Group Says 11 Farmers Commit Suicide
Pastor Dale Morgan
Group Says 11 Farmers Commit Suicide*
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 24, 2007; 12:14 PM
MUMBAI, India -- At least 11 farmers have committed suicide in the past
two days in a western Indian state after failing to repay bank loans
because of crop failures, an activist group said Thursday.
Three farmers hanged themselves, while the rest swallowed pesticide in
seven cotton-growing districts of Maharashtra state, said Kishore
Tiwari, president of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, or People's Movement.
Despite the government lowering interest rates on loans and helping more
farmers borrow money, many farmers have been unable to meet their
commitments.
"The farmers' deaths were due to distress at crop failure and worry that
there was no money for the coming sowing season," Tiwari said. "Many
have defaulted on bank payments. When they can't pay back bank loans,
farmers are killing themselves."
The farmers have been demanding that the government write off their loans.
Mounting debt and poverty has triggered thousands of suicides by farmers
in Maharashtra and the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
in recent years.
The government has described the farmers' debts as a national problem.
The deaths this week came despite a $815 million aid package for six
drought-stricken Maharashtra districts announced by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh.
India's agriculture sector is heavily dependent on annual monsoons.
Erratic rainfall and crippling water shortages in the past six years
have ruined crops and left farmers indebted.