Farmers SUICIDE, leaders APATHY!

Farmers SUICIDE,   leaders   APATHY!   Let’s first understand  this report, then we shall move-on to “Leaders Apathy on Farmers SUICIDE“   Punjab potato growers to export crop to Russia http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/06/punjabpotato-growers-to-export-crop-torussia-aid0126.html What are they talking here is very unusual    ”About 10 potato growers from Punjab, who have beenapproached by the Russian traders, are reluctant to beidentified and have also refused to name Russian traders.”   What is fishy here?   Who cares about the trader-names, if this unexpected/unknown new POLICY is open to all the farmers, unless this is a secret deal & under national security   and   only   select-few-farmers can participate “it use to happen in past,    New Delhi  knows it!”.  India Wants To MAP GENES!     Why  commodity “Potato” is selected/opted here, why not WHEAT ? or for that matter open rest of commodities, just like SUGAR  or COFFEE, etc.etc.etc.!     Guys, these are the policies that is “ISOLATING” the progress and opportunities thus being one of the reason for “very high rate of farmers suicide” that apparently “Director, Agriculture, BS Sidhu”         is not clear-of      or is not allowed-to-express ?   It is very funny and even “LAYMAN” would be shocked in disbelief  to read below  OFFICIAL  statement, while things are obvious and clear, they know it but have been told to CONCEAL!   Should the below title be     “we know-it   but have to  cover-up now!“?   Debt burden ‘rarely leads to suicides by farmers’ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110206/punjab.htm#3 Debt burden ‘rarely leads to suicides by farmers’ Debt burden ‘rarely leads to suicides by farmers’  Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, February 5 The Director, Agriculture, Punjab, Balwinder Singh Sidhu today claimed that the debt burden had rarely worked as a trigger for a farmer to commit suicide but had been publicised as the foremost reason for such tragedies. “If one goes through the data, more than 80 per cent of the farmers in the state are under debt that they had availed of for different reasons. But as the debt burden rises gradually, a majority of the farmers become used to it after a period of time. A farmer takes the extreme step due to some other reason like a domestic dispute, etc,” said Sidhu. Sidhu was here to attend a meeting with representatives of the Bathinda unit of the Punjab Fertilisers, Pesticide and Seed Association (Punjab). During the meeting, he listened to the grievances of the dealers and assured help to them to the extent possible. Addressing the gathering, Sidhu said the state government was concerned about issues like spurious and substandard seeds, pesticides and fertilisers. To check the sale of such materials, the Department of Agriculture had requested the dealers as well as farmers to purchase the seeds, pesticides and fertilisers only from the firms authorised by the department, he said. The Director said, “If the sample of some pesticide/fertiliser fails the laboratory test, the stockists from whose shop the sample has been taken must file a case against the manufacturer in the consumer court, where officials of the Department of Agriculture will not only stand by them but also provide related evidence.” When asked about a remedy to offer to farmers who suffer due to the substandard quality of seeds, pesticides and fertilisers, Sidhu said, “At present, there is no provision with the department to compensate them for their loss, but we have been informed that a new Bill is under consideration of the government that will have a specific remedy for the farmers in such cases.” Replying to queries from mediapersons about the excessive use of pesticides leading to diseases like cancer, Sidhu said, “The department is very concerned about it and has been making efforts to improve the quality of seeds so that the requirement of pesticides can be reduced.” If one goes through the data, more than 80 per cent of the farmers in the state are under debt. But as the debt burden rises gradually, a majority of the farmers become used to it after a period of time. A farmer takes the extreme step due to some other reason like a domestic dispute, etc — Director, Agriculture, BS Sidhu   http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110206/punjab.htm#3 Comments: I have reserved my comments here for the moment, since it would open CAN of WORMS! For the benefit of farmers, if export of wheat/rice/etc.etc is granted in an open future/option market   for farmers to  trade per international prevailing price than it would at-least curb SUICIDE of FARMERS  due to economic constraints! So no need to open the can of worms! Let’s keep it simple, if policy makers realize their mistakes and correct! — On Sat, 2/5/11, Surinderjit [email protected]  wrote: From: Surinderjit [email protected] Subject: PROTEST ENTERS 16th day…Farmers in Distress/SOS mode! To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Cc: “BBC uk” , [email protected], “Jagdeesh Singh” , “S. Ajit (Sahota) Singh” , “S.A.S.SEKHON” , “BILAL DR” , “Dr SinghS” , [email protected], “JURIST HR” , [email protected], “Habib Yousafzai” , “SSNews” , [email protected], “editor ctomic” , [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: Saturday, February 5, 2011, 2:15 AM Here’s an interesting article from CounterCurrents indicating the misery of Punjab agriculture “cultured” and induced! However, there are few areas that are not completely addressed in this article, since it has to deal with Leadership and policies of NewDelhi!   As indicated in earlier articles that Punjab leaders are leading Punjab agriculture and greenery to DESERT state by allowing plundering of Punjab Waters thus forcing farmers to DRAIN/DRY-UP WATER TABLE of punjab for cultivation/agriculture.    Yes, these leader won’t tell you or alert you on the alarming situation, even NASA has warned on this situation many years back however, leaders are ignoring apart from very highPunjab Youth Un-employment rates with very high rate of Punjab Farmers SUICIDE! Farmers/Families in DISTRESS/SOS! http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13820 “Over 100,000 farmers have committed suicide…” Under the un-watchful EYES of so called ELECTED LEADERS! HR and CR, Does it not amount to GENOCIDE AGAIN ?   As stated earlier,  “Leaders are TOO OLD to lead/work and TOO young to retire“?   While New Delhi is only interested in Mapping Genes of so-called/labeled “alcoholic Jat Sikhs of Punjab“!   India Wants To MAP GENES! /story/393/499/India_wants_to_MAP_GENES.html   Punjab’s Agriculture Is Full Of Misery…… By D Sharma 04 February, 2011   Punjab’s Agriculture is in crisis. Green Revolution has taken a heavy toll of the food bowl. The verdant lands have now turned poisonous, aquifers have run dry, food is rich in pesticides, cancer is growing in the rural areas, and so on. Over the years, farmers have slipped into heavy debts, and the farm incomes have dwindled. No wonder, farm suicide rate remains high. The distress is all visible. And yet, planners, policy makers and agricultural scientists have failed to resurrect agriculture. I think it will not be unfair to say that successive governments have given up on farming and agriculture. All efforts are now to shift the farming population to industry, and to other urban centric activities. My colleague Bhaskar Goswami has tried to paint the broader picture, which I am sure you will find useful. In view of the crisis, we are also planning to hold a conference on “Future of Punjab Agriculture” sometimes in the first week of March in Chandigarh. Dr M S Swaminathan has very kindly consented to kick-off the two day deliberations. A number of Punjab watchers, scientists, economists, farmers, activists, and students will be participating in this conference. I would welcome any suggestions that you may have to make this conference more productive and useful. Scars of the Green Revolution http://www.indiatogether.org/2011/feb/agr-punjab.htm Bhaskar Goswami A severely eroded natural resource base is aggravating the already deep crisis in agriculture while farmers and farms are paying a heavy price in terms of stagnating yields and a loss of biodiversity. The agricultural growth rate in Punjab has also slowed down from 5 per cent in 1980s to 1.9 per cent in the 2000s, thereby impacting the incomes of farmers. A swathe of negative trends Against a national average of 40 per cent, almost 85 per cent of the State is under cultivation, of which 97 per cent is irrigated. A highly intensive form of agriculture in terms of land, capital, nutrients, water, energy and other inputs is practised in the State. The diminishing size of holdings has forced farmers to increase the cropping intensity, which has risen from 126 per cent in 1960 to 189 per cent in 2009, putting both soil and water under tremendous stress over the last five decades. Farmers largely rotate crops of wheat and paddy over the year. The area under paddy has increased ten-fold during 1960-2009 while that under wheat two-and-a-half times, all of which are High Yielding Varieties (HYV). These intensive monocultures of wheat and paddy have displaced other crops like pulses, maize bajra, jowar, groundnut, barley, rapeseed, and mustard; crops that were once endemic to the State. As per the 2007 State of Environment report, prior to the Green Revolution, 41 varieties of wheat, 37 varieties of rice, four varieties of maize, there varieties of bajra, 16 varieties of sugarcane, 19 varieties of pulses, nine varieties of oil seeds and 10 varieties of cotton were grown in Punjab. Present data indicates that out of 47 post green revolution varieties of wheat released by Punjab Agricultural University, only 5 are widely used. Similarly, out of 19 varieties of rice released, only eight are currently in use. The trend is more or less the same for the rest of the crops. The picture is equally bleak on the livestock front, whose population has declined by 12.7 per cent between 1997 and 2003. The animal diversity is also dwindling and only three breeds each of cows, buffaloes and sheep and two breeds each of goats and poultry predominate. The Sahiwal breed of cattle, Lohi sheep, Nilli Ravi buffaloes and Beetal breed of goat are threatened species. This decline in diversity and numbers of livestock is also an indicator of the erosion of traditional integrated farming practices across the State. The immediate impact of intensive monoculture cultivation practices is seen on the soils, which face severe degradation due to erosion and salt deposition. Also, the fertility in terms of both macro and micro-nutrients has declined steadily. This in turn has pushed farmers to apply larger doses of chemical fertilisers whose consumption has increased eight-fold in the last 50 years. After Andhra Pradesh, per hectare application of fertilisers is the highest in Punjab – almost double the country’s average, and rising. Yet, yield levels are stagnant. The fact is, sick soils have lost their ability to respond to inputs like fertilizers, a reason for stagnating productivity. This decrease in response indicates that the organic carbon content and microbial activities in the soil, which are critical for crop development, have declined. While dying soils should have evoked concern decades back, all that is on offer now are further interventions that aim to promote more of the external input-intensive farming that in the first place caused the problem. The immediate impact of intensive monoculture cultivation practices is seen on the soils, which face severe degradation due to erosion and salt deposition. The reckless application of chemical fertilisers has contaminated water bodies. A November 2009 study, Ground Water Quality for Irrigation in Punjab by government bodies reported that 42 per cent of the groundwater has saline and sodic elements. Forget drinking, these are unfit for irrigation. The Malwa belt is the worst affected with 60 per cent of contaminated water resources. Another study of farm wells by Greenpeace in 2009 reported nitrate contamination of drinking water way higher than permissible limits in the districts of Ludhiana, Muktsar and Bhatinda. Another practice that is affecting soil fertility is burning of post-harvest straw on croplands that produced it. This is ostensibly done to ensure early readiness of the fields for the subsequent crop. The State produces around 230 lakh tonnes of paddy straw and 170 lakh tonnes of wheat straw each year. Of this, almost 80 per cent of the former and half of latter are burned in open fields. Apart from ruining soils, this is a major cause of air pollution and emission of greenhouse gases, which impact cultivation and yields. Similar to the trend in fertiliser application, the consumption of pesticides has also increased in Punjab. Pesticide consumption in the State stood at 923 grams per hectare in 2006, which pegs a Punjabi farmer in the very-high-use bracket. Large scale application of pesticides is increasing pest resistance. Going by numerous peer-reviewed papers and news reports, pesticide residues have been recorded in human beings, water, milk, vegetables and several other food products that are way higher than permissible limits. Incidence of cancer and other ailments have reached alarming levels and huge numbers of farmers and their families from the Malwa region regularly travel to Rajasthan for treatment of cancer. Newspaper reports also point to children as young as 10 looking old with peppery hair and suffering from arthritis. Water-stressed Planting HYVs has also increased the demand on water for irrigation. As per the State Department of Soil and Water Conservation, agriculture requires 43.7 lakh hectare meters of water. Surface canals provide 14.5 lakh ha-m and ground recharge supplies 16.6 lakh ha-m; the balance 12.4 lakh ha-m is met through overexploitation of ground water. As a result, groundwater levels are reducing by almost 30 cm each year. As per the Department’s figures on its website, there are about 10 lakh shallow tube-wells and 3162 deep tube-wells in the State, mining water to irrigate a net area as high as 41 lakh hectares. All this notwithstanding the first “temple of modern India” – the Bhakra dam – meant to quench the thirst of Punjab’s farmlands. As per the figures of the Soil and Water Conservation Department, of the 17 districts in the State, groundwater in eight are overexploited, three are in the grey zone while the remainder fall are considered safe. If one were to look at the prevalence of crises in groundwater down from the district to the block level, almost 53 per cent of the blocks in the State are in the ‘overexploited’ category, eight per cent in the Dark Zone, and 16 more blocks fall in the Grey Zone, thereby leaving only 38 per cent of the blocks in the relatively safe White Zone. Clearly, this level of extraction is unsustainable. Investing for debt The Green Revolution also ushered in a rapid adoption of farm mechanisation technologies. To illustrate, on the one hand the average holding size is shrinking while on the other the sale of tractors is increasing. The State accounts for almost 14 per cent of tractors in the country, which is double the numbers that are actually required. This is nothing but overcapitalisation in farm mechanisation and its underutilisation which is adding to the debt burden of farmers. Increasing amounts of debt money is being spent on farm machinery, and this has increased from 15 per cent in 1997 to 53 per cent in 2008. On indebtedness, a recent study by Dr. H S Shergill from the Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, has tracked and analysed farm debt and come up with distressing figures: it has grown from Rs.5700 crores in 1997 to Rs.30,394 crores in 2008, a five-fold jump in a decade. The rate of growth of farm debt in the last 10 years for Punjab is faster than farm incomes, which in itself is an indicator of the gravity of distress in agriculture. What is equally shocking is that the debt amount as a per cent of net income has increased – from 68 per cent in 1997 to 84 per cent in 2008. The Shergill study points out that 72 per cent of farm households are heavily indebted while 17 per cent are virtually in a debt trap, unable to even fork out interest payments from their current farm income. With the affluence of the farmer in Punjab waning, the quantity and nutritional quality of the food being consumed by households are also downbeat. As per the International Food Policy Research Institute’s India State Hunger Index, while Punjab is the best performing State in the country, it ranks below 33 other developing countries, including Gabon, Honduras, and Vietnam. The National Family Health Survey report of 2005-06 reveals an equally sad picture of the state of health: one in every five adults in the age group of 15 to 49 years suffers from malnutrition in Punjab. That this is the state of health of people living in the proverbial granary of the country suggests how rest of India is faring. There still is time and opportunity to undo this industrial approach to farming and usher in an honest “Green” farming model in Punjab. This is all the more important as the “Punjab Model” is now being recommended for replication across States that the Green Revolution bypassed in its earlier avatar, by none other than the Working Group on Agriculture Production. If that is to be the future prescription, nothing could be more disastrous for Indian farms and farmers. (Bhaskar Goswami is with the New Delhi based Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security)  — On Fri, 2/4/11, Surinderjit [email protected]  wrote: From: Surinderjit [email protected] Subject: PAUSA PROTEST ENTERS 16th day……. To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected], “Habib Yousafzai” , “SSNews” , [email protected], “BBC uk” , [email protected] Date: Friday, February 4, 2011, 1:10 AM LUDHIANA: Protest by  Punjab Agricultural University Students Association (PAUSA) members entered its 16th day on Thursday. Students continued with their chain hunger strike that entered its eighth day. The duration of the strike was increased from six to nine hours on Thursday.  Punjab agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah, who was scheduled to visit the university to attend a meeting of the kisan union, reportedly failed to do so, the students’ protest reportedly playing on his mind.  Dr PS Aulakh, who has joined as director student welfare, assured he would take up the cause of students with the authorities concerned. He said no teacher would like to see his students sitting on strike for a cause which was their right. The students pledged they would continue with the strike till their demands were met and they had written assurance in their hands.  Roohi Thakur, Serena Sidhu, Jasmine Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur and Naina Dhiman sat on the hunger strike.  The morale of the students received a boost when chief of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajjowal), Balbir Singh Rajjowal, addressed students at gate number 2 of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). He said every department in Punjab was in a mess and agriculture in the state had remained neglected.  Rajjowal said the state had over 15 lakh agricultural families suffering at the hands of Punjab government and its policies and nearly 2 lakh farmers had committed suicide till now. He added that minister of agriculture Sucha Singh Langah was handpicked by him for service of farmers and agriculture in the state, but Langah had turned a traitor and was pre-occupied with politicking. Bharatiya Kisan Union pledged full support to students of the university and said they will take up their cause with authorities concerned. Read more: PAUSA protest enters Day 16 – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/PAUSA-protest-enters-Day-16/articleshow/7421276.cms#ixzz1Cy1aLhOW   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/PAUSA-protest-enters-Day-16/articleshow/7421276.cms Question:  Are punjab leaders, “Too old to   LEAD & WORK     and too young to RETIRE“? — On Thu, 2/3/11, Surinderjit [email protected] wrote: From: Surinderjit [email protected] Subject: This is very serious………must read! To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: Thursday, February 3, 2011, 9:23 AM Folks, you may want to read this news, this is very serious India Wants To MAP GENES! /story/393/499/India_wants_to_MAP_GENES.html         From: Surinderjit [email protected] Subject: EGYPT unrest and PUNJAB youths, issues similar? To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 4:06 AM EGYPT unrest and PUNJAB youths, issues similar?     For those who need to take a closer look at  EGYPT unrest,  here are some educative and informative news clippings, later in this article?   Are we going to see same from PUNJAB high unemployed youths ? “WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN???“   PUNJAB very high unemployment is mostly ignored by PUNJAB leaders,  as usual leaders most of them are already too old…….but still hold their positions!   Are leaders, “Too old to   LEAD & WORK     and too young to RETIRE“?   Unemployed youth demand jobs at Rajpura Thermal Plant Their land was acquired to set-up the plant and were promised jobs Nalas (Rajpura), January 31 Unemployed youth from seven villages, whose land was acquired to setup thermal plant in Nalas village, today staged a dharna for not getting jobs in the thermal plant despite government promises.Foundation stone of the 1,320-MV thermal plant was laid by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in March last year. Unemployed villagers raise slogans for not getting jobs at the thermal plant set-up near Nalas village on Monday. A Tribune photograph   http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/31/egypt.protests.qanda/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/30/egyptians-makeshift-militias-looters   Follow live blogging on “This Just In” and the latest tweets from CNN correspondents from the protests. Send your video, images to CNN iReport. (CNN) – As the protests in Cairo enter the evening of their seventh day, CNN takes a look at some of the key questions surrounding them. What are the protests about? The protesters are calling for democratization — for a government that they feel represents them. They want President Hosni Mubarak, 82, to step down after 30 years holding onto power, and an end to what they complain is a corrupt regime. Some have called for the government to face a trial. The anger is driven largely by economic frustrations. Egypt has seen a dramatic rise in the cost of living in recent years. While the government has offered food subsidies to help people handle rising prices, many are struggling. Egypt’s economy was stagnant for decades, but in the past 10 years started to grow, creating bigger differences between rich and poor, said Juan Cole, a Middle East historian at the University of Michigan.   Protesters demand Mubarak removal   Mubarak asks people to form new Cabinet   Where does U.S. go from here with Egypt?   Press & protests: Egypt cuts internet   RELATED TOPICS Egypt Cairo Hosni Mubarak Egyptian Politics Tunisia “And I think some of the protest is over the ways in which the labor movements have gotten left behind and haven’t shared in the economic growth,” he said. Why now? What sparked the protests? A wave of protests in nearby Tunisia which overthrew the government helped inspire people in other nearby countries, facing similar frustrations, that it was time for an uprising. But the spark, in many ways, was one young man. Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old college graduate in Tunisia, was unable to find work, so he set up a fruit cart. Police confiscated it, saying he had no permit. According to the Federation of Human Rights Leagues, police also beat him. Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest, and later died. His self-immolation triggered the huge protests in Tunisia, which in turn helped inspire people in other nearby countries, including Algeria and Yemen, to take to the streets as well. There have also been protests in Jordan and Sudan. A Facebook page calls for similar demonstrations in Syria. A popular Facebook page that helped organize the Cairo protests beginning January 25 was dedicated to Bouazizi. Who are the protesters? Many are young men. The majority of Egypt’s population is under 30, and the vast majority of its unemployed are as well. While the protesters include people from different socio-economic levels and different parts of the country, there is a “high proportion of the educated middle class,” said Cole. There’s “a feeling amongst that middle class that they’re not being given the opportunities in life that their degrees warrant — what historians would call a ‘blocked elite,’” Cole said. Have the protests been violent? The protesters have generally been peaceful, chanting slogans and holding signs. Last week, police clashed violently with some demonstrators, leaving some dead and others wounded. Once the government sent in the military to take the place of police, the clashes came to a halt. The two sides have generally gotten along well. Some protesters have even posed for pictures with members of the military on their tanks. At times, the protests have even taken on the feeling of a music festival, with people wandering around, chatting, and celebrating. “This is the start of the rest of my life,” one jubilant young man who appeared to be in his 20s told CNN. “As cheesy as it sounds, that’s exactly how I feel right now.” How did chaos begin in some areas? Police disappeared from the streets in parts of Cairo and some other areas, and some police stations were ransacked. Over the weekend, looters attacked stores and homes and torched some cars, and some prisoners escaped. Men gathered in neighborhoods to create vigilante groups protecting their property. In some places, people handed out knives, sticks, clubs, and baseball bats to men and teenage boys, encouraging them to fight any looters who came along. Some Egyptians said they worry the chaos could be part of Mubarak’s strategy, getting citizens angry at the protesters for creating havoc and excited for government security forces to come along and bring order. But the crime has also built more frustration against the government among many Egyptians. How many have died? While it’s difficult to ascertain a solid death toll, Human Rights Watch staffers have confirmed more than 120 deaths in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez, according to a researcher for the group in Cairo. How is the food supply? Many families are fast running out of staples, and they are either unable or unwilling to shop for groceries. “I have three children, and I only have enough to feed them for maybe two more days. After that I do not know what we will do,” school administrator Gamalat Gadalla said. Grocers have closed up shop or are running out of supplies themselves. “With the curfew, there are no restaurants, food or gas. Basic goods will soon be in shortage,” Sandmonkey, an Egyptian blogger said via Twitter. Egyptian state-run Nile TV has set up a hotline for citizens to call in and report bread shortages. There has been no other indication of what the Egyptian government is doing to address the crisis.