I recently came across a statistic that more than surprising me shook me. “17,060 farm suicides in one year” said Sainath’s article: - http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013150240100.htm . According to his article - since 2002, every 30 minutes an Indian farmer chooses to kill himself.
I can easily conjure that, somewhere on this planet, natural disasters kill thousands every year. I have also come across figures telling that approximately thousands in big cities are killed on road accidents every year. But what strikes me here is that these seventeen kilo suicides aren’t any fortuitous deaths. This is a choice that these men made, or probably, have been forced to make. We all know in India a farmer is synonymous to a simple man. But this shameful event continues. Shameful, not for one who aren’t there anymore, but for the appointed vigilantes who are supposed to protect them.
I have always been made to believe that India is a place about communities and sharing. India, an agricultural economy we should be proud of. A new wave of India rising. India, an upcoming superpower. So, are we really trying to define the India’s 70’s motto in fullest sense? Jai Jawan (aka. Long live the Soldier), so, Jai Kisan (aka. Long live the Farmer). Prove it to me that all this isn’t any hype.
UPDATE
Farmers have nowhere to go? ...Some more blogs...Click Here
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