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