Children as innocent victims
Alarming suicide rates among cotton farmers in India
by Shree Sridharan
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On average, one Vidarbha State farmer commits suicide every eight hours.
The suicides have left thousands of widows in the region, many of them between the ages of 19 and 25 with two to three children.
Vidarbha State follows a pattern seen in other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Punjab. Sadly, the media
choose only an occasional moment to throw its spotlight on the crisis.
In a drastic measure, in some affected villages, debt-ridden farmers have announced that their kidneys are for sale.
Something is wrong with this picture.
What is happening?
Isn't India an upcoming roaring tiger often compared with China in economic progress?
India's economy may be soaring, but agriculture remains its Achilles' heel, the source of livelihood for hundreds of millions of
people but a fraction of the nation's total economy and a symbol of its abiding difficulties.
Most of the 700 million people in India who live off the land, survive on less than two dollars a day.
Indeed, one or two crop failures, an unexpected health expense, or the marriage of a daughter, has become that much more
perilous in a livelihood where the risks are already high.
Coming back to the epidemic of suicides, what is the source of the problem and can something be done about it?
A recent New York Times article explores a confluence of forces from moneylenders to American multinationals selling genetically
modified seeds, government subsidies to farmers in U.S.A., Europe and Japan and global free trade. The NY Times article offers a
somber, but important counterbalance to our frequent praise of market-driven development.
"The suicides are an extreme manifestation of some deep-seated problems which are now plaguing our agriculture," said M. S.
Swaminathan, the geneticist who was the scientific leader of India's Green Revolution 40 years ago and is now chairman of the
National Commission on Farmers. "They are climatic. They are economic. They are social."
The problem is a complex one. Monsanto, for instance, invented the genetically modified seeds that Mr. Agose planted, known as
Bt cotton, which is resistant to bollworm infestation, the cotton farmer's prime enemy. Monsanto heavily advertises in the region with
no competition. But the price of these modified seeds can cost nearly twice as much as ordinary ones, and they have nudged many
farmers toward taking on ever larger loans, often from moneylenders charging exorbitant interest rates of 60 percent APR or more.
Virtually every cotton farmer in these parts, for instance, needs the assistance of some veteran moneylenders who charge an
interest rate of 60 percent APR. They collect their dues at harvest time, but exact an extra premium, compelling farmers to sell their
cotton to them at a price lower than it fetches on the market, pocketing the profit.
These moneylenders' collateral policy is cruel and inventive. The borrower signs a blank official document that gives the usurer the
right to collect the farmer's property at any time. Business for the illegal moneylenders has boomed with the arrival of high-cost
seeds and pesticides. Many moneylenders have made a whole lot of money, indeed, and many farmers are ruined.
Monsanto company has more than doubled its sales of Bt cotton in India in the last year, but the expansion has been contentious.
This year, a legal challenge from the government of the state of Andhra Pradesh forced Monsanto to slash the royalty it collected from
the sale of its patented seeds in India. The company has appealed to the Indian Supreme Court.
Monsanto's Bt cotton is a genetic "cash crop" and not the traditional "harvest crop" that the farmers had been using for centuries.
That means the farmer cannot plant the harvested Bt seeds the following season (they don't grow) but has to shell out cash every
year to buy a new set of Bt seeds from Monsanto.
After all this, if you are wondering "We in Wisconsin -- what can we do? Can we do something, anything about it from here?" The
answer is, "Yes, here is what we can and should do."
We can't solve the problem. But we can offer a little to help the children of farmers.
Asha-Madison, a local nonprofit chapter, has taken the initiative to increase awareness of this issue by conducting a candlelight
vigil at the campus recently. They are also joining hands with UW-Indian Graduate Students Association (IGSA) by presenting a
fund-raiser whose proceeds (with 0% overhead cost) will go directly to help primarily the education of the children of the affected
families and the widows.
We can help by sponsoring and/or attending the fund-raiser -- an Indian classical dance performance* by buying tickets, online or
at local outlets in advance.
* "Sacred Geometry: an experiment in Time and Space" by Kripa Baskaran and Natyarpana Dance Group** on Sunday, November
18, 4-6 p.m., Orpheum Theater, Madison. Tickets: Students - $8, General - $10, Premium Seating - $20, At the gates - $15. Buy
tickets online at: http://www.ashanet.org/madison/events/sacredgeometry07.html
Downtown: Orpheum Theater/West Side: Borders, Maharani Grocery, Bombay Bazaar, India House
East Side: Borders, Maharaja Grocery/You or your company can be a sponsor for the event - there are various sponsorship
categories.
For more information visit: http://www.ashanet.org/madison/events/sg_sponsors.html
Madhav, a 12-year old child of a farmer is suddenly responsible for his entire household. Why?
His father, Agose, a farmer in the cotton-belt of India, on a gray Wednesday morning, swallowed a bottle of pesticide
and fell dead at the threshold of his small mud house. /He was not alone in this situation: Over 800 farmers have taken
their own lives since January 2007 in this region and an estimated 100,000 over the past decade throughout the
country. In some districts, the suicide mortality rate for male farmers was 10 times the national average for all males.