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After consecutive years of poor rainfall and no help from a lethargic government, farmers in Palamu district have written to the President of India requesting permission to put an end to their “miserable” lives
Farmers in Chhattarpur block, 170 km west of Ranchi in the Palamu district of Jharkhand, have launched a signature campaign seeking permission to commit mass suicide. Beggared by four continuous years of drought and no assistance from the government, 5,000 farmers signed a petition that was sent to President Pratibha Patil on June 29, 2009. In the letter, the farmers claim that since they “cannot lead a respectable life, we should be able to die in a respectable way”. Palamu district received just 8.6 mm of rain in June instead of the expected 154 mm. Farmers say government programmes aimed at relieving their distress in such a situation have not helped. “There is no water in the wells. There is no water in the tap. We do not have food to eat. So we are left with no choice but to commit suicide. We can consume poison and die. The government should give us permission to eat poison and die,” said Dulari Devi, a villager. The district administration admits there is a problem. The deputy commissioner says paddy is sown on 48,000 hectares of land, but so far sowing has taken place only on 5% of the land; another major crop in the region, maize, has been sown on just 1% of the land that usually hosts the crop. Other blocks such as Leslieganj and Sarbatwala face a similar crisis. The drastic measure proposed by the farmers seems to have shaken an apathetic administration that has assured them that steps will be taken to confront the drought-like situation. But, the farmers say, they will send their petition to the chief justice of the Supreme Court, the Jharkhand High Court and to the governor of the state. Among other states, Vidharba in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have seen large numbers of farmer suicides in the past 10 years (4,000 a year in Vidharba and more than 1,500 a year in Chhattisgarh). The cause is said to be growing farmer indebtedness owing to the government’s bad agricultural policies like costly imported seeds and heavy use of expensive fertilisers, making an already poor section of Indians poorer. Source: Hindustan Times, June 30, 2009
Reuters, June 30, 2009
ANI, June 28, 2009
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