What's new

India land of abject poverty

Status
Not open for further replies.

idune

ELITE MEMBER
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Messages
13,663
Reaction score
-40
Country
Bangladesh
Location
United States
Drought-hit Indian farmers sell wives to pay debts
by Kulsum Mustafa Kulsum Mustafa – Wed Sep 9, 8:33 am ET

LUCKNOW, India (AFP) – Drought-hit farmers in northern India are resorting to selling their wives to repay debts to local loan sharks, activists say, as one of the weakest monsoons in years takes its toll.

Poverty, poor administration and a lack of education means farmers in the rugged Bundelkhand region are taking extreme steps to pull through a poor rainy season, they say.

"This has been happening for quite some time now, but people were hesitant to come out with all this," said Manoj Kumar, a social activist working with farmers in the area.

Excluded from the formal banking sector, the poverty-stricken farmers often turn to usurious private money lenders when banks refuse them loans or even accounts.

After five years of poor crop yields and steadily decreasing rainfall, the crushing weight of the high interest payments has led to a well-documented spate of suicides and increasing cases of human-trafficking.

Another social worker, Shailendra Sagar, said the situation of farmers in Bundelkhand, a region that spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, was "pathetic."

"They are living in debt. Selling off one's wife or daughters is the last resort," he said.

The sale price for married women is hard to ascertain and their fate after being sold is equally difficult to follow.

Local reports have suggested wives can be pawned or sold for anything between one rupee to 12,000 rupees (240 dollars).

Some women are sold under the guise of a legal marriage, complete with a formal contract, but activists believe others end up being exploited by prostitution rings.

In the last four to five years around 50 percent of the region's population has left Bundelkhand villages to find work in cities, and at least 500 farmers have committed suicide, according to various Indian media reports.

For India's 235 million farmers, a bad monsoon can spell financial disaster because of the lack of irrigation.

Low rains have ravaged India's rice, cane sugar and groundnut crops, and have disrupted the flow of water into the main reservoirs that are vital for hydropower generation and winter irrigation.

About 40 percent of India's districts have declared a drought, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) this week said the country faced a 20-percent annual rainfall deficiency, though that figure is expected to improve with recent patchy rains.

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi, said research had identified Bundelkhand as one of the regions most vulnerable to sex trafficking.

"This region is famous for that. Even earlier such incidents have happened, it's not the first time," she said.

Some farmers are aware that they are selling their wives to prostitution rings, Kumari added, but "they do it out of absolute desperation. They have absolutely no other alternative before them."

A government-funded scheme in which states are obliged to guarantee 100 days of paid employment per year to villagers has yet to be fully implemented in Bundelkhand.

"There are no specially dedicated schemes to develop these regions. If skill training was delivered, this whole situation would have been different in the past six decades," said Kumari.


Drought-hit Indian farmers sell wives to pay debts - Yahoo! News
 
1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India

Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today. The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.


"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine


"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."


Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.


In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.


His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.


"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."


"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."


Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."


Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.


"Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.


All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies," he said.

1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India - Asia, World - The Independent
 
20 farmers commit suicide in southern India after lack of rain

Submitted by Sahil Nagpal on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 13:26.

New Delhi - At least 20 farmers have committed suicide in arid regions of southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, news reports said Sunday.

Most of the suicides were in the Telengana and Rayalseema regions where farmers depend heavily on seasonal monsoon rains which have been scanty this year, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The state government said 20 farmers had committed suicide over a period of 40 days but the reasons were being ascertained.

The farmers were driven to suicide under mounting debts, the Times of India reported. They had taken loans to dig bores to tap groundwater for cotton and other vegetable crops in the absence of rain, but the falling water table due to lack of rains worsened the situation.

The state government has announced it was helping the farmers through crop insurance and loans.

Families of farmers who had committed suicide would get compensation of 150,000 rupees (about 3107 dollars) each.

More than 700 million people in India are dependant on the seasonal monsoon rains for their livelihood.

The rains have been up to 20 per cent less than normal across large parts of India this season so far, according to the Indian weather office.

The federal government has declared 177 of India's 626 administrative districts as drought hit.

In his Independence Day speech Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the federal government would provide all possible assistance to farmers to deal with the drought. (dpa)

20 farmers commit suicide in southern India after lack of rain | Top News
 
Yup all true.

Most of our politicians are afraid of carrying out the land ceilinig Act and being left of centre fail to understand the need to couple land reforms with introduction of more productive techniques in farming (value chain migration, corporate culture, easier credit, GM seeds, hedging training and usage, farmers insurance, multifarming, rural infra buildup).

Mostly it is the commies who are interested in making everyone equally poor by opposing such changes.

I wish things get better and our farmers are able to shake off these stupid policy makers.
 
Dear Mr.IDUNE

What is the purpose of Publishing the News "India land of abject poverty"???

Is this a type of Propaganda or exploiting Indians??
 
Indian farmers continue to commit suicide as India Inc. and Indian Government ride ‘high’ on American and European money

Balaji Reddy
Jan. 28, 2008

Two debt-ridden farmers committed suicide in this North Maharashtra district. This is not an isolated incidence. Millions of Indian farmers are in deep distress. The Congress party made all kinds of promises before coming to power. PM Manmohan Singh and his boss Sonia Gandhi kept none of them.

India and India’s so called business sophistication conduit commonly called India Inc. rides ‘high’ on exploding stock market, foreign direct investment (FDI), outsourcing and credit card powered consumer boom from the middle class in millions. Simply put, India Inc. rides ‘high’ on American dreams and borrowed American money and guidance towards materialistic life.

In the mean time India’s backbone the farmers getting wiped out. Reliance and other Indian oligarch controlled companies are eager to bring the WalMart model to lower the price of ‘everything’ and in the process create more distress for the farmers.

Indian communists finally gave in to the Indian oligarchs in West Bengal. They are distributing illegally acquired land from the poor farmers to these blood sucking Indian oligarchs.

Prakash Dhulaji Barge (34), a resident of Dahiwadi in Sinnar taluka, set himself ablaze on Republic Day. He had no choice. Indian oligarchs and Indian Government created the environment for him and other farmers where death is desirable that to be slaves of debt.

Gangaram Bhoye (50), a resident of Bhormal village in tribal-dominated Surgana tehsil, died yesterday after consuming poison. This case is nothing new. It is happening all over India every day in hundreds. Little get reported in mainstream Indian media controlled by the Indian oligarchs.

IndiaDaily - Indian farmers continue to commit suicide as India Inc. and Indian Government ride ‘high’ on American and European money
 
Whay are you going away from the point??? we can discuss the suicide by farmers also.....

I said what is your purpose of publishing this article "India -land of abject poverty"

propaganda or exploting or just for a your inner satisfaction.... etc etc..

Please reply
 
Dear Mr.IDUNE

What is the purpose of Publishing the News "India land of abject poverty"???

Is this a type of Propaganda or exploiting Indians??

I think its reality rather than propaganda and you should try to face it and change it.

KIT Over n Out
 
Poverty provokes Assamese film distributor to commit suicide

Guwahati, Jul 09 : Unable to bear the pangs of abject poverty, solitude and frustration Assam's renowned film distributor Sada Chaudhury committed suicide last night at Panikhaiti, in the outskirts of the city.


The distributer moved to the isolated place about a decade and a half back and led a poverty-stricken life away from the glitz and glamour of the tinsel world.

Unmarried Sada Chaudhury was distributor of some of the great films of Assamese cinema like Man Prajapati, Makaru Maram and Ranga Police.

He was a close associate of Dr Bhupen Hazarika as well as Bollywood’s Dilip Kumar and Mithun Chakravarty.

But as Assam's film business started dwindling by late eighties and early nineties, Mr Chaudhury had to wrap up the business as people largely stayed away from cinema halls.

''I am shocked to hear the news of his sad demise. What is ironical that what should have been done by Assam Government, he was doing at his own level to preserve the old Assamese movies despite his poverty-stricken existence,'' said noted film critic Sibanu Bora.

The Assam government had once given some financial assistance to Mr Chaudhury.

--UNI

Poverty provokes Assamese film distributor to commit suicide .:. newkerala.com Online News
 
This is sad moment. India can export these farmers to till the wide-open lands in Africa. Many African nations have large sparse lands good for farming. It can be done and is practical.
 
Dear Mr.I dune...

I think you are not coming to the discussion.. any way..

You are not maintaning the theDignity of being senior member ok..

If you consider "INDIA -LAND OF ABJECT POVERTY" THEN WHAT WE CALL BANGLADESHI...... I HAVE so many words to write but i do care the dignity of this Forum..

For your info The Number of People Living below poverty line in Bangladesh is 38% (LATEST FROM WIKIPEDIA) AND INDIA IS HAVING 22 OR 26%.... rest of the situation you can immagine...

Using the words that provoke people is not a good idea..

you may wRITE THE TITLE AS " WORST AGRICULTURE CONDITONS DUE TO DRAUGHT IN INDIA" OR SOME THING SIMILAR TO THAT..

bUT YOU DID'T

Grow up kid...
 
Dear Mr.IDUNE

What is the purpose of Publishing the News "India land of abject poverty"???

Is this a type of Propaganda or exploiting Indians??

sounds like it has more to do with his hate for India. So he trolls for reactions. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh all have people that live in severe poverty.

The U.S. has people that live in poverty. though here it is easy for them to get food support. not sure what programs you guys have to feed the poor.
 
Last edited:
No nope i just tried to convince him that his "Title of the thread" was not good...

I agree with you that INDIA PAKISTAN AND BANGLADESH LIVES IN ALMOST SIMILAR CONDITIONS.Thats why i advised him to change the title.. That should not be provocative...

if does't wish to do that then he may continue with his ego satisfaction...
 
According to Idune

Bangladesh has better economy then us. So guys please respect his delusional world and let him live with it in land full of Indian stooges with Indian supporters as RAW agents.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Pakistan Affairs Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom