Thursday, September 14, 2006

"What the heart does not feel, the eye can never see"


Farm suicides have also been on for several years in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. To imply they are only happening in Vidarbha is false. The agrarian problem is nationwide. So are many of the policies driving it. But all regions are not the same. Some crops are more subject to price shocks. Some communities more vulnerable than others. Some cultivation practices more destructive than others. And some governments are far worse at handling distress than others.

P. Sainath, author of Why Everyone Loves a Good Drought, on the myths surrounding the farmer suicides.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

agricultur crises has many dimensions but happend in agricultur along with growth of wheat and rice is excessive exploition of soil and water as land and water mining it was not agriculture this is Greed revolution..
india need evergreen revolution most important part of all this which was missing is knowledge
Agriculture must be knowledge intensive most of the kisan organistaions only protest aginst the govt. they never give alternative model of agriculte subsidies and finance is needed.but most important part is input of local knowledge and new research
so in every village knowledge centers are required
raghbir

Anonymous said...

all the policy makers mainly give views and financial help to the owners of the land the famers but WHAT about the KHET MAJDOOR ,LABOURER ? LANDLESS WORKERS ?MOSTLY MISSING

readerswords said...

Raghbir: I agree with the thrust of your comment- the need for a more educated response by farmer's/ kisan organizations.

I am not sure to what extent it can be termed as a 'greed' revolution though. after all, it was the Green Revolution that helped to do away with food crises of the 70s and reduced dependence on foreign food aid.

While in Punjab it has been the wheat/rice cultivation, I think the crisis elsewhere is largely because of cash crop cultivation and the price fluctuations at global level.

Anonymous2: The macabre but simple fact is that mass suicides make headline news and the slow, continued death of the farm labourer does not.

Anonymous said...

there r so many strata of peoples more in poverty than farmers . having no private property , having no guarenty of jobs , no health security , daily face humilation and insulted but they r not adopting the path of suicides . are there other reasons along with economic ,also ? for the farmers suicides
.raghbir

readerswords said...

Good point, Raghbir. Frankly, I dont have an answer.