The Maharashtra government is looking out for an independent agency to evaluate the implementation of the Prime Minister’s relief package for six suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha. The government move comes after it approached the Centre for a second PM’s relief package of Rs 7,200 crore, wherein the state has been asked to get the implementation of the Rs 3,750-crore first package reviewed by a third party. The Prime Minister had...
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Men of letters, unmoved readers by P Sainath
Suicide notes in Vidarbha are at times addressed to the Prime Minister, the desperate last cries of voices that went unheeded when alive. Seeking authenticity for his letter to the Prime Minister and the President, Ramachandra Raut composed it with care on Rs.100 non-judicial stamp paper. Then he added a few more addressees, including his village sarpanch and the police, in the hope that it got home someplace. Then he...
More »How to feed your billionaires by P Sainath
Freebies for the IPL — at a time of savage food subsidy cuts for the poor — benefit four men who make the Forbes Billionaire List of 2010 and a few other, mere multi-millionaires. And so the IPL fracas is now heading for its own Champions League. Union Cabinet Ministers, Union Ministers of State, Chief Ministers (and who knows a Governor or two might pop up yet) are being named...
More »And yet another pro-farmer budget by P Sainath
This is a budget crafted for, and perhaps by, the corporate farmer and agribusiness. The real heroes of India's success story were our farmers. Through their hard work, they ensured “food security” for the country.— Pranab Mukherjee, interim budget speech Feb. 16, 2009 This Budget belongs to 'Aam Aadmi'. It belongs to the farmer, the agriculturist, the entrepreneur and the investor. — Pranab Mukherjee, budget speech, Feb. 26, 2010 Gee! Another pro-farmer budget....
More »Now, a farmers’ suicide SENSEX by Sadiq Naqvi
Nearly 2 lakh farmers committed suicide in India since 1997. The share of big five states accounted for 1,22,823 suicides in this 12 year period. The data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau points out that 16,196 farmers in India ended their life in 2008. K Nagaraj, an economist, in his report Farmers' suicides in India: Magnitude, Trends and Spatial Patterns, says, "The title to land was taken as the...
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