12, January 2006 Indian Farmers
It is shameful that the current plight of Indian farmers have been largely ignored by the Indian government. Saddled by crippling debt, thousands of Indian farmers have been driven to mass suicides leaving in their wake grieving widows and children. A compendium of events has resulted in the current situation. The former green revolution prompted forests to be cleared, soil fertility compromised by overuse of chemical fertilizers, and plummeting water tables triggered by injudicious use of water. The government is largely to blame for aggressively promoting unsustainable farming systems which has precipitated the current crisis. Sadly, the failed strategies tried in Europe and the US and more recently in Andhra Pradesh, under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu, are now being promoted on the hapless Indian farmers.
Offering the farmers additional credit drives them to deeper debt. For example, 1,200 farmers in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra have committed suicide following the prime minister's Rs 3,750-crore relief package announced on July 1, 2006. The farm earnings over the years has declined markedly for poor farmers and is now comparable to that of a day laborer. Commodity prices fluctuate widely and one bad year can drive poor farmers to the clutches of usurious money-lenders from whom they can rarely escape. Average farm income ranges from a high of Rs 5,500 per month in Punjab and Kerala to a low of R1,630 in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa. What is sorely needed is a government farm subsidy to ensure a minimum subsistence allowance for its beleaguered farmers.
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