India: 1,500 Farmers Commit Suicide

The Belfast Telegraph:

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.

Read the whole story: The Belfast Telegraph

Comments

[Jezreel]

02:34 AM on 04/17/2009

In reading the original story it was unclear whether all of the farmers committed suicide at once. It is a very sad story and reminiscent of the plight of blacks during America's Reconstruction Era. Freed blacks who chose to remain in the south and farm their land were enticed to accept loans from white creditors in order to pay for seeds and food. They never harvested large enough crops to pay off the debt. They were called sharecroppers. Most lost their land and nearly all remained poverty stricken well into the 20th century.

[AngieMom57]

12:22 AM on 04/17/2009

These deaths are on Monsanto's hands!

Shame on these huge unfeeling corporations and those that own stock in these unsustainable monsters.

"The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade."

http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food

[longtimegone]

11:39 PM on 04/16/2009

Under the dreaded shariah law, usury is illegal. These usurious practices are being used to keep billions in something akin to slavery, or at least indentured servitude world-wide. Readers abhor the abuse and bastardization of shariah law, but I think that the "power structure" fears it primarily because, if applied, it would remove the means by which they victimize a huge percentage of the world's people.

[vishix]

01:46 AM on 04/17/2009

Under shariah law these farmers would be beheaded because they are hindus or sikhs. I'm sure you've heard of the tax demanded by the taliban against the sikhs in pakistan?

Under shariah these farmers would be killed or converted or used as slave labour. If not killed they would be forced to pay a tax to their muslim masters. They would be second-class citizens with no rights.

[longtimegone]

01:40 PM on 04/17/2009

I wasn't proposing shariah law for India; I was simply pointing out that there is almost no one opposing the imposition of usury on even the world's poorest. People point fingers of blame in all directions, but very few question the legality of usury; who else will speak out about it, and on what basis will they oppose it? Or will you?

[duchessofdork]

10:34 PM on 04/16/2009

How powerful is despair.

[TheBlackCat]

10:09 PM on 04/16/2009

It must be a horrible feeling knowing that you have no way out of a situation. These poor people.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:06 PM on 04/16/2009

Thanks HuffPo for making this story front and center.

***

Whether the 1,500 figure is this year or cumulative (the article cites 206 last year alone) -- this is a terrible and AVOIDABLE tragedy.

Three main factors, three vectors for a fix.

1) Money-Lenders.

The state must regulate the money lenders, or replace them.

2) Water levels.

40' vs 250' refers to the depth below ground level of the "water table" in engineering parlance. These farmers need -- one per farm and one time only -- some modern mechanical help to drill adequately deep "bore" wells.

3) First world development practices in the third world.

Thank you World Bank (or equivalent mindset). Damn the dams. Damming the water, in part to generate electricity, and precluding occasional flooding (that farmers may be used to -- and dependent on -- but modern development wants to stem) is part of the problem. It ain't just rainfall variation.

~ Civil Engineer

[llewis]

09:06 PM on 04/16/2009

Monsanto: Farmer Suicides in India

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeboa4TR5Qo

[RIXX]

07:46 PM on 04/16/2009

As most of kumars are busy invading Pakistan.....we must come forward to feed this 80% slum-population.

[RIXX]

07:43 PM on 04/16/2009

The distribution of wealth in India is worst in the world. 80% of the total population...yes 80%......lives like slumd*gs. All of this Economic prosperity hoopla and Bollywood glamor is enjoyed by only 20% elite. The rest 80% is slumnation.

[HumeSkeptic]

07:24 PM on 04/16/2009

"I cried for a pair of shoes till I saw a man without legs" (paraphrase)

Who said that? Does anyone remember?

But, just think, so many of us complain everyday for not being able to afford a new car, or a bigger house.
.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

12:28 PM on 04/17/2009

"Old Persian Proverb."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070923063531AAgyCbD

...which sends you to (scroll down 3/4's):
http://www.heartlandlibraries.org/news&clues/archive/S2002/columns.html

Great perspective.

Peace.

[HumeSkeptic]

07:13 PM on 04/16/2009

We have seen it happen here under the so called "free market capitalism" and Reaganomics that wealth accumulation occured only among the top 2%, while (real) wages of the Middle Class and the poor stagnated or declined. Introduction of a similar system in India (in years following the fall of the Soviet Union, and improving of Indo-American relations) has had a similar effect. There are now super-rich people in India, but the Middle Class and the poor are worse of. Their poor, who were already at hunger level, had no place lower to go. They can't live.

There is nothing good or bad about capitalism and socialism, but each country has to find its own balance between the two to best serve its population. It seems that India has yet to find that balance.

A problem is that as capitalism takes hold, the rich increasingly control the country (and its politicians), and soon, poor have no representation left. That is beginning to happen in India, where the government seems more intersted in attracting Microisoft to Bangalore, than worrying about these poor farmers.
.

[HumeSkeptic]

06:56 PM on 04/16/2009

"Shankara, like millions of other Indian farmers, had been promised previously unheard of harvests and income if he switched from farming with traditional seeds to planting GM seeds instead."

Beguiled by the promise of future riches, he borrowed money in order to buy the GM seeds. But when the harvests failed, he was left with spiraling debts -- and no income.

So Shankara became one of an estimated 125,000 farmers to take their own life as a result of the ruthless drive to use India as a testing ground for genetically modified crops."

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/137059/1,500_indian_farmers_commit_mass_suicide:_why_we_are_complicit_in_these_deaths/

-------------------

Alternet.org (see above) has an interesting article, putting some blame for this continuing tragedy on Monsanto.

At this point, I don't really know the level of truth behind the charges, and to what extent Monsanto might be responsible.

Surprisingly, I don't find much reported on it in Indian press which, generally speaking, is very open and informative.

[llewis]

09:08 PM on 04/16/2009

to find out more about why this is tied to monsanto, see these videos:

Monsanto: Farmer Suicides in India
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=67904604787&h=XAq2V&u=-x7z_&ref=nf

Monsanto: Seed of Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5jU3S9BinI

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:12 PM on 04/16/2009

"A few weeks ago, I was in Punjab.

2,800 widows of farmer suicides who have lost their land, are having to bring up children as landless workers on others' land.

And yet, the system does not respond to it, because there's only one response: get Monsanto out of the seed sector--they are part of this genocide -- and ensure WTO rules are not bringing down the prices of agricultural produce in the United States, in Canada, in India, and allow trade to be honest.

I don't think we need to talk about free trade and fair trade. We need to talk about honest trade. Today's trade system, especially in agriculture, is dishonest, and dishonesty has become a war against farmers. It's become a genocide."
-- (From the above Alternet article)

[Rondo]

06:46 PM on 04/16/2009

Family farmers everywhere are the most underappreciated heroes of our peculiar species.

The bounty provided by their hard work fed our ancestors feeds us and will continue to feed our descendents so long as everyone is free to draw a breath.

I am grateful to Huffpost for bringing this tragedy to my attention.

MSM prefers the spectacle.

[EnterTheNow]

06:34 PM on 04/16/2009

Everyone should watch the documentary FLOW. It exposes the corporations and governments that are trying to own water around the world. Water will be more valuable than gold or oil in the near future. Educate yourself!

[CheshireCat2]

06:48 PM on 04/16/2009

Buy land near the Great Lakes.

[coultersnemesis]

06:33 PM on 04/16/2009

and i just finished listening to talking heads on the teevee say "invest in bottled water!!!"

Sick.