Indian Farmer STory 800
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The farmers are just another name for austerity and hard work. Ours is an agricultural based country where almost 70 per cent of the population still depends on agriculture. That is why you can find green farms spread over all across the country. In any weather, be it sweltering sun or freezing winters, the farmers in this country can be seen working in their fields round-the-clock. The entire life of the farmers is spent in cultivating their fields. Without any complain they remain engaged in their work. Farming is not at all an easy task, as it includes working in the fields round-the-clock, crop cultivation and planting, besides crop care, harvesting the crops and then selling the produced crops in the market.
Cause to worry
Even after working so hard in their farms, if the farmers of some parts of the country are compelled to commit suicide, it is a serious concern, which we should immediately pay attention to. We all know that India was earlier known as the golden bird, there was no dearth of food and money in the country, and the farmers were overall happy. That is also the reason why India has been known as an agriculture-based nation. But the things have completely changed now. The situation of the farmers has become so bad that they are forced to commit suicides. Surely this is a terrible scenario and a truth which we cannot ignore as it calls for an immediate attention.
The history
In India, the problems of farmers came to light in 1990 when the period of liberalization started. An important English-language newspaper, The Hindu started publishing reports of farmers committing suicides in its newspaper in that year. The initial reports came from Maharashtra where in Vidarbha region; a cotton farmer had committed suicide. Thereafter, the newspaper also published similar reports of farmers’ suicides coming from Andhra Pradesh.
Reading these report, initially the people thought it was the problem of Vidarbha and its surrounding areas only and only the local government of that particular area was required to pay attention to the situation. However, when the emerging figures were monitored carefully, the situation was found to be worst. The horrible fact which came to light was that along with the farmers of Vidarbha, the farmers from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, including other states in the country were found doing suicides.
The most critical aspect of all this was that apart from small farmers, medium and large farmers had also committed suicide. According to the statistics, in the year 2009, total 17,368 farmers committed suicide and on an average the annual rate of farmers committing suicide is being recorded as 10,000 per annum currently.
The solution
In India, most of the farmers are poor and they do not have their own lands. They cultivate the lands of the landlords and moreover, also borrow money from them for seeds, fertilizer and other farming-related needs. Before they could repay their earlier debt, they start taking loan for the second harvest from them and in the meantime they have to face natural calamity such as floods and droughts as well. Even most of the time their crops get destroyed by worms and insects and this way they fail to repay their loans and hence commit suicide.
In other words, the farmers in India commit suicide after getting upset by economic exploitation at the hands of the landlords and the moneylenders. It has also been seen at times that the farmers also commit suicide after they receive excessive yields in their fields. It is since the excessive yields result into the fall of minimum support price up to the extent that it becomes far below than the total amount invested by them and hence they fail to repay their debt.
The government can implement a range of welfare schemes for the farmers, besides agricultural development plans to prevent the farmers from committing suicides. Moreover, it can also implement crop insurance schemes for the farmers, besides helping them by offering farming loans on minimal interest rates through cooperative banks. It can also provide them high-quality seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural equipments on minimal cost. Moreover, the government can also provide land to the landless farmers. Through these measures it can easily prevent the situations which compel the farmers to commit suicide.
Conclusion: The issue of farmers committing suicide has now become a national problem. If this situation is not controlled early, it will get out of the hand. For the farmers it is urgently required to offer them high support prices as well as crop insurance. High support price for their crops is also required besides making available easy credit for themselves. These are the only ways through which the situation of farmers can be improved and they may be prevented from committing suicide
Cause to worry
Even after working so hard in their farms, if the farmers of some parts of the country are compelled to commit suicide, it is a serious concern, which we should immediately pay attention to. We all know that India was earlier known as the golden bird, there was no dearth of food and money in the country, and the farmers were overall happy. That is also the reason why India has been known as an agriculture-based nation. But the things have completely changed now. The situation of the farmers has become so bad that they are forced to commit suicides. Surely this is a terrible scenario and a truth which we cannot ignore as it calls for an immediate attention.
The history
In India, the problems of farmers came to light in 1990 when the period of liberalization started. An important English-language newspaper, The Hindu started publishing reports of farmers committing suicides in its newspaper in that year. The initial reports came from Maharashtra where in Vidarbha region; a cotton farmer had committed suicide. Thereafter, the newspaper also published similar reports of farmers’ suicides coming from Andhra Pradesh.
Reading these report, initially the people thought it was the problem of Vidarbha and its surrounding areas only and only the local government of that particular area was required to pay attention to the situation. However, when the emerging figures were monitored carefully, the situation was found to be worst. The horrible fact which came to light was that along with the farmers of Vidarbha, the farmers from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, including other states in the country were found doing suicides.
The most critical aspect of all this was that apart from small farmers, medium and large farmers had also committed suicide. According to the statistics, in the year 2009, total 17,368 farmers committed suicide and on an average the annual rate of farmers committing suicide is being recorded as 10,000 per annum currently.
The solution
In India, most of the farmers are poor and they do not have their own lands. They cultivate the lands of the landlords and moreover, also borrow money from them for seeds, fertilizer and other farming-related needs. Before they could repay their earlier debt, they start taking loan for the second harvest from them and in the meantime they have to face natural calamity such as floods and droughts as well. Even most of the time their crops get destroyed by worms and insects and this way they fail to repay their loans and hence commit suicide.
In other words, the farmers in India commit suicide after getting upset by economic exploitation at the hands of the landlords and the moneylenders. It has also been seen at times that the farmers also commit suicide after they receive excessive yields in their fields. It is since the excessive yields result into the fall of minimum support price up to the extent that it becomes far below than the total amount invested by them and hence they fail to repay their debt.
The government can implement a range of welfare schemes for the farmers, besides agricultural development plans to prevent the farmers from committing suicides. Moreover, it can also implement crop insurance schemes for the farmers, besides helping them by offering farming loans on minimal interest rates through cooperative banks. It can also provide them high-quality seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural equipments on minimal cost. Moreover, the government can also provide land to the landless farmers. Through these measures it can easily prevent the situations which compel the farmers to commit suicide.
Conclusion: The issue of farmers committing suicide has now become a national problem. If this situation is not controlled early, it will get out of the hand. For the farmers it is urgently required to offer them high support prices as well as crop insurance. High support price for their crops is also required besides making available easy credit for themselves. These are the only ways through which the situation of farmers can be improved and they may be prevented from committing suicide
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