUNDS FLOW CONTINUED TO BE VERY POOR ON IRRIGATION PROJECTS AS WELL AS QUALITY SEEDS DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMME UNDER THE PACKAGE
.IN ORDER TO SHOW THAT FARMERS SUICIDES HAVE BEEN SLOW DOWN AS A RESULT OF IMPLEMENTATION NON-FUNCTIONAL VIDARBHA RELIEF PACKAGE OUR OF 346 FARM SUICIDES REPORTED IN WEST VIDARBHA LOCAL ADMINISTRATION HAS REJECTED ALL MOST 300 CASES CLAIMING TO BE THE SUICIDE DUE TO NON-AGRARIAN REASONS . IT’S REALLY INSULT OF HUMANITY ADMINISTRATION IS REJECTING RELIEF AID TO FARM WIDOWS AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE FACING STARVATION ONLY TO SHOW FALSE DATA TO THE WORLD THAT VIDARBHA FARM SUICIDES ARE UNDER CONTROL, KISHOR TIWARI ADDED.
TOTAL FAILURE RURAL HEALTH CARE, EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL CUM CIVIL ADMINISTRATION ARE THE MAIN REASONS OF FARMER'S SUICIDES IN WEST VIDARBHA AND DR.SUDHIR GOYAL HIMSELF HAS ASKED INDIAN GOVT. THAT LOW COST SUSTAINABLE FARMING IS ONLY SOLUTION OF STOP THESE SUICIDES. BAN ON BT. COTTON AND CHEMICAL FARMING IS NEED OF HOUR AND COTTON FARMERS SHOULD CULTIVATE THERE THAN COTTON SHOULD THE PROGRAMME OF THE STATE THE OFFICIAL FURTHER DEMANDS. RESTORATION SECONDARY SYSTEMS LIKE RURAL EMPLOYMENT, HEALTH IS ALSO NEEDED TO STOP THESE ON GOING SUICIDES BUT NOBODY IS ACTING IN THIS DIRECTION MORE OVER MISLEADING PRESS RELEASES ARE ADDING FUEL TO EXTREMELY CRITICAL SITUATION IN VIDARBHA ,KISHOR TIWARI IN FORMED

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

Please arrange to release this press note
Yours faithfully

Kishor Tiwari
President
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
Contact-09422108846;

2007-05-08T22:59:00.000-07:00

VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI
REGD. OFFICE: 11, TRISARAN SOCIETY, KHAMALA, NAGPUR - 440 025.
PH. 2282447/457 MOBILE-9422108846. vidarbha@gmail.com
===============================================================
REF: - FARMER'S SUICIDES VERY-URGENT-PRESS NOTE DATED-9th MAY,2007

SIX MORE VIDARBHA FARMERS KILLED THEMSELVES IN LAST TWO DAYS: ADMINISTRATION IS TILL REVIEWING FAILED PRIME MINISTER RELIEF PACKAGE

Nagpur-9th MAY 2007

1.TANAJI MAHAU LUNGE OF MANJAR JAWALA IN YAVATMAL
2.DILIP BALIRAM BAVASKAR OF PINJAR IN AKOLA
3.HARIBHAU PARASRAM BONDRE OF CHATARA IN BHANDARA
4.JIVAN SUDAM ADE OF DHANORA IN YAVATMAL
5.SHARVAN WALGUJI HANDE IN ARVI-LAHAN IN WARDHA
6.SAHEBRAO BALIRAM KHALBALKAR IN AKOLA

are the six farmers in vidarbha who committed suicides in last two days in different part of vidarbha taking toll of suicide in may to 21.farmers who in deep distress are committing themselves due to fresh credit crunch as most of them who barrowed the crop loan from the bank after interest waiver and reconstruction of pending failed to repay due cotton crop failure and poor prices for raw cotton, informed kishor tiwari of vidarbha jan andolan samiti.
In year 2007 record 371 vidarbha farmers suicides reported (JAN-70, FEB-88, MARCH -97 APRIL 95 ,MAY-21) that has exposed local administration that package implementation has dropped down the farm suicides in vidarbha by 50% as farm suicide figure of this year since Jan to April is all most double and farm suicides in vidarbha are daily increasing but administration is using official media to mislead the world that vidarbha farm suicides are on decline .Dr. man Mohan Singh Indian prime minister visited vidarbha on 1 st July 2006 and announced Rs.3750 package to the cotton farmers of six districts but official record says that there record increase in cotton farmers suicides after this package announcement as govt. of maharashtra has officially admitted 1534 farmers suicides after 1 st July 2007 as this suicide figure is all most equal to suicide figure of last decade and this fact is known to govt. officials very welt ii they are saying that suicide are decline and after package suicide rate has come down to 50%,this is matter of shame kishor tiwari added.

VJAS DEMANDS BAN ON Bt. COTTON BOLLGARDII IN VIDARBHA .

After mass sowing permission by GEAC in June –2005 for Bt.cotton in vidarbha more than 2230 cotton farmers suicides have been reported and govt. of maharashtra has compensated cotton growers rs.219 core and rs.210 crore in the year 2005-2006 and year 2006-2007 for the failure of Bt.cotton in rain fed area of vidarbha and maharashtra govt. on record admitted that Bt. Cotton has been failed in rain fed area of vidarbha whereas 95% area of vidarbha is rain fed. now bt.cotton manufacturing American company has introduced bollgardII seed has started it's high profile campaign that it's highly profitable and gives minimum 11 quintal yield where as according to govt. of maharashtra official report the cotton average yield has been dropped down to 120 kg per acre to hardly 50 kg per acre after introduction of Bt.cotton in vidarbha ,the claims made by the Monsanto company were resulted as fraudulent as cotton growers pesticide uses was not dropped down where cotton output was drastically effected resulting mass suicides of cotton farmers in vidarbha. kishor tiwari added.

total Failure of rural health care support system, employment and social cum civil administration are the main reasons of farmer's suicides in west vidarbha and Dr.sudhir goyal who is relief commissionor and implementing prime minister package himself has asked Indian govt. that low cost sustainable farming is only solution of stop these suicides. Ban on Bt. Cotton and chemical farming is need of hour and cotton farmers should cultivate there than cotton should the programme of the state the official further demands. Restoration secondary systems like rural employment, health is also needed to stop these on going suicides but nobody is acting in this direction more over misleading press releases are adding fuel to extremely critical situation in vidarbha ,kishor tiwari added.

Please arrange to release this press note
Yours faithfully

Kishor Tiwari
President
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
vidarbha@gmail.com
Contact-09422108846;

Jailhouse talk: a fate worse than debt-p sainath

2007-05-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Date:05/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/05/stories/2007050507911100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Jailhouse talk: a fate worse than debt

P. Sainath

After a lull of some years, farmers are being jailed for debt in Andhra Pradesh. Even those in drought-hit districts who cannot repay their loans. Farm unions see the banks as driving a dangerous and explosive process which lets off crorepati defaulters but jails bankrupt farmers owing a few thousand rupees.

— Photo: P. Sainath

M. Nallapa Reddy, an Anantapur farmer in his Sixties who was jailed when he failed to repay his bank debt in full. Other farmers in Andhra Pradesh appear to be in similar trouble.

"THE TEA in Kadapa jail was better than the chai we get here in Garladinne mandal. But the rest of the food was awful," says M. Nallappa Reddy. His brief sojourn behind bars has made this man in his Sixties a minor celebrity in this State. Not so much because he liked the tea in Kadapa jail. But because many see his experience as the revival of an ominous trend: the jailing of bankrupt farmers for debt in Andhra Pradesh.

"It happened before during the time of Chandrababu Naidu's government, it is happening again now. More aggressively," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "Banks are turning the screws on hard-up farmers, sending them to jail. Mind you, these are farmers in drought-hit regions with no crop and no capacity to pay. The same banks won't touch big industrialist defaulters who owe them crores. But farmers owing a few thousand rupees go to jail." Till recently, the website of the A.P. Debt Recovery Tribunal listed some 200 names of VIPs, industrialists, contractors, and politicians owing over Rs.1,000 crore to the banks. The money was not recovered but the site seems to have vanished.

"I did try to repay," insists Mr. Nallappa Reddy. To clear the loan he took more loans at high interest rates from private lenders. "The principal sum I owed the bank was Rs.24,000. I paid Rs.10,000 in court and went back to pay another Rs.24,000. I could not manage the Rs.1 lakh the Anantha Gramina Bank was demanding. How could we, after a decade of failure in agriculture? So I hoped they would accept the Rs.34,000 under the One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme."

The bank did not accept the OTS deal. "When I went to court last October to pay the Rs.24,000, I was remanded and sent to Kadapa jail." There, he says: "I met at least six others in the same situation as I was. Two of them owed this same bank money." Many more were in line for arrest, he says, and believes the District Collector helped avert that — for now. "Jail was interesting. One woman came to have her husband released. He was there on a charge she filed against him. A little boy beside me turned out to be there on an arrack case. My neighbour was a burglar."

Common experience

In other respects, Mr. Nallappa Reddy's story is the same as that of millions of other farmers. As input costs shot up and bank credit declined in the past decade, he incurred heavy losses. As "water, electricity and other costs rose, things got worse." Then the water ran out. "I sank 32 borewells in ten acres within four or five years. All of them failed." This mandal shot to fame in 2004 when, desperate for water, farmer Chandrashekar Reddy sank four borewells in a graveyard linking it to his fields with an 8-km pipeline. (July 18, 2004.) He has since died. Ironically, a couple of those wells now yield some water, after their owner has himself gone to the grave.

Mr. Nallappa Reddy is unusual, though, in one other way. He quit the lorry business in the 1970s, betting on agriculture. "Then, the future seemed bright. I sold my lorry and was the first to start grape cultivation here in Thimmampetta village, on my family's 12 acres. Things were good till the '90s." But "the last 15 years have crushed us. All government policies work against the farmer. All farmers here are in the same condition."

"His arrest was not such a simple issue. The media have played it up without looking at the bank's problems," says an exasperated M.R. Vani, branch manager of the bank here. After two mergers, it is now called "The Andhra Pragati Gramina Bank." Mr. Nallappa Reddy, says Ms. Vani, "was a long-time defaulter. Only after ten years of waiting did we file a suit against him. Yes, he did ask for a settlement, but with a tiny amount. We asked him to improve his offer as the then head office was unable to accept it. Meanwhile court proceedings took their own course and we could not stop that."

Ms. Vani herself is otherwise quite sympathetic. "Now also, recovery is a problem. There have been no rains, no income, extended drought. And no alternative source of income is there for the farmers. Which is why our bank is encouraging them in other directions, too. We must give agricultural loans, of course. But we also give loans that seek to create other income." She knows things are hard. "We've brought down the number of defaulters like him in this branch by half. But there are still over 100 of them."

Press coverage helped

Media coverage following his arrest ensured Mr. Nallappa Reddy's early release. He was out in a week. Others were not so lucky. "I spent a full month inside," says Gengi Reddy in Kadiri mandal. He too went to Kadapa central jail. "That was in the time of Chandrababu Naidu's government. I too, tried for a settlement whereby I paid back both principal and more. I even offered them some of my six acres to sell and recover the money. But they [the Kadiri branch of the same bank] told me flatly: `we don't want your land. Only cash. You should go to jail.'" He did. And has since sold off irrigated land to clear his debts.

"This practice has now revived," says Mr. Malla Reddy. "In Mahbunagar district, just two months ago, a Dalit farmer and an OBC farmer spent two weeks in jail. This time, the State Bank of India was involved. Again, drought-hit farmers with no ability to repay."

They were only released when their families borrowed more money from usurers to pay off their bank debts. All those who have been to jail speak of meeting others in there for the same reasons.

Mr. Nallappa Reddy was more fortunate. "His neighbours love him," says one of them. "The publicity he got stopped a lot of us from also going inside." The question is: for how long? "The banks are getting more forceful now, as you can see from the Telangana cases," says Mr. Malla Reddy. "This matter can explode one day."

"The government is not interested in us," says Sainath Reddy, a nephew of the man who sank borewells in the graveyard. "They want corporate agriculture. We are a nuisance in the way. I tell you, those you wish well, ask them to stay away from agriculture. Don't even wish it on your enemies."

Widow writes her sad tale to Manmohan -times report

2007-05-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Publication: Times Of India Nagpur;

Date: May 4, 2007;

Section: Times Nagpur;

Page: 2

Widow writes her sad tale to Manmohan
Ramu Bhagwat I TNN
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=TkdUT0kvMjAwNy8wNS8wNCNBcjAwMjA1&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

Nagpur: Shivaji Betwar, a young farmer of Kelapur village in Yavatmal district committed suicide in August last, as he was refused bank loan for his farming operations. Ironically, his widow Mangala, left for to fend for herself and two little sons, was denied compensation by the government citing the reason that her husband was not under any debt burden as he had no bank loan against his name!

Her poignant tale will now reach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the widow has written to him a letter two days ago about her desperate situation. With no in-laws or other relatives to support her she is unable to cultivate the four-acre land left behind by her husband. She went to live at her brother's place at Besa in Andhra Pradesh's Adilabad district, just across the nearby border from Pandharkawda. But himself a poor farm labourer barely able to meet both ends meet, he was not able to look after her forcing her to return to Kelapur.

"My husband was a cotton grower. He was refused a loan by Bank of Maharashtra's Pahapal branch despite the his not being a defaulter. That forced him to commit suicide. I was given the hope that the government would help me. But today I was told by tahsildar that the district collector of Yavatmal has rejected my compensation claim citing the reason that my husband had no outstanding loan when he ended his life," wrote Mangala to the PM. Her elder son is seven years old , the younger one barely four. With the responsibility of taking their care, she is in no position to take up farming activity .

Now she is going from pillar post seeking help. On Thursday she met sub-divisional officer Sarang Kodulwar at Pandharkawda , who has promised to get her compensation case reviewed.

Mangla Betwar with her children

No succour for distressed farmers from PM package

2007-05-04T04:52:00.000-07:00

No succour for distressed farmers from PM package
Rajeev Deshpande
[4 May, 2007 l 0258 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1999861,prtpage-1.cms

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's special package for 31 distressed rural districts, including six in Maharashtra's suicide-prone cotton bowl of Vidarbha, has not just failed, it seems to have boomeranged.

Ill-conceived cash doles, stalled irrigation projects and misdirected credit have left farmers in dire straits. Nearly 10 months after the package was announced by PM Manmohan Singh, it is now being recognised that the relief effort was a deeply flawed knee-jerk response to an agricultural crisis which needed a more in-depth approach. The package is floundering and suicides by Vidarbha farmers continue even as the mainstay of the relief measures, 540 irrigation projects including 40-odd major works that envisage dams for storing water in the dry region with rain-dependent farming, have simply not got off the block.

Official sources closely monitoring the relief package said that the schemes remain caught up in the process of receiving technical, engineering and environmental clearances. The rollout period for the irrigation works, the critical Rs 2,177 crore element in the Rs 3,750 crore package, was to be three years. But, now, completion in even six years sounds optimistic. Increased credit to farmers has paradoxically heightened debt burdens even as crops are at the mercy of rains and low support prices.

The plea for increasing MSP is also being seen as counter-productive — it may lead to farmers investing more heavily in cotton when the effort, officials feel, should be to help diversify crops.

The Rs 50 lakh given to district collectors has proved to be easy money that vanished swiftly and has left Maharashtra asking for more. The money was meant for distressed families, and at an average of Rs 10,000 per household, it has been distributed among 500 beneficiaries in every affected district. Besides being just a drop in an ocean of impoverishment, it has been difficult to even check if the money was claimed by genuine beneficiaries.Given the size of the handout, an average of Rs 10,000, the assistance did not really change fortunes of those affected by the double whammy of poor crops and debt.

Officials had opposed dole, but the PM is understood to have been greatly moved by scenes of rural despair and urged that the amount be made available for instant relief. But the scheme's benefits have been largely unverifiable.

It is felt that a better approach to the debt problem could have been restructuring of credits, loans and repayments through cooperative banks on a partnership with states even as long-term efforts to improve irrigation were initiated.

rajeev.deshpande@timesgroup.com

save vidarbha farm widows

2007-05-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

save vidarbha farm widows
(THIS IS TRANSLATION OF LETTER OF ONE OF WIDOWS HAS WRITTEN TO INDIAN PRIME MINISTER FOR HELP)

To,
Dr.Man Mohan Singh,
Indian Prime Minister,
New Delhi-1100011

REF-YOUR HEALING TOUCH TO VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS MISSING

SUB-PLEASE ARRANGE TO SAVE VIDARBHA FARM WIDOWS.

Respected sir,

1. My husband shivaji betwar of kelapur in yavatmal district has killed him by hanging to tree in august last year after your announcement of package and you specially asked district collector to give healing touch farm widows of west vidarbha.
Please see this photo
He was cotton farmer and he was forced to commit suicide as local bankers bank of Maharashtra, pahapal branch has failed to give him crop loan even though he was not defaulter.
2.Then since after the his sad death,I was told by local administration that as per promise made by you ,the relief aid will be given to me as I am two small kids one age 4 and other age 7 .after the death of husband nobody is there to look after me here at my in laws place. Nobody is there to look after our land too.

3.To day local tahsildar has told me that yavatmal district collector has rejected my case as there was no crop loan against by husband name when he committed suicide. It was matter of surprised that when local bank has not given us loan and credit crunch has been reason of distress to commit suicide, I am being refused the compensation.

4.In order to avoid my kid’s starvation, I went back to mother place in Andhra Pradesh mandal besa in adilabad distt. But it has very difficult for them to feed my family to them as brother is farm labor and I was forced to returned back to husband place.
PRAYER
Dear prime minister, it has been very difficult to live in these pathetic condition where as babus in local administration has not giving any help to me, I am writing to you that after your vidarbha visit more than 1000 farm widows compensation claims have been rejected in order to show the effect of your package that suicides have declined and we are innocent victims of your administrative politics.

You are kindly requested to save my small kids and help me.

Yours sincerely,

MANGALA SHIVAJI BETWAR