Every 12 Hours One Farmer Commits Suic
Every 12 hours, one farmer commits suicide in India
1 of 3
http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?view=article&catid=106:magaz...
Every 12 hours, one farmer commits suicide in India
In the 1990s India woke up to a spate of farmers suicides. The first state where suicides were reported was Maharashtra. Soon newspapers began to report similar occurrences from Andhra Pradesh. The government appointed a number of inquiries to look into the causes of farmers' suicide and farm-related distress in general. The despair has deepened over the past year with 18 of the 28 states reporting more suicides. The farmer suicide graph has been steadily rising. The numbers are stark and in your face: According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from
2009, more than 216, 000 farmers have killed themselves since 1997. Add the figures for 1995, 1996 and 2010 and the total crosses 250,000. That is, two farmers a day for the past 15 years.
Veteran journalist and The Hindu Rural Affairs editor P. Sainath says: "We have been undergoing the largest catastrophe of our independent history — the suicides of nearly a quarter of a million farmers since 1995. We are talking of the largest recorded rate of suicides in human history.”
Sainath was speaking at the Third Michael Sprinker Lecture on “Death on the Farm: Agrarian crisis and inequality” at the Institute of Development Studies in Kolkata.
Bringing to light several stark contrasts in India, where the average CEO earns 30,000 times more than the average worker, Sainath said: "While labor productivity rose 84 percent, real wages of laborers dropped 22 percent. The country imports wheat from Australia, which was importing wheat nine years ago from Punjab. It exports 20 million tonnes of grain at Rs. 5.45/kg, whereas the same grain is sold to the poor at Rs. 6.15/kg."
And there lies the problem, which UPA 2 calls systemic. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, whose state has the worst figures for the 10th consecutive year, has
1 of 3
http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?view=article&catid=106:magaz...
Every 12 hours, one farmer commits suicide in India
In the 1990s India woke up to a spate of farmers suicides. The first state where suicides were reported was Maharashtra. Soon newspapers began to report similar occurrences from Andhra Pradesh. The government appointed a number of inquiries to look into the causes of farmers' suicide and farm-related distress in general. The despair has deepened over the past year with 18 of the 28 states reporting more suicides. The farmer suicide graph has been steadily rising. The numbers are stark and in your face: According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from
2009, more than 216, 000 farmers have killed themselves since 1997. Add the figures for 1995, 1996 and 2010 and the total crosses 250,000. That is, two farmers a day for the past 15 years.
Veteran journalist and The Hindu Rural Affairs editor P. Sainath says: "We have been undergoing the largest catastrophe of our independent history — the suicides of nearly a quarter of a million farmers since 1995. We are talking of the largest recorded rate of suicides in human history.”
Sainath was speaking at the Third Michael Sprinker Lecture on “Death on the Farm: Agrarian crisis and inequality” at the Institute of Development Studies in Kolkata.
Bringing to light several stark contrasts in India, where the average CEO earns 30,000 times more than the average worker, Sainath said: "While labor productivity rose 84 percent, real wages of laborers dropped 22 percent. The country imports wheat from Australia, which was importing wheat nine years ago from Punjab. It exports 20 million tonnes of grain at Rs. 5.45/kg, whereas the same grain is sold to the poor at Rs. 6.15/kg."
And there lies the problem, which UPA 2 calls systemic. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, whose state has the worst figures for the 10th consecutive year, has