Over 1500 Indian farmers commit mass suicide

[Sama'el]

1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/1500-farmers-commit-mass-suicide-in-india-1669018.html)
Wednesday, 15 April 2009

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.

"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine]

"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."

Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."

"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."

Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."

Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

"Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.

All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies," he said.

An ecological disaster and a human tragedy all rolled into one. :(

[Zaru]

I'm strangely looking forward to suicide rate statistics for 2008/2009, I wanna know just HOW desperate people got from this whole crisis.

[dreams lie]

How strange; I was reading an article about how China's population is consuming so much imported soy that it is more or less a hidden water import minutes before you posted this.

[narutosimpson]

dammm, good thing they have 1.6 billion

[Cirus]

Suicide is a perminent solution to a temporary problem. They ran from a problem that they could fix if they did different things. Only very rarely are there no options on anything. Dispite what they had for problems they still had plenty of options to do things.

[narutosimpson]

IMO this is more of a statement suicide than a , practical, if u will, suicide.

[Dionysus]

Every little bit helps. Thanks, guys.

[makeoutparadise]

Every little bit helps. Thanks, guys.

population control ftw? :zaru

[Ben Grimm]

My condolences, I have some family in Bangladesh. Debt can be a huge problem in third world countries.

[Dracule Mihawk]

1500 total right?

[Mullet_Power]

In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.

His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.

What a fucking coward.

[Disturbia]

I think this is an important aspect people keep neglecting. India is generally in news for call centres, offshoring, cheap IT professionals but a significant portion of Indians are poor farmers and there is not much of a social safety net in place to rescue them or their families in difficult times like droughts.

[Shinobi Mugen]

Only in India :zaru

[Camille]

Funny thing about this...this piece of news surely would make it into the headlines. So far, none of the most prominent news agencies have reported on this :huh

[Darklyre]

Funny thing about this...this piece of news surely would make it into the headlines. So far, none of the most prominent news agencies have reported on this :huh

Probably because no one gives a shit about 1500 Indians offing themselves.

[Utopia Realm]

Probably because no one gives a shit about 1500 Indians offing themselves.

Sad but very true.

[Jim]

lots of suicide lately...:oh

[Nahima]

With how everything is going in the world. It doesn't surprise me.

[Wolfarus]

Well, strife over the ever-important resource of water is going to be a continuing thing for the foreseable future.

Cant say im shocked or saddened by it. A very slight amount less of humans clogging up the planet, as far as in concerned. Population needs to be trimmed anyways :zaru

Thats the good thing about being moderately anti-social. The lives of 99.5% of the other people on the planet dont mean jackshit to ya :pimp

[DeterminedIdiot]

that really sucks

[Sama'el]

Suicide is a perminent solution to a temporary problem. They ran from a problem that they could fix if they did different things. Only very rarely are there no options on anything. Dispite what they had for problems they still had plenty of options to do things.

Well it was either starve to death because the bank owns your soul, or off yourself. This was not a temporary problem.

[Altron]

Probably because no one gives a shit about 1500 Indians offing themselves.

sad but true :zaru though it must suck for countries even lower than India.

[Raiden]

Suicide is a perminent solution to a temporary problem. They ran from a problem that they could fix if they did different things. Only very rarely are there no options on anything. Dispite what they had for problems they still had plenty of options to do things.

Like what? Life in a third world country/ establishment that isn't that strong is nothing like as it is in America or anywhere else; you don't HAVE options. You either do something, life a remotely good life if you haven't per say got hold of a good job after school years. If you can't find a job, you have to brace yourself for starvation and the sad fact that no one really cares.

[T7 Bateman]

It's sad that they felt this was the only thing they could do.

[muishot]

That is the failure of the government. I don't know why Indian People haven't boycott the government already because the government fail its people more often than not.

[Sama'el]

That is the failure of the government. I don't know why Indian People haven't boycott the government already because the government fail its people more often than not.

There have been mass protests over this. Part of the problem, and I'm upset that the article didn't touch on it, is that multi-nationals like Monsanto have been working with the Indian government to promote their genetically modified crops. They sucker farmers into paying for their seed with the promise of higher yields, but neglect to tell them that the plants will be infertile after a single generation.

Thus, the farmers cannot use some of the seed from this year's crop to plant next years, because they're all infertile. They have to buy more seed from the company to stay in business. This puts them in a permanent cycle of debt that they can't repay, and the slightest drought will put them in real trouble.

With the types of crop failures these farmers were seeing, they were pretty much completely boned.

[Quincy James]

Sucks. And it's only going to get worse as water levels continue to go down.

[Sky is Over]

That is the failure of the government. I don't know why Indian People haven't boycott the government already because the government fail its people more often than not.

Well, from what I know, the Indian goverment's congress is very very slow, especially when it comes to passing bills around to be eventually enacted.

[Aldrick]

Mmm statistics.

[ScreenXSurfer]

dammm, good thing they have 1.6 billion

That number goes up by a tenth every time I see it.

[horsdhaleine]

Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."

Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

Ha! Indian money lenders! We also have them here in the Philippines. You can see them on motorcycles going from barrio to barrio collecting money from the poor. We call it the 5/6 system because when you borrow 5, you will have to pay 6 meaning the interest rate is 20%. The poor can't borrow from the banks (where the interest rates are much lower) since a lot of them can't even open a bank account. My teacher once told us that once you borrowed money from those loan sharks, there would be no end to it - esp if you have a family to feed and educate.

I feel sorry for them. Even if you try to stop this illegal money lending system, it will always continue underground because people will continue needing money. What's even sadder is that in-your-face corruption still continues despite this blatant problem. :(

And...

There have been mass protests over this. Part of the problem, and I'm upset that the article didn't touch on it, is that multi-nationals like Monsanto have been working with the Indian government to promote their genetically modified crops. They sucker farmers into paying for their seed with the promise of higher yields, but neglect to tell them that the plants will be infertile after a single generation.

Thus, the farmers cannot use some of the seed from this year's crop to plant next years, because they're all infertile. They have to buy more seed from the company to stay in business. This puts them in a permanent cycle of debt that they can't repay, and the slightest drought will put them in real trouble.

With the types of crop failures these farmers were seeing, they were pretty much completely boned.

Coupled with farming failure... It's not surprising if the farmers feel compelled to take their life. :(

[GrimaH]

There have been mass protests over this. Part of the problem, and I'm upset that the article didn't touch on it, is that multi-nationals like Monsanto have been working with the Indian government to promote their genetically modified crops. They sucker farmers into paying for their seed with the promise of higher yields, but neglect to tell them that the plants will be infertile after a single generation.

Thus, the farmers cannot use some of the seed from this year's crop to plant next years, because they're all infertile. They have to buy more seed from the company to stay in business. This puts them in a permanent cycle of debt that they can't repay, and the slightest drought will put them in real trouble.

With the types of crop failures these farmers were seeing, they were pretty much completely boned.

Pretty much this.
It's a major topic for Geography 'O's here. Dunno if it is over at India, but it'd be retarded not to teach it.

[Hand Banana]

1500 dead bodies? Thats sum good fertilizer thurr.

[horsdhaleine]

Ha! Indian money lenders! We also have them here in the Philippines. You can see them on motorcycles going from barrio to barrio collecting money from the poor. We call it the 5/6 system because when you borrow 5, you will have to pay 6 meaning the interest rate is 20%.

That 20% is just the monthly interest rate btw. The actual interest rate per annum of the Indian money lending system reaches up to 791.61%.

I have a chart about this Indian money lending system but it's in another city. (I resist from making computations myself since it's been almost a decade since I seriously studied Math) I'll copy it here when I have the chance.

[The Pink Ninja]

Silly buggers :(

Indians are pretty hardcore though ¬___¬

[abcd]

The main difference between india and other countries is the Industrial revolution -- There was no industrial revolution in india --- It jumped stright from agriculture to service oriented industry --- This can be good or bad ( only time will tell ) ... So most farmers tend to give their kids good education and make them move into service industry ....... This is happening more in southern india (which is developing faster than asian tigers) , The northern india is still pretty much in agricultural era ( except for the capital) ......

[Hustler]

india is gona top japan in suicide rate soon :zaru

[mashie]

sorry guys, the monks totally beat you with the whole self-immolation thing.

[dummy plug]

oh my god :uwah

[Ezio Auditore Da Firenze]

Pff... India needs the British. Everything just fell apart after they left ;D

Cant say im shocked or saddened by it. A very slight amount less of humans clogging up the planet, as far as in concerned. Population needs to be trimmed anyways :zaru

Bring back the Nazis! They know how to deal with everything!

[iander]

I mean the suicide rate of farmers in general is pretty high. There are many farmer suicides in other countries including the US.

[Silvermyst]

Farmers have always had it rough, even in the best of times. This is a shame, as economic trends rarely ever benefit them; it usually takes government action to provide any aid.

[Dracule Mihawk]

That is the failure of the government. I don't know why Indian People haven't boycott the government already because the government fail its people more often than not.

Wow you're ignorant and stupid.

Governments can't magically solve problems and create money out of nothing. Compare India to any of its neighbors and see where we are today. Despite, America supporting Pakistan and giving them ridiculous aid look where Pakistan is.

It's easy just to blame the government.

[adee]

Probably because no one gives a shit about 1500 Indians offing themselves.
The elections are soon and Congress is known to do such things. None of the newspapers here reported a thing...

[Aina]

^ Seriously? That's terribly fucked up. :-(

Very sad thing to hear about.

[Sama'el]

The elections are soon and Congress is known to do such things. None of the newspapers here reported a thing...

The Indian National Congress sure has fallen a long way since the days of Mahatma Gandhi

[Dracule Mihawk]

1500 farmers killed themselves over a period of 3 years... that's why it isn't reported that much.

Gandhi never really ran the Congress.

[Sesshomaru]

This is terrible. The Indian government should have foreseen this and taken actions to stop it.

[Al-Yasa]

This is terrible. The Indian government should have foreseen this and taken actions to stop it.

i dont think they could have

[Ennoea]

This is terrible. The Indian government should have foreseen this and taken actions to stop it.

What? Thats just dumb? Theres no need for forsight since this happens every year.

You people really live in a bubble, do you even know how bad debt problems are in places like Pakistan/India? Agriculture has no profit in the west so think about how bad it is in third world countries where farmers are forced to sell at extortionate prices and barely make a living forget about profit.

1500 farmers killed themselves over a period of 3 years... that's why it isn't reported that much.

Blonde girl with middle class parents>Farmers

[Mael]

This is terrible. The Indian government should have foreseen this and taken actions to stop it.

Not to be an ass...but they can't mind probe nor could they completely affect how nature fucked these farmers over.

Yes they could've given compensation but you would see the corruption a mile away.

[Sama'el]

Not to be an ass...but they can't mind probe nor could they completely affect how nature fucked these farmers over.

Yes they could've given compensation but you would see the corruption a mile away.

That would be true if they weren't complicit in the policies that bring about this disaster. Sure, the droughts are beyond their foresight. But not only have they failed to give adequate safety nets for their farmers, they've been promoting the debt slavery of these farmers by promoting the use of genetically engineered "suicide seeds".

Biotech giants, in cooperation with the Indian government, sell farmers on their products with promises of higher yields. But these plants are infertile, and they can't replant some of the seed from this year's crop for next year. They have to buy seed again from Monsanto in order to not fall behind in their debts.

[The Space Cowboy]

This sounds like a very weird version of someone losing their home over a payday lender. The real solution is to regulate the lenders.

[Dark Saint]

:ryoma .................