Ten more Cotton farmers suicides added to a quarter of a
million Indian farmers’ suicide tally from Vidarbha
Nagpur
-5th November 4, 2011
The innocent victimization of Indian cotton farmers is till
continue as Ten more debt trapped farmers killed them selves in this week since
Monday from the dying field of west
vidarbha taking toll to 663 in year 2011, ill feted farmers are
1.Parshuram Jabhulkar
of Pandharkawada(Pisgoan) in Yavatmal
2.Gajanan Sawant of
Pangara Pole in Buldhana
3.Anata Bhilange of
Nivana in Buldhana
4.Vithoba Munde of
Sonasi in Buldhana
5.Gajanan Kavate of
Palodi in Akola
6.Devrao Nimbolkar in
asola in Akola
7.Sukhadev Pawar of
amadi in Yavatmal
8.Ashok Chintelwar of
karegoan(bandal) in Yavatmal
9.Ramesh Tekam of
Mangarda in Yavatmal
10.Dadarao Nage of
Lohgoan in Amaravati
Kishor Tiwari, president of Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan
Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), activist group working for cotton farmer rights
informed in a Press release today.
The official national farm
suicide data of NCRB become official which has reported that the country has
seen over a quarter of a million farmers’ suicides between 1995 and 2010. The
National Crime Records Bureau’s latest report on ‘Accidental Deaths &
Suicides in India’
places the number for 2010 at 15,964. That brings the cumulative 16-year total
from 1995 — when the NCRB started recording farm suicide data — to 2,56,913,
the worst-ever recorded wave of suicides of this kind in human history
andMaharashtra posts a dismal picture with over 50,000 farmers killing themselves
in the country's richest State in that period. It also remains the worst State
for such deaths for a decade now.
Close to two-thirds of all farm
suicides have occurred in five States:Maharashtra,
Karnataka, A.P., Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
local leading daily reported
today that around 15 lakh Hector Bt.cotton crop has been lost in six district
of west vidarbha where in Maharashtra most of Bt.cotton crop has been damaged
due to delayed rain and erratic weather condition .Maharashtra is the state
where Bt.cotton has crossed 50 lakhs hector this year out of which more than 35
lakhs hector is purely dry land area where rainy water is only source.
Situation of cotton growers in
west Vidarbha has worsened with the wrong policies of the state and particularly
ban of cotton export time to time. The Bt cotton seeds promoted by the state
have increased the economic pressure on farmers instead of resulting in higher
yields of disease free crops. Already a low return and high risk livelihood,
these policies that claim to reduce the risk have only increased the cost of
farming. As a result, the cotton economy of the region has collapsed, resulting
in mass suicide since 2001, he pointed out that when the rate of cotton lint
gets a rate of $5.346 per kg in USA (around Rs 8,906 per quintal), the farmers
of Vidarbha was getting a meager rate of Rs 4,000 per quintal.
VJAS that has been documenting
the farmers' suicide in the region, said that most of the cotton farmers were
distressed because of meagre rate of raw cotton in the market this season.
"There is a need for state government's intervention in this regard. The government should provide at least Rs 6,000 per quintal. The chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had promised that he would talk with the union government for better support price for the raw cotton. However, nothing has been done in this regard," Tiwari alleged.
The minimum support price for the cotton was announced just Rs 3,300 per quintal when the rate was over Rs 6,000 last year, he pointed out.
Tiwari continued, "The government did not concede our demand of providing food security to desperate, distressed and marginal farmers even. The government needs to behave sensibly and responsibly to address farmers' woes and prevent the prevailing spate of suicide in the killing fields of Vidarbha." If the cotton growers do not get better price this season, the situation will assume drastic proportions, he cautioned.
VJAS has urged Govt. of India to send team of expert to assess the Bt. Cotton crop damage in maharashtra and west vidarbha in particular where cotton farmers are killing themselves .VJAS has been demanding hike in cotton MSP Rs.6000/- per quintal and relief package to dying cotton farmers of region, Tiwari added.
"There is a need for state government's intervention in this regard. The government should provide at least Rs 6,000 per quintal. The chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had promised that he would talk with the union government for better support price for the raw cotton. However, nothing has been done in this regard," Tiwari alleged.
The minimum support price for the cotton was announced just Rs 3,300 per quintal when the rate was over Rs 6,000 last year, he pointed out.
Tiwari continued, "The government did not concede our demand of providing food security to desperate, distressed and marginal farmers even. The government needs to behave sensibly and responsibly to address farmers' woes and prevent the prevailing spate of suicide in the killing fields of Vidarbha." If the cotton growers do not get better price this season, the situation will assume drastic proportions, he cautioned.
VJAS has urged Govt. of India to send team of expert to assess the Bt. Cotton crop damage in maharashtra and west vidarbha in particular where cotton farmers are killing themselves .VJAS has been demanding hike in cotton MSP Rs.6000/- per quintal and relief package to dying cotton farmers of region, Tiwari added.
0 comments:
Post a Comment