1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India

[Coffee and Cake]

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine

"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."

"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."

Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."

Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

"Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.

All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies," he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/1500-farmers-commit-mass-suicide-in-india-1669018.html

[aquart]

1. 1500 people committed suicide all at once?

Because it's not a mass suicide if there's no togetherness.

[Uzybone]

5. Good question, the article doesn't say

so I doubt it.

[w4rma]

2. All debtors. (nt)

[JI7]

3. God isn't going to save anyone

they need to demand the people in charge, politicians, corporations etc give them what they deserve.

[bleever]

4. I had the fortune to live in rural India for a while, and these people are incredibly poor.

Literally dirt poor. Living off whatever the earth will grow, year to year, minus what they owe to landlords and creditors.

Dirt floored homes. Houses mostly constructed of mud.

Beautiful people.

This is a tremendous tragedy.

[readmoreoften]

6. I don't even know what to say. I wonder what part Monsanto played in this.

Not being able to save and develop seed is a farming--and human--crisis.

[glinda]

24. Really good point.

[northernlights]

26. this is a water disaster, not a monsanto disaster

not that there aren't monsanto disasters. This just isn't one of them.

Poor water planning in development projects siphoned off their water.

They couldn't save seed because their harvest was so poor, they had to eat whatever did grow. It's called "eating the seed corn."

[Number23]

7. Wow. A literally deadly combination of climate change and predatory lenders

Thanks for posting this.

[Hannah Bell]

15. not climate change: water siphoned off to development: dams, factories, coca-cola.

[Number23]

16. This part says climate change to me

"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."

[Hannah Bell]

17. One season's drought doesn't = "climate change", & drought is manageable if the coke bottlers

haven't dropped your water table.

If you read up on farming in India, you'll find the main pressures on (smaller) farmers are related to development.

[BlooInBloo]

23. Sigh.

[Mira]

8. It's impossible to fathom what I just read here - and it again shows me how we

are uninformed about the world at large. I've been fortunate to see a lot for myself through extensive travel, so I know the need for us to pull together and solve the crisis of planet survival is ....there is no word for the urgency....and the desperation of many of our fellow humans.

[Quantess]

9. What a travesty.

[underpants]

10. 40,000 Egyptian cotton farmers have committed suicide

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1503/15030640.htm

[dysfunctional press]

13. 40,000? that's a pretty high dead-count for egyptian cotton...

[Codeine]

18. Shamefully,

I laughed. :evilgrin:

[doctor jazz]

30. Wait, is that per foot?....or per meter?

:silly:

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. Your link also points out another "perfect storm"

unintended consequences...that the farmers are growing cotton ,
" a high risk crop" but "displacing traditional crops such as jowar and oilseeds. "

The news story describes what was known as tenant farming generations ago here.
A permanent serf class captured by a system designed to keep them in chronic subsistence level poverty.

[doc03]

11. Damn I thought you said Indiana n/t

[dysfunctional press]

12. capitalism- it's to die for.

are we a great species, or what?

[RedCappedBandit]

14. We're the most vile species ever to walk the earth.

[glinda]

25. that is why I like animals more than people

[eridani]

19. Like many of us keep on saying, NOBODY wins the race to the bottom

Except for corporate sociopaths.

[Cruzan]

20. No 'mass' suicide

That was a sensational headline apparently written by an editor for the Belfast Telegraph from which the Independent got the article (note the italicized 'This article is from The Belfast Telegraph' at the bottom).

The key difference in the Belfast Telegraph version ( http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/1500-farmers-commit-mass-suicide-in-india-14268995.html ) is the phrase "a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine" in the third paragraph (which the Independent edited out).

If you then go to that article ( http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20090415&filename=news&sec_id=50&sid=29 ) which appears to be the original source as it also contains all the quotes from the farmers, you see the phrase "1,593 farmers committed suicide in the state last year according to the data provided by state police to the National Crime Records Bureau" in the story's eighth paragraph.

Down To Earth describes itself as "India’s only science and environment fortnightly."

[Coffee and Cake]

28. Perhaps the title is misleading, but suicide among famers is rampant in India

"According to the National Crime Records Bureau, at least 87,567 farmers committed suicide between 2002 and 2006. In Maharashtra state, there were 4,453 suicides in 2006, the last year for which statistics were made available, an increase of 527 compared with 2005. Sharp increases have also been reported in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/23/7831

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. Thank you for the time you took to find the clarifying links.

[Bhaisahab]

21. That headline is misleading.

Perhaps even mischievous. It's not like 1500 farmers have committed suicide collectively. That would have explosive ramifications in the ongoing general elections. The media would have been all over it.

Having said that, it is a fact that farmers in India - especially in the west and south east - are killing themselves due to their inability to pay loans; which in itself is a consequence of crop failure. The government waived loans to farmers worth USD 15 billion this year. Yet that's not helping, because most farmers take loans from private money lenders, over whom the govt has no control.

[SmileyRose]

22. Is this in an area where Coca Cola bought up all the water rights?

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-03/2006-03-08-voa61.cfm?CFID=173533522&CFTOKEN=52664288&jsessionid=66308fed1bbc77b555e72e2b28245f755954

[bikebloke]

27. Australian Farmers Suiciding

The drought in Australia hit farmers there so bad - I think it was last year or the year before - that a farmer was committing suicide every four or five days.

[doctor jazz]

31. Poor guy.

:silly: