Farm suicides spiral in Vidarbha, 401 dead since January

And the beat goes on w/ farmer's that have signed contracts to monsanto committing suicide because tey realise they've become indentured servants that aren't able to feed themselves or their family.

original-indianews

Farm suicides spiral in Vidarbha, 401 dead since January
From correspondents in Maharashtra, India, 03:30 PM IST


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.
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complete article here

:cry: