| Writ over Bt cotton farmer suicides / Shatharam and Prakash defend Bt cotton (15/7/2007) | |
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1.Writ over Bt cotton farmer suicides - Pervez Bari EXTRACTS: The prayers made in the PIL [Public Interest Litigation] in the interest of cotton cultivating farmers community at large are as [follows] – ...ii) To order necessary probe / enquiry in the role of State Officers in promoting Bt. Cotton which resulted in the failure of crop; iii) To direct investigation through CBI, Vigilance Commission, CID or any other independent agency in the matter of... involvement of the officials of the State in inducing the poor farmers for cultivating the Bt. Cotton; ...viii) To direct the State to take appropriate action against the Bt. Cotton Seeds companies for compensating the poor farmers who died untimely... (item 1) NOTE: Shantharam and Prakash attribute any connection of Bt cotton and farmer suicides in places like Vidarbha as solely due to the bogus claims of the "anti-GM lobby". That will be why farmers' widows are calling for a blanket ban on Bt cotton. See also the heart breaking article by India's leading development journalist, Palagummi Sainath, on the failure of the Bt cotton harvest in Vidarbha. And the article 'All in a day: Six farmers commit suicide' from The Times of India,which tells us, "Most suicide cases relate to those farming families which have run up huge debts because of the high cost in using the expensive genetically-modified cotton seeds, which have to be bought every year. Crop failures in this situation, therefore, leave farmers with debts they are unable to pay and [they] are then hounded by loan sharks." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2047898.cms And perhaps most damning of all, in terms of how poor farmers have been led into this trap, the report: EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK - THE MARKETING OF BT COTTON IN INDIA And, of course, Shantharam and Prakash have made their own extravagant contributions to the hyping of Bt cotton and other GM crops. --- 1.Nagpur Bench of HC takes serious note on bouncing of Vidarbha farmer widow's cheque Bhopal, July 14 (Pervez Bari): Taking a serious cognizance of continued farmers suicides and failure of various packages announced for the crisis ridden Vidarbha farmers of Maharashtra state, the Nagpur Division Bench of Bombay High Court at Nagpur expressed great concern about the matter and came down heavily on the style and approach of the State Govt. in tackling the issue. The High Court Bench has asked to furnish every details of the farmers package schemes and its implementation within three weeks, a Press release issued by Santosh Netam, Media Incharge of the Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), said. While hearing the Public Interest Litigation, (PIL), filed by VJAS president Kishore Tiwari, today the Division Bench headed by Justice Dilip Sinha and Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari expressed its great concern and displeasure on the entire crisis and observed that the farmers suicides are the matter of serious concern to the society and the Court but the State seems to be little serious about the issue. The continued suicide deaths of the farmers in the cotton cultivating western Vidarbha region the toll has now crossed 1800 in last two years. Though the Writ Petition was filed by the petitioner way back in the month of February, 2006, the respondents State Officials have failed to obey the orders passed by High-Court from time to time. The plight of the farmers is continually deteriorating and farmers suicides are reported from every crisis-ridden district of Vidarbha, the release claimed. The bouncing of cheque of Rs.10,000/- issued from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to a farmer's widow is the classic example of how casually the Maharashtra State Government is functioning. The petitioner has made Chief Secretary of Maharashtra State and other top officials including Principal Secretary, Home Affairs; Principal Secretary, Agriculture; Principal Secretary, Marketing; Secretary Co-operation, Commissioner of Agriculture at Pune, Director General of Police, Divisional Commissioners of Revenue Divisions at Amravati & Nagpur, Director General of Specially Formed Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawlamban Mission having office at Amravati and National Commission for Farmers, appointed by the Union Ministry of Agriculture headed by Sharad Pawar at New Delhi as respondents. The prayers made in the PIL in the interest of cotton cultivating farmers community at large are as under – i) To take cognizance of the plight of poor families of farmers who were compelled to commit suicide due to wrongful policies of the State; |
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