When Dying becomes easier than Living!!! Vidarbha Farmers!!!

678th BLOG POST -->>

              Numbers play a big part at least for me. Hence this 6-7-8th BLOG POST seems to be so special. :-) May be for you its just a number but for me, its Pipe of a Plumber. Ok sorry for the PJ. :-) This time, I am here not for any philosophical speech, book review, relationship lectures etc. I am here to talk about something of which no one talks about. I still don't know why. There is always a certain section of society that plays a big part in development of the whole state, nation or even world. But they never get the kind of attention, support and concern that they have the right of. Take an example first, then we will switch towards the topic. In a house that has all the luxury has a big family of 4 brothers, their 4 wives and number of children running here and there. In the morning everyone goes out for work. When they come back in evening, they find that their house is neat and clean as if they didn't sleep in the same bed, in the same room, in the same house last night. They pat themselves for working hard that they have been capable of hiring servants that keep on working 24*7*365. Never in their life do they think about these servants. They don't even find a quality time that they can utilize to teach some morale to their children about how to treat servants. A 5-years old child takes an 86-years old servant's name in the house while calling him for a glass of water. And this 86-years old servant is employed in the house since the owner's father's struggling days to build this empire. But he has no respect today. A driver is being called Driver rather than Ramu uncle. And similarly, all such people in various sections of the house that maintains the  house to make the owners progress without any tension of any other things are ignored, disrespected, dishonored and demoralized. 

              Similarly, we are in a Country which has most shades of colour. India is a country of multiple colors. You look in any direction and you'll find 100 different things happening in the corner. And we have 100 such corners in every corner of our country. Several people turn into successful Entrepreneurs, businessmen, employees, managers, politicians, revolutionists etc. After getting to a certain level of intellectualism, we just concentrate on what the world is talking about. Corruption. Ok let's speak two words on it. Terrorism. Ok let's tell how 26/11 is a shocking element of our own life. But why do we forget that section of society that helps us to concentrate only on our goals and targets else also have some serious problems that are meant to be focused, talked, treated, eliminated and depleted. India is known for its continuous efforts and progress in Agri-industry. But how many of us really care about what's up with our Farmers? Many of you would say after reading this that Blogger is trying to be over smart and pretend as if he is a NGO in himself. But, shouldn't we care about the section of society that provides us with all kinds of food, vegetables etc that are needed on daily basis? Just imagine if all the farmers would sit on strike as doctors do. We hear about the number of lives that leave us because of absence of doctors during strikes. Similarly, we will die dealing with the issues such as inflation, mehengai, lack of vegetables etc. 

              I am still unaware of the problem that farmers from other states are suffering but talking about Maharashtra, the scenario is very dithering and serious here. Something has to be done immediately or we will keep on reading tragic headlines daily. Actually, the intensity of the word "IMMEDIATELY" was as powerful in 2001 as it is today in accordance of this issue but this is so sad that nothing has been done for the farmers still. Let's get to the stats first. 

 The number of Farmers who committed suicide in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra:

In 2001, 52. 2002- 104, 2003- 148, 2004- 447, 2005- 445, 2006- 1448, 2007- 1246, 2008- 1268, 2009- 916, 2010- 748, 2011- 918. And to add to your shock, the 9th month of 2012 has just started and the figures have already crossed 530 mark. How depressing is this! A farmer who wakes up early in the morning, goes to his farm to check the status of growth of his plants and crops, then work through out the day in intense heat, in after noon eat nothing more than normal chapatis and a vegetable(where dal is a special dish that is made once in a week) and then sleeps late at night because of pressure and worry of how he'll survive in the growing prices of agri-related products in market and how he'll educate his children and marry them is not being cared in a country that is too dependent on agriculture. Reading this letter of a widow whose husband being a farmer in the same region committed suicide made me know how the current situation for our Indian farmers is. 

            She says that her husband was happy selling 8-10 quintals of cotton that he grew. But the seeds that were of 300 rs got mooted up to 1000 rs suddenly. The cost of fertilizers and pesticides also increased and the cultivation costs became higher than the returns. Thus, the bank loan remained the only option of survival. The loan that her husband took kept on escalating and it reached 70,000 rs. She even started working at Rs. 100 in some households. But one day, her husband went to the farm as he did daily and was found dead. He consumed the pesticides. He found dying easier than living. And who among us have guts to say after this that he was coward? Or all the farmers were who committed suicide? Or those are who are thinking of doing so in near future? I am sure NO ONE. 

            PM visited Vidharbha in 2006 and announced 3750 crore as a package for the farmers belonging to the region but it didn't help because of the well-known Corruption. Then, after 2 years, he offered 71,860 crore but still suicide didn't cease. In 2012, the farmers who sowed cotton in May and June suffered as the crop died due to lack of rain. They borrowed money to buy more seeds and the second crop got killed because of the unseasonal rain. And this has resulted to the profuse number of suicides that we have read above in 2012 itself. The widow who has lost her husband in the same event has ended the letter with the following suggestion to our Prime Minister(who I think not only speaks but also prohibits himself from listening such cries of pain),

            "Sir, can I plead with you to repackage our future? Make water conservation a mass movement. Do not earmark more money for irrigation projects, for despite the crores you might spend, irrigation will not benefit a majority of us. Please give us a decent minimum support price. Increase it from the current Rs. 3900 per quintal. Just before the election in 2009, the loan waivers were announced. If you are planning another one, do remember that most of us are bank defaulters. Lastly, we are willing to diversify but don’t have the means. Help us raise greenhouses. We can grow flowers and send them to the cities. Sir, if nothing else, they will make your houses look prettier.’’

On behalf of the dead and the living,

Yours till I can hold on,

Baby Bassi, resident of Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India."

            I have no more words to say and I don't think that you need any more words to understand the situation of our farmers. But, don't you think that before other issues, this issue needs to get mention in our Parliament that is getting adjourned every day hence showing how a democratic country is demeaning the value of the word. Let's pray for our Farmers and raise our voice for them through any medium. This section of society that helps middle-class and top-class society to survive needs special attention. 

  Thanks.

  ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU