Five more Vidarbha Farmer Suicides reported in 72 Hours

Five more Vidarbha Farmer Suicides reported in 72 Hours: Maharashtra Govt. is ignoring Agrarian crisis

Nagpur -1^st September, 2012

Vidarbha agrarian crisis once again getting aggravated due to erratic nature of monsoon and on going pest attack and fungal infection dropping down average yield of cotton, Soya and paddy to 50% has restarted spiral of farmer suicides which are reported fresh five more victims in last 72 hours taking toll to 50 in august and 526 in year 2012 due to mounting debt, fear of crop failure and volatility market price of cotton, Soya an paddy. The ill fated Five More vidarbha farmers who committed suicides in last 72 hours are v.i.z.

1.Manikrao Kukade  (65) of village Ranegoan in Akola

2.Vithal Bhongare (55) of village Earanda in Akola

3.Shaym Sahare  (53) of village Ziroba in Bhandara

4.Daulat Kakde (60) of village Agra in Nagpur

5.Chakradhar Choudhary (32) of village Mansawali in Wardha ,

Year wise Data Of Vidarbha Farmer Suicide

Year	Vidarbha farmer suicide
2001	52
2002	104
2003	148
2004	447
2005	445
2006	1448
2007	1246
2008	1268
2009	916
2010	748
2011	918
2012(Till August,2012)	526
TOTAL	8266

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari informed today.

‘The situation of crop and water in Maharashtra is very complex as Maharashtra having declared Drought in 123 Talukas  by changing Norms and selecting blocks  as per will and wish of  Cong-NCP Ministers now Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan  who visited Delhi and petitioned top Union Ministers, including  Sharad Pawar  and P Chidambaram  for immediate financial assistance to mitigate the impact of the natural calamity is meeting today Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning commission officials to demand a "special package" to alleviate the state's drought crisis but he has not given any thought to on going vidarbha agrarian crisis and issue of  this year has very typical due untimely monsoon rain and quantum of which has damaged more than 2 million hector  standing crop of cotton ,soya and paddy area of vidarbha, Marathawada,Kokan and other khandesh-North Maharashtra  even rain fall is below 50% in some of area crop condition is good where as larger part central India where monsoon rain is above average crop is condition too poor to asses but ‘drought relief packages and talukas included’ have ignored these crisis which will aggravate situation hence  central team should asses the ground reality and then give financial node to political drought relief package of Maharashtra Govt.’ Tiwari added.

It is reported that Maharashtra CM Chavan who met  PM last week after a Sharad Pawar-led group of the Union cabinet expressed inability to take a call on the demand of premature drought assessment where as  state government has sought Rs 2,275 crore in aid for completion of 105 irrigation projects-35 in Vidharbha, 40 in Marathwada, and 30 in the rest of Maharashtra-in drought-prone areas by July 2013. It also wants Rs 580 crore for construction of cement check dams, which is also not covered under NDRF. A section of the political leadership, however, believes that the demand is an attempt to secure more aid for the controversy-ridden irrigation sector hence there is opposition from majority of Maharashtra farmers but same time they welcome central Govt. to consider revision in norms for funding aid to fodder depots and renovation to regional water supply scheme but till  core issues of Credit, Crop, Ground Water Crisis and Minimum Support Price for Maharashtra main cash crop like cotton ,soya and sugarcane  which are basic cause of on going farmer suicides and prevailing agrarian crisis are even listed  which is much more irritating ,we can not allow politician to siphon out thousands crore rupees in the name of relief packages hence we demand hike in MSP and direct subsidies to dry land farmers to decease cost of cultivation hence  we are against CM designed special relief package ,Tiwari said

Maharashtra Govt. “Drought Relief Package” is ignoring Agrarian crisis

Maharashtra Govt. “Drought Relief Package” is ignoring Agrarian crisis

Nagpur -25^th August, 2012

Maharashtra having declared Drought in 123 Talukas  by changing Norms and selecting blocks  as per will and wish of  Cong-NCP Ministers now Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan  yesterday petitioned top Union Ministers, including  Sharad Pawar  and P Chidambaram  for immediate financial assistance to mitigate the impact of the natural calamity is meeting today Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning commission officials to demand a "special package" to alleviate the state's drought crisis. He wants Singh to open new funding windows for drought mitigation measures not covered under the existing National Drought Response Fund (NDRF) is being termed as political move by cotton ,soya and paddy growers farmers  alleging that as it happened in past relief packages are always contractor and politician driven will be siphoned out and main agrarian crisis which is in more than 90 lakh hector will be completely ignored , Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari informed today.

‘the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra this year has very typical due untimely monsoon rain and quantum of which has damaged more than 2 million hector  standing crop of cotton ,soya and paddy area of vidarbha, Marathawada,Kokan and other khandesh-North Maharashtra  even rain fall is below 50% in some of area crop condition is good where as larger part central India where monsoon rain is above average crop is condition too poor to asses but ‘drought relief packages and talukas included’ have ignored these crisis which will agrrivate situation hence  central team should asses the ground reality and then give financial node to political drought relief package of Maharashtra Govt.’Tiwari added.

It is reported that Maharashtra CM Chavan decided to approach PM after a Sharad Pawar-led group of the Union cabinet expressed inability to take a call on the demand. The state government has sought Rs 2,275 crore in aid for completion of 105 irrigation projects-35 in Vidharbha, 40 in Marathwada, and 30 in the rest of Maharashtra-in drought-prone areas by July 2013. It also wants Rs 580 crore for construction of cement check dams, which is also not covered under NDRF. A section of the political leadership, however, believes that the demand is an attempt to secure more aid for the controversy-ridden irrigation sector hence there is opposition from majority of Maharashtra farmers but same time they welcome central Govt. to consider revision in norms for funding aid to fodder depots and renovation to regional water supply scheme but till  core issues of Credit,Crop, Ground Water Crisis and Minimum Support Price for Maharashtra main cash crop like cotton ,soya and sugarcane  which are basic cause of on going farmer suicides and prevailing agrarian crisis are even listed  which is much more irritating ,we can not allow politician to siphon out thousands crore rupees in the name of relief packages hence we demand hike in MSP and direct subsidies to dry land farmers to decease cost of cultivation hence  we are against CM designed special relief package ,Tiwari said

Farmers welcome panel’s report against GM crops-Gulf News Report

 Farmers welcome panel’s report against GM crops

 Panel urges for study of socio-economic and 

health impact of Bt cotton seed

• By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
• Published: 12:31 August 11, 2012

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/farmers-welcome-panel-s-report-against-gm-crops-1.1060526

Mumbai: Millions of farmers across the Vidarbha region, Maharashtra, and environmental activists have welcomed the parliamentary committee’s report on genetically modified (GM) crops that was tabled in Parliament.

“Cotton farmers are today relieved that the distress endured by them and the reason for the agrarian crisis has been reflected in the parliamentary panel report,” said Kishor Tieari, representative of a farmers’ body, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS). Other fact finding committees and even the Prime Minister’s relief packages did not refer to this serious concern over GM crops, he noted.

The panel has recommended a study of socio-economic and health impact of Bt cotton seed and a complete probe in to the issue of Bt Brinjal, saying that adequate tests had not been carried and the approval committee was under “tremendous pressure” from the “Industry and a Minister” to approve it.

“We are indebted to MP Basudeb Acharia and 31 other MPs who have cut across party lines to endorse the truth,” he said and described the report as an “historic, comprehensive and well-grounded document that has thrown light on the agrarian crisis in India.” The panel has revealed that 93 percent of the area is under Bt. Cotton because no alternative seeds are available.

Farmers have appreciated the panel’s visit to Vidarbha, the suicide capital of cotton farmers in the country. The panel had travelled across the country over a period of two and a half years consulting various stakeholders in the debate including farmers, farmer union leaders, biotechnology industry representatives, government officials, scientists and civil society members.

Farmers are also happy that the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has been finally censured for having failed to discharge its mandated responsibilities in so far as the introduction of transgenic agriculture crops in India is concerned. “They ignored the farmers’ profile in India – that is 70 percent of them are small and marginal farmers, levels of mechanization, non-availability of irrigation facilities, cost-benefit analysis, the uncertainty of yield, loss to biodiversity and so forth.”

Meanwhile, Greenpeace India, too, hailed the report which comes at a time when the Union government is trying hard to introduce a new regulatory system for GM crops. “The standing committee report exposes the serious gaps in our country’s GM regulatory system and the lopsided GM technology promotion policies of the government,” said Neha Saigal, Sustainable Agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India. She added that that it is time the government gives priority to the welfare of its citizens over profit motivated seed companies.

Greenpeace demands the Indian government to take the panel’s recommendations seriously and act on them.

Vidarbha Farmers welcomes Parliamentary Panel Report on Bt cotton

Vidarbha Farmers welcomes Parliamentary Panel Report

on Bt cotton and Bt.Brinjal

Nagpur -August 10, 2012

A parliamentary panel headed by MP Basudeb Acharia  who visited agrarian crisis and farm suicide capital of India vidarbha has truly represented the sentiments of vidarbha  and reasons economic collapse resulting actuate distress and debt forcing more than 10,000 Bt.cotton farmers suicides  recommended study of socio-economic and health impact of Bt.cotton seed and complete  probe into the issue of Bt Brinjal, saying that adequate tests had not been carried out and the approval committee was under "Tremendous Pressure" from the "Industry and a Minister" to approve it, , Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari informed today..

‘3 million distressed Vidarbha cotton farmers are today happy that their pain and focus of agrarian crisis has been truly reflected in the parliamentary panel report which was missing in all earlier fact finding committees and even prime minister relief packages hence we are indebted to MP Basudeb Acharia   and all other 31 MPs who have across party line endorsed truth’ Tiwari added.

“The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture’s report on GM crops a historic, comprehensive and well-grounded document and has thrown light on fact agrarian crisis in India are matter of concern of law makers and policy promoters not  MNC base technology  promoting scientific community  involved in  blind promotion of the technology is unscientific to say the least as parliament  Committee have criticized the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation for having failed to discharge its mandated responsibilities, in so far as, the introduction of transgenic agricultural crops in India is concerned, as a policy matter.  They ignored the farmers’ profile in India i.e. 70% of them being small and marginal ones, levels of mechanization, non-availability of irrigation facilities, the cost-benefit analysis, the uncertainty of yield, loss to biodiversity, etc. They have, therefore, recommended an in depth probe to track the decision making involved in commercial release of Bt. cotton including how Bt. cotton became a priority when the avowed goal of introduction of transgenic in agricultural crops was to ensure and maintain food security ”Tiwari added.

Vidarbha cotton farmers has drawn the attention of parliament committee report regarding impact on  animal Feeding on Bio-safety Studies with Biotechnologically Transformed Bt. Cotton Crop Seed Meal’ conducted in 2008 that there was increase in liver weight, testicle weight, testicle fat and RBC in blood and decrease in WBC in blood in the lambs fed with Bt. cotton seed, the Committee have recommended a professional evaluation of these developments, their possible causes and consequences by an expert committee comprising of eminent scientists from ICMR, pathologists, veterinarians and nutritionists. Further, noting that the data in the Study Report pertaining to kidney weight, spleen weight, heart weight, lung weight, kidney fat, cole fat, pancreas and penis weight also shows variations in Bt. cotton seed fed lambs, the Committee have also recommended a relook by the expert committee constituted for the purpose into all these findings and apprise them about their evaluation and interpretation of the data at the soonest.   The Committee have also sought the considered views of RCGM and GEAC on this Food Study Report and how it fared in their consideration while deciding the biosafety and health safety aspects of Bt. Cotton hence we demand complete environmental impact assessment on this issue ,Tiwari added.

“Vidarbha has been classic example of promotion of wrong technology in unregulated manner which has been reflected in the parliament committee report which noted that it is evident that  the grossly inadequate and antiquated regulatory mechanism for assessment and approval of transgenics in food crops; the serious conflict of interest of various stakeholders involved in the regulatory mechanism; the total lack of post commercialization, monitoring and surveillance, the Committee have felt that  in such a situation what the Country needs is not a bio-technology regulatory legislation  but an all encompassing umbrella legislation on bio-safety which is focused on ensuring the bio-safety, biodiversity, human and livestock health, environmental protection and which specifically describes the extent to which bio-technology, including modern bio-technology, fits in the scheme of things, without compromising with the safety of any of the elements mentioned above.  They have, therefore, recommended to the Government, with all the power at their command, to immediately evolve such a legislation after due consultation with all stakeholders and bring it before the Parliament without any further delay.    The Committee have also cautioned the Government that in their tearing hurry to open the economy to private prospectors, they should not make the same fate befall on the agriculture sector, as has happened to the communications, pharma, mineral wealth and several other sectors in which the Government’s facilitative benevolence preceded setting up of sufficient checks and balances and regulatory mechanisms, thereby, leading to colossal, unfettered loot and plunder of national wealth in some form or the other, incalculable damage to environment, bio-diversity, flora and fauna and unimaginable suffering to the common man which is very serious issue  hence we demand separate commission of enquiry of the damages ” Tiwari added.

“We are happy that The Agriculture Standing Committee has 31 members and is headed by veteran parliamentarian Basudeb Acharia. Interestingly enough, this report was unanimously adopted by the Committee, cutting across party lines will help parliament to lok in to the ground reality and  the plight of rainfed smallholder farmers in the country, the biotech industry is busy profiteering at their expense. The analysis of the Standing Committee when it comes to Bt cotton performance in the country, backed up by field visits by committee members to vidarbha villages, is that it has aggravated agrarian distress rather than helped farmers. We demand that liability for this be fixed on promoters and regulators. The irresponsible hype and promotion of this technology has cost many farmers their lives and this cannot continue, hence we demand immediate intervention ’Tiwari urged.

Maharashtra Govt. take final call to Ban Mahyco-Monsanto Bt.cotton seed

Maharashtra Govt. take final call to Ban Mahyco-Monsanto Bt.cotton seed

Nagpur -09 August , 2012

The Director of Inputs and Quality Control (DIQC), the licensing authority in Mahrashtra has in it’s final order yesterday banned  Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) notice under the provisions of the Maharashtra Cotton Act, 2009 and now all trade activities of Mahyco Monsanto Biotech are illegal and if any violation of Govt. orders there be criminal stern action against  all Myhyco Monsantro , The Director of Inputs and Quality Control (DIQC) Dr.Sudam Adsule announced in pune today.

“if company challenges the order we have already moved in Mumbai and Aurangabad high court benches and filed cavet and we have given fair chance to company and all charges of unfair trade practices proved and hence under existing cotton seed act we have taken action  and it can’t be revoked ” Dr.Sudam Adsule added

“we welcome the decision as Bt.cotton seed has been better seed and played key role in vidarbha farm suicide saga since June 2005 andwe demand all other 28 companies sub-lised by MMB should be ban and replaced by traditional Indian cotton seed as the cost of seeds of straight varieties is much lower than Bt varieties, besides which these varieties become ready for plucking in just 150-160 days whereas BT varieties take around 180-200 days, which reduces the need for fertilizers, pesticides and other nutrients substantially and unlike Bt cotton desi varieties there is no need to provide in-built protection for cotton against destructive American Bollworm Heliothis which is not the case with desi seed’’ Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari informed today.

Earlier last month Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Radhakrishnna Vikhe Patil has informed Maharashtra legislative assembly yesterday which reported in the media today(copy attached)  that the basis of  number complaints from cotton farmers and reports of agricultures officers that Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) company has been cheating the innocent cotton farmers by supplying sub-standard seeds ,Involved in black-marketing of seed by creating official short supply and ignoring earlier notices of all unfair trade practices ,Govt. has ban sale of Bt.cotton supplied by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (MMB) as company failed to supply good quality seed even after taking huge amount of advances from debt trapped dying cotton farmers Maharashtra ,minister informed house.

Now India is largest cotton cultivator of Bt.cotton seed in 126 lakhs hector  jumped from 4 lakhs hector when first it was approved for commercialization in India in 2002, followed by Bollgard® II – double-gene technology in mid-2006, by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the Indian regulatory body for biotech crops which has was objected by leading environmental activist and now questioned by Indian parliament . the much more disputed genetic technology Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bollgard® II contains a superior double-gene technology - Cry1Ac and Cry 2Ab which provides protection against bollworms but is matter of concern due to it’s toxicity damaging environment and public health care hence we demand complete ban on GM technology in India, Tiwari urged.

Pro-MNC Leader Sharad Joshi supports Ramdev Stir

Pro-Free Trade  Farm Leader Sharad Joshi Now Supports Bharat Swabhiman  Andolan of Baba Ramdev

Nagpur -August 3, 2012

Maharashtra’s Shetkari Sanghatana led by former MP Sharad Joshi  who is strong supporter of liberalization and blind advocate of MNCs  instrumental to get  India signed GATT in 1990s has announced his support   Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev in their agitation against corruption and black money in New Delhi from August 9.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_farmer-groups-to-join-annas-stir-from-august-9_1722466

‘We are surprised as Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev's  Bharat Swabhaman Andolan  is completely against Globalization and role of MNCs  which are mainly responsible for 2 lakh 70 thousand farmers suicides after India opened signed with WTO allowing these MNCs to take of over agriculture and market . if group who are supporting these policies and technologies who are killing the farmers and instrumental for  generation of black money in India then fate of such anti-graft agitation will be sealed and likely to be restricted to  the agenda of 2014 National Election which is most unfortunate hence we urge Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev not to allow such leaders who are against the farmers’ and nation at large ’ Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) informed in press release today.

Recently at a press conference here on 13^th march 2012  Sharad Joshi Joshi, along with Dr C D Mayee, former director of Nagpur-based Centre for Indian Cotton Research ( CICR) and Association of Bt-Led Enterprise (ABLE), an organization backed by companies making Bt seeds including US-based Monsanto after parliament committee toured the country on the directions of Lok Sabha speaker and went back with largely negative feedback about the genetically modified BT cotton seed from Vidarbha strongly supported Bt.cottom seed and GM technology and wrote   to PMO as well as Lok Sabha speaker quoting Farm suicides are being wrongly linked with the use of Bt cotton and Bt.cotton  seed has only helped improve the farmers' condition with high yields but his association with MNCs  known to Govt. ignored letters and shown it to dustbin, Tiwari added.

“The on going agitation focusing corruption and Black money ,has put all socioeconomic issues related to  pro-poor and pro-farmer policies and even media focus has been shifted  from crore national issues to single point agenda of  anti graft regulator hence now it’s high time to start working poverty and hunger and saving 3 billion farm families  who are dying due to free market and MNCs menace  hence this appeal ,Tiwari  said. 

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