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Manisha
- B.A.(H) English (2010-13)
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IS IT A SIN TO BE A FARMER IN quotMODERN INDIAquot India is an Agrarian country with around 60 of its people directly or indirectly depended upon Agriculture. Agriculture in India is often attributed as gambling with Monsoon because of its almost exclusive dependency on Monsoons. The failure of these monsoons leading to series of droughts, lack of better prices, exploitation by Middlemen have been leading to series of suicides committed by farmers across India. Farmers in India became the centre of considerable concern in the 1990s when the journalist P Sainath highlighted the large number of suicides among them. Official reports initially denied the farmer suicides but as more and more information came to light the government began to accept that farmers in India were under considerable stress. More than 17,500 farmers a year killed themselves between 2002 and 2006, according to experts who have analyzed government statistics. National Crime Records Bureau NCRB stated that there were at least 16,196 farmers39 suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132. According to another study by the Bureau, while the number of farm suicides increased since 2001, the number of farmers has fallen, as thousands abandoning agriculture in distress.According to government data, over 5,000 farmers committed suicide in 2005-2009 in Maharashtra, while 1,313 cases reported by Andhra Pradesh between 2005 and 2007. In Karnataka the number stood at 1,003, since 2005-06 till August 2009. In the last four years, cases in Kerala were about 905, Gujarat 387, Punjab 75 and Tamil Nadu 26. In April 2009, the state of Chattisgarh reported 1,500 farmers committed suicide due to debt and crop failure. At least 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years, according to data of the National Crime Records Bureau NCRB. Little wonder that despite government efforts at pumping in more money into the suicide belt the suicide epidemic among farmers remained unabated through 2006-07. The problems of the farmers were quite comprehensive. There was little credit available. What was available was very costly. There was no advice on how best to conduct agriculture operations. Income through farming was not enough to meet even the minimum needs of a farming family. Support systems like free health facilities from the government were virtually non-existent. Traditionally support systems in the villages of India had been provided by the government. However, due to a variety of reasons the government had either withdrawn itself from its supportive role or plain simple misguidance had allowed facilities in the villages to wither away. India Budget 2011 helped Suicide A sericulturist and his wife committed suicide at their village in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district on 4-Mar-2011 night, triggering speculation that the tragic turn of events was a fallout of the collapse in the cocoon price in the market. While Swami Gowda 35 was found hanging at the farm, his wife Indramma 28 of Valageredoddi hanged herself at their residence. Swami Gowda had invested a lot of money and had pledged his wife39s jewellery to fund farming activity. It was stated that Swami Gowda was anticipating Rs. 350 a kg of cocoon which, however, collapsed and the market price was pegged around Rs.120 a kg. The Indian Union Government39s move to reduce the duty on import of raw silk from 30 per cent to 5 per cent, as announced in 2011-12 Budget has come as a rude shock for the State39s sericulture farmers who are already agitated over the steep fall in cocoon prices. People have the perception of quotsubsidiesquot being given to farmers, and this is one of the reasons why the urban folks think that farmers need to improve their act. But the vast majority of this subsidy is given not to the farmers themselves but to fertilizer producers. The quotfarmersquot who get this subsidy are called Birla, Tata and Ambani Also, this is given in such a way that the more you produce the lower the rate of subsidy, and the smaller amounts you produce, the more higher the rate of subsidy. In theory, this should support the quotsmall farmersquot, but in fact the large producers overproduce and understate their output, just so they can avail of the higher rate of subsidy.
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