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4,850 Vidarbha farmer suicides in last four years: VJAS 31 Oct 2008, 1749 hrs IST,PTI
NAGPUR: As many as 4,850 farmers have committed suicide during the four-year tenure of the Congress-NCP Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra from 2004 to 2008, though the trend is on the decline, an NGO said today.
From 456 farmer suicides in 2004 to 660 in 2005 which grew to 1,886 in 2006, the number of suicides has gone down to 1,213 in 2007 and further dropped to 635 in 2008, Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti President Kishore Tiwari said in a release here.
Admitting that suicidal tendencies among farmers in the Vidarbha region was fast reducing, Tiwari said that mounting debts, crop failure and harassment from private money lenders had multiplied the problems of farmers in the region.
Meanwhile, three farmers committed suicide during Diwali. They were identified as Arvind Madhavrao Deshmukh (Lakhanwadi, Amravati), Narendra Gulabrao Panchre (Kohla, Nagpur) and Atul Shriram Kale (Kandhli, Wardha), the release said.
Home > News > maharashtra-news Three more farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha Nagpur, Oct 27 : Three more debt-ridden farmers committed suicide on 'Dhanteras' day in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, activists said today.
The farmers, who ended their lives yesterday, were from Yavatmal, Bhandara and Amravati districts, according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a voluntary organisation working among farmers in the region, The number of farmers, who have taken the extreme step during the year, has touched 628, a VJAS release said.
The distressed farmers in the region were having a black Diwali because of the widespread damage to standing crops, especially cotton and soyabean, due to the advent of pests, the release said. Only a day before, six debt-ridden farmers in the region ended their lives, it added. -------- ----------- ------------------------------
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Vidarbha farmers suicide spiral restarted as Six more debt trapped farmers suicides reported on the eve of Diwali- VJAS to start |ndifinite fast agitation to demandGovt. procurement of cotton and soybean
As the cash crops in vidarbha i.e. cotton and soybean yieldhas been dropped to 50% due to massive pest attack and failure of monsoonrain has trigeered another spiral of farm suicides in vidarbha as six more debt trapped vidarbha farmers suicides reported today on the eve of first day diwali which is known dhan taras
Victims are
1.Govind shendre of wardha
2.Nathu dudhe of chandrapur
3.Mangilal rathode of akola
4.Sukhadas mandape of bhandara
5.Laxmi potulwar in yavatmal
6.Kailas ladhe in amaravati
all victims are who were debt trapped farmers and in acute financial crisis as they lost standing crop more over rates of cotton and soybean has fallen below minimum support price(MSP) set by central govt, and till date not single procurement centre of cotton and soybean has started that has forced the farmers for distressed sale resulting huge economic loss andextremity of killing themselves in oder to get rescue from agrarian crisis , Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti informed in a press release today
VJAS has threaten to start fast unto death agitation to demand the opening of Marketing federation's procurement centre so that rates of cotton and soybean is maintained above minimum support price(MSP) from 27th October tomorrow ,kishore tiwari added.
VJAS urged Govt. to address the issue of providing minimum support price(MSP )cover to dying cotton farmers as it is vital due sudden crop failure in the vidarbha region.
VJAS requested Indian Govt. to provide bailout package under NFSM (National food security mission) and RKVY(Rashtriya krishi vikas yojana) as loan waiver and earlier PM package failed address the basic issues of vidarbha agrarian crisis ,tiwari added. .
HIGH COURT ORDERED GOVT. TO FILE DETAILED AFFIDAVIT ON THE SCHEME OF FARMERS LOAN WAIVER OF RS. 71,000 CRORES AS HOW FAR IT IS BENEFITED TO THE VIDARBHA FARMERS IN DISTRESS AND ALSO ORDER TO TABLE DR. NARENDRA JADHAV COMMITTEE REPORT REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF PACKAGE SCHEMES FOR FARMERS IN CRISIS :
HIGH COURT TOOK SERIOUS NOTE OF CONTINUED FARMERS SUICIDES AND PLIGHT OF POOR FARMERS IN VIDARBHA AND ASKED STATE GOVT. TO FURNISH EVERY DETAILS WITHIN FOUR WEEKS.
Nagpur, 20TH October, 2008.
Taking the serious cognizance of continued farmers suicides and failure of various packages announced for the crisis ridden Vidarbha Farmers, the Division Bench of Bombay High Court at Nagpur expressed great concern about the matter & approach of the State Govt. in tackling the issue and asked to furnish every details of the farmers loan waiver scheme involving Rs. 71,000 Crores announced by Central Government and its benefit to the poor farmers in crisis ridden farmers in six districts of Vidarbha region and further also asked to furnish copy of report submitted by Dr. Narendra Jadhav Committee on package schemes and its implementation within four weeks.
Division Bench headed by Justice Dilip Sinha and Justice A.P. Bhangale at Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court while hearing the Public Interest Litigation filed by Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, President, Shri Kishore Tiwari, today expressed its great concern on the entire crisis and recorded that there was much hue & cry about the mismanagement of the various packages, hence the respondent State has appointed a one man Committee consisting of Dr. Narendra Jadhav – The Vice Chancellor, Pune University, Pune to verify that the packages are properly executed and to suggest the remedial measures for better implementation of the packages.The petitioner – Sh. Kishore Tiwari himself appeared before the Commission and extended his co-operation by submitting various suggestions and data.The Commission has submitted his report to the respondent State on 17.07.08, but according to the petitioner – Sh. Kishore Tiwari no action is initiated pursuant to said report and for proper assistance to the Hon’ble Court in the instant matter the presence of above report on record is also necessary.Hence ordered the respondent State and Union Government to furnish the copy of the said report.
During the course of today hearing, it is pointed out by the Counsel for Petitioner Adv. Sh. Firdos Mirza that –
1)That Hon’ble Court was pleased to entertain the instant petition in the larger public interest considering the reports regarding suicides committed by the cotton growing farmers in the western Vidarbha and the agrarian crisis.Pursuant to the cognizance taken by this Hon’ble Court, from time to time the respondents have declared various packages and placed their details before this Hon’ble Court, still the pace of suicides is unaffected.
2)That in earlier petition before the Hon’ble Divisional Bench of this Hon’ble Court at Bombay the respondent State has submitted that the principal amount to be rescheduled in respect of the loan outstanding against the farmers is of Rs.203 crores and the interest to be written off is Rs.61 crores. Later on by filing affidavit dated 3.9.07 the respondent State submitted that towards interest waiver it has paid Rs.825 crores from P.M. packages and Rs.240 crores from State package and the total overdue as on 30.6.06 was Rs.1407 crores.
3)That recently the Central Government has announced the complete loan waiver amounting to Rs.71000 crores. As mentioned above already Rs.1065 crores were paid by the Government to the Banks towards interest waiver out of the total amount of Rs.1407 crores, hence now the new quantum of the amount disbursed towards loan waivers of the farmers raises questions about its authenticity in the background of the fact that the amount is coming from the pocket of the tax payer.
4)That in compliance with the High Court Order dated 11.07.06, 7.8.06 and 6.8.07 as made a Web site operational pertaining to the relief packages, measures and programs formulated by the State for the benefit of the farmers specially the suicide affected area.The petitioner went through the contents of this Web site, but could not found the details of the beneficiaries and the exact amount paid to each Bank, hence theapplication has been filed for necessary directions to the respondent for placing the record and details of the loan weavers before this Hon’ble Court.
5)That there was much hue & cry about the mismanagement of the various packages, hence the respondent State has appointed a one man Committee consisting of Dr. Narendra Jadhav – The Vice Chancellor, Pune University, Pune to verify that the packages are properly executed and to suggest the remedial measures for better implementation of the packages.The petitioner himself appeared before the Commission and extended his co-operation by submitting various suggestions and data. The suggestions made by Petitioner – Sh. Kishore Tiwari before the said committee were very much appreciated by the said Dr. Narendra Jadhav Commission which recommended Food Security to 4,42,000 farmers family in extreme distress and recommended State to supply 25 Kgs foodgrains at subsidies rate at par with BPL and also recommended Cashless Health Card to 92,321 families in which serious illness problem have been found by the survey conducted by State Govt. The Petitioner pointed out that even though the commission has submitted his report to the respondent State on 17.07.08, but no action is initiated pursuant to said report.So for proper assistance to this Hon’ble Court in the instant matter, the presence of above report on record is also necessary.Hence Court Order its submission within four weeks.
It may be recalled that the said Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Petitioner Sh. Kishore Tiwari in the year 2005. Earlier by its Order dated 13th June 2006, due to negligent & casual approach of the State & its bureaucrats to comply with the earlier orders passed by the High-Court, the Division Bench of High Court had imposed cost of Rs. 1,000/- each to be recovered from the Chief Secretary & 12 Other Top I.A.S. Bureaucrats officials of the rank of Principal Secretary, Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners and Director General of Police to be paid within 2 weeks, otherwise the reply - affidavit would not be considered the order of imposition of cost of Rs.1000/- each was modified after the prayer made by the Advocate General of Maharashtra State, who had to rush Nagpur for pleading before the Court in this Writ Petition.
The Public Interest Litigation ¨Criminal Writ Petition was filed by Shri Kishore Tiwari with the wide prayers in the interest of Cotton Cultivating Farmers community at large. The prayers are as under that –
i) the Hon'ble High Court to take cognizance of the plight of poor Farmers who were compelled to commit suicide due to wrongful policies of the State,
ii) to order necessary probe / enquiry in the role of State Officers in promoting B.T. Cotton which resulted in the failure of crop,
iii) to direct investigation through C.B.I., Vigilance Commission, C.I.D. or any other independent agency in the matter of sale of bogus and duplicate B.T. Cotton seeds by the companies and involvement of the officials of the State in inducing the poor farmers for cultivating the B.T. Cotton,
iv) to order prosecution of the guilty officials for the offences punishable under Section 306, 409, 420 & 120 (B) of Indian Penal Code and their overacts causing series of suicides of farmers,
v) to direct the State to compensate the families of the farmers who have compelled to commit suicide by the negligence of the State by providing Rs. 5,00,000/- each without any disparity or choose & pick policy,
vi) to direct the State to take immediate measures for granting financial assistance to the Cotton Growing Farmers & to take further steps to protect the farmers from the coercive recovery at the hands of banks & private money lenders,
vii) to direct the State to place Action Taken Report on the recommendations of various Committees,
viii) to direct the State to take appropriate action against the B.T. Cotton Seeds companies for compensating the poor farmers died untimely &
ix) other reliefs which High Court may find suitable in the facts and circumstances.
The petition will be taken up for further hearing after 4 weeks at the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. Advocate Firdos Mirza & Advocate Vinod Tiwari appeared for the petitioner and State was represented by Additional Govt. Pleader and APP Smt. Bharati Dangre, whereas Central Government was represented by Adv. Sh. Shyam Ahirkar.
Kindly arrange to release this important news in your esteemed daily.
VJAS moved in The High Court of Judicature at Bombay
Bench at Nagpur in the matter vidarbha farmers suicides PIL .
Application for Directions to Produce Record
which is as under
The petitioner / applicants submits as under:-
1)This Hon’ble Court was pleased to entertain the instant petition in the larger public interest considering the reports regarding suicides committed by the cotton growing farmers in the western Vidarbha and the agrarian crisis.Pursuant to the cognizance taken by this Hon’ble Court, from time to time the respondents have declared various packages and placed their details before this Hon’ble Court, still the pace of suicides is unaffected.
2)That in earlier petition before the Hon’ble Divisional Bench of this Hon’ble Court at Bombay the respondent State has submitted that the principal amount to be rescheduled in respect of the loan outstanding against the farmers is of Rs.203 crores and the interest to be written off is Rs.61 crores. Later on by filing affidavit dated 3.9.07 the respondent State submitted that towards interest waiver it has paid Rs.825 crores from P.M. packages and Rs.240 crores from State package and the total overdue as on 30.6.06 was Rs.1407 crores.
3)That recently the Central Government has announced the complete loan waiver amounting to Rs.71000 crores. As mentioned above already Rs.1065 crores were paid by the Government to the Banks towards interest waiver out of the total amount of Rs.1407 crores, hence now the new quantum of the amount disbursed towards loan waivers of the farmers raises questions about its authenticity in the background of the fact that the amount is coming from the pocket of the tax payer.
4)That in compliance with the order dated 11.07.06, 7.8.06 and 6.8.07 as made a Web site operational pertaining to the relief packages, measures and programs formulated by the State for the benefit of the farmers specially the suicide affected area.The petitioner went through the contents of this Web site, but could not get the detail of the beneficiaries and the exact amount paid to each Bank, hence he is making this application for necessary directions to the respondent for placing the record and details of the loan weavers before this Hon’ble Court.
5)That there was much hue and cry about the mismanagement of the various packages, hence the respondent State has appointed a one man Committee consisting of Dr. Narendra Jadhav – The Vice Chancellor, Pune University, Pune to verify that the packages are properly executed and to suggest the remedial measures for better implementation of the packages.The petitioner himself appeared before the Commission and extended his co-operation by submitting various suggestions and data.The Commission has submitted his report to the respondent State on 17.07.08, but according to the petitioner no action is initiated pursuant to said report.For proper assistance to this Hon’ble Court in the instant matter the presence of above report on record is also necessary.Hence this application.
P R A Y E R :-It is therefore, most humbly and respectfully prayed that the respondent State of Maharashtra be directed to ..
a)produce the relevant record regarding complete loan waivers of the farmers containing the exact figure of amount paid to the Banks with their names and the Taluka wise beneficiaries in the 6 Districts of West Maharashtra.
b)produce the details of modalities and procedure adopted for identification of the beneficiaries and deciding the quantum of loan and interest outstanding against him.
c)produce copy of the report submitted by Dr. Narendra Jadhao Committee.
This PIL is fixed before High court on Monday dated 20th October and it is expected that HC will take serious note of on going state apathy in vidarbha agrarian crisis
VJAS to agitate for opening of cotton procurement centres in region
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Nagpur: The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a non-government organisation spearheading the farmers' cause in the region, has threatened to launch an agitation from October 26 to demand opening of cotton procurement centres by the State Cotton Growers Co-Operative Federation. According to Samiti president Kishore Tiwari, cotton crop has suffered largescale damage. "First the delayed and scanty rainfall stunted growth of the crop. Then it was followed by attack of 'army bug' and now 'Lalya' (a fungal attack) has hit the crop all over the region resulting in crop loss to the tune of hundreds of crores," Tiwari said. "The farmers have little respite from the trying circumstances and the suicide spree is unabated. In last two days another five farmers have ended their lives in desperation," he said identifying the five latest victims as Digamber Solav of Wardha, Kautukrao Jadhav of Buldhana, Nivruti Jadhao and Suman Yashwant of Washim and Mahnaji Lavale of Akola. "With reports of cotton prices falling to Rs 2300 per quintal from the high of Rs 3,200 two weeks ago, farmers have taken recourse to distress sale. With the state cotton federation failing to keep its October 2 date for opening of the procurement centres, there is no hope for farmers," said Tiwari. He has threatened to launch an indefinite agitation from October 26 to demand opening of the purchase centres.
Once againBt.cotton failed in vidarbha claiming 5 more farm suicides in last two days
Killer Bt.cotton has been once gain failed in vidarbha as 60% standing crop which was earlier effected by attack of mealy bug now has been destroyed by ‘Lalya attack” that’s suddenly in rain fed areastanding Bt. cotton crop gets completely damagedas it was the case in year 2005-06 when standing crop on 4lacsand 9 more debt trapped farmers suicides have been reportedin last three day Bt. cotton cropwas damaged and maharashtra Govt. compensated the same but this year damage is much more larger as area under Bt.cotton cultivation is under more than 12 lacs hector and losses are in tune of Rs.2000 crore (please see photos),this sudden economic losses has claimed five farm suicides in vidarbha in last two days and they are identified as
1.DIGAMBER SOLAV IN WARDHA
2.KAUTIKRAO JADHAV IN BULDHANA
3.NIVRUTIJADHAO IN WASHIM
4.MAHNAJI LAVALE IN AKOLA
5.SUMAN YASHWANT IN WASHIM
all victims are belonging backward dalit and tribal families who were debt trapped farmers andin acute financial crisisdue to sudden crop,Kishor Tiwari of vidarbha jan andolan samiti informed in a press release today.
.
.
VJAS to start Indefinite fast agitation from 26th october to demand Govt. procurement of cotton on MSP
In last fortnightthe cotton prices has fallenfrom Rs.3200 per quintal to Rs.2300 per quintaland local traders have started cotton procurement below the minimum support price MSP and farmers are forced to sale the cotton at throw away price in distresssale as maharashtra Govt. failed to start it’s procurement centers on 2nd October as announced earlier and there is no action at the level state run cotton marketing federation to start it’s centers before “diwali” and cotton growers will be at huge losses resulting more farm suicides in vidarbha ,tiwari feared .
“IfGovt. failed to procure the farmers cotton at MSP then it’s move to raise the MSP would be rediculos and will create more complications to the existing agrarian crisis ,hence VJAS have been demanding immediate opening of all procurements centers and in order topress our demand ,we arestarting “fast unto death” agtation from 26th October.farmers who are distress are loosing theconfidence due to pathetic approach of administration and nothing is reaching to them that is also one of the factor of increase in recent farm suicide rate in vidarbha .
It’sinnocent victimisationleading to the mass genocides of vidarbha distressed farmers due to economical collapse in cotton crop failure and heavy losses price cause to heavily subsidisedUS cotton andIt’stoo impossible to add and list of these farm suicides further”kishor tiwari said.
VJAS has also demanded Govt. relief to all farmers who lost their Bt.cotton this year and provision for to give fresh credit to dying cotton farmers andrequest Indian Govt. to start NFSM (National food security mission) and special outlay of RKVY(Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana) along with a comprehensive policy for land rights to landless, marginal farmers and tribals cultivating barren land for vidarbha and the demand to allocate dedicated funds on the lines of AIBP for farm ponds, community tanks and give incentives to farmers/villages who/which harness water but nobody in the administration is serious over the vidarbha agrarian crisis ,tiwari added. .
VIDARBHA JANANDOLAN SAMITI
PRESIDENT –
KISHORE TIWARI,
B.E. (Mech.Engg.), M.B.A., LL.B., M.A. (Pub. & Admn.), M.A. Sociology,
M.I.S. (USA), Fellow - I.E.H., Fellow – Institution of Engineers (India)-
CHARTERED ENGINEER
BACKGROUND :
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti is fighting for the cause of common man since 1998.
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti is constantly pursuing its battle on various fronts like –
a.Administrative
b.Judicial
c.Quasi-judicial
d.Legislative
e.Parliamentary
f.International levels
PUBLIC ISSUES :
1.Farmers suicides
2.Mal nutrition of Tribals.
3.Plights of Rural economy
4.Drinking water
5.Right to Food
6.Right to Education
7.Problems of Minorities
8.Issue of Separate Statehood to Vidarbha
THE EFFECT OF MOVEMENT :
The continued follow up and Jan Andolans of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has resulted in many success broadly classified as –
1.Waiver of small farmers crop loans
2.interest remission to marginal farmers
3.right to food to the lacs of tribals.
4.Primary Education to every rural students.
5.Farmers packages
6.BPL benefits to thousands of poor families.
7.Justice to unwed mothers
