At least 20 farmers have committed suicide in arid regions of southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, news reports said Sunday 16th Aug. Most of the suicides were in the Telengana and Rayalseema regions where farmers depend heavily on seasonal monsoon rains which have been scanty this year, TOI reported.
The state government said 20 farmers had committed suicide over a period of 40 days but the reasons were being ascertained. The farmers were driven to suicide under mounting debts, the Times of India reported. They had taken loans to dig bores to tap groundwater for cotton and other vegetable crops in the absence of rain, but the falling water table due to lack of rains worsened the situation. The state government has announced it was helping the farmers through crop insurance and loans. Families of farmers who had committed suicide would get compensation of 150,000 rupees (about 3107 dollars) each. More than 700 million people in India are dependant on the seasonal monsoon rains for their livelihood.
The compensation received goes to the Money Lenders and the families stand to loose out the land which is also mortgaged with them. What Independence are we talking about when we are not able provide economic freedom to our small farmers? Our Government pays them once they are dead, if they had been paid while they were alive the same amount could have helped them to clear the loan. Can we all not change this ? How long can we let this go on………. Especially considering a Failed Mosoon this time...........
In his Independence Day speech Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the federal government would provide all possible assistance to farmers to deal with the drought.
Shame Shame
