Five more farmers commit suicides in Vidarbha
May 1st, 2012 - 3:39 pm ICT by IANS
Mumbai, May 1 (IANS) At least five “debt trapped” farmers have committed suicide in the last 48 hours in Maharashtra’s agrarian crisis hit Vidarbha region, taking the toll to 332 in the state in 2012, an activist said here Tuesday.
“Ramdas Dhale of village Chincholi in Yavatmal district committed suicide early Tuesday. He was a cotton farmer who was in debt trap of around Rs.3 lakh,” said Kishor Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a farmer advocacy group.
“In the last 48 hours, four other farmers also committed suicide after they could not repay their debt. Their names are Ajabrao Meshram of Shivani and Ramnna Pedkulwar of Aril in Yavatmal, Parvatibai Kadel of Poharadevi in Washim, and Shriram Kakad of Sategaon in Amaravati,” he added.
Tiwari said the total number of suicides by farmers has reached 332 in the four months of 2012.
He lamented that in spite of visits by several committees and political leaders, including Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, not much is being done to helpfarmers or prevent their suicides.
“As per official admission of Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, this year cotton cultivation has jumped to more than 44 lakh hectares in dry land region of Mahrashtra covering Vidarbha, Marathwada, Khandesh and North Maharashtra, but due to drought the yield has dropped to 45 lakh bales in comparison to last year’s yield of 86 lakh bales,” Tiwari said.
“Moreover, cost of cultivation has jumped to almost double, not to mention lack of proper irrigation facilities for rain sensitive BT cotton crop,” he added.
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- Debt drives three more Vidarbha farmers to suicide (Lead) - Apr 20, 2012
- Economist Vijay Kelkar visits crisis-ridden Vidarbha - Apr 06, 2012
- Four more farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha - Sep 08, 2012
- Vidarbha farmers, widows 'mourn' decade of BT cotton (With Image) - Mar 26, 2012
- Treat farmer suicides as murders, demands Vidarbha outfit - Dec 29, 2010
- Five farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha - Sep 02, 2011
- Seven more Vidarbha farmers commit suicide in last 48 hours - Sep 08, 2011
- Vidarbha farmers, widows to 'mourn' decade of BT cotton - Mar 25, 2012
- Farmers' suicides: Parliamentary panel to visit Vidarbha Friday - Mar 01, 2012
- Vidarbha supporters to observe Maharashtra Day as Black Day - Apr 27, 2012
- Six more Vidarbha farmers commit suicides, says NGO - Jul 01, 2012
- Vidharba farmers protest Chavan's 'peanuts' bailout package - Dec 15, 2011
Tags: advocacy group, agriculture minister, amaravati, andolan, aril, bt cotton, cotton crop, cotton cultivation, cotton farmer, debt trap, early tuesday, general secretary, irrigation facilities, kadel, lakh bales, north maharashtra, proper irrigation, rahul gandhi, ramdas, shivani