[Reader-list] Shadow of Vidharbha

[A. Mani]

Source:  People's Democracy, May 06th
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Why this Shadow of

Vidharbha over West Bengal?





How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?



THE lyrics of Bob Dylan reverberate in rural West Bengal these days,
may be in a different refrain. In the last seven months of ‘changed’
regime, 51 farmers have committed suicide in the state. Dhana Tudu, an
agricultural worker in Bhatar, Burdwan was the first. Khandu Ghosh, a
poor peasant of Sadar1 block of the same district was the 50th. Ghosh
hanged himself on April 27. He cultivated Aman rice in 10 bighas of
land few months earlier. The produce did not fetch remunerative price
as was the case with overwhelming majority of farmers in the state.
Then he tried Boro cultivation but the paddy was destroyed by insects.
In fact, there is a large scale insect attack in Burdwan and some
other districts. Khandu Ghosh, after realising that his cultivation
has been destroyed, committed suicide. Even before the news of this
50th death was commented upon, Mana Malik, a female sharecropper
followed suit, again in Burdwan, this time in Jamalpur block. The
story of young Mana, wife of a worker, is almost same as her paddy was
also destroyed. Almost all of them were reeling under debt.



The brunt of spate of suicides has been felt by Burdwan, the leading
paddy producer in the state. Till now, 35 farmers have taken their
lives in this district alone. Three in Maldaha, two each in Bankura,
Murshidabad, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, one each in Jalpaiguri, West
Midnapur, Howrah, Birbhum and south 24 Parganas.



The shadow of Vidharbha over West Bengal has raised serious questions.
More than one lakh farmers’ suicides have taken place in the country
in the last one decade. But West Bengal, except for sparse incidents,
remained free from this trend. There was virtually no peasant suicides
in the state related with crisis in agriculture during the tenure of
the Left Front government. Even the virulent anti-Left media did not
report any such incidents. Why this stream of suicides now? Madan
Ghosh, state president of AIKS, identified neo-liberal policies as the
central reason. ‘More than four  farmers’ suicides per month have
taken place under the new government in the state. The central
policies and the failure of the state government to protect the
peasants are two principal factors behind such a tragedy’, said Ghosh.
Both the governments are pursuing neo-liberal policies, he added.



The cost of production has sky rocketed in the recent period. The
price of fertilizer has increased manifold. So are prices of other
inputs like insecticides, seeds etc. The crisis in agriculture is an
all India phenomenon. But during the Left Front period, the state
government extended all possible protective measures to defend the
peasants. That infrastructure has virtually collapsed under the new
regime.



The minimum support price is usually much lower than the production
cost. For example, while the per quintal production cost of jute was
in the range of Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 in last season, MSP was declared at
Rs 1175 only. Likewise, while MSP for the next season has been fixed
at Rs 2200, the cost of production has meanwhile increased to Rs 3500
per quintal. Madan Ghosh alleged that the farmers have not received
even the MSP. It was in the case of paddy too. No serious effort was
made to procure paddy from the peasants. Farmers were forced to sell
at distress prices. Same thing happened in the case of potatoes and
onions.



This wide gap between production cost and sale price accentuated the
problem of debt in rural Bengal. Farmers are taking recourse to
private lending and micro finance loans with high interest rates.



Even this will not explain in full the disastrous situation prevailing
in West Bengal today. Panchayats have been rendered inoperative
systematically. The decentralisation of power has been reversed. This
resulted in collapse of rural development programme and employment
generation schemes, including MNREGA. Agricultural workers and poor
peasants, partially dependent on such jobs, have lost their source of
income. In a reign of terror, the peasants in most parts of the state
are still unable to pressurise the government machinery to redress.

Bob Dylan’s lyrics have become relevant in the backdrop of continuous
denial of the tragedy by the chief minister herself and her
administration. In fact, the chief minister has admitted of only ‘one’
such incident without identifying which one. There is growing
discontent in rural Bengal over neglect of peasantry while the state
administration is busy in superficial beautification of Kolkata.



Left peasant organisations, along with other mass organisations have
already initiated struggles against anti-peasant, anti-people policies
of the government. Village level and block level rallies and jathas
have taken place. Madan Ghosh said, ‘We are strongly against suicides.
Our call is ‘Unite to struggle, not suicides.’


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Best

A. Mani








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