Another black Diwali for Vidarbha farmers, official toll crosses 1000 mark in ’07

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal: On Diwali day, the festival of lights of Hindus, a debt-trapped cotton growing tribal farmer Maroti Ramji Gedam consumed pesticide in remote village Tumup under Parwa police station of Yavatmal district to seek freedom from his unending woes and pains following the unabated agrarian crisis in west Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state .

According to Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), president Kishor Tiwari, who is keeping a tab on the suicides of farmers and spearheading the movement for the redressal of woes of farmers affected by the agrarian crisis, Gedam’s dead body is awaiting post-mortem at the government hospital Arni.

Tiwari in a press release today said that along with Gedam five more distressed farmers committed suicide in last 48 hours in the ongoing Vidarbha agrarian crisis when the rest of India was celebrating “Diwali”.

He said that coincidentally the official figure of west Vidarbha farm suicides has crossed 1000 mark and this is second year in succession when the official farm suicides has crossed the 1000 mark. Last year 1662 farmers’ suicides were reported by the Maharashtra Government.

The six recent victims of Vidarbha agrarian crisis include:Eknath Namdeo Kadu in Amaravati district, Ashok Mahadev Dewai in Chnadrapur distrct, Babulal Jayram Rathode, Anand Pandurang Kedar, Vasant Bhikaji Umare & Maroti Ramji Gedam (all four from Yavatmal district).

With this six more casualties the figure of farm suicides of the current year 2007 in six districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state has crossed 1000 mark i.e. 1011. The official Vidarbha farm suicides table is as follows:

Meanwhile, VJAS has urged all the national and international communities and civil societies to come forward to help million of dying Vidarbha farmers. As per government’s own survey around two million farming community members are in deep distress and need urgent healing touch, Tiwari added.

However, after Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has okayed the move for complete loan waiver as part of distress relieving measure of million of dying Vidarbha cotton growing farmers and the Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has also made it clear that they are no objection to Central Government move, in reality nothing is happening. The urgent life saving aid is also not reaching the dying Vidarbha farmers when daily three to four farm suicides are being reported since June 2005.

VJAS has been demanding along with loan waiver and restoration of raw cotton price, food security, health care and rural employment package but Prime Minister’s Rs. 3750 crore relief package is still missing the same.

Tiwari charged that the government has been promoting non-chemical farming on paper but practically they are official agents of United States’ seed multi-national company Monsanto and promoting Bt. cotton through it’s seed cooperation ‘MAHABEEZ’.

Tiwari, reacting to the ongoing delay in state government decision to give relief to more than three million dying farmers of Vidarbha, said: “if the government is serious to save Vidarbha dying farmers then it should act fast”. ([email protected])