Wednesday, December 5, 2007

'This is not suicide, but mass genocide by the State'

'This is not suicide, but mass genocide by the State' -rediff special-2007

http://specials.rediff.com/yearend/2007/dec/05yrfarmer1.htm
(Text: Shobha Warrier | Photograph: Parthajit Datta/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: 1.5 lakh farmers committed suicide between 1997 and 2005)


The Year That Was: 2007
Rediff looks back at the highs and lows, the successes and failures, the heros and villains, the wild and the overblown that made this year.


Despair and Hope



'This is not suicide, but mass genocide by the State'

December 5, 2007

The clock struck 12. Midnight, December 31, 2006. A new dawn, a new year was about to begin. With lots of hopes, dreams and aspirations.

It is also the time for the privileged in the country to party under dim lights. When they drink, dance, and scream 'Happy New Year', thousands of people in another part of India sit in the dark corners of their houses, dreading the uncertain future ahead of them.

One such person was Ashok Bhikaji Bhoyar from a place called Kavardari. A handful of people may have heard of Kavardari. It is in the
It is also the time for the privileged in the country to party under dim lights. When they drink, dance, and scream 'Happy New Year', thousands of people in another part of India sit in the dark corners of their houses, dreading the uncertain future ahead of them.

One such person was Ashok Bhikaji Bhoyar from a place called Kavardari. A handful of people may have heard of Kavardari. It is in the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. And this man was a farmer.

Then 2007 dawned. And Ashok Bhoyar ended his life drinking pesticide. The reason: He was neck deep in debt, and saw only darkness ahead of him.

January 2 was not different from January 1. In fact, it was worse. Sopan Shrikrisna Darmode from Kadamapur and Sukhdeo Shivaji Chakranarayan from Devthana also ended their lives with pesticide.

January 3 saw two more farmers committing suicide. On January 6, four people ended their lives. By the time the month ended, 68 people had chosen to end their lives in Vidarbha region alone.

All of them were cotton farmers.


'The plight of Vidarbha's farmers is because of the globalisation of the cotton economy'

India ranks third in global cotton production after the United States and China. With 8 to 9 million hectares of cotton produce each year, India accounts for approximately 25 per cent of the world's total cotton area, and 16 pc of global cotton production.

Most of the cotton in India is grown under rain-fed conditions, and only about a third is grown under irrigation. Cotton as a cash crop is important as it contributes around 30 pc of agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product.

While agriculture gives positive growth, cotton production in the Vidarbha region shows a down trend.

According to Kishor Tiwari, who has been voicing the plight of the cotton farmers of Vidarbha through the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, the trouble started in Vidarbha with liberalisation.

"From 1995 onwards, the prices of seeds and pesticides increased four times, but the price of raw cotton at the national and international level went down by 30 per cent," he says. "There was a time a farmer would spend only Rs 500 per acre and would get back Rs 5,000 in income. Today, the farmer spends Rs 10,000 per acre, but he gets back only Rs 7,000 back. So, debt starts mounting. The plight of Vidarbha's cotton farmers is because of the 'globalisation of the cotton economy'. The national sample survey says the farmers of Vidarbha earn Rs 472 a month which is much below the poverty line."

Professor K Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, an agrarian issues expert, explained the reason why cash crops had been failing, endangering the livelihood of lakhs of farmers all over India, much more in the Vidarbha region.

"Agriculture in India was dependent on State support, which was not just subsidies; it took the form of tremendous amount of extension services which were built over a period of time, like soil and water management, timely credit, provision of inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and imparting knowledge," he said. "In the name of liberalisation, State support was withdrawn completely and the vacant space has been occupied by the private sector in an unregulated manner."

Image: Cotton farmer Vithoba Shate from Yavatmal in Maharashtra committed suicide by drinking pesticide, leaving behind his 75-year-old father Ragoba Shate, mother and wife. Photograph: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'TN farmers are in a better situation'

Most of the cotton in India is grown under rain-fed conditions, and only about a third is grown under irrigation. Cotton as a cash crop is important as it contributes around 30 pc of agriculture's contribution to the gross domestic product.

While agriculture gives positive growth, cotton production in the Vidarbha region shows a down trend.

According to Kishor Tiwari, who has been voicing the plight of the cotton farmers of Vidarbha through the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, the trouble started in Vidarbha with liberalisation.

"From 1995 onwards, the prices of seeds and pesticides increased four times, but the price of raw cotton at the national and international level went down by 30 per cent," he says. "There was a time a farmer would spend only Rs 500 per acre and would get back Rs 5,000 in income. Today, the farmer spends Rs 10,000 per acre, but he gets back only Rs 7,000 back. So, debt starts mounting. The plight of Vidarbha's cotton farmers is because of the 'globalisation of the cotton economy'. The national sample survey says the farmers of Vidarbha earn Rs 472 a month which is much below the poverty line."

Professor K Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, an agrarian issues expert, explained the reason why cash crops had been failing, endangering the livelihood of lakhs of farmers all over India, much more in the Vidarbha region.

"Agriculture in India was dependent on State support, which was not just subsidies; it took the form of tremendous amount of extension services which were built over a period of time, like soil and water management, timely credit, provision of inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and imparting knowledge," he said. "In the name of liberalisation, State support was withdrawn completely and the vacant space has been occupied by the private sector in an unregulated manner."

Image: Cotton farmer Vithoba Shate from Yavatmal in Maharashtra committed suicide by drinking pesticide, leaving behind his 75-year-old father Ragoba Shate, mother and wife. Photograph: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Despite government largesse, the suicides have continued


The situation in Vidarbha worsened in 2002 after the Indian government permitted commercial cultivation of genetically modified Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton.

The Gene Campaign study in 2006 came to the conclusion that the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha has failed in the rain-fed region completely and that 70 per cent of small farmers lost their landholdings as collateral for loans they could never repay.

The study also revealed that many farmers opted for Bt cotton not knowing it was privately produced and marketed. They accepted it because the government was actively promoting it.

Interestingly, in the United States, where it was introduced 10 years ago, it had developed resistance. This also happened with China. But in India, the authorities turned a blind eye to what was happening to the farmers.

When local activists and media started highlighting the issue of Vidarbha farmers' suicides from 2003, the Maharashtra government responded with a Rs 1,075 crore (Rs 10.75 billion) relief package in December 2005. Promises like debt waiver and free electricity were made during the state assembly election in September 2005.

In October 2005, Dr M S Swaminathan, chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, and his team visited Vidarbha and gave a set of recommendations to the government. On May 1, 2006, programmes for the educational support of children and livelihood rehabilitation of widows were launched, and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation opened an office in Wardha in November 2006.

The prime minister made a well-publicised visit to Vidarbha in July 2006 and announced a Rs 3,750 crore (Rs 37.50 billion) relief package, including a write-off of Rs 712 crore (Rs 7.12 billion) overdue interest for the Vidarbha farmers. But the suicides continued.


The Gene Campaign study in 2006 came to the conclusion that the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha has failed in the rain-fed region completely and that 70 per cent of small farmers lost their landholdings as collateral for loans they could never repay.

The study also revealed that many farmers opted for Bt cotton not knowing it was privately produced and marketed. They accepted it because the government was actively promoting it.

Interestingly, in the United States, where it was introduced 10 years ago, it had developed resistance. This also happened with China. But in India, the authorities turned a blind eye to what was happening to the farmers.

When local activists and media started highlighting the issue of Vidarbha farmers' suicides from 2003, the Maharashtra government responded with a Rs 1,075 crore (Rs 10.75 billion) relief package in December 2005. Promises like debt waiver and free electricity were made during the state assembly election in September 2005.

In October 2005, Dr M S Swaminathan, chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, and his team visited Vidarbha and gave a set of recommendations to the government. On May 1, 2006, programmes for the educational support of children and livelihood rehabilitation of widows were launched, and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation opened an office in Wardha in November 2006.

The prime minister made a well-publicised visit to Vidarbha in July 2006 and announced a Rs 3,750 crore (Rs 37.50 billion) relief package,

For Maharashtra's chief minister, the farmers' suicides are 'media hype' At the same time, The Hindu Rural Correspondent P Sainath, who won the Magsaysay Award this year for his relentless journalistic campaign to expose the reasons for the farmers's suicides, wrote, 'Had there been a waiver of debt of up to just Rs 25,000, more than 80 per cent of Vidarbha's farmers would no longer have owed the banks money. People thought that waiver would come. It didn't, and the sense of being let down is great.'

He further wrote, 'Will farmers' suicides in Vidarbha halt now that there's a financial package to bring it relief? The answer is no. The deaths do have seasonal highs and lows. But a relative decline now would have little to do with the measures announced at the end of the prime minister's visit. The number of suicides in the 10-day run-up to his trip: 34. The number in 10 days after he left: 34.'

That was in July 2006.

Has anything changed after that? Like Sainath predicted, nothing.

In 2006, as per government data, 1,442 farmers entangled in the debt trap committed suicide in Vidarbha. March 2007, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, while addressing an election rally, said, 'It was media hype. Farmer suicides are down to 25 per cent from 75 per cent last year.'

He further wrote, 'Will farmers' suicides in Vidarbha halt now that there's a financial package to bring it relief? The answer is no. The deaths do have seasonal highs and lows. But a relative decline now would have little to do with the measures announced at the end of the prime minister's visit. The number of suicides in the 10-day run-up to his trip: 34. The number in 10 days after he left: 34.'

That was in July 2006.

Has anything changed after that? Like Sainath predicted, nothing.

In 2006, as per government data, 1,442 farmers entangled in the debt trap committed suicide in Vidarbha. March 2007, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, while addressing an election rally, said, 'It was media hype. Farmer suicides are down to 25 per cent from 75 per cent last year.'

'India's rural economy has collapsed'

The study conducted by Professor Nagaraj found that from 1997 to 2005, 1.5 lakh farmers committed suicide in India. The tragedy continued in 2006 and 2007 also. And it may even become worse in 2008.

Says Kishor Tiwari, "The suicide of these thousands of landless farmers and land labourers, women are just symbols; symbols that tell us how India's rural economy has collapsed. The epicentre of the agrarian crisis in India is now in Vidarbha."

Healthcare, education and the food security system have also collapsed in the area thanks to liberalisation. From 2004 onwards, Tiwari has been demanding a regulated farming system. "A farmer should be forced to have food crop cultivation at least in 30 per cent of his land area so that they will not die of starvation. If the government cannot save them, they should be given food security."

Says Kishor Tiwari, "The suicide of these thousands of landless farmers and land labourers, women are just symbols; symbols that tell us how India's rural economy has collapsed. The epicentre of the agrarian crisis in India is now in Vidarbha."

Healthcare, education and the food security system have also collapsed in the area thanks to liberalisation. From 2004 onwards, Tiwari has been demanding a regulated farming system. "A farmer should be forced to have food crop cultivation at least in 30 per cent of his land area so that they will not die of starvation. If the government cannot save them, they should be given food security."

'The epicentre of India's agrarian crisis is now in Vidarbha'


2007 is going to end. As per the list produced by the Maharashtra government, 1,242 farmers have committed suicide in the Vidarbha region so far.

On December 3, P Sainath wrote, 'Even as the suicides in Vidarbha go on relentlessly, a trend has strengthened in the last few months. More and more farmers are blaming the government and even talking directly in their suicide notes to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.'

But you have a chief minister who says he is being merciful to those who have committed suicide by not registering any crime against them, who advises the farmers to practise yoga and spiritualism! You also have another minister who calls the farmers of Vidarbha lazy!

2008 will be a crucial year for farmers as loan recovery will start after the interest waiver.

Warns Tiwari, "The farmers are being killed by the policy-makers. It is a well-planned agenda to eliminate the farming community to hand over the farming sector to the corporate sector. In Korea they have succeeded, but in India, with a massive population of 70 crore people, it's not going to be that easy. This is not suicide, but mass genocide by the State."

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1 comment:

deadmanoncampus said...

Sainath seems to be another power hungry guy,another Ellsworth Monkton Toohey.This is my blog post on Sainath relating to NREGA.

http://memorymaniac.blogspot.com/2008/06/lets-create-unemployment.html