Four more Vidarbha farmers commit suicide-Hindustan Times

Four more Vidarbha farmers commit suicide

Pradip Kumar Maitra pradipmaitra@hindustantimes.com

Agrarian crisis continued to be the cause of farm- ers' suicide in Vidarbha with four more taking the extreme step in the last 48 hours in the region.

The victims, each belonging to Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim and Akola, ended their lives by swallowing pesticide. They deceased have been identified as: Dadarao Hirpurkar (43) of Shindi village in Akola, Nilesh Kolhe (27), Kamargaon (Washim), Shankar Mangam of Telapur (Yavatmal) and Vilas Bhonde (35) of Masla in Buldhana district.

Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti claimed that as many as 28 farmers from the region killed themselves this month while the figure was 59 last month.

Tiwari said that a sizeable number of farmers are unable to face the burden of mounting debts from banks as well from private moneylenders. The farmers are unable to repay the amount this season because of crop failure.

“Farmers are thoroughly depressed that whether they would get fresh loans in the coming season being default- ers,“ he said and expressed apprehension that such a debt burden may drive more farm- ers to take drastic steps.

He demanded that the gov- ernment should make it clear that farmers would be given fresh loans and other help who are facing crisis because of crop failure.

“The government should also come out with food security package for the distressed farm- ers,“ he added.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Sanjay Deshmukh, district col- lector of Yavatmal, admitted that farmers' suicide figure in the district is more higher than the figure of last year. “We are taking all necessary measures to minimise farm suicide,“ Tiwari said.

State facing worst economic crisis, claim activists-HITAVADA

The oldest and largest circulated English news daily in Central India.
Published simultaneously from Nagpur, Jabalpur & Raipur ESTD : 1911

March 16th, 2010
City

State facing worst economic crisis, claim activists

Mar. 16th, 2010
by Staff Reporter
http://news.hitavadaonline.com/news/index.php?mode=single&page=10&n=27839

As the Democratic Front (DF) Government is set to present Economic Survey and annual budget after two weeks, activists have raised serious questions over the claim of Government about financial prosperity and industrial development. According to official records, the state is reeling under debt of mind boggling Rs 2 lakh crore and has witnessed 46 per cent drop in food production. Going by the dismal figures, Maharashtra is passing through its worst ever economic crisis during its Golden Jubilee Year.

During last economic survey the DF Government has admitted that state had lost 2 million jobs in the year 2008-2009, food grain production dropped by 25% before drought was declared, outstanding debt mounting to Rs.1,58,520 crore, interest payment on debt is Rs. 12,953 crore, 30% drop in employment provided under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), poverty ratio in the State is 30.7 per cent as against All-India average of 27.5 percent and more than 6000 farm suicides and deaths in tribal pockets due to malnutrition and starvation, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti President Kishor Tiwari stated. The rosy picture of massive job creation and investments in infrastructure, increase in food crop production, reduction in the debt and providing basic facilities to poor like food, shelter, health, education and rural employment, industrial growth, faded into thin air. Due to drought situation in 20,000 villages, food production is likely to drop below 102 lakh MT for the first time in history of Maharashtra. Tiwari also questioned the figures of industrial investment to the tune of Rs. 5,04,689 crore with 27.54 lakh jobs and claimed in reality nothing happened. Regarding power sector growth, the VJAS pointed out neither generation was improved no transmission losses were controlled. Quoting last economic survey, VJAS pointed out its major high light was Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) with lot of growth potential, but even after a long wait, MIHAN is turning out to be a hoax and has failed to give a single job to skilled or unskilled worker of the region, Tiwari stated. The VJAS also slammed the DF for fiscal imprudence and for its failure to cub non-plan expenditure and to undertake development schemes. The food grains production for kharif and rabi season in the State is estimated to be 117.19 lakh M.T. as a preliminary forecast, less by 24 per cent compared to that of the previous year. A steep fall of 49 per cent is expected in production of oilseeds. Sugarcane production is also expected to be much lower by 43 per cent (at 508.13 lakh M.T.) mainly due to reduction of 30 percent in the harvested area. The estimated employment in the State, based on National Sample Survey, which was on rise till 2004-05 at 4.3 crore, declined to 4.1 crore in 2007-08 clearly indicating the footprints of recession. The employment provided under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) during 2008-09 was 4.2 crore person days as against 6.0 crore person days provided under Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and NREGS during 2007-08.The poverty estimate provided by the Planning Commission of India, reveal that the poverty ratio in the State during 2004-05 is 30.7 per cent as against All-India average of 27.5 percent. Though the results at various points of time show decline in poverty ratios, the number of persons living below poverty line is gradually increasing since 1973-74 and increased by 12.2 lakh persons in 2004-05 as compared to 1993-94. Tiwari has urged Centre to review economic crisis in Maharashtra due to uncontrolled plan and unplanned expenses of state Government and warned that people of Maharashtra will have to pay cost of political misdeed in future, more hardship are in pipeline if corrective steps are not taken today.

Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto-INDIA TODAY

Bt cotton has failed admits Monsanto

Dinesh C. Sharma

New Delhi, March 6, 2010 http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86939/India/Bt+cotton+has+failed+admits+Monsanto.html The ongoing debate on biotechnology crops in India took a new turn on Friday when American seed firm Monsanto disclosed that cotton pest--pink bollworm--has developed resistance to its much-touted Bt cotton variety in Gujarat. The company has reported to the regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), that pink bollworm has developed resistance to its genetically modified (GM) cotton variety, Bollgard I, in Amreli, Bhavnagar, Junagarh and Rajkot districts in Gujarat. This was detected by the company during field monitoring in the 2009 cotton season. The Bt cotton variety in question was developed using a gene--Cry1AC--derived from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. It was supposed to be resistant to pest attacks. But, of late, the pest has developed resistance to the gene. The same gene has been used in Bt brinjal to make it resistant to pests. Bollgard cotton was cited as a great success of GM technology by Union science minister Prithviraj Chavan in his July 2009 letter to former health minister A. Ramadoss. "Resistance is natural and expected," Monsanto said in a statement. The company blamed pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac protein in Gujarat to "early use of unapproved Bt cotton seeds" by farmers and "limited refuge planting". Farmers are supposed to maintain a distance between Bt cotton farms and other farms as a "refuge". It also advised farmers to take up "need-based application of insecticide sprays" and "properly manage crop residue and unopened bolls after harvest". A second generation variety, Bollgard II, introduced by Monsanto in 2006, contains two proteins, Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab. The company says no resistance has been observed in the variety anywhere in the country, including Gujarat. The revelation has not surprised environment action groups. "This is the pattern Monsanto has been following everywhere. Once Bollgard 1 fails, they start pushing Bollgard 2 and tell farmers to apply more pesticides. This is a vicious circle that Indian cotton farmers have got into," Devinder Sharma of Forum for Biotechnology and Food Safety said. "There is a lesson here for Bt brinjal because the arguments in favour of the crop are same as those given for Bollgard cotton," Kavita Kuruganti of Kheti Virasat said. In a report submitted to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, K.R. Kranthi of the Central Institute for Cotton Research had cautioned about the likely failure of Bt cotton. "Farmers are not following the recommended 'refugia'. With about 90 per cent area under Bt cotton, bollworms can develop resistance soon. The concern needs to be addressed on priority before it is too late," the report says. Not only has Bt cotton been rendered ineffective, it has also led to detection of some new pests never before reported from India. It is toxic only to bollworm and does not control any other pests of cotton. "New sucking pests have emerged as major pests causing significant economic losses", the report says. At the same time, productivity of cotton has fallen from 560 kg lint per hectare in 2007 to 512 kg lint per hectare in 2009. And pesticide expenditure has gone up from from Rs 597 crore in 2002 to Rs 791 crore in 2009.