[Reader-list] The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Blog

[Shivam Vij]

Dear all,

The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has put up a blog -
http://andolan.blogspot.com - as part of its campaign for statehood
for Vidarbha as also the continuing farmers' suicides.

Amongst other things there is a list of names of 655 farmers who have
committed suicide since June 2005:
http://andolan.blogspot.com/2006/07/vidharbha-jan-andolan-samiti-regi.html

A group of farmers is planning a march to Delhi on 15 August.

Imagine such a large number of people committing suicide in any other
profession - say, in the BPO industry* - and imagine our response. It
would be frontpage news in all national papers. It would occupy far
more air time than on TV than what the continuing agricultural crisis
in Vidarbha and Telangana is currently getting. There would be
dedicated "campaigns" and people across the country would be sending
money to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. Ordinary people would come
out to their rescue, companies would announce relocation packages.

Between 1993 and 2003, a hundred thousand farmers in India have killed
themselves, largely due to debt. Whether it is state control and lack
of competition or the lessening of state support to agriculture that
has caused the crisis is open for the ideological jury. What cannot be
disputed is that it is a national shame and deserves far more
attention from all of us.

There is a lot to talk about what's happening in Vidarbha, and a lot
is controversial. Bt Cotton, cotton subsidies in the west, the
reduction of minimum support price by the government, the government's
suicide compensation as an incentive to commit suicide, the state
control over agriculture. Besides, imported cotton in India is cheaper
than the cotton being produced in India. The government has not been
raising the tariffs on imported cotton because India's textile
industry would then suffer in its competitiveness in the global
market. So either farmers suffer or the textile industry workers.

Imagine a hundred thousand people in the textile industry committing
suicide in a span of ten years*. Imagine.

Whatever the reasons and debates be, the suicides must stop, and they
must stop now. I urge those of you in the media to give the subject a
lot more attention, and bloggers and writers to write about it.

Also see http://www.theotherindia.org/index.php?tag=vidarbha

Best,
Shivam




*I am not at all being insensitive here. I do wish the textile and BPO
industries all the best, and long fruitful lives for all their
employees.