Government and Community................

There were cases which reveled the relationship between Governemnt and community.Though in most of the cases public expectation was more from the Government yet,there were few instance where people benefitted by the Government support.

One such case was near River Parbati in Madhya Pradesh.

Inhabitants of Village -Semlapur were crying for water.The village has 180 families and 70%of them were smalll and marginal farmers.There existed a pond in the village and the water was basically being utilised for the agricultural purposes but only by the big and rich farmers.The small and marginal farmers had no means to use the water for their fields as well .It was the big farmers were getting benefit the resource because they had equipments to pump water to their fields.Thus only the bigger farmers were enjoying water boon.The Government was urged to sort this out.Government acted fast and installed seventeen pumps for the villagers.This made a huge difference in their lives .The yield increased and the farmers export onions to Kanpur mandi.There is a new economic wave in the region with small effort made by the Government.

The issue of water also came into the picture when community expressed their concern on the decresing level of water in River Parbati.The exceesive use of the water by industries and for other purposes has in the recent time lowered the water level to an alarming state.

Loan for Tractors - An Eyewash

There is a huge network of agents in the state that act as a link between the agency that provide the loan i.e. banks and the farmers.The agents convince the farmers to apply for the loan and in the process earns around Rs.20,000 per client .The information imparted to farmers is usually incomplete and the process of granting loan is so fast that before the farmer could think the loan is sanctioned and for rest of his life he works to pay the money back.Here is one such scheme of SBI.

Funding Agency:

State Bank Of India

Krishi Plus Scheme
Purpose : Scheme for financing tractor to Rural Youth for custom hiring.
Eligibility :

• Any rural youth below the age of 45 years, and undergone training in maintenance/repairs of automobiles / tractors.
• The applicant and his family should belong to the small and marginal farmer category.

The applicant should have a valid tractor driving licence and should operate the tractor by himself ie. the tractor should be owner driven.
Loan amount :
As per quotation of the tractor and other accessories including trailer of borrower's choice.
The tractor to be financed should be in the approved list of tractors circulated to the branches by us. 85 % of the cost of the asset is provided as loan. Maximum amount Rs.4 lacs.
Documents you need to provide :

• Land records in the name of your family / applicant (minimum 1 acre) to be submitted. valid driving license.

Disbursement of the loan : The loan amount will be paid directly to the supplier of the tractor and accessories.
Security :

Amount of Loan Security to be furnished

*Upto Rs. 50, 000 Hypothecation of assets financed
*Above Rs. 50, 000 i. Hypothecation of assets financed

& upto Rs. 1, 00, 000 ii. Mortgage of lands or Third party guarantee

*Above Rs. 1, 00, 000 i. Hypothecation of assets financed ii. Mortgage of lands

Repayment : A maximum period of 7 yrs is allowed as per your liquidity position.
How to apply for this loan :
You may contact our nearest branch for the application or even talk to the marketing officers visiting your village and produce the land documents.

The Yatra team came across another such instance in Rajgarh District,MP. Luxminarayan Sharma of Barkhera Khurd was granted loan of Rs.2.70 lakh ,for an Escort tractor seven yaers ago ,by SBI through an agent .Luxmi narayan was not very sure of applying for the loan because of the financilal constraints.The agent however succeded in convincing him by saying he will enjoy higher status among the fellow farmers. To impress him further he was givenRs 1000 for buying gifts for his family (after he applied for the loan) and was escorted back in a car from the bank.

Luxminarayan today curses the day he was sancioned the loan.He has already paid Rs.5.50 Lakh and still pays an yearly amount of Rs. 20,000 .
This is obviously not the only case but it is one of the hundreds of similar cases in the adjoining areas.There is an estimate of over one lakh such cases in the state of Madhya Pradesh .
This calls for a serious enquiry in the whole process.

FARMERS COME TOGETHER

Village Khujner,Rajgarh,MP:

In some of the villages around Khujner a unique organisation is working .Around 1600 small and marginal farmers have organised themselves under Agriculture Produce Co.Pvt.Ltd. with the organisational set up of around 10 directors, 18 partners from different villages.This was set up inorder to avoid the middleman,Mandi and choupals.The farmers collect the produce and sell it themselves.The first collection was that of 180 quintals of soyabean ,that was sold to a soya plant in Bhopal.It is a very good effort but farmers are still trying to improve their profit.In the above case only the soya farmers sold to the company in Bhopal rated their produce as "A"Grade but still the price paid was not that good.It was due to the fact that the company has regular suppliers as well.
Anyway this initiative taken by the farmers is appreciable.This company has the share worth Rs. 5 to Rs.10 .The company controls the price and it started selling fertilisers, seeds and other related products as well.The good news is that it has increased by 25%in an year.When it started soyabean was the only crop but now other crops are also being tried.The payment to farmers and other purposes is done through cheques, which makes the whole system very transparent .

Case Studies from District Rajgarh

District Rajgarh,MP :It is one of the smaller districts of Madhya Pradesh but a long list of incidents and cases which gives a clear picture of how farmers are being exploited by the Governemnt, bank, and others.There is no suport from any one .The state is predominantly agricultural and about 80% of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. Rice, wheat, soyabean, rapeseed and mustard are among the principal crops of the state. But it is in the matter of pulses, urad, mung, gram and arhar, that Madhya Pradesh leads the others with about one-fifth of the total production of these protein-rich food crops coming from the state. The black soil of the Malwa region is good for cultivation of cotton and some textile mills have also come up because of the availability of cotton.The state is predominantly agricultural and about 80% of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. Rice, wheat, soyabean, rapeseed and mustard are among the principal crops of the state. But it is in the matter of pulses, urad, mung, gram and arhar, that Madhya Pradesh leads the others with about one-fifth of the total production of these protein-rich food crops coming from the state. The black soil of the Malwa region is good for cultivation of cotton and some textile mills have also come up because of the availability of cotton.

Ravi Mahehwari shares his story with the yatris.He owns 22 acres of land .Apart from other , gram is a major crop grown in the region.This year due to severe cold the farmers sufferred a loss as there was a huge damage to the crop.Ravi after suffering the loss went to Patwari/Tehsildar again and again with a plea of inspection so that he could get some compensation as the damage occured due to climatic changes .But no body listened and no ispection was done by the officials. Finally , Ravi lost the hope of getting any help from the Government .He prepares himself to ploughs the field.Now as soon as he starts ploughing the officials reach the field and made a statement that as he is working in the fields it shows that there no harm done by the calamity and so he is not entitled to any compensation as such.
The winter this time has affected the overall production of various crops in the region .There has been 50 % damage to coriander and 25% damage to Gram.Farmers in Guna and Rajgarh district are very disappointed with this sudden crop damage.

Mandi and e Choupal-IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE?

Mandi Operation process:
Inbound Logistics -Display & Inspection-Auction-Bagging & Weighing-OutboundLogistics
Once potential buyers have inspected the produce, a mandi employee conducts the auction, where commission agents place bids. The auctions are typically open oral auctions with incremental bidding.The auction represents a stark contrast from the buyer’s and seller’s perspectives. For the farmer, the moment is pivotal: a scant 30 seconds assesses the results of six months of investment and hard work and establishes the value of one of only two or three paydays he will have in the year. For the commission agent, on the other hand, the moment is routine; he has many more carts of produce to buy and his margin is assured irrespective of the price. Once the price has been established by the auction, the farmer moves the cart to the weighing area run by the buying commission agent. In most cases, the weighing area is in the mandi complex. In some cases, especially if the mandi is small, the weighing area may be at the commission agent’s home near the mandi. Here, the produce is transferred from the cart into individual sacks. The sacks are then weighed,one at a time, on a manual scale. After weighing, the full value of the grain is calculated. The farmer goes to the agent’s office to collect a cash payment. The agent pays a mandi fee (1% of purchase value in Madhya Pradesh) to the mandi. The bagged produce is then loaded on to the buyer’s trucks and transported to the processing plant.

e Choupals do not provide any respite to the farmers because:

• They have no reach to the remote areas where the facilities are much needed
• The small and marginal farmers are not entertained and the profit is enjoyed largely by bigger farmers
• A local farmer acting as a sanchalak (coordinator) runs the village e-Choupal( the
  computer usually is located in the sanchalak’s home).He acts more like company's spokes person.He is forced to sell ITC products otherwise his quota is slashed.
• The small produce is often not bought so the small farmers do not benefit
• The price depends on the quality of the product ,the garadation of the produce often cut the profit margin of the farmer and there is no difference between local mandi and e choupal
• Many farmers do not agree with the electronic weighing of the produce
• ITC has created malls where it sells its own products and have collaborated with eighty other companies and so their products are also sold.this way the local products are being repalced, which is threat to the economy of the region as the local market decides the economic condition of the people.Here the money is flowing out of the region , thereby making people depend more and more on the outsiders.

So ,there is only dependency and not sustainability

Few more cases

Prakash lives in the village Tigeria which is about four kilometer before Abdellaganj in Madhya Pradesh. This young man guards the fifty acre land of a person called Nyaldada. In return he gets an amount of Rs.200 per acre per season along with 5 quintals of the produce.

Ironically the land that Prakash guards today was owned by his father long time ago. His father took loan for some purpose from Nyaldada.But he could not pay it back and in that case he sold the 35 acre of the land to Nyaldada. He himself guarded the field for the new owner. After that the job was transferred to Prakash.

In village Pimpri of Yavatmal district –Ramsingh took loan from a bank for the marriage of his daughter in year 2003.He thought of paying it back from the agri produce from his fields. Unfortunately the following two years were hit by the drought. Third year brought some respite for him but that was not enough to pay the loan. Finally he received a notice from the bank to pay the amount in five days. Under the influence of pressure he committed suicide before the bank could reach him and take what ever he owned.

Such incidents call once again for the reform sin the credit policies. It needs to be more farmers friendly.

e Choupal and the Mandi system

Barikhera,Madhya Pradesh: The Yatra team came across an e choupal for the first in 46 days of the march so far. E choupal an ITC initiative, claim to confer the power of expert knowledge on even the smallest individual farmer. Thus enhancing his competitiveness in the global market.ITC started this in year 2000.It had covered 9 states, 38,500 villages and claimed to have empowered 4 million farmers with 6500 e-Choupal installations. It entered the market with the aim of transforming the Indian farmer into a progressive knowledge-seeking citizen. Enriching the farmer with knowledge; elevating him to a new order of empowerment by delivering real-time information and customized knowledge to improve the farmer's decision-making ability, thereby better aligning farm output to market demands; securing better quality, productivity and improved price discovery. The model helps aggregate demand in the nature of a virtual producers' co-operative, in the process facilitating access to higher quality farm inputs at lower costs for the farmer. The e-Choupal initiative also projected itself as a direct marketing channel, eliminating wasteful intermediation and multiple handling, thus reducing transaction costs and making logistics efficient.

But the situation is not like that .ITC claims of minimum profit and maximum benefit for the farmers but on the contrary absolutely false. Yatris got an entirely different picture of the whole thing. It is absolutely a corporate business strategy and was introduced as a profit making initiative but with a difference. It targeted the farmers. E choupals provided a place for the farmers to sell their produce .ITC offered a better price and paid the transportation cost also. But it’s a changed picture now. The transportation cost is bore by the farmer and the produce has to undergo a standard test and the price is fixed on the basis of the quality .This way the farmer does not find any significant difference between the regular mandi or the choupals.In both the cases the farmer has no say on the price of the produce . Choupals also offer farmers other products like fertilizers; a seed and so on. The company in this way has made a big market for its own products and is taking away farmer’s money in a way!

It also provides farmers with the smart cards, which allows it to enjoy the discount on the products sold by ITC .It is thus very clear that company rightly focused on the biggest consumer market –Rural area. We should not forget that maximum amount of urban products find market in the rural areas and the commodities include biscuits, salt, recharge cards, tea and so on. The Sanchalak –the farmer in whose house the computer is placed is also forced to keep company’s products in the rural market shop. Due to this the rural market is flooded with urban products. The money is not retained in the rural area but goes out .In the survey conducted by the Yatris it was observed that rural areas have the resources that can be used to produce local products that can easily replace the urban products.

The e-Choupal project claims to have benefited over 3.5 million farmers. But important point is that it has targeted mainly marginally rich farmers , the small and marginal farmers are not at all a part of it.

Another important fact is that ITC was in the business of soy products from 1990s.It started the e choupal targeting soybean ,cotton, shrimps etc.They kind of replaced the middle man and thought of buying the produce directly from the farmer thereby removing the share of the middle man. The gradation of the produce allowed them to get profit in this step as well.All the products that it makes is sold in the international market.The farmers however do not know what company does with the produce ,how much profit company earns after every product. The condition of the farmer is still same because the profit due to the primary and the secondary production still lies with the bigger players.

DEBT RIDDEN FARMERS

For small farmer, the informal sources of credit are large farmers, input suppliers (seed, fertiliser and pesticide dealers), commission agents who arrange the sale of a farmer’s produce in a mandi or market yard, and occasionally professional moneylenders. The interest rates from these sources vary from 3% per month in the southern states to over 10% per month in the eastern states. Moreover, such credit is often tied – such as the obligation to work in the large farmers’ land as needed, and selling their produce through the same commission agent who advanced a loan for the sowing season. The relationship varies from being mildly unfavourable to the farmer to being highly exploitative, depending on the place.

The Yatris met Dayaram in Yavatmal who works on a sixteen acre land of bigger farmer.Dayaram's family was also employed in the same field.In return of the work the family collectively had been getting Rs.19,000 per annum for last nine years.The owner in turn earns in lakhs.This forces the smalll farmer to continue the same work for many more years and also he can not think of any other option for his kids as the resources are not enough .

RURAL CREDIT SYSTEM

Money lenders in India are as old as its villages, agricultural credit cooperatives go back a century, commercial banks have been involved in agricultural loans for nearly 50 years, the regional rural bank network is over 25 years old, and reforms in the banking system were triggered a decade back. Yet, credit flow to small farmers has remained far below needs, both for crop cultivation and for long term requirements such as land development, irrigation and farm equipment as compared to the potential demand. The widespread discontent among farmers has manifested itself in the form of mass voting against incumbent governments as also individual acts of despair such as farmers committing suicide, particularly in States like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The basic architecture of the credit system is:

• Cooperative credit structure (CCS): The Cooperative Credit Structure caters to both the short term and long term credit need of the rural consumers. The short term credit need of the rural consumers is fulfilled by three institutions, namely, the State Cooperative Banks (SCBs), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) and the large network of the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the villages. On the other hand, the State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) provide long term credit in the rural economy through Primary Land Development Banks, now renamed Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs). In Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand the long term structure has been merged with the short term structure.
• National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD): This is refibnanced by CCS .These institutions are, however, beset with problems like low recovery percentage (40-60%), inefficient management systems and politicization of the cooperatives due to inadequate laws prevalent in the system. In 2001-02, there were over 98,000 primary agricultural cooperatives and the loan outstanding was Rs 32712 crore. In addition, the cooperative sector also had Rs 14,172 crore of long term loans given for land and water development, tractors, etc.
• Commercial Banks: The involvement of commercial banks in credit to agriculture began after the Gorawala Committee Report in 1954. The State Bank of India was asked to open 400 branches in semi-urban areas and start agricultural lending. The issue became urgent with the onset of the Green Revolution, as the package of high yielding variety seeds and fertilisers required access to credit. The government responded by first directing banks to lend to agriculture, then imposing ‘social control’ and eventually nationalising the major banks in 1971. This was followed by a major expansion in rural branches and introduction of the Lead Bank scheme and district credit plans. Within the overall quota of 40% priority sector lending, banks were asked to lend 18% of their total advances to agriculture. The number of commercial bank branches as also the share of commercial banks in agricultural credit kept rising, particularly as cooperative credit structure in many states was not working well. This trend remained till the late 1980s, when the Agriculture and Rural Debt Relief Scheme, 1989 was announced by the then government resulting in a waiving of all loans below Rs 10,000. This created repayment problems for banks and generally discouraged them from further lending.
• Regional Rural Banks (RRBs): In 1972, the Banking Commission observed that despite massive expansion of the network of commercial banks consequent to nationalisation, there was still a need for having a specialised network of bank branches to cater to the needs of the rural poor. With this premise, RRBs were established in India under the RRB Act, 1976. The thinking was to set up RRBs as rural-oriented commercial banks with the low cost profile of cooperatives but the professional discipline and modern outlook of commercial banks.
  Between 1975 and 1987, 196 RRBs were established with over 14,000 branches. A large number of branches of RRBs were opened in the hitherto un-banked or under-banked areas providing services to the interior and far-flung areas of the country. RRBs were expected to primarily cover small and marginal farmers, landless labourers, rural artisans, small traders and other weaker sections of the rural community. However, even after so many years, the market share of RRBs in rural credit remains low. At present, the RRBs share in agriculture credit is 8% while that of commercial banks is about 50% and that of CCS is 42%.In the very first decade of the setting up of RRBs, 152 out of 188 RRBs had accumulated losses of Rs 340 crore. The losses went up sharply in 1992 on account of implementation of the National Industrial Tribunal Award bringing parity in wage structure of RRBs with that of commercial banks. This negated the low cost structure of RRBs and more losses were accumulated. The government took note of the grim situation of RRBs and several committees were set up to look into various problems and issues faced by RRBs. Over the period 1994-2000, 187 RRBs were provided with a total of Rs 2188 crore for recapitalisation. However, their financial viability continues to be overstretched by policy rigidities coupled with a lower capital base in an environment of inadequate infrastructure and deep social and economic disparities.
• Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs): Even as banks are physically present in rural areas and offer concessional interest rates, small farmers are unable to access them because of borrower-unfriendly products and procedures, inflexibility and delay, and high transaction costs, both legitimate and illegal. It was in this context that NGOs began to examine alternative ways to enhance access to credit by the poor since the mid-1970s. After pioneering efforts by organisations like SEWA, MYRADA, PRADAN and CDF, in 1992 the RBI and NABARD encouraged commercial banks to link up with NGOs to establish and finance self-help groups of the poor.
• Informal Sources: RBI data reveals that informal sources provide a significant part of the total credit needs of the rural population. The magnitude of the dependence of the rural poor on informal sources of credit can be seen from the findings of the successive All India Debt and Investment Surveys (AIDIS). These show that the share of non-institutional agencies (informal sector) in the outstanding cash dues of rural households has reduced from 83.7% in 1961 to 36% in 1991. As per the latest AIDIS, 1992, formal institutional sources, banks and cooperatives provided credit support to almost 64% of the rural households, while professional and agricultural moneylenders extend credit to about one sixth of the rural
  Source
  households.

(Vijay Mahajan and Bharti Gupta Ramola. ‘Financial Services for the Rural Poor and Women in India: Access and Sustainability,’ Journal of International Development 8(2), 1996, 211-24.)

Suicides ....

Village :Bodhponam,District Yavatmal
This village has experienced 18 suicides in last 6 years including one woman.

Village:Lonighatna ,District Yavatmal
Year 2004-04 Total of ten suicides cases happened in the village.The list includes:Narayan Debrao, Ramsingh,Vinod Rathore and others
No sort of compensation ever reached the families of these farmers.

Village :Sakhra ,District Yavatmal
Records 5 cases of suicides.Sangla Chauhan, Bhau Ram, Rabu Bhindari,Uttam Chaudhary are a few to name.State Government has given the compensation which included money and cattle .

Compensation however is not the solution to the problem.More and more farmers are commiting suicides under the pressure of debt ,repeated crop failures and poor economic condition .

EXPERIENCES : Poors are always victim

Maharashtra has come into spotlight in recent times due to various reasons like drought, crop failure and record of suicide cases by farmers. On the top of it lack of credit reforms and absence of a fixed price for the produce adds to the misery of the farmers. The team came across various incidents that are enough to describe the condition of farming and farmers in the state. To begin with, in Chandrapur district there is a place called Buttabori which is to be developed as an industrial estate by one company. The history reveals that this company came here from Hinna with a huge sum that it had added in its account from various Government loans. The company later fled with the sum from there and started the work in Bittabori with of course same infrastructure but different name . Till date no action has been taken against it by the government agencies that had sanctioned the loan.

But at the same time banks have released the ‘Wanted’ notice against eight farmers .These farmers applied for the loan of Rs20, 000-Rs.40, 000 but were unable to pay it on time due to crop failure and other related reasons.

The above two cases are from the same place and it is sad and unfortunate that nobody thinks twice before acting against a poor farmer but when it comes to taking action against any rich and big company they take their own time…

Maharashtra

Agriculture is the mainstay of the state of Maharashtra. It is the main occupation of the people. Both food crops and cash crops are grown in the state. The main food crops of Maharashtra are mangoes, grapes, bananas, oranges, wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, and pulses. Cash crops include groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, and tobacco. The total irrigated area which ahs been used for crop cultivation is 33, 500 square kilometers. Large areas of the state have been brought under fruit cultivation. The fruits which have added to the treasury of the state are the Nagpur oranges, oranges of Bathplug, the Alphonso Mangoes and the grapes of Nashik. The agricultural growth rate has increased to 1.97%. To make things more accessible for the farmers the interest rate for the loans has been decreased to 6%. A very important problem is the dependence on rainfall. To lessen the dependence irrigation facilities have been extended to an additional area of 1.4 lakh hectares. To provide relief to stressed farmers who have been affected by the drought conditions, Rs.5200 crore has been sanctioned by the central government. This has been done to six districts of the Vidharba region. To compensate the crop losses Rs367 crore has been granted to the poor farmers. Apart from that stringent actions have been taken on 2821 illegal money lenders. Research on agriculture and agricultural products needs to be conducted to tackle the diverse agro – climatic differences. Apart from that the transport and communication services, infrastructure development in the rural area has helped in developing the agricultural production of the state.

(http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm)

THE HINDU
Thursday, Jan 31, 2008
17,060 farm suicides in one year
P. Sainath
Uptrends in major States unchanged
Mumbai: Farm suicides in Maharashtra rose dramatically in 2006, more than in any other part of the country. The State saw 4,453 farmers’ suicides that year, over a quarter of the all-India total of 17,060, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 2006. That is the worst figure recorded ‘in any year for any State’ since the NCRB first began logging farm suicides.
The previous worst — 4,147 in 2004 — was also in Maharashtra. It has seen ‘36,428 farmers’ suicides’ since 1995, ‘in official count.’ ‘2006 is the latest year for which data are available.’
The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527 over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the next worst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005.
It was also more than twice the increase of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together.
Worse, it means farmers accounted for half ‘the increase’ in all suicides in Maharashtra in 2006.
Significantly, Maharashtra’s upward spike occurred in the year when the relief packages of both the Prime Minister and Chief Minister — worth Rs. 4,825 crore in all — were being implemented in the Vidharbha region, where suicides have been most intense.
The NCRB figures show an unrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the ‘SEZ’ or (Farmers) ‘Special Elimination Zone’ States. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).
As a group, the ‘SEZ’ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths.
Among them, Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show a sharp upward spike.
Karnataka (1,720) reports a decline. So though the all-India numbers for 2006 reflect a very small decline of 61 over the 2005 figure of 17,131, the broad trends of the last decade continue. And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the ‘SEZ’ States, remains unchanged.
So the minuscule decline in the figure for the country as a whole marks no break from the dismal decade-long trend.
NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
Of these, 78,737 occurred between 1997 and 2001. The next five years — from 2002 to 2006 — proved worse, seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives.
This means that on average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160930100.htm)

17.060 farm suicides in one year

Together for a cause

href="http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm">http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/maharashtraagriculture.htm)





THE HINDU

Thursday, Jan 31, 2008

17,060 farm suicides in one year
P. Sainath


Uptrends in major States unchanged


Mumbai: Farm suicides in Maharashtra rose dramatically in 2006, more than in any other part of the country. The State saw 4,453 farmers’ suicides that year, over a quarter of the all-India total of 17,060, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its report Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India, 2006. That is the worst figure recorded ‘in any year for any State’ since the NCRB first began logging farm suicides.
The previous worst — 4,147 in 2004 — was also in Maharashtra. It has seen ‘36,428 farmers’ suicides’ since 1995, ‘in official count.’ ‘2006 is the latest year for which data are available.’
The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527 over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the next worst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005.
It was also more than twice the increase of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together.
Worse, it means farmers accounted for half ‘the increase’ in all suicides in Maharashtra in 2006.
Significantly, Maharashtra’s upward spike occurred in the year when the relief packages of both the Prime Minister and Chief Minister — worth Rs. 4,825 crore in all — were being implemented in the Vidharbha region, where suicides have been most intense.
The NCRB figures show an unrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the ‘SEZ’ or (Farmers) ‘Special Elimination Zone’ States. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country, include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).
As a group, the ‘SEZ’ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths.
Among them, Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show a sharp upward spike.
Karnataka (1,720) reports a decline. So though the all-India numbers for 2006 reflect a very small decline of 61 over the 2005 figure of 17,131, the broad trends of the last decade continue. And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the ‘SEZ’ States, remains unchanged.
So the minuscule decline in the figure for the country as a whole marks no break from the dismal decade-long trend.
NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
Of these, 78,737 occurred between 1997 and 2001. The next five years — from 2002 to 2006 — proved worse, seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives.
This means that on average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since 2002.


(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160930100.htm)

Route -Nagpur to Agra

The route Map & Travel Plan is on the basis of 50 kms cycle travel per day.
NAGPUR (MS)
SABNER (MS)
PANDURNA (MP)
MULTAI (MP)
JOULKHEDA (MP)
BETUL (MP)
SHAHPUR (MP)
KIRATPUR (MP)
OBEDULLAGANJ (MP)
BHOPAL (MP)
KURAWAR (MP)
BIOARA (MP)
BEENAGANJ (MP)
RAGHOGARH (MP)
GUNA (MP)
BADARWAS (MP)
SHIVPURI (MP)
MOHONA (MP)
GWALIOR (MP)
MORAINA (MP)
DHOULPUR (RAJ)
AGRA (UP)

Cooperative set by a farmer

Village Jamari, MP
A farmer and owner of one acre of land suddenly finds treasure when he discovers water underneath his fields.He thought of managing this resource and its proper utilisation.He made a cooperative which sold water to other farmers at the rate of Rs.1200 per crop and usually there are two crops in an year.So far he has given water to eight farmers and earns Rs.20,000 per year from this alone...
This has brought hope for many others.
Dashmesh for example is now growing wheat in his five acre land for the first time in last five years.
But sadly in a similar attempt a farmer dug his seven acre land seven times in hope to get water but in vain..
How ever the idea of cooperative by farmer/local was an excellent experience of the team.

Stories from the Madhya Pradesh

In conversation with the farmers in Madhya Pradesh,Yatra Team found that there is a huge network of the agents who lure the farmers for loans for tractors by misleading them with faulty or half information.Later in case of the non-payment of money the tractors is take away leaving farmer to suffer the crisis that follow.

In a typical a farmer Kailash of village Khambra, district Betul,MP was approached by an agent Bhupendra Sahu in year 1998.He convinced Kailash to buy tractor by taking the loan. Kailash did not own any land but for the loan he puchased land from his uncle and applied for the loan.But Kailash could not even pay the first instalment and soon he accepted the fact thet he can never pay the money back.After four years he lost the land and also the tractor. Today he struggles hard to earn daily meal.The agent here gets around Rs.20,000 per client(Farmer).

There are over one lakh such cases in the region..The government pays no heed to it and hundreds of tractors whichwere taken back from such farmers ,are lying in Tehsil the land.It is a huge problem in the State as there are schemes to attract farmers like: free 20 L of diesel on the purchase some gift etc.

There are several other cases that tells the sad state of Framers. There are cases in which the farmer had asked for a loan of Rs.2.5 lakh but had already paid Rs. 6 Lakh as interest money.

News

At Salem..

Some coverages...

Development & people ..the missing link

Is common man really getting any benefit from the so called developmental activities taking place all over??

Time to think again!

Glimpse...

Raising hands with pledge to save" Agricultural land..."

In conversation with locals

India and the people...

The life in rural India...

The land....

Beautiful landscapes ...

Different Moods...

Coverage:The Hindu,11 Feb 08

The Hindu,11 Feb. 08

http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/11/stories/2008021153230300.htm

Pedalling for farmers’ cause

S. Harpal Singh

Campaign calls for an Agriculture act that lays restrictions on SEZs

Photograph :
Crusader: Anil P. Joshi, leader of the campaign, speaking to the nuns at Asha Jyothi Bhavan in Adilabad on Sunday

ADILABAD: By peddling some of the more serious concerns of our times, a 11-member team of cyclists led by well known social activist Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi is out to garner support for an ‘agriculture act’. The team started on a bicycle campaign from Kanyakumari and is slated to reach New Delhi in March while learning the problems and gathering opinions of farmers on the subject en route.

A Padma Shri recipient, Dr. Joshi is a former associate professor at Garhwal University and is an expert in cycle yatras having led similar campaigns on issues earlier. The passionate social activist team comprises three girls and a 68 year-old-man also, all with agricultural background, mostly from Uttarakhand.

Focus
The campaign focuses on legislation for an agriculture act that lays restrictions on special economic zones (SEZ) across the country and establishment of a farmers bank. The team already has enough opinions and data on the subject to justify the campaign.
“By establishment of SEZs, extents of land under agriculture use are drastically coming down thereby reducing the food grain production. The Government needs to regulate such activity so that a food grain crisis does not emerge out of it. Today if a SEZ is established in Punjab, people in other States would also go hungry because that State imports supplies across the country”, observed Dr. Joshi.

The social activist suggests a ‘green line’ that demarcates agriculture lands in respective regions that are not to be sold for establishment of SEZs. “In case this cannot be done then it must be laid down that farmers whose lands are acquired for SEZ should become partners in the establishment”, Dr. Joshi added.

On the role of banks in advancing agricultural loans, the Padma Shri awardee says there is unanimity among farmers across the country. To buttress the complaints of farmers, he says the lending is only to the extent of 12 per cent while NABARD guidelines insist on 20 per cent of the credits to be extended to farmers.

“In order to accord a more favourable condition to farmers there is a need for a farmers’ bank that lends interest-free loans to the extent needed by farmers. It can realise its income by being stake holder in the agriculture activity or in the farm implements being purchased by the farmers”, pointed out the former Botany Professor.

The team members are slated to meet United Progressive Alliance chair persons Sonia Gandhi with the study made during their yatra.

The study is expected to project the issues in proper perspectives.

Meeting In Telangana

The Yatra reached Telangana where the people are voicing for a separate state to be formed out of north-west region of Andhra Pradesh. The issue was disscussed along with other problems.Ther reasons for separate Telangana are plenty,as stated by the people like:

1. It is very underdeveloped region. Some of the problems in the region are: Poverty, illiteracy, malnourished children, child labour, high rate of suicides among farmers , unemployment...


2. People are deprived of the basic facilities like safe drinking water and sanitation


3. Power shortage and so on.

People can not afford to send their children to schools or feed them three meals a day.

Water is a very important in this region and Telangana is worst affected ispite of the issue fact that rivers like Krishna and Godavari flow through it , but the water from the dams is not available for the people there.It flows to other region of the State.This also forced people to show their worry reagrding the Dam over Godavari which has the water flowing to the State Of Maharashtra.

Thus, issue of the RESOURCE RIGHT is important in this part as well.The people want to have the first right over the resources available with them .That is the reason behind the cries over the issue of interlinking of the rivers.

Green line

After starting from Hyderabad on 7-02-08 Yatra has entered Telangana.Sharing the past experiences the Yatra talked of the Green Line , which means that every state should review its land use pattern and land reforms so that a line can be drawn for agricultural production.

The Yatra is actually reaching the people.This is clear from the fact that people are reaching to the Yatris.People are raecting and acting to the issues being raised .After reading about the Yatra and its issues Mr.Rangareddy of village Nagraj, Andhra Pradesh shunned the idea of selling his half acre land.He met the Yatris on the way ,discussed the matter and treated them!!

At Kommareddi ,a village in District Mehbubnagar, a farmer called K. Maitrima wanted to sell his 10 acre land but after meeting the Yatra he decided not to do so.It was very encouraging for the Yatris as they are on the mission of spreading te same message!

The land is being sold at massive scale in Andhra Pradesh .The fact was revealed by the Yatra in Andhra Pradesh.In Komaradapalli alone 200 acre of land has been sold in the recent time and likewise in Boothpurva 300 acre of land has been sold.

Hyderabad

The cycle Yatra team met the Agricultural scientists as well the students of the Rajender Nagar Agricultural University , at Hyderabad.

The scientists were equally worried about the state of Agriculture and the condition of the farmersin the country.There was huge Paddy cultivation all along the highway some ten years back which has just disappeared now .The growing industrialisation has taken away acres of agricultural land .Many suggestions came from them .They felt the need to improve the seed distribution mechnism in the State as well as in the country.

They also pointed out the fact that the in the process of agri producethe farmers get a very little share whereas maximum profit goes to the other proponents.

Dr.Anil Joshi , the leader, advised the Scientists to become Agricultural Advocates as there is an urgent need of AGRICULTURAL ADVOCACY in the country today!!!

Yatra team with the local people

Glimpses....

Childhood .... !!!

Yatra reaches Hyderdabad today!

In its course of 26 days, the Yatra team has so far covered 1500 km, met around 26622 farmers from 265 villages of 21 districts of the three states. The Yatra started from Kanyakumari on 12th January and expected to reach Delhi on 11th March.

The Yatra focuses on the issues of:

1. The need of an Agri Act in the country. There should be a fixed percentage of land for agriculture. Growing industrialization and the rate at which the Special Economic Zones are coming up, the agriculture is under pressure. The fertile agriculture land is being sacrificed in the name of development. The farmer today does not want to continue with the faming because the returns are not good. The big industrialist pay a handsome amount to the farmers in return of their land. The farmer sells his land and ends up spending that money in the due course of time.
Almost 50 per cent of the agricultural land alongside the highway between Kanyakumari and Hosur has been sold out to the industrialists. They discovered that the land use change was on a massive scale, from agriculture to industrial purposes. Even farmers’ children were not ready to opt for agriculture as their profession. Almost 98 per cent of farmers’ children are not ready to follow the path of their fathers. They opine that it is not a viable option. The peasants of Tamil Nadu say that there is no respect for the farmers in the State.

Again in Andhra Pradesh at two Places around 200 acre and 300 acre of land is reported to have been sold to for the industrial purposes.

This is a serious threat as this is sure to cause a food crisis in the time to come.The Yatra continues with request and message. It is asking farmers not to sell the agriculture land for any kind of industrial use. If in any case they have to then they should ask for partnership, this will ensure a source of income for the generations to come.



2. The need for a farmer’s Bank is strongly voiced by the Farmers. The bank should fix a price for the produce .The Bank should be the stakeholder in the productivity and the interest should be drawn from the selling of the products. This will reduce the burden on the farmer in terms of money and paying interest. Value added products would benefit both. Bank can easily develop the market for the new products.

3. If at all the need to sell the agricultural land arises it is advocated that there should be a partnership between the farmers and the industrialists, so that the farmers also have a steady source of income and the future of the coming generation is secured .

It should be noted that the percent of population dependent on agriculture, which was 75 percent at the time of country's independence, has now come down to 65 percent. The contribution of agriculture to the GDP has been reduced from 61 percent to around 20 percent. The per capita availability of agricultural land has reduced from 0.36 hectare to 0.12 hectare. The gap between per capita average incomes of those engaged in agriculture and those in other occupations, which was about 1:2 till the 60s has now increased to 1:11.Even the banking system is providing only 30 percent of the deposits made by rural people to them as loan and 70 percent amount is making its way out of rural areas to other sectors for development.


Farmers have responded well to the Yatra so far as the condition of the farmer is becoming worse , this is quite clear from the increase in the rate of the suicide death by the farmers. The farmers and farming definitely want a relief in the form of a more effective mechanism, Agri Act which will fix the percentage of agricultural land in the country on the line of the Forest act. Secondly the banking or rural credit system should be little more farmers friendly. The Yatra is focusing on these issues. The role of the Government is also important here as for the past many years the policies of the State government have been pro–industry which have caused resentment among the farmers and the farming is dying in our so called agriculture nation. The time has come to Act , for the food security in the time to come.

Yatra reaches Kodikonda,District Anantapur

(Kodikonda) District Anantapur, 31st Jan 08

Another Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is coming up in the region in spite of the fat that the people are not on favour of it. The reason behind it is that the people will have to sell off their land for the upcoming industry there .The land was given to the people by the Government long time back under some provision of the caste category. This fact does not allow the people to sell the land therefore the government is planning to bring a provision which will allow the said owners to sell the land so that the SEZ comes up without any difficulty as such.

First, the people do not want to part with their land as it is the only property they have and their livelihood is dependent on it. But if at all the SEZ/ industry .Developmental projects comes then they prefer to go for the partnership with the industrialists rather than selling of their land. This way they ensure a source of income for their coming generations as well.

All these thing indicate that the agriculture is definitely not on the agenda of the authorities and the government .The development in the name of industries is favoured and advocated thinking that the returns will be better and long lasting .A point missed here is that at the end of the day it is again bread that any one needs and not the steel or mobile….The industries definitely are largest employment generating units and boost up the so called economy of the nation but they can never replace Agriculture and the role of the farmer…

Again the call is to have fixed percentage of land for the farming!!!

Apart from this the farmers also called for the need of “Farmer’s Bank”, a credit system that will support the farmer and not force him to end his life due to non payment of the loan and interest .All agreed on the fact that the Banks should be the stakeholders in the produce of the farmer and the interest should be in the form products from the produce and not money.

Anantapur is one of severely affected district of Andhra Pradesh .It has a very high rate of suicide amongst farmers. In one of the villages that the Yatris came across, there were four suicide cases and all because of their inability to cope up with the burden of debt and the inability to repay the money taken for farming. In the absence of any Public agricultural extension services farmers are left with no choice but to depend on the private service for seed, pesticide and other help. The private services function without adequate regulation so the farmers most of the time fail to repay and this eventually leads to the suicide…as it is seen as the only solution …

Agriculture and Farming is awaiting some reforms and hopefully the people who supply the food will not die of hunger …. !!!

The Yatra Continues…

The Yatra has now its own experiences all along the journey so far.....

To begin with the as Yatra entered Andhra Pradesh it was approached by the Political groups, the Local organizations and the local people (of course!)

Funny side of the story is that the political party approached thinking the Yatris are from some other political party, the locals believed some politicians have come to woo them for the votes and making false promises once again...
The local NGOs and groups bluntly came and asked under which Project the Yatra is being carried out ...!The Yatris politely smiled and told them the issues for which they were cycling all the way from Kanyakumari to Delhi and asked them to join it for the cause.

Nevertheless, later after addressing the people and interacting with them at least the Farmers came up and shared their experiences and difficulties with the Yatris with just one hope....May Be this Yatra will bring some good news for them ....!