Vidarbha farmers “GandhiGiri” : Effigies of Union Agriculture Minister and Maharashtra chief minister burnt along with last ritual cotton farmers

Vidarbha farmers “GandhiGiri” : Effigies of Union Agriculture Minister and Maharashtra chief minister burnt along with last ritual cotton farmers who committed suicide

16 Vidarbha Farmers Suicides during Nagpur Winter Session

Nagpur-16^th December 2010

As main demands of cotton farmers of west vidarbha to give financial aid of Rs.40,000/- per hector and cotton procurement by Maharashtra cotton federation @ Rs.4500/- per quintal rejected by Maharashtra and there is no relief from central Govt. on the front of export relaxation and incentive for cotton for cotton export ,cotton farmers have lodged protest in “GandhiGiri” style by burning effigies of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithaviraj Chavan and union agriculture minister sharad pawar along with body of ill-fated cotton farmer Tulsiram Pawar who committed suicide last night in village shivani in ghatangi taluka of yavatmal district .

Tulsiram Pawar progressive cotton farmer who committed suicide by drinking pesticide having lost complete cotton crop who is debt of Maharashtra bank and local moneylenders was in deep distress and despair as relief aid from Govt. was not coming .cotton farmers gathered in large number were shouting slogans against policies of state and central Govt. and demanding relief aid and cotton procurement by state Govt. @ Rs.4500/- per quintal rate, Mohan Jadhav of vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS) informed in press release today.

‘as farmers were very optimistic with new chief minister prithviraj chavan but nothing serious and fruitful has been announced in the whole winter session and this will has added fuel in on going distress and agrarian crisis will trigger another spiral of farm suicide in the region as there is no hope to get any more money from crop and moneylenders are forcing hard recoveries more cases like Tulsiram Pawar bound to be reported in the dying field of west vidarbha ’ Mohan Jadhav

Maharashtra Govt. failed to give subsides food and free health care even after committees after committees recommended to the more than 1 million distressed families due to lack fund today passed resolution to double all pay and park of Maharashtra legislators and presiding officers of more than Rs.10 million crore without any discussion unanimously today .

‘When central Govt. has cut loan to Maharashtra Govt. to poor fiscal condition as debt over the state has crossed RS.2Lacs thousand crore and state is over drawing it’s R.B.I. limit for payment of it’s babaus and all relief aid is being denied due to lack fund,the bankrupt Govt. is giving mega package to it’s legislators is nothing but open robbery to public treasury and brazen misuse of power and highly objectionable and unwanted should be taken back immediately’ Kishor Tiwari of said today.

‘Presently Maharashtra is facing unusual economic crisis where as industrial growth being retarded ,the record excessive and untimely rain damaged most of all cash crops in Maharashtra resulting more than Rs.25,000 crore huge financial losses to Maharashtra to the growers hence Maharashtra Govt. expected to arrange special economic relief to compensate more than 5 million farmers losses but nothing has been seriously discussed nor any long term fiscal solution has been provided by legislators,all legislates should declare that they ashamed to take this mega hike pf pay and perk as the voters are and por farmers are dying and will retun the hike in relief fund’ Kishor Tiwari of VJAS urged in press release today.

When Nagpur assembly was placed and winter session has been working since 1^st December 2010 ,16 more farmers suicides in vidarbha have been reported which are

	Name	Place	District
1	Tulsiram Amba Pawar	Shivani	Yavatmal
2	Narayan Ingole	Gujari	Yavatmal
3	Shrikrishnna Pandit	Dudhana	Washim
4	Sukhdeo Dhale	Mugawani	Yavatmal
5	Syad Javed	Sawar	Yavatmal
6	Hivraj Kore	Kanori	Gondia
7	Ashok Honghot	Yekurna	Amaravati
8	Pramod Shende	Keshari	Gondia
9	Haribhau Kautale	Saral	Yavatmal
10	Dadarao Pawar	Sirasgoan	Yavatmal
11	Nagorao Jawanjal	Mohadi	Nagpur
12	Pravin Lande	Tiwasa	Amaravati
13	Khatu Bhoyar	Salesahari	Nagpur
14	Ravindra Khoke	Deheggoan	Yavatmal
15	Keshav More	Belkhed	Washim
16	Roshan Gedam	Kurandi	Gondia

Here is official figure of farmers suicides since 2001 provides by National Crime Records Bureau and Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swalabhan Mission .

Year	As National Crime Records Bureau	As per Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swalabhan Mission and Crime Records data of of six district of west vidarbha
2001	116	59
2002	254	105
2003	328	143
2004	456	441
2005	666	431
2006	1886	1215
2007	1556	1160
2008	1680	1080
2009	1954	991
2010	706	716
Total	8702	6331 (of six district of west vidarbha )

“We want bring the attention Maharashtra Govt. that according recent report of When we were asking ministers including chief minister and his deputy chief minister to visit single house of these farmers to know the reason of suicides ,we thought very active opposition leader like you will visit house of this ill fated farmer’s family but nobody from opposition failed to do so.

VJAS has brought another shocking fact before the chief minister that more than 70% finance for cotton crop cultivation is given by private micro finance institutes MFI as against Rs.9600 crore total cost of cultivation ,state owned banks have given only Rs.1460 crore which has been most disturbing facts that is adding fuel in the despair of farmers as MFI style of finance and recoveries are through local self help group(SHG) which are now acting as shelf recovery group(SRG) which needs to be banned immediately to stop innocent victimization debt trapped cotton farmers.

‘The cotton crop failure in Maharashtra is very serious issue but in the recent announcement the on Maharashtra agrarian crisis and Rs.1000 crore bail out package have not covered hence we have approached chief minister who is keen to bring Maharashtra agrarian economy on track and wants to stop on going cotton farmers suicides. VJAS has promised all constructive help to the Maharashtra chief minister if he is really serious to address the mass genocide of farming community as cotton farmers economic crisis is policy driven not the nature driven ’Tiwari assured . Even Maharashtra is set give record production of cotton due heavy increase in cultivation area, the cost of cultivation which has reached to record Rs.40,000/- per hector has completely disturbed economic stability of the reason more it has spread agrarian crisis to other part of Maharashtra from west vidarbha but this serious issue is being ignored by Maharashtra administration hence we have written to chief minister so that the corrective action to bail out more than 5 million farmers can be taken ,VJAS added in press release .

“Though the market prices are above Rs.4000/- per quintal much above the minimum support price of the state, till farmers are loosing Rs.12,000/- per hector thanks to the exploitation of private traders and non-intervention of Maharashtra cotton federation when international prices are above RS.500/- per quintal” Tiwari said.