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Narendra Modi government's first year sees record farmer suicides -Yogesh Pawar
-DNA

From May 20, 2014 to May 24, 2015 has seen as many as 1,306 farmers suicides, a 40% jump from last year.

In the middle of the media blitzkrieg over the completion of a year in office of the Narendra Modi government comes the information that it is anything but 'achche din' in the farmer suicide country of Vidarbha.

From May 20, 2014 to May 24, 2015 has seen as many as 1,306 farmers suicides, a 40% jump from last year. This period has emerged as the worst since the farmer suicide pandemic began in 2005 after GM cotton was introduced. In fact, the 448 farmer suicides in the last 140 days are proof of how serious the agrarian crisis has become. Overall farmer suicides across the country have crossed 2,213.

While admitting that climate change and untimely/truant/excessive rains had played havoc with both the kharif and rabi crops this year, many like farm rights activist Vijay Jawandhia, founder of Shetkari Sanghatana, a farmers' union in Maharashtra, told dna: "National agricultural policies, minimum support price debacles, apathetic political leadership, lack of irrigation or inequitable distribution where its available, a humongous irrigation backlog, introduction of water and money-intensive GM cotton, rising input costs of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, diversion of irrigation water from farms to power plants and industries, bad crop insurance policies, hopeless revenue tools of calculating farm-losses in the event of droughts/excessive rainfall (paisewaari), arm twisting by middlemen, corrupt agro-produce committees, poor household economic management by farmers, opportunistic money-lenders and even more opportunistic politicians and market recession and the apathy of the government in addressing the crisis has only made it worse. These factors have come together to tighten the noose around the farmer who is left with no alternative other than ending his life."

Others like Kishor Tiwari of the Vidrabha Jan Andolan Samiti wondered why the BJP made such grandiose promises when it could not fulfill them. "How can the government mock farmers already reduced to penury like this? Is this the sensitivity that they are showing?" he asked and lamented, "The fact that CM Devendra Fadnavis is from Vidarbha makes this that much more cruel and ironical."

It will be recalled how PM Narendra Modi had promised to stop farmer suicides with farm loan waivers, fresh credit to debt trapped farmers and higher MSP according to a proposed formula of investment plus 50 per cent profit. Not only has the budget skipped both issues addressing cost and credit crisis, but the economic reforms which many call "farmer-unfriendly" has hurt agriculture sector adversely. "Conditions are so poor that 1972 and 1997 seem like achche din," said Tiwari.

"While the Union Budget spoke of mega investment infrastructure and long term credit it failed to address core issues of direct relief packages to 40 million cotton farmers who are victims of global open market economy and mismatched demand supply situation," lamented Tiwari.