People's Democracy

on file 

WHEN prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Maharashtra’s ‘suicide belt’ of Vidarbha last month, he brought with him the promise of a better tomorrow. His Rs 3,750 crore relief package was supposed to end the serial suicides of debt-hit farmers, but it has not worked. Twenty-two days later, 61 more farmers have died of their own hand, a heart-breaking average of almost three per day. 
In the current kharif season alone, Vidarbha’s cotton fields have been haunted by 672 suicides; 2,864 since 2001….

Farmers have pleaded for loan waiver and better cotton procurement prices under the state’s monopoly scheme (the price has dropped from Rs 2,500 a quintal to Rs 1,800 this year). Even the National Commission for Farmers (NCF), headed by renowned economist M S Swaminathan, had appealed for restoration of prices. But the plea fell on deaf ears. Ditto for the NCF’s other recommendations --- a price stabilisation fund, higher import duties on cotton, loans at 4 percent interest. 

What the 35 lakh farmers got instead were interest waivers, extension of overdue loans and additional credit f RS 1,275 crore. Little surprise then that Shrikant Kalbandhe (23), a farmer from Nimbhora in Amravati district, committed suicide after taking in the details of the PM’s relief package on TV on July 1. 

Institutional finance covers only 10 percent of the agricultural sector, leaving many cotton farmers at moneylenders’ mercy. And banks don’t want to extend cheap loans to farmers for fear of default. Even assured credit opportunities have not been implemented….. 

--- Hindustan Times, July 24

M S SWAMINATHAN, chairman, National Commission on Farmers, called on Monday (July 17) for making available cereals through the public distribution system permanently to enhance nutrition security and productivity and economic sustainability of the rain-fed agriculture.

Talking to presspersons after presiding over an international symposium on participatory plant breeding and knowledge management for strengthening rural livelihoods, Dr Swaminathan decried the practice of describing millets, ragi, bajra and jowar, as “coarse cereals.” Instead, they should be called “nutritious cereals,” as they were rich in micronutrients and minerals.

Referring to the low share of cereals and pulses in the country’s total foodgrain production, he said given the technologies available, the production of cereals and pulses could be easily doubled or trebled.

Calling for a well-balanced food security system, Dr Swaminathan, also the chairman of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, said there was a wide range of crops that required revitalisation. A synergy of technological interventions and public policy could help to increase crop production. By helping farmer-consumers have greater marketable surplus through higher productivity, poverty induced hunger and malnutrition could be eliminated.

--- The Hindu, July 18

THE US-India civilian nuclear energy agreement has generated big business in the United States, with lobbyists earning a fortune from the Manmohan Singh government and the Indian-American community to push the deal through the US Congress.

A Washington Post report, quoting filings with the US justice department, has pointed out that former US ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill went to work for Barbour Griffith & Rogers LLC, which was hired last August by the Indian government for an annual fee of $700,000…….

Barbour Griffith, according to the Washington Post report, also received $520,000 from the Confederation of Indian Industry last September.

The powerful lobbying groups for the nuclear deal are the US-India Business Council and the US Indian Political Action Committee. These have been patronised by the top echelons of the Indian government, with prime minister Manmohan Singh, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, finance minister P Chidambaram, petroleum minister Murli Deora and commerce minister Kamal Nath amongst the list of invitees and speakers. 

--- The Asian Age, July 20