cry the beloved country 4

[kunjuppu]

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Farmer suicides on the rise in Andhra: 157 deaths in two months

 

[vsubbu48]

A lot of things are said and done in the name of farmers by the politicians in government only with a view to exploit them. A farmer is affected if there is a bumper crop or crop failure. For him the situation seems to be a lose-lose one.

Unfortunately the farmers vote on the basis of caste or some sops announced during the election time. The politicos therefore do not bother about them. Consider this. Despite so many farmer suicides in Vidharbha (Maharashtra) the Congress/NCP combine continues to win elections. Therefore they care too hoots for them.

 

[suraju06]

Kunjuppu,

My father was a farmer and teacher in a small village in Tamilnadu. I have lived in the village until I finished my SSLC and so I know the problems of a farmer well. It is first hand info. Every time a crop failure stared at his face, my father used to borrow money for the next crop, invest it and then pray and wait. If he had surpluses accumulated and so the loss is small he used to manage with his borrowings from the co-operative society and pay it back. If the rain-god strikes when his surplus was low, he used to borrow from the loan shark and repay the loan with interest in two or three crop cycles. If there was continuous crop failure for three seasons he used to sell a part of his land and pay the dues. This is the way the dynamics of the crop failures play out in rural economy in India. Understanding this, the Government has taken some measures to help the farmers these days (not in the days of my father). There are subsidies for inputs to reduce the exposure level and crop insurance schemes( here too the premium is subsidised) to reduce the impact of crop failures. Governments are only too happy to pressurize banks to write of agricultural loans.We do not understand why the AP farmers did not take advantage of these. Until that is known we can not comment meaningfully on these suicides.

Cheers.

 

[sarang]

A few days ago, in the morning agriculture programme (6 to 6:30 am) in podigai, a table of suicides in the farming sector, one column devoted to suicide of farmers. Most of the states including tamilnadu have no farmer suicides, but some like maharashtra and andhrapradesh have very high clock very high for former suicides. One of the reasons given is the subsidy does not reach the farmer and he is forced to take loan from sharks, with the connivance of the local politicians. Subsidy is pocketed by the politician and the loan shark, and the former is pressurised/ threatened to return the loan.
Recently we had settled land related issues with our tenants (kuthagai) of four or five generations. Even though they have not paid the dues for over 50 years, we could settle the issues amicably, we shared the market price of the land equally. The ex-tenants have done well in life, the children have professional qualifications and living abroad. They have also said goodbye to farming.

 

[prasad1]

Kunjuppu,

My father was a farmer and teacher in a small village in Tamilnadu. I have lived in the village until I finished my SSLC and so I know the problems of a farmer well. It is first hand info. Every time a crop failure stared at his face, my father used to borrow money for the next crop, invest it and then pray and wait. If he had surpluses accumulated and so the loss is small he used to manage with his borrowings from the co-operative society and pay it back. If the rain-god strikes when his surplus was low, he used to borrow from the loan shark and repay the loan with interest in two or three crop cycles. If there was continuous crop failure for three seasons he used to sell a part of his land and pay the dues. This is the way the dynamics of the crop failures play out in rural economy in India. Understanding this, the Government has taken some measures to help the farmers these days (not in the days of my father). There are subsidies for inputs to reduce the exposure level and crop insurance schemes( here too the premium is subsidised) to reduce the impact of crop failures. Governments are only too happy to pressurize banks to write of agricultural loans.We do not understand why the AP farmers did not take advantage of these. Until that is known we can not comment meaningfully on these suicides.

Cheers.

Wonderful and informative article.
I know people want to exploit the suicide for political gain.
Farmers are businessman without the proper business knowledge, with limited resources, and corrupt government officials. People judge Indian situation from foreign knowledge and sensationalize the sad situation.

 

[ozone]

Infosys: Brahminical governance

Wonderful and informative article.
People judge Indian situation from foreign knowledge and sensationalize the sad situation.

I agree. I dont understand what pleasure some folks get hunting and doling out unpleasant articles.
why dont article such as this:
Brahminical Governance
fall in their net?

 

[sangom]

I agree. I dont understand what pleasure some folks get hunting and doling out unpleasant articles.
why dont article such as this:
Brahminical Governance
fall in their net?

Shri ozone,

What the article on infosys tells is singing a paean, probably as a thanksgiving for some undeserved promotions to some people, or even to ward off retrenchment for some. I have heard many unsatisfactory facts about infosys; but it has now become yet another of India's holy cows and so no negative comments will ever be heard until that holy cow status vanishes, which is unavoidable imho.


Farmers' suicides in India is a "life and death" question for India itself. Some of these may be caused by unlimited ambition of the farmer's household to 'keep up with the joneses', borrowing from the loan sharks, threats to life or even of wife/daughter being raped and sold to redlight areas and so on. Such things do happen, in India, today.

What suraju writes is factual. His father did farming when the loan sharks were not as innovative, as commanding and politically powerful as they are, today. The rise of naxalism is also due to similar reasons, in many cases/areas. But the Indian government under sonia and MMS, is doing all that they can to ensure the death of agriculture in India so that US/western hegemony over our country will become an undisputed fact. Their reward - foreign citizenship and aristocratic living.

The country will have no more tears left then, even to cry!

 

[suraju06]

Sangom's post #7:

What the article on infosys tells is singing a paean, probably as a thanksgiving for some undeserved promotions to some people, or even to ward off retrenchment for some. I have heard many unsatisfactory facts about infosys; but it has now become yet another of India's holy cows and so no negative comments will ever be heard until that holy cow status vanishes, which is unavoidable imho.

Every Company has its dark side. So also Infosys. But its growth, its consistent performance, the value addition to its shareholders wealth as well as to its employees pay packets are all facts which can not be denied. Doomsday forecasters/soothsayers will be playing their games non-stop. Companies grow despite that. Business and cenema are the only two areas in India today where merit rules the roost. Politicians cannot do anything about it for two reasons: they need business houses for getting finances for their elections. They need cenema for the same reason and also because in cenema field the dynamics are different. Politicians can not match the popularity of our filmy heros and heroines. If it comes to a choice between a politician and a filmy personality, people will choose the later(ask our friend MK-he knows it best) and the former will end up in the dungheap of time. So we have no 'reservations' here in these two areas and we do well despite Lalu, Mulayam and Mandal.

Farmers' suicides in India is a "life and death" question for India itself. Some of these may be caused by unlimited ambition of the farmer's household to 'keep up with the joneses', borrowing from the loan sharks, threats to life or even of wife/daughter being raped and sold to redlight areas and so on. Such things do happen, in India, today.
What suraju writes is factual. His father did farming when the loan sharks were not as innovative, as commanding and politically powerful as they are, today. The rise of naxalism is also due to similar reasons, in many cases/areas. But the Indian government under sonia and MMS, is doing all that they can to ensure the death of agriculture in India so that US/western hegemony over our country will become an undisputed fact. Their reward - foreign citizenship and aristocratic living

.

I repeat, in the absence of full info on the background of the suicides we may not be able to comment meaningfully.

 

[prasad1]

I am really sad at the mentality of people who on one hand want democracy and on the other hand will not accept individual responsibility. They want central government to babysit every desperate situation, and ask for dole out from Mr. MMS or Ms. Sonia.
The central government has so many good intention-ed programs, but is not carried out by the state officials. We have to admit that people like us who are entrusted with execution of the program are corrupt, And farmers like us are in business we should not be in are doing a poor job.

Farming is a dicey business to begin with, and you are dependent on the nature, and the small scale, you do not have any margin of error. Even in USA, farming is a risky business but generally the size of the operation carries the farmer through leaner times.