Toronto Star: Farmer suicides blight India

[marmar]

Farmer suicides blight India
Sep 01, 2009 04:30 AM

Rick Westhead
South Asia Bureau


VIDARBHA, INDIA–One month ago, cotton farmer Nagorao Gaute rose quietly from his bed mat at 6 a.m., whispered to his wife that he was going to the latrine, and slipped out of his tin-roofed hovel. He returned 10 minutes later, vomiting as he staggered through the door before he collapsed.

The 45-year-old man had drunk a bottle of insecticide and was dead within minutes, leaving behind his wife, Ukandabai, six children, and a debt of at least 25,000 rupees ($625), as much as he could hope to make in five good years of farming.

If there was a silver lining for Ukandabai, 35, it was that the state of Maharashtra, that includes the financial capital Mumbai, had identified farmer suicides as a worrisome trend and promised in 2007 to provide widows with compensation of 100,000 rupees.

Suicide is a growing problem across India. Rising stress due to competition in classrooms is pushing more students to take their own lives. On farms across India, poor crop returns and spiralling debt have led to tens of thousands of suicides in recent years.

But nowhere is the problem worse than the cotton-growing district of Vidarbha, widely considered to be India's suicide capital. About 2,050 farmers in Vidarbha have killed themselves this year alone, says Madan Yerawar, a cotton farmer who represents Vidarbha in Maharashta's legislative assembly. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/689094