1.14 farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha
2.India's Agrarian Martyrs: Are You Listening?
NOTE: The spate of suicides reported below come at exactly the time that India's been celebrating its 60th birthday as an independent state.
EXTRACTS: According to Tiwari, the rural Vidarbha economy collapsed due to the introduction of "costly" Bt cotton in the region last year and the subsequent withdrawal of the advance bonus under the monopoly scheme. (item 1)
In the last few years, the number of documented suicides in India's rural areas has skyrocketed. These suicides have become so commonplace that they are mystifying a nation and polarizing the debate over biotechnology. (item 2)
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1.14 farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha
Hindustan Times, August 19 2007
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=6bf334cf-374c-42fd-9dd5-9a6bbefaa06d&&Headline=14+farmers+commit+suicide+in+Vidarbha
As many as 14 farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha in last 48 hours.
Kishore Tiwari, a representative of peasant organisation, 'Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti', said farmers in western Vidarbha have been severely hit by the recent spell of heavy rain. Crops sown by some farmers were washed away due to the recent torrential rain.
Most of those who killed themselves had already defaulted on bank loans. And when local banks refused to give them fresh loans, they took the drastic step, Tiwari said. The farmers now have no money for fresh sowing. "The accumulated distress of region's farmers is now at its worst," Tiwari added.
The farmers' body representative urged the prime minister to meet some of the demands of farmers such as waiving their loans, restoring advance bonus in the cotton monopoly scheme (a sum of Rs 2,500), enhancing the guarantee price of raw cotton credit and providing food security and free health care. According to Tiwari, the rural Vidarbha economy collapsed due to the introduction of "costly" Bt cotton in the region last year and the subsequent withdrawal of the advance bonus under the monopoly scheme.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Maharashtra by the end of this month. Ironically, around 1,300 farmers in the region have killed themselves since the PM announced a Rs 3,750 crore package for the region.
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2.India's Agrarian Martyrs: Are You Listening?
By Jessica Long
CounterCurrents, 13 August 2007
http://countercurrents.org/long130807.htm
Many of us remember the crucial failure of the WTO's Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico in 2003. It was on this day that Lee Kyung Hae, leader of the Korean Federation of Advanced Farmers, discovered that his loudest voice was in death.
Wearing a sandwich board that read, "The WTO kills farmers!"- Lee took a knife and stabbed himself in the chest. His death was ignored by the WTO and the mainstream media. Given the lack of attention, many argue that his violent end was in vain. Sadly, his dishonored death is one of thousands being ignored by corporate mainstream media.
In 2003, 17,107 farmers committed suicide. In the last few years, the number of documented suicides in India's rural areas has skyrocketed. These suicides have become so commonplace that they are mystifying a nation and polarizing the debate over biotechnology.
On the surface, the massive numbers of farmer suicides lack the social unity and revolutionary opposition other revolutions employ. In fact, the local Indian government refuses to address the correlation between agrarian suicides and economic exploitation, making it difficult for the international public to apply real social forces to these farmers' actions.
However, research shows the massive numbers of farmer suicides are linked not only with economic disparity, but with corporate exploitation by multinational agribusinesses.
Whether addressed as "agrarian martyrs" or merely desperate peasantry, exploited Indian farmers, like Lee Kyung Hae, have found that their loudest voice is in death.
READ ON AT http://countercurrents.org/long130807.htm
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