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Lakhs and crores

“A lakh is 100,000 of anything,” explains Anish Ghosh, maths professor at the UK’s University of East Anglia. “Once you have, say, 100,000 rupees or 100,000 geese you have a lakh.”

But the way it is written can be confusion. In South Asia, 100,000 is written with two commas: 1,00,000. “It’s quite possible that someone who isn’t familiar with it is going to think it’s a bigger number or there has been a mistake in the publication,” says Prof Ghosh.

To further confuse the uninitiated there is also the crore or 100 lakh. This is written 1,00,00,000. So the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” has a crore as a prize.

The technical term for the person who has a crore is a crorepati (in Hindi the film Slumdog Millionaire was Slumdog Crorepati).

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Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among the country’s young adults, after road accidents in men, and childbirth-related complications in women.

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• Suicide in India – July 2012

http://www.ifmr.co.in/blog/2012/12/17/new-perspectives-on-farmer-distress-and-farmer-suicides/

download the report Farmers Suicide in IndiaYASHADA

By Nachiket Mor2006 

I recently had an opportunity to read an interesting book on farmer suicides in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra by Secretary Health Meeta Rajiv Lochan¹ (meeta29 [at] hotmail.com) and Professor Rajiv Lochan² (mrajivlochan [at] hotmail.com). This book was first published in 2006 by the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration at Pune³.

The book was written in the aftermath of the spate of farmer suicides that were widely reported from Yavatmal district of Maharashtra during the five year period from 2000 to 2004. The book cites data from the State Crime Records Bureau of Maharashtra (SCRB) which shows that during this period the annual average for Yavatmal was 773 with between 25 to 30% of them being farmers. The authors point out that even though in terms of SMR (Suicide Mortality Rate = Suicides per 100,000 population) neither the District nor the State standout⁴, these numbers were considered highly unusual because they were directly comparable to the total for Mumbai (1100) while the population in the entire Yavatmal District at 2.45 million was only about a quarter of Mumbai’s population and because of the sharp rise over the last three decades in both the total number of suicides⁵ as well as the proportion of farmers (and housewives) impacted⁶. Since both the authors are very familiar with the manner in which government works, they were able to go the most appropriate sources for the data they needed. The book as a consequence has a good deal of carefully collected background information on whole issue of suicides as well as on Yavatmal which is well worth reading. For the book the authors interviewed the families of all of the farmer suicides that were reported by the local administration during the period January 1, 2001 to December 31st, 2005 – a total of 399 cases.

One of the principal lessons that they draw from their work is that: “It has been presumed until date that rural indebtedness is the root of all trouble. This postulate may not be entirely correct, as we shall see in the discussion that follows. Writing off rural debts is not, we submit the correct strategy to deal with the issue since debt was not the problem in the first instance.” The authors feel that seeing indebtedness as the cause is both convenient and stereotypical (the “rapacious moneylender”) which is why it is often the favoured choice. The authors also feel that the existing studies (they specifically refer to the ones carried out by TISS⁷and IGIDR⁸) did not adequately understand and analyse the data and the cases and quickly rushed to pronounce indebtedness caused by poor agricultural performance as the principal cause of distress leading to suicides⁹. The authors’ own examination of Yavatmal cases suggests to them that “even when debt existed it was factors other than debt, where were important for making the farmer a victim of suicide”.

From a study of the productivity patterns in Yavatmal they find that for cotton and for pulses (the other major cash crop for Yavatmal) the wide variation in annual productivity is not a recent phenomenon but exists right from the 1960s¹⁰, leading them to state that: “Might this suggest that production tribulations are part of the agricultural cycle and that change in it would, while affecting the finances of a farmer in the short run, not depress him enough to resort to suicide?”

After reviewing the existing studies they carefully examine each one of the 399 cases. They find that from a statistical point of view that neither caste nor marginal landholdings as a factor stand out thus suggesting to them that the data is not supportive of the popular view that marginalisation was a key factor. In terms of debt they find that about half the farmers had taken loans from informal sources and about three quarters from institutional sources¹¹. They also found that only about a quarter had paid their institutional loans fully, 10% had paid partially, and about 40% had defaulted entirely. Of the 148 suicide cases that comprise the 40% they found that only in two cases that coercive action had been taken by the bank for the recovery of its dues. Others had received demand notices and were amongst the thousands to whom such demand notices were routinely sent¹². Based on their analysis the authors state that: “How burdensome these demand notices were felt to be is anybody’s guess just as the issue of the seriousness with which a loan is repaid is an open question.” After examining all the cases for the various factors likely to be causing stress to the individual who committed suicide, the authors conclude that even where families were indebted it is not obvious that the financial stress was the principal trigger¹³. For example while studying cases of families that has large expenditures on healthcare, the authors conclude that, “In all these cases, families had large outstanding loans to pay out but there was also a large amount of social distress [unrelated to the debt] such that it is difficult to see that loans had much of a role to play in the tragedy that happened.”

Based on the extensive research that they carried out the authors conclude that there are two underlying problems that, in their opinion, seem to underpin all of the cases and appear consistent with the statistical data that they examined:

1. A very average low income of Rs.2500 per acre which was simply not enough to meet the requirements of farmer households. In their view it is the absence of adequate income rather than indebtedness that was at the root of most issues.

In order to address this, the authors favour direct cash transfers over other indirect subsidy mechanisms which have a serious risk of capture or being misdirected.

2. An extremely high level of isolation both from his / her fellow villagers as well as with the government machinery. Even in a popular movement like the SHG (self-help group) movement, while a few states have somewhat higher rates of participation, in Maharashtra participation in SHGs was as low as 5% at the household level. The authors were surprised to discover how few were the numbers of farmers (only 25%) that had any familiarity with concepts such as MSP (Minimum Support Price), or crop insurance. On this issue the authors conclude as follows: “Most farmers also did not belong to any formal registered body like a registered famers’ society or self-help group. Even fewer take any help or advice from these voluntary associations. Might this suggest the farmer to be a relatively lonely individual struggling against overwhelming odds? Without any help or back up support?”

In order to deal with this the authors strongly recommend that enhancing the frequency of “…physical interaction between government functionaries and village society by insisting on more tours, night halts, and gram sabhas by officers at all levels of the administration.

For those of us that are interested in the development of rural areas and have been particularly troubled by the whole suicide issue this book is a must read. The painstaking efforts by authors both to document each and every interview they have done as well as all of the statistical data they have gathered and presented, make this book also a very good reference book of a great deal of value to every library.

—

1. The book was written when she was Director, Maharashtra State Institute of Rural Development.
2. He is a Professor of Contemporary Indian History at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie
3. “Farmer Suicides: Facts and Possible Policy Interventions”. The original book was published in 2006 but I referred to the 2010 Kindle Edition that was available from Amazon.
4. The authors find that while Maharashtra has an SMR of 14, in Kerala it is 33, and in Japan it is as high as 40.
5. From a total of 70 in 1975 to 613 in 2005 with SMR rising from 1.55 in 1962 to 9.34 in 2000.
6. The authors find that the proportion of farmers and agricultural labourers rose steadily from a level of 18.57% in 1975 to 53.83% by 2005.
7. Ajay Dandekar et al, “Causes of Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra: An Enquiry”, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 2005.
8. Srijit Mishra, “Suicides of Farmers in Maharashtra”, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, 2005
9. The authors find for example that in the TISS report a case on a loan of Rs.100,000 has been included in which the default had occurred 17 years prior to the date of the suicide and one on a loan of Rs.13,000 in which the default occurred 13 years ago.
10. “In 1960-61, the earliest year for which we have data available [on the productivity for cotton], it was 103 kg/ha. Then it slumped to 47 in 1961-62, went up to 97 kg/ha in 1963-64, and went down to 63 kg / ha in 1966-67 and so on.”
11. An interesting factor that they find is that: “Yavatmal has had a long history of interest rates of 25% [per season] (sawai) which are referred to as far back as the nineteenth century. In our study, we found that rates charged [by informal sources] varied from 3-5% per month to 25% per season (sawai) or 50% per season (dedhi)”. “A hundred years ago the district gazetteer said that the cultivators in Yavatmal district ‘almost always prefer to borrow from a money lender, paying perhaps twelve per cent interest, rather than from Government at six per cent. The chief reason seems to be that there is still great delay in getting money from the Government, or at least so the people think. It is also believed that certain subordinate servants of Government extract irregular fees while inquiries are made…” Is there a certain lesson in this for us even today?”
12. The cooperative banks between them had send over 73,000 demand notices during the period from June 2004 to June 2005 and there were about 55,000 Revenue Recovery Cases of the District Central Cooperative Bank in the district.
13. “Essentially what the empirical data shows is that the issue of rural indebtedness is a red herring. There is very little evidence of the pressure of loans being responsible for the suicide.”

ఒక రైతుకు వరి శిక్ష! మరో రైతు నెత్తిన పత్తి కత్తి! ఇంకో రైతుకు నిలువెల్లా కూర గాయాలు! మరో రైతుకు భారంలా వేరుశనగ! ఘోరంగా ఉల్లి! చేదుగా చెరుకు! ఏ రైతును చూసినా… కష్టమే! సాగు నష్టమే! పొలాలనన్నీ హలాల దున్నే రైతులు తమ బలాన్ని మాత్రమే కాదు… ప్రాణాలనూ పొలానికే అర్పిస్తున్నారు.

హైదరాబాద్, నవంబర్ 22 : ఇది ఒక్క ఏడాది కథ కాదు! ఎన్నో ఏళ్లుగా సాగుతున్న వ్యథ! ఆత్మహత్యల నివారణకు ప్రభుత్వం తీసుకుంటున్న చర్యలు రైతులకు భరోసా ఇవ్వడంలేదు. ఎరువు బరువై… కూలీలు కరువై. నీరు కన్నీరై… విత్తు దశ నుంచే చిత్తు చిత్తై అన్నదాతలు నిట్టూర్పు వదులుతున్నారు. పెరుగుతున్న పెట్టుబడులు, కనికరించని ప్రకృతి… రైతులను జంట కోరల పాములా కాటేస్తున్నాయి. కడివెడు దాహానికి చుక్క నీరు పోసినట్లుగా… బ్యాంకులు, ప్రభుత్వ సంస్థలు అందించే రుణాలు రైతు అవసరాలను తీర్చలేకపోతున్నాయి.

ప్రైవేటు వ్యాపారుల వడ్డీలు నడ్డి విరుస్తుంటే, కాళ్ల కింద భూమి కదిలిపోతుంటే… బతుకే భారమనుకుని రైతు తనువు చాలిస్తున్నాడు. 1995 నుంచి 2010 మధ్య… అంటే 16 సంవత్సరాల్లో మన రాష్ట్రంలో ఏకంగా 31,120 మంది రైతులు ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకున్నారు. ఇది జాతీయ నేర సమాచార విభాగం చెప్పిన అధికారిక సమాచారం! దీనికి కారణాలను సుస్థిర వ్యవసాయ కేంద్రం, రైతు సురాజ్య వేదిక, యాక్షన్ ఎయిడ్, జయతీ ఘోష్ కమిటీ తదితర సంస్థలు, సంఘాలు విశ్లేషించాయి.

‘కౌలు రైతులకు ప్రభుత్వం ఇచ్చిన హామీలు నెరవేరలేదు. వ్యవసాయ అనుబంధ పరిశ్రమలను పట్టించుకోవడంలేదు. ఆత్మహత్యలపై ఆందోళన వ్యక్తం చేయడంతప్ప… వాటి నివారణపై చిత్తశుద్ధి కనిపించడమే లేదు” అని తెలిపాయి. రైతుకు అండగా నిలిచే వ్యవసాయ రంగానికి సంబంధించిన ముఖ్య సంస్థలను ప్రభుత్వం నిర్వీర్యం చేసిందని పేర్కొన్నాయి. వీటన్నింటి ఫలితమే… రైతుల ఆత్మహత్యలు అని వివరించాయి.

రాలుతున్న రైతులు
రైతుల ఆత్మహత్యల్లో దేశంలోనే అగ్రస్థానం మన పొరుగునే ఉన్న మహారాష్ట్రది. ఆ తర్వాతి స్థానం… ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్‌దే. గత ఏడేళ్లుగా… కర్ణాటక, తమిళనాడు, కేరళ, ఉత్తరప్రదేశ్‌లలో రైతు ఆత్మహత్యల సంఖ్య తగ్గుతుండగా… మన రాష్ట్రంలో పెరిగిపోతున్నాయి. ‘మాది రైతు సంక్షేమ ప్రభుత్వం’ అని చెప్పుకొన్న కాలంలోనూ పెద్ద సంఖ్యలో రైతుల ప్రాణాలు గాలిలో కలిసిపోయాయి. 1995-2002 మధ్య ఎనిమిదేళ్ల కాలంలో 12,716 మంది రైతులు ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకున్నారు.

2003-2010 మధ్యకాలంలో బలవన్మరణం పాలైన అన్నదాతల సంఖ్య ఏకంగా 18,404కు చేరింది. ఒకవైపు రైతుల వారసులు వ్యవసాయాన్ని వదిలి ఇతర వ్యాపకాలు చూసుకుంటుండగా… మరోవైపు హలం బాట పట్టిన యువ రైతులు మధ్యలోనే జీవితమనే కాడిని పారేస్తున్నారు. యువ రైతులు వాణిజ్య పంటలకు ప్రాధాన్యమిస్తూ… అతివృష్టి, అనావృష్టి కారణంగా పంటలు దెబ్బతి, పెట్టుబడులూరాక చివరికి ఆత్మహత్యకు పాల్పడుతున్నారు.

2010లో 15-29 ఏళ్ల మధ్య వయసున్న 728 మంది యువ రైతులు ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకున్నారు. వీరిలో… యువకులు 563 మందికాగా, మహిళలు 165 మంది. ఇక అదే సంవత్సరం 30-44 ఏళ్ల మధ్య వయస్సు కలిగిన వారిలో 824 మంది పురుషులు, 137 మంది మహిళలు ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకుంటున్నారు. ఈ ఒక్క సంవత్సరంలోనే మొత్తం 2525 మంది రైతులు ఆత్మహత్య చేసుకున్నట్లు ఎన్‌సీఆర్‌బీ అధికారికంగా తెలిపింది.

ఇవీ కారణాలు
* వ్యవసాయ పెట్టుబడులు పెరిగాయి.
* బోర్లపై ఆధారపడటం అధికమైంది. బోర్లు విఫలం కావడంతో రైతులపై భారం పెరిగిపోతోంది.
* ధరలు గిట్టుబాటు కావడంలేదు. కనీస పెట్టుబడులు కూడా తిరిగి రావడంలేదు.
* రైతులు సుస్థిరమైన వ్యవసాయ విధానాలు అనుసరించడంలేదు.
* చిన్న కమతాలు, కౌలు సేద్యంతో కలిసిరావడంలేదు.
* వ్యాపార స్వేచ్ఛ, ఎగుమతి-దిగుమతి విధానాలు రైతులకు అనుకూలంగా లేవు.
* బీమా, మార్కెటింగ్, నిల్వ సదుపాయాలు తగిన స్థాయిలో లేవు.
* వర్షాధార వ్యవసాయాన్ని ప్రభుత్వం విస్మరించింది.
* ప్రభుత్వ విధానాలు పెద్ద రైతులకు, భారీ తరహా వ్యవసాయానికి, కొన్ని రకాల వ్యాపార పంటలకు మాత్రమే ఉపయోగపడుతున్నాయి.

దిగదుడుపు
మార్కెట్‌లో వస్తువుల ధరలు పెరుగుతున్నాయి. కానీ… రైతుకు మాత్రం గిట్టుబాటు ధర లభించదు. 2010-11, 2011-12లో ధరలను పరిశీలిస్తే… అప్పుడు క్వింటాలు పత్తి ధర రూ.6500. అదే పత్తి ఇప్పుడు రూ.3600. అప్పుడు క్వింటాలు పసుపు రూ.14 వేలు. ఇప్పుడు రూ.4 వేలు. అప్పటికీ, ఇప్పటికీ మిర్చి రూ. 12 వేల నుంచి రూ.5500కు తగ్గింది. కందులు రూ.5 వేల నుంచి రూ. 3500లకు, మినుములు 5200 నుంచి రూ.3500కు తగ్గాయి, జొన్న 2500 నుంచి రూ.1800కు తగ్గాయి. పెట్టుబడులు మాత్రం భారీగా పెరిగాయి.

జయతీ ఘోష్ సిఫార్సులివి…
* అందరికీ సాగునీరందేలా చేయాలి.
* కౌలుదారులతోసహా రైతులందరికీ బ్యాంకుల ద్వారా రుణాలు ఇప్పించాలి.
* మెట్ట భూముల అభివృద్ధిపై దృష్టి పెట్టాలి. సాంకేతిక పరిజ్ఞానాన్ని వాడుకోవాలి.
* సుస్థిరమైన, చౌకగా లభించే ఉత్పాదకాలను ఉపయోగించాలి.
* గిట్టుబాటు ధర విషయంలో ప్రత్యేక శ్రద్ధ చూపించాలి.
* గ్రామీణులు ఆర్థికంగాఎదిగేలా వ్యవసాయేతరకార్యకలాపాలను ప్రోత్సహించాలి.

ఆత్మహత్యలు నివారించాలంటే…
* పంట నష్టపోయిన రైతులకు వెంటనే పరిహారం అందించాలి.
* రైతులనుంచి ప్రభుత్వమే పంటను గిట్టుబాటు ధరలకు కొనుగోలు చేయాలి.
* ఎగుమతి, దిగుమతి విధానాలను మన రైతులకు అనుగుణంగా మార్చాలి.
* ప్రభుత్వం సకాలంలో ఆత్మహత్యలు చేసుకున్న కుటుంబాలకు ఎక్స్‌గ్రేషియా, రుణ చెల్లింపునకు సహకరించాలి.
* మార్కెట్‌లో గిట్టుబాటు ధర లేనప్పుడు పెట్టుబడి వ్యయంతో పాటు అదనంగా 50 శాతం ధర చెల్లించాలి.

http://164.100.47.4/newrsquestion/ShowQn.aspx 2012 sarad pawar admission in rajyasabha GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE

RAJYA SABHA

QUESTION NO  183

ANSWERED ON  24.08.2012

The total number of farmers who have taken their own lives in Maharashtra since 1995 is closing in on 54,000. Of these 33,752 have occurred in nine years since 2003, at an annual average of 3,750. The figure for 1995-2002 was 20,066 at an average of 2,508. Significantly, the rise is occurring even as the farm population is shrinking a fact broadly true across the country. And more so in Maharashtra which has been urbanising more rapidly than most. The rising-suicides-shrinking-population equation suggests a major intensification of the pressures on the community. A better understanding of that, though, awaits the new farm population figures of the 2011 Census — not expected for many months from now. At present both national and State-wise farm suicide ratios (the number of farmers committing suicide per 100,000 farmers) are based on very outdated 2001 Census numbers.

The 2011 total gets dicey with Chhattisgarh’s posting a figure of zero farm suicides. A zero figure should be great news. Except that Chhattisgarh had 7,777 farm suicides in the preceding five years, including 1,126 in 2010. It has been amongst the very worst States for such deaths for several years. The share of the worst (Big 5) states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh) as a percentage of total farm suicides, is now around 64 per cent. Even with Chhattisgarh showing a ‘zero’ figure, that is not much lower than the preceding five-year average for the Big 5 of close to 66 per cent. It could be that Chhattisgarh’s figures have simply not made it to the NCRB in time. Otherwise, it means that the State is in fact a late entrant to the numbers massage parlour. Others have been doing it for years. Maharashtra since 2007, following the Prime Minister’s visit to Vidarbha. Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar has strictly avoided using NCRB farm data in Parliament since 2008 because the data are unpleasant. (The union government however quotes the NCRB for all other categories). Now, governments are deep into fiddling the data that goes from the States to the NCRB.

With the Big 5 also staring drought in the face, what numbers the coming season will throw up is most worrying. Within Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada have already been under great stress (which in turn pushes officials to step up data fiddles). If the numbers are re-calculated using the annual average of Chhattisgarh in the past five years, the national total of farm suicides for 2011 would be 15,582. And the share of the Big 5 (at 10,524) would be nearly 68 per cent. That’s higher than the five-year average for those States, too. In 1995, the first time the NCRB tabulated farm suicide data, the Big 5 accounted for 56.04 per cent of all farm suicides.

In 2011, five States showed increases of over 50 farm suicides compared to 2010. These included Gujarat (55), Haryana (87), Madhya Pradesh (89), Tamil Nadu (82). Maharashtra alone showed a rise of 196. Nine States showed declines exceeding 50 farm suicides, of which Karnataka (485) and Andhra Pradesh (319) and West Bengal (186) claimed the biggest falls. That, of course, after Chhattisgarh, which claimed a decline of 1,126, with its zero farm suicides figure in 2011.

NAGPUR –June 4, 2012

The crop failure and delayed relief aid being adjusted in pending crop loan without restructuring  crop loan as per NABARD directives, credit and relief aid starved four more vidarbha distressed farmers killed themselves  in last 72 hours as per reports  available here ,the recent innocent  farmers who become the victims of vidarbha agrarian crisis are identified as

This takes totally of farmers suicides in vidarbha as per documentation done on the basis local media reports and input provide by local activist network has touched 351 mark where as official crime data report recently published by leading marathi daily  tally is well above 500 as informed by vidarbha cotton farmer’s advocacy group Vidarbha Jandolan Samiti (VJAS).

“In December 2011 Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced Rs.2000 crore as relief aid to dying distressed farmers after complete crop cotton ,paddy and soya crop failed due to dry spell and drought in complete vidarbha and marathwada region which is mostly dry land region  but failed to arrange fund till 15th may 2012 but now as amount relief aid  is being credited in to drought hit farmers it is being adjusted in it’s earlier crop loan forcibly even after repeated instruction administration not to do such adjustments .when Govt. has officially  admitted crop failure  and given relief to compensate losses as per NABRAD standing directives all pending short and medium term loan needs reconstructed which has not been done in vidarbha where as in western Maharashtra CM and union agriculture minister too special interest in reconstruction and fresh enhanced crop loan  hence we demand the same for dying farmers of vidarbha”

Tiwari added.

Vidarbha dry land farmers who are subjected for rain sensitive cash crop like cotton and sugarcane needs long term solution after the  recent admission of Mr Sharad Pawar, Union agriculture minister, himself a great proponent of Bt.cotton seed and responsible for it’s permission and promotion in 2005  , in Parliament on Dec-ember 19, 2011: “Vidarbha produces about 1.2 quintals [cotton lint] per hectare on an average.” This is less than 20% of what conventional non-Bt farmers used to get in the late 1990s and early 2000. Vidarbha farmers are losing about Rs 2,000 crore per year, leading to increasing suicides by cotton farmers has exposed truth of success story and dream of second green revolution landing mass genocide of innocent cotton farmers of rain fed area of Maharashtra hence most vocal vidarbha cotton farmer’s advocacy group Vidarbha Jandolan Samiti (VJASa) will start door to door campaign urging all dry land farmers to say ‘Goodbuy’ to Bt.cotton cultivation as it is not sustainable and suitable for dry land farmers  , Kishor Tiwari of vidarbha advocacy group Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS.) informed today.

“Vidarbha is agrarian crisis is directly linked with as all farmer suicide prone district mono crop  which is predominantly cultivated is Bt.cotton since 2005 and now it is proven fact that it’s classic example  of promoting wrong technology  to wrong class agrarian community as rain sensitive crop has proven killer seed in west vidarbha as 95% farmers opted this technology are dry land farmers hence we have decided to the message of union agriculture   Mr Sharad Pawar that to save vidarbha cotton farmers’ they should say Good buy to Bt.cotton moreover advisory of ICAR to agriculture ministry after reviewing performance of Bt.cotton through out world Govt. ahs been advised to withdrew but business  interest  of union agriculture   Mr Sharad Pawar delay henc this door to door awareness campaign” Tiwari added.

Activist will urge vidarbha cotton farmers look at the facts that  the told  claims Bt.cotton cultivation are baseless and misleading . In 2004-5 when only 5% of cotton area in India had Bt, the yield was 470 kg per hectar. In 2011-12, when 90% of Indian cotton farms are growing Bt, the estimates are 480kgs per hectar wjere as in Maharashtra the yiels is  measly increase of 4 kg per acre! In Vidarbha, Maharashtra 96% of all cotton is Bt.cotton and the claims that were made to you with expensive Bt cotton seed when it was introduced – that it will reduce pesticide usage, increase yields, reduce cost of cultivation and improve your profits? Ten years later, you know that this did not materialise. Now it is very clear that these are only false hype and failed promises. Government’s own research and data show that Bt cotton is unsuitable for unirrigated conditions and shallow soils. In Maharashtra, pesticide use has been steadily increasing despite large scale adoption of Bt cotton and expansion of cotton (from 3198 metric tonnes of technical grade material in 2005-06 to 4639 MT). Further, while the annual average number of farm suicides in the state was 2833 between 1997-2002 (before the entry of Bt cotton), which shot up to 4067, between 2003-08, in the years that Bt cotton expanded rapidly in the state. Meanwhile, nearly 93% of India’s cotton seed market is controlled by just one American MNC, today. Crores of rupees have been pocketed by seed companies, even as the pesticides industry is posting good growth, year after year. Original problem was pests. Then, over the years, the problem became pesticides, when they hyped up pesticides as the only solution to your pest problems in cultivation. With Bt cotton, they said that the pesticides problem would be solved. However, today, farmers are dependent on external exploiters for seed, pesticides and fertilisers, with the returns not matching the costs or claims hence it is time we are urging cotton farmers to save ourselves , Tiwari said

“We are appealing dry land farmers who are innocent victims better Bt.cotton seed to look at  neighboring Andhra Pradesh, who farmers have adopted NPM practices in nearly 3.5 lakh acres, across different crops. Debts and migration are coming down in villages with NPM. Savings on spending otherwise going to line companies’ pockets is running into crores of rupees. Yields are not falling. Net returns of farmers are increasing. Come, even as we fight the government for all its anti-farmer policies, let us also do what we can at our own level. Let us stop the exploiters from looting us. Let us adopt ecological practices like NPM in our agriculture, and benefit to some extent” Tiwari added.