PM's Vidarbha tour off, farmer suicides on

Mumbai/ Wardha: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cancelled his visit to Vidarbha in Maharashtra, but the news he would have got from region is that the agrarian crisis is far from over.

Durga Muthe, 21, lives in a village in Wardha district. She was to wed this month but her father, a farmer, killed himself on February 5 a day after Durga’s engagement ceremony.

Vasant Muthe was depressed because of debts, repeated crop failure and the responsibility of his daughter’s wedding.

“He had taken a loan but the crop was bad and he was tense about my wedding,” says Durga.

Durga’s family is one of many who have had no share in the Rs 3,750-crore relief package announced for Vidarbha's farmers during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the region in July 2006.

The money hasn’t stopped suicides. As many as 1,211 farmers committed suicide in 2007 and 96 more in January this year and there have already been 12 more cases since the start of February. Farmers say suicides continue because the package has not helped them.

“This situation won’t change because the money doesn’t reach farmers and is eaten up by the authorities,” alleges Dilip Muthe, Vasant's brother.

Farmer Vitthal Jagtap has given up hope on the government. Jagtap took a loan of Rs 30,000 from a cooperative bank but he's unable to repay it because his cotton crop has failed for the past many years now.

“The Prime Minister’s scheme has made no difference to us. He never even mentions the villagers or the farmers,” says Jagtap.

Shailesh Gandhi, an activist for Right to Information, too alleges that the PM’s relief package has not reached the farmers. “The media and common people get very excited when big packages are announced but where has the money gone,” says Gandhi.

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