AGRICULTURE: FARMERS’ SUICIDE - 2010 (January to December 2010)

Compiled By Human Rights Documentation∗

Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi – 110 003, (India) Farmers begin fast unto death (20) BELLARY: The farmers of Davanagere, who have been lodged in the Bellary Central Jail following their agitation against the acquisition of agricultural land in Davanagere, have started a fast unto death on the jail premises. They resorted to a 'do or die' protest, following the CM's failure in fulfilling their demands. Even five days after the CM's assurance, nothing has been done, a farmer alleged. Around 40 farmers led by Nitavalli Kengappa began their fast on Sunday. They are protesting against the acquisition of 180 acres of agricultural land at Doddabathi by the Davanagere city development authority and are demanding reopening of the Bhadra sugar factory. Farmers fall sick in jail, refuse to go to hospitalFIVE of the agitating farmers from Davanagere, who have been on an indefinite hunger strike in the Dharwad central jail since Sunday, fell ill on Monday. Two of them were taken to the civil hospital here and were sent back after being given treatment. Remaining three refused to go to hospital as they were asked to wore handcuff on way to the hospital, it was learnt. With their indefinite hunger strike entering the second day, the farmers made it clear that the fast unto death will continue till their demands were met. Around 75 agitating farmers of Davanagere have been demanding reopening of Bhadra Sugar Factory and stopping of the acquisition process of fertile lands in Doddabati village by the Davanagere Urban Development Authority. (Express Buzz 5/1/10)

PIL seeks CBI probe into farmers' suicide (20) CUTTACK: Concerned over incidents of farmers' suicide in the State, a farmer has moved the Orissa High Court seeking CBI probe into all those unfortunate incidents in which the poor farmers were forced to take such extreme steps. In a PIL filed in High Court on Wednesday Jati Pradhan, a farmer and secretary of Balangir Krushaka Mahasangha has urged the court to direct the CBI to probe into all suicidal deaths of farmers reported in the State recently and file a report to the court within a stipulated date. Mr. Pradhan has also urged the court to direct all district collectors of the State, who are implicated as opposite parties in the PIL, to pay compensation to the family members of the farmers, who have committed suicide due to acute poverty and loan burden. Mentioning the Orissa Human Rights Commission as another opposite party, the petitioner has also asked the court to direct the OHRC to lodge a complaint and investigate into as to why the farmers in the State are committing suicide. Similarly, the petition also seeks direction to State agriculture and revenue secretaries to ban loans to all farmers for agricultural purposes, which are not covered under adequate insurances and also regulate private financers who are hoodwinking the farmers. "The district collectors should also have a control over all the private financers in their respective districts and monitor the finances disbursed to the farmers and the modes of the loan repayments," the petition said. The High Court however, has not taken any cognizance of the PIL yet, said the petitioner advocate Ashis Kumar Mishra. (The Hindu 7/1/10)

State Farmers' Commission constituted (20) BHUBANESWAR: After suicides by more than 50 farmers during the last three months, the State Government has constituted the State Farmers' Commission to review the current status of Orissa's agriculture, its strengths and weaknesses. The commission has been asked to submit report in six months. The four-member commission to be headed by former chief secretary SM Pattnaik will also assess the condition of different categories of farmers in various agro-climatic zones and work out a comprehensive strategy for achieving sustainable and equitable agriculture development of the State. Announcing this at a media conference here today. Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout said that the commission would analyse the factors responsible for low farm income and suggest measures to enhance income of the farmers through crop diversification, improved marketing, value addition and agro-processing. The commission will examine the existing cropping patterns, farm systems and suggest rational land use policy including programmes of marginal and wastelands as well as drought and flood-prone waterlogged areas. Besides, it will examine land tenure and land ownership systems, other agrarian problems regarding farm productivity, rural income and suggest appropriate measures. Rout said that the commission would analyse the reasons behind rural indebtedness and the role of the ∗ This is a collection of previously published news and views from the print as well as the electronic media, whose reference marked at the end of each news items. Department of Documentation and Library (DDL) of the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi neither claims to the veracity of the facts in the news nor subscribes to the views expressed.

micro-finance institutions in providing micro-credit. It will also assess the input use efficiency and functioning of the delivery systems for seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and credit. It has been asked to recommend measures for stepping up investment in agriculture, allied sectors and promote public private partnership (PPP) in agricultural enterprises. The Commission will examine the efficacy of the existing crop insurance scheme and suggest improvements as well as other risk coverage mechanisms, he said. Besides, it will review the current rural employment situation, constraints and difficulties and suggest avenues for enhancing on and off-farm employment opportunities. The Minister reiterated that the suicides by farmers in Orissa were not because of crop loss and debt burden. Stating that Orissa is second in the country in the disbursal of farm loan, he said that loans of 19 lakh farmers have been waived. (Express Buzz 7/1/10)

The spectre of farmers' suicides (20) Bidyadhar Bag was just 40 when he died. He had rented two acres in Khapsadera village of Orissa’s Sambalpur district to grow food for the family. The payment to the landlord was seven bags of paddy per acre. But the monsoon failed, so Bidyadhar, a father of three, sold household articles to keep the home fires burning. He also owed Rs 5,000 to an SHG (self-help group) and another Rs 10,000 to friends and relatives. Unable to meet any of these commitments, he killed himself in despair. Bidyadhar’s story is not unique. In fact, farmer suicides have become common in Orissa over the last decade. Over 50 farmers have committed suicide in the last six months. According to a study by the Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, the rate of suicides by farmers went up from 5.2 per 100,000 males in 2000 to 9.8 in 2004 and rising. While this is still low compared to Maharashtra (52) and Andhra Pradesh (44), the trend is disturbing, to say the least. So, what are the reasons? Is it spir-alling debt burdens, or is Orissa again finding itself caught in a trap of tragedy and shame of impoverishment? The government speaks in two voices. One digs up conspiracy theories and the other somewhat reluctantly adm-its to the unfolding tragedy. “Agricultural traditions in Orissa,” reasons agriculture minister Damodar Rout, “are primitive. The farmers’ tolerance to harsh conditions is quite high, which is why normally they don’t take such steps. It’s an insensitive Opposition and a section of motivated media which have made it out to be so without caring to understand the underlying causes.” On the other hand, “the reasons for suicide apparently are loss of crop and apprehensions over loan repayment, mainly from private sources,” concludes the fact-finding team of the ruling Biju Janata Dal in its report to party supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Stories of heart-rending distress are not new to a state that shook the heart of the country in the 1980s. The tribal hinterland of Kalahandi shot into the national headlines with shocking reports of starvation deaths. In the KBK region, abject poverty bec-ame a disease that continues to haunt it in the decades that have followed. The shame of hunger deaths was taken to another level in the early 2000s. Tribal deaths rocked Raygada district and this time due to consumption of mango kernels. For a state tagged as India’s hottest industrial and investment destination, it is time to wake up, let go of the fantasies and tackle the realities. And realise that things have not changed much. Hunger, deprivation and poverty still stalk the land. The figures cannot be ignored. Most of the deaths have been reported from the state’s western pockets, which is the rain-shadow zone. Erra-tic rainfall last year pushed many farmers over the edge, driving them to the ultimate step. It is true, of course, that only a few go to the extreme. If one looks at the farmer sub-group and their suicide rate, one has to look at social as well as economic factors to understand the trend. High indebtedness could be one cause. A glance at the rate of poverty red-uction answers a few questions. In Orissa, the rate has been low — from 48.6 per cent in 1993-94, it dropped to 46.4 per cent in 2004-05. The recent report of the Suresh Tendulkar Committee, which singled out Orissa as one of the poorest states, corroborates this. Small and marginal farmers make up a large segment of the population and they have got no benefit from development programmes. “Agricultural and other labourers in rural Orissa,” says Srijit Mishra, a senior researcher, “have a high incidence of poverty. What’s worrying is 46 per cent are poor among those who are self-employed in agriculture.” Their plight has only worsened as holdings have declined in size over the years while their number has risen. Further, on account of declining retu-rns from agriculture, the incremental value of output has become negative. Over the last decade and a half, the cost of farming has risen multi-fold while returns have crashed, which explains the agrarian distress. With irrigation capacity more or less constant, the erratic monsoon has compounded the misery of the farmers. The Naveen Patnaik government focused on industrial growth and ignored the farm sector. The government’s excessive leniency towards industrial houses in water distribution has triggered serious unrest among farmers. Irrigation potential remains seriously unutilised, exposing farmers to floods and drought, which have recurred with alarming frequency in the last 10 years. The last monsoon saw at least 15 districts reeling

under drought and sustained crop loss of 50 percent and more. It is from these districts the suicides reports have poured in. The daughter of Gourahari Patra (50), who ended his life in Sargapalli village of Jharsuguda district, has reason to agree. Her father owned five acres and grew paddy on three. But water stress and pest attacks devastated his crop. The Rs 20,000 Patra had borrowed from a co-operative society and another Rs 20,000 from a private lender became mountainous burdens. “Things became extremely difficult in the family. The pressure of crop loss, loan repayment and inability to provide for us, destroyed his fortitude. But still, he shouldn’t have left us,” she says. Minister Rout dismisses high indebtedness as a cause. “In the period between 1997 and 2008, 48,531 persons committed suicide in Orissa and only 3,509 of them were farmers.” He does, however, agree that small and marginal farmers need support. “We need to give them additional sources of livelihood from dairy, fisheries and other sectors. I have submitted a Rs 5,000-crore plan for the Animal Resources sector with the objective of boosting their income in the long run,” he says. The question is, how much if any of this will they ever see? For Bag and Patra it already too late.(Express Buzz 10/1/10)

Introduce agriculture credit policy, suggests farm scientist (20) Bhubaneswar, 10 Jan: Amid a spate of suicides by farmers due to alleged loan burden in the state, a noted farm scientist has suggested formulation of an agriculture credit policy with thrust on rain fed areas, user friendly insurance instruments and spread of institutional arrangements. “There is urgent need for an agriculture credit policy with emphasis on rain fed areas. Flow of credit to marginal and small farmers in rain fed areas must be increased,” said Mr Dibakar Naik, head of Agricultural Economics in Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT). Describing debt trap as a major cause for sucide by farmers, he said since most peasants depend on money lenders and non-institutional credit, steps should be taken to extend institutional credit to marginal and small farmers with proper monitoring mechanism for productive use of loans. “Availability ot credit to farmers should be made easy and at low cost. Frequent visits of farmers to credit agencies should be reduced,” Mr Naik said adding new credit products like pledge financing, credit for marketing, loan against warehouse receipts and export credit should be extended. Credit should be extended on specific project basis by linking farming process to nearest agricultural experts for proper technical advice and final product to market, he said. He said the issue of farm credit assumed significance in view of allegation of suicide by about 50 farmers in the state during last 3 months due to crop loss and indebtedness. The state government has also asked the newly formed Farmer Commission to look into the matter. Stating that the state government and state Agricultural University should have joint responsibility towards improving the credit absorption capacity of farmers, Mr Naik said though crop loan in Orissa rose ten times from Rs 252 crore in 1995-96 to Rs 2493.68 crore in ten years, its impact in the field was negligible. “Perhaps due to lack of absorptive capacity, the impact of credit on productivity was marginal,” he said adding productivity of rice and foodgrains in 1995-96 was 13.75 quintals per hectare and 11.01 quintals per hectare. Productivity of rice and foodgrains had increased to the level of 15.57 quintal and 12.13 quintal per hectare respectively in 2006-07, recording a rise of 13.24 per cent for paddy and 10.17 per cent for foodgrains with 100 per cent increase in crop loan during the period, Mr Naik said. Since agriculture was a high risk economic activity, credit without insurance is hazardous. Farmers need user friendly insurance instruments covering production, right from sowing to post-harvest operation and also market risks, he said suggesting steps to raise credit and insurance literacy. Stating that crop insurance policy should cover both irrigated and rain-fed areas with varies premium amount based on yield potential of crops, Mr Naik said Self Help Groups (SHG) could provide linkage to reach farmers who do not have access to financial institutions. Mr Naik's suggestions were made to the state government in a paper titled “Problems of Farmers' Indebtedness: Issues and Action Programme'', a copy of which was made available to the Press here yesterday.(The Statesman 11/1/10)

Farmer suicides in Vidarbha on a decline: Report (2 0) NAGPUR: Farmer suicides in Vidarbha have gradually gone down during the last three years, with only 966 cases recorded in 2009, according to official statistics. The Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swawalamban Mission, a nodal agency of the Maharashtra government, recorded 1,246 farmer suicides in 2007 (in Vidarbha), 1,147 suicides in 2008 and 966 in 2009 respectively, showing a decline in the trend, Mission director general, SG Malakolikar said. Also, among the 1,246 suicides in 2007, only 337 cases were found to be eligible for compensation as per the definition laid down by government, and decided by a district-level committee, he said. The committee, headed by the district collector includes the SP, Zila

Parishad CEO, agriculture officers, panchayat samiti and a representative each of the farmers and an NGO. In 2008, only 305 cases were eligible out of the total 1,147, while 201 were taken in out of 966 (in 2009) and 158 cases are still under investigation. Malakolikar said eligible cases were duly paid necessary compensation of Rs1 lakh – Rs30,000 in cash and remaining Rs70,000 under monthly income scheme of post office. (dna 12/1/10)

Do not book cases against defaulting farmers: Kager i (20) Karwar: Uttara Kannada district in-charge and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri has come down heavily on some banks of Honnavar taluk which booked criminal cases against defaulting farmers for failing to repay loans. Addressing a meeting of bankers at Honnavar on Saturday, Mr. Kageri said the Government was not in favour of sending defaulting farmers to jail. He added that if banks continued to book cases against farmers for failing to repay loans, and if farmers concerned committed suicide, the banks would be held responsible for it. Officers of nationalised and cooperative banks and marketing societies of Honnavar taluk participated in the meeting and gave the statistics of the cases filed against the defaulting farmers by their respective banks. Mr. Kageri said that it was only in Honnavar that banks were sending defaulting farmers to jail. It creates ill will and the farmers face more problems by taking loans from the private parties to clear the loan borrowed from the banks, he said. The former MLA M.P. Karki, who is also the president of the Raitha Horata Sameetiurged the banks to withdraw cases filed against the defaulting farmers . (The Hindu 17/1/10)

Farmer suicides decline in K’taka (20) ew Delhi, DH News Service: The number of farmers’ suicides in Karnataka has come down drastically this fiscal year. Karnataka, one of the worst-hit states in the country as far as farmers’ suicides are concerned, has reported just 14 incidents in 2009-10 (up to December) against 143 in 2008-09, according to the information provided by the Union Ministry of Agriculture. While 2006-07 witnessed 320 farmers’ suicides, only 182 cases were reported in 2007-08. According to the ministry’s statistics, the number of farmers’ suicides across the country has come down from 3,166 in 2006-07, to 177 in 2009-10 (up to December 31). Along with Karnataka, three other farmers’ suicide-prone states –– Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala –– have also reported a decline in suicides, a senior official in the Ministry told Deccan Herald. In Andhra Pradesh, the incidence of farmers’ suicide declined to 77 as on December 31, 2009 from 390 in 2008-09. In Maharashtra, too, the suicide cases have come down to 71 from 622 the previous year. The Ministry of Agriculture attributed the decline to the successful implementation of several Central schemes in rural areas. After the increase of farmers’ suicides in the country, particularly in Karnataka, AP, Kerala and Maharashtra, the ministry had announced a slew of welfare measures with a financial assistance of Rs 16,978 crore. The ministry claimed that out of the entire package, 99.8 per cent of the funds had already been released to the four states and several schemes had been implemented in 31 suicide-prone districts in the States including six districts in Karnataka–Belgaum, Hassan, Chitradu- rga, Chikkamaglur, Kodagu and Shimoga. The ministry also shared the views of the Veeresh Committee report that attributed the suicides not only to crop failure but also factors such as drought, indebtedness and socio-economic conditions. (Deccan Herald 21/1/10)

Insurance to farmers: banks warned (20) HYDERABAD: Severe action will be taken against banks if they adjust the amounts payable to farmers under crop insurance scheme (Rs. 801 crore) and input subsidy (Rs. 600 crore), against their old loan dues. Collectors have been asked to convene meetings of district level bankers’ committees to warn them against withholding these sums, affecting sowing of fresh crops. Also, they have been asked to take steps for re-scheduling of crop loans in 1,068 mandals declared as affected by drought or floods. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken at the first day Collectors’ conference here on Wednesday, Revenue and Agriculture Ministers -- D. Prasada Rao and N. Raghuveera Reddy-- said the Collectors had also been instructed to immediately arrange relief package to the families of the farmers who committed suicide, as complaints were received in this respect. After day-long deliberations on district-specific problems highlighted by the Collectors, the Chief Minister and Ministers handed out numerous decisions to them for immediate implementation. These decisions include release of scholarships to students from the first month of the academic year, disbursement for this year by January-end, evolving strategies to raise horticulture, coffee and rubber crops on the forest lands regularized in favour of tribals, prepare software for online release of pensions to the physically challenged. The conference also decided to provide road

connectivity to all SC and ST habitations with Rs 1,200 crore available for the purpose, begin procurement of kharif produce to build up buffer stocks for subsidizsd schemes. Mr Rao said a decision was taken to announce a new tribal policy aiming at empowerment of the tribals. (tHE hINDU 21/1/10)

Nearly 2 lakh farm suicides since 1997 (25) MUMBAI: There were at least 16,196 farmers’ suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The share of the Big 5 States or ‘suicide belt’ in 2008 — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh — remained very high at 10,797, or 66.6 per cent of the total farm suicides in the country. This was marginally higher than it was in 2007 (66.2 per cent). Maharashtra remains the worst State in the nation for farm suicides with a total of 3802. (This is just 40 short of the combined total of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.) The all-India total of 16,196 represents a fall of 436 from 2007. But the broad trends of the past decade reflect no significant change. The national average for farm suicides since 2003 stays at roughly one every 30 minutes. Within the Big 5, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh recorded higher numbers. The increase of 604 in these three States somewhat offset the dip in Maharashtra (436) and Karnataka (398). But a fall in suicide numbers in other States (for example, a decline of 412 in Kerala and 343 in West Bengal) means that the Big 5 marginally increased their two-thirds share of total farm suicides in 2008. The NCRB data now cover all States for 12 years from 1997. In the first six years (1997-2002), the Big 5 witnessed 55,769 farmers’ suicides. From 2003 to 2008, they totalled 67,054, a rise of nearly 1900 a year on average. Maharashtra has logged 41,404 farm suicides from 1997 (over a fifth of the national total) and 44,468 from 1995, the year when this State began recording farm data. No other State comes close. During 1997-2002, Maharashtra saw, on average, eight farmers kill themselves daily. The corresponding figure rose to 11 during 2003-2008. The rise was from an average of 2,833 farm suicides a year in the first period to an average of 4,067 in the next period. Professor K. Nagaraj, an economist who has worked at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, says of the NCRB data: “There is hardly any decline in the suicide belt, though individual States may show variations across 12 years. If this is the state for 2008, the year of the Rs. 70,000 crore loan waiver and multiple farm packages, then 2009, a drought year, could show very disturbing figures. The underlying agrarian problems seem as acute as ever.” (The Hindu 22/1/10)

President calls for second green revolution (20) New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil’s address to the nation on Monday, on the eve of the 61st Republic Day, reflected the common citizen’s worries on two counts: the unyielding price situation and challenges to internal security. She also touched upon climate change, underlining the use of “energy efficient technologies and renewable sources of energy” to reduce the “carbon footprint.” The President called for urgent steps towards a second green revolution to ensure food availability, particularly of agricultural produce, which is in short supply, to avoid spiralling food prices. Urging positive action, including some “out-of-the-box thinking” on the farm front, she said: “We have to involve the agricultural economy more pro-actively into the growth process, both as a centre of production and as a generator of demand for various products and services.” Ms. Patil advocated “more intense frameworks,” encompassing “new technologies, better seeds, improved farming practices and better water management techniques,” for closing the gap among the farmer, the scientific community, lending institutions and the markets. She said higher agricultural incomes would improve the living standards of over 145 million rural households, which in turn “will generate demand and provide the impetus for growth in other sectors.” As the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity, India was on target for achieving a double-digit growth rate, the President pointed out. While policies that promoted growth must continue, it was important to “take growth patterns to the bottom of the pyramid” empowering the poor and the disadvantaged, “enabling them to move up the economic ladder, to join the ranks of the prosperous.” Simultaneously Ms. Patil laid stress an “environment of security” for the optimal attainment of growth. In an obvious reference to Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s recent moves towards a new security architecture, she said the government was committed to maintaining high vigil and taking appropriate measures to address internal security challenges. The President linked the challenge of climate change to India’s civilisational respect for nature, and called for Indians to become “sensitive inhabitants of the planet.” (The Hindu 26/1/10)

Farmer suicides -- Karnataka in top 5 states, says Sainath (20)

BANGALORE: In the last 12 years, from 1997-2008, there have been nearly a whopping two lakh farmer suicides in the country, a disturbing 67% of these in just the five big states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Yet these numbers may not be wholly accurate because of several exclusions in computing the numbers, said senior journalist P Sainath on Monday, speaking at the 36th national annual conference of Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists. There is a huge error in the number of suicides because they do not take into account women farmers, dalits and adivasis and tenant farmers who do not have land registered in their names. Suicides do not occur all year around, there is a spike in April-May when the farmer searches for credit, in January-February when they try to sell their produce and do not get the expected price, and in September-October in the spraying season when the farmer has a bottle of pesticide in his hand. Elaborating on what is common among all the five states, Sainath said those committing suicide were overwhelmingly farmers of cash crops which involve higher risk and price volatility. "There is also high incidence of debt in these areas and are places where commercial agriculture is practised. What is also unique to Maharashtra is that farmers leave behind suicide notes addressed to the Prime Minister, chief minister, agriculture minister and others giving reasons for their move," he said. Opining that peasants' world view had changed, he added that the small farmer's world was collapsing in favour of corporate farming and large-entity farming. (Times of India 2/2/10)

'Data on farm suicides has huge errors' (20) BANGALORE: The figures as showed by the National Crime Records Bureau on farmer suicides have “huge errors” resulting in disparity in the numbers of those who have committed suicide in the country said journalist and writer, P Sainath. He was speaking at the inaugural function of the 36th National Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Clinical Psychology. The NCRB reports have excluded women, dalits and adivasis, Sainath said. “In our society, in most cases, the title of the land is never in the name of the woman. However, woman do most of the work in the farmland,” he said. “The adivasis and Dalits have not been recognised as farmers due to improper title deeds,” he added. “The numbers we have is authentic but not accurate,” he says. Sainath pointed out the increasing cost of rural health care. With India becoming the first largest health sector provider, the increasing privatisation of the sector has made farmers shell out huge amounts on health bills, he said. The cash farming which was largely promoted by the government mainly aimed at the imports also had it affect when the prices plummeted, says Sainath. Many farmers switched to cash crop such as Vanilla, which in the first two years gave farmers a return of Rs 4000 per kg. Later the prices were slashed to a meager Rs 68 per kg, which not even enough to meet the farmers cultivation costs, he underlined. (Express Buzz 2/2/10)

Farm widows narrate their plight in seminar (20) WARDHA: Three farm widows narrated their bitter experience during a UGC-funded seminar, held by Priyadarshini College of Women in Wardha on Tuesday. Two of the three widows - Rekha Narkate and Durga Helunde, said that they didn't get any compensation from the government as the administration didn't find their husband's suicides under "farmer suicide criteria".They said, "Now, we are finding it very difficult to repay the loans which we had taken from bank or money-lender. But, the Swaminathan Foundation came to our rescue and helped us a lot." Another widow Ujjawal Petkar was lucky enough to get a compensation of Rs 1 lakh. "But I am facing a lot of difficulty in raising my child who is handicapped," Ujjwala said. Farmer activists Dr ND Patil from Kolhapur and Vijay Jawandhia from Wardha along with journalist Chandrakant Wankhede spoke on various facets of farmers' problem including subsidy policy of America and import-export policy of Indian government. Principal Rambha Sonayae was also present on the occasion. (Times of India 6/2/10)

BJP govt in MP says no to GM crops, promotes organi c farming (20) Indore: Three days before the Centre's possible announcement over its decision on Bt Brinjal, Madhya Pradesh agriculture development minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria today reiterated that genetically modified (GM) crops have no place in the state. "I have already written a letter to the Centre against the commercialisation of Bt Brinjal in country as it wasn't good for human health and environment", the minister told PTI. "We want to make Madhya Pradesh, the country's first model organic farming state," Kusmaria added. He said that the state government has prepared a detailed organic farming policy and it will be announced in a week or two. Organic farming was being carried out in 4.25 lakh hectares of area, he said adding that there was a need to increase this area. Kusumaria said that the chemical fertilisers

and pesticides have affected the agriculture land in last 30-40 years. Meanwhile Organic Farming Association of India's (OFAI) Northern India Unit Director Bhartendu Prakash has claimed that the productivity of the fertile land in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh has dipped following the unchecked use of chemical fertiliser. "A wrong impression was being created that the country can't strengthen its food security without the help of GM crops and chemical fertilisers," Prakash told PTI. "We have to decide whether we need good organic farming produce or poisonous crops?" he quipped. He said that OFAI was ready to provide labelling facility to the organic farming produce which in turn will benefit the consumers. By this the consumers will know whether the produce was from organic farming or not. Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh during the seventh public hearing on the introduction of Bt Brinjal in Bangalore yesterday said that all public consultations were over and a decision on the issue will be announced on February 10. (DNA 7/2/10)

Maharashtra ahead once again, in farmer suicides (2 0) NAGPUR: At least 16,196 farmers committed suicide in India in 2008, with Maharashtra topping the states for the fourth year in succession with 3,802 farm suicides, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) annual report, 2008, on accidental deaths and suicides. The NCRB report made public on Wednesday brings the all-India total of farm suicides in the country since 1997 to a staggering 1,99,132, but represents a marginal fall of 436 from the previous year when 16,632 farmers had committed suicide. Overall suicides in the country in 2008 stood at 1,25,017, the report shows. The share of five states (Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) in total farm suicides remained high at 10,797, or 66.6% of the total farm suicides — a marginally higher than it was 2007 (66.2%). Maharashtra remained the worst state in the nation for farm suicides with a total of 3,802. It was a drop of 436 compared to 2007 when the state had logged 4,238 farm suicides. This was the year when the centre doled a massive loan waiver to farmers. Besides, the central special packages were at work in 33 most suicide-prone districts including six in Vidarbha, among the worst-affected areas in the state. The NCRB has been collating the data since 1999 for all states. Maharashtra has seen 41,404 farm suicides from 1997, more than a fifth of the national total, and 44,468 from 1995, the year when the state began recording the data. During 1997-2002, Maharashtra saw, on average, eight farmers kill themselves daily. The corresponding figure rose to 11 during 2003-2008. The rise was from an average of 2,833 farm suicides a year in the first period to an average of 4,067 in the next period. The increase of 604 in Andhra Pradesh (2,105), Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (3,152) offset the dip in Maharashtra (436) and Karnataka (398). While the figures show a marginal decline over the two previous years, the decadal trend is unchanged. In the first six years (1997-2002), the league of big five league saw 55,769 farmers’ suicides. From 2003 to 2008, the figure rose to 67,054, or annual rise of 1,900. There are no separate figures for Vidarbha, but the Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission that oversaw the implementation of the CM and PM packages amounting to over Rs5,700 crore pegs the farm suicide figure for six worst-affected western Vidarbha districts in 2008 at 1,147 — or over a fourth of the total farm suicides in Maharashtra.(DNA 11/2/10)

Krushak Mahasangha to prepare list of debt-ridden f armers (20) CUTTACK: The Balangir Zilla Krushak Mahasangha, which has petitioned the High Court seeking a direction for investigation into farmers’ suicide in the State, has now begun an exercise preparing the list of marginalised farmers who are burdened with loans from financial institutions. Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, executive members of the Mahasangha and their advocate claimed that the High Court directed them to submit a list of those farmers who were overburdened with loans. “While adjudicating over our miscellaneous petition that seeks a direction to stay realisation of loan dues from farmers, the court asked us to submit the list of farmers seeking a stay on realisation of loan dues by financial institutions,” informed petitioner advocate Ashis Kumar Mishra. Claiming that at least 40 farmers in the State committed suicide due to acute poverty and most of the marginalised farmers who had availed of loans were in misery, the Mahasangha urged the court to intervene by directing the banks to stop realisation of loan dues from farmers to put a check on rising farmers’ suicide. It may be mentioned here that the court, after taking cognizance of the main petition of Mahasangha, had issued notices to the State government, Collectors of all districts, State Human Rights Commission and the CBI to file affidavits in response to the petition. The case was adjourned for next hearing on February 17. (The Hindu 12/2/10)

Government asked to file reports on farmers’ suicid e (20)

CUTTACK: Expressing displeasure over the non-submission of the State government affidavit in response to a PIL over farmers’ suicide in the State, the High Court on Thursday asked the government in no uncertain manner to positively file its counter affidavit on Friday. The Bench of acting Chief Justice I M Quddusi and Justice Sanju Panda adjourned the hearing of the case to Friday. The Balangir Zilla Krushak Mahasangha had petitioned the HC seeking a direction for an impartial investigation into the incidents of farmers’ suicide in the State. On being asked by the court, the Mahasangha had recently submitted to court a list marginalised farmers who are burdened with loans from financial institutions. It claimed that at least 40 farmers in the State have now committed suicide in recent past due to acute poverty . (The Hindu 19/2/10)

Decision to decontrol prices of fertilizer criticiz ed (20) Gulbarga: Vice-president of the Karnataka Prantha Raith Sangha (KPRS) U. Basavaraj has criticised the decision of the Union Government to decontrol the prices of fertilizer. He told presspersons here on Saturday that decontrolling the prices of fertilizers would force farmers to take more loans from banks and financial institutions. If the crops fail owing to scanty rainfall, the farmers would be left with no option but to commit suicide, he said. Mr. Basavaraj said that if the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State had real concern for farmers, it should pressure the Union Government to withdraw its decision. He alleged that there was widespread misappropriation of funds released under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGREGA) in Gulbarga district. An inquiry should be conduced in this regard and action initiated against officials found guilty, he said. To pressure the State government to fulfil its demands, KPRS would stage a dharna in front of residence of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar on February 26, he added. (The Hindu 21/2/10)

Over 90 farmers committed suicide in Adilabad distr ict: NGO (20) HYDERABAD: Sixty-nine farmers from Adilabad district committed suicide during the kharif season that lasted from August to November 2009 and the number grew to 93 by December 15, if reports from the non-governmental organisations and farmers’ associations in Andhra Pradesh are any indication. Failure of kharif crop and mounting debts are stated to be the reasons for the spate of suicides across the district. A recent committee constituted by Deccan Development Society, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), PEACE, AP Rythu Sangam and other organisations recently came up with a study report that revealed the staggering number of farmer suicides. The committee visited around eight families in various mandals, informed G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture. “In the first week of November alone, over 16 suicides were reported in vernacular newspapers and that’s when we put together this committee. The committee with the help of local media and farmers estimated that over 69 suicides had taken place during the kharif season,” he said. Confirming the report by the committee, S. Malla Reddy, vice-president, A.P. Rythu Sangham, says over 93 suicide deaths were recorded by the Sangham by December 15, 2009. Majority of the farmers who took the extreme step had taken large amounts of private loans and micro-finance operators at high interest rate in order to cultivate cotton, revealed the report. G. Bhojanna of Lokeshwara village in Lokeshwaram mandal of the district is one such farmer of five-acres who ended his life last November due to mounting debts incurred on his failed cotton crop. His accrued loans of two years amounted to Rs.3.5 lakh, and every month, he had to suffer the ignominy of the moneylenders’ visits to his home, his son G. Gangaprasad, an 18-year-old college student who now spends more time as a daily-wage worker said. Bhojanna’s widow Indramma is helping run the house now with her meagre income as a beedi worker. The interest rate on private loans ranges between 24 and 36 per cent, informed Rajasekhara Reddy, one of the committee members. “The microfinance companies would collect the interest amount every month. For a farmer this is a burden as farming doesn’t guarantee regular income,” he explains. “We had brought this to the notice of the district Collector too and submitted a memorandum. However, the Collector had approved ex-gratia for only 18 deaths he considered genuine. After we submitted our list, ex-gratia was cleared for 50 farmer families,” S. Malla Reddy, vice president, Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham. The report further states that though on an average 1.65 lakh hectares of land is under cotton cultivation in the district, this had increased by 20 per cent in 2009. Thus a total of 1.90 lakh hectares of land was reported to be under cotton cultivation, with almost 80 per cent of it under BT cotton hybrids, it says. The drought forced the farmers to re-seed thrice for gap filling and with each bag of cotton seed costing around Rs.750, this meant an increase in cost of cultivation, explains Mr. Rajsekhara Reddy. “The minimum cost of cultivation per acre is around Rs.12,000 so a farmer would require a harvest of six quintals per acre merely to break-even,” he points

out. Despite the minimum support price for cotton in kharif 2009 standing at Rs. 3,000, the low yield -almost half of the previous year - pushed farmers deeper into debts, the report points out. Kodanda Reddy, member, Andhra Pradesh Kisan Cell, said the district had witnessed 15 deaths in three days in November and this too was brought to the notice of Collector. “I visited the families personally to ascertain the facts. Majority of the farmers didn’t receive crop insurance amount and there was little intervention to stop the private lenders,” he says adding the loans were also given in kind in the form of seeds and fertilizers. (The Hindu 23/2/10)

Vidarbha wants Rs.30,000 crore from Mukherjee's bud get kitty (20) Nagpur, February 24, 2010: Farmers in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region are hoping for a Rs.30,000 crore (Rs.300 billion) development package in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget, only two days away. According to the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), in view of the neglect faced by the region since independence, it was high time the central government looks at Vidarbha seriously and announces a hefty development package. "The Maharashtra government has spent over Rs.3,000 crore towards the irrigation backlog in the past three years, but it has failed to yield any benefit to the region," VJAS president Kishor Tiwari said. He demanded a Rs.30,000 crore package, which would take care of the huge backlog for the region, help sustainable irrigation projects, take care of drinking water needs and other infrastructure development in the region. Since 2006, the state government has announced two separate packages worth Rs.5,825 crore. This was followed up by a loan waiver from the central government of Rs.4,600 crore and from the state Rs.1,100 crore (the figure for this region) in 2009. "Yet, suicides have not stopped, the region continues to be backward and the sentiments are strongly in favour of a separate state of Vidarbha," Tiwari pointed out. According to official figures, almost 50,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra, of which a majority fall in the Vidarbha region. "Despite such a large number of deaths, the state has not announced any concrete welfare measures for the farm widows, for the education of their children, employment opportunities and marriage of the girls," Tiwari said. He urged the finance minister to display his generosity in the next budget by making a substantial allocation for the Vidarbha region.(Hindustan Times 24/2/10)

'Hirakud dam is failing, farmers are killing themse lves' (20) Bhubaneswar, February 25, 2010: Dozens of farmers have committed suicide in Orissa in the past one year as the Hirakud dam is no longer serving its purpose, says a new study that warns of a grimmer situation in the coming days if urgent steps are not taken. The dam, built across the Mahanadi river, about 350 km from Bhubaneswar in the district of Sambalpur, is one of the longest in the world. It is one of independent India's early multipurpose river valley projects. In the initial phase, it checked floods in the state's coastal areas, provided electricity to factories and homes and supplied ample water in the canals to grow a second crop every year. "However, now these functions have been considerably reduced," said Rajkishor Meher, a reader in sociology at the government-run Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies in Bhubaneswar. Government records show 3,509 farmers committed suicide in Orissa in the last 11 years. The opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party have alleged that at least 53 farmers committed suicide in the state in the past one year. A years-long study by Meher on the plight of farmers at the tail ends of canals served by the dam is awaiting publication in the journal Contributions to Indian Sociology. "The dam has almost lost its principal objective of irrigation promotion and agricultural development in the region," Meher said. "The system now hardly generates 30 percent of its installed hydro power capacity because of lack of adequate storage of water in the reservoir, obsolete technology and worn out machinery," said the expert, who has authored several books related to sociology of development and on Orissa's economy. "Although floods in the Mahanadi was under control for some years, because of the silting of the riverbed by sand downstream of the dam, floods in the coastal region of the state have started recurring in a more aggravating form since 1980," he said. According to Meher, the dam project had displaced 101,000 people 50 years ago, a majority of them tribals. "Given the rate of population growth and limited success of the past resettlement and rehabilitation process, it is not unfair to say that around 200,000 people of the original Hirakud oustees might still be impoverished by the project," he said. The reservoir submerged around 50,000 hectares of good farm land in 300 villages. As against that, it irrigated 157,790 hectares during the Kharif and 97,910 hectares during the Rabi seasons, according to official records. "But at present due to silting of the reservoir and canals the tail end areas do not get adequate irrigation water for the second crop. The area deprived of a second crop is almost one-third of the created irrigated potential in the command area," Meher said. "So,

the effective irrigation coverage for the second paddy crop is now available for hardly 60,000-70,000 hectares of agricultural land and that is at the cost of loss of 50,000 hectares of agricultural land and disruption of livelihood of around 40,000 displaced families at present. "Plus, availability of water for agriculture shall be reduced in future, as the area surrounding the reservoir is now witnessing fast industrial growth and mining of coal." Meher said factories were taking more and more water from the Hirakud reservoir. "Before 1997 the total allocation of water to the industries of the region from the reservoir was 3,191,200 gallons per year. This has increased by 27 times in the past nine years and this is obviously at the cost of water for irrigation. "In this scenario, the farmers in the tail end are going to suffer more and more." Meher wanted "immediate improvement" in the water management in the project's command area. "If that is not done many small and marginal farmers who regularly borrow money for farming from various sources at high rates of interest may commit suicide." (Hindustan Times 26/2/10)

Tail-end farmers threaten to commit suicide if wate r is not released (20) ELURU: A group of about farmers from Kovvali, a belt village of Kolleru lake falling under the Dendulur mandal limits of West Godavari district on Thursday held out a suicide threat by holding pesticide cans in their fields as a token of protest against the district administration’s reported failure to provide water to their fields for rabi.The demonstration was preceded by a showdown between the farmers from the upper reaches and their tail-end counters under the Rallakodu canal through which water is permitted for the rabi crop under the ayacut. The tail-end farmers accused their counterparts in the upper reaches of building cross-bunds and diverting water to their fields in violation of the localised government order (LGO) leaving the tail-end areas to the threat of withering allegedly by bribing the irrigation authorities. Neruru Ramana, a progressive farmer from the village said rabi operations were taken up unauthorised in 500 acres in the upper reaches of the canal. This unauthorised cultivation deprived the tail-end areas, legally permitted for cultivation in the current rabi, of water, he added. He said an extent of 800 acres of paddy fields did not receive water for more than 20 days, resulting in withering. The tail-end farmers, mostly tenant farmers, lamented that they went in for the rabi operations by investing Rs 5,000-7,000 per acre by taking the administration at its word with regard to supply of water. (The Hindu 26/2/10)

“Vacant land not meant for SEZ, industrial use” (20 ) DINDIGUL: Vacant land in any parts the State, particularly in rural areas, should be used only for grazing or to develop forests or to create irrigation tanks instead of establishing special economic zones or industrial estates, said organic farming expert K. Nammazhvar. Multi and rotational cropping patterns, natural way of farming and effective use of rainwater alone would make agriculture a viable business, he said addressing a special training session on making of natural inputs for agriculture organised by Pasumai Vikatan at Chettinaickenpatti near here on Sunday. Already, farmers had been forced to raise crops in small areas of degraded land with less water. Scanty rains had made agriculture a tough task. Cultivable areas had shrunk rapidly owing to massive industrialisation and creation of special economic zones. Farmers should think on how to get rain and utilise it effectively and store only excess rainwater to recharge groundwater table. Multiple cropping pattern would offset loss of some crops, he added. “Andhra Pradesh farmers raise 12 crops in one hectare,” he said. Agriculture activities should depend on hard work of farmers, cattle and their traditional knowledge on agriculture and not on chemical fertilisers. “You give land all that were discarded and still it will give back what you need. Over 12,000 plant species did fixation of nitrogen in soil for plant growth. Why should we depend on chemical based fertilisers,” he said. To scale down global warming, the earth surface should have green cover. Raising trees would provide a green umbrella to earth and keep the atmosphere cool. Massive tree plantation would improve rainfall. Trees would also enhance income for farmers. There were 10 broad categories of trees that satisfied different needs of men, cattle and soil. They offered food to men, feed to cattle, manure to crop, firewood, timber for making furniture, some for fencing, raw materials for different products such as paper and natural medicines. A three pronged formula — bottom of a plant to land, middle to cattle and tip for human consumption — should be followed strictly for a better yield and to protect land. Every district should have a natural resources protection force comprising volunteers to propagate the law of nature, he said. Collector M. Vallalar said that chemical residues in food had poisoned even newborns. Organic farming should be propagated among people to produce good food. (The Hindu 1/3/10)

Permanent ban on GM crops sought (20)

TIRUNELVELI: Speakers at a seminar organised here on Tuesday on ‘GM Crops with special reference to Bt Brinjal’ urged the State and Central Governments not to allow these ‘designer crops’ that could cause serious and irreparable damage to the human beings owing to their genetically modified characters. Sustained attempts being made by the multinational companies to introduce genetically modified crops were nothing but efforts to scientifically destroy the Indian farm industry, now having hundreds of highly tolerant varieties in every vegetable. Siddha practitioner K. Sivaraman of ‘Poovulagin Nanbargal’ said the Indian soil texture, which had been seriously damaged owing the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of inorganic chemical fertilizers and highly harmful pesticides applied in the guise of ‘green revolution’, could have been rectified by the farmers switching over to organic farming practices. However, the genetically modified crops like Bt brinjal, Bt cotton etc. would permanently poison the soil, crops and the animals and human beings consuming them. Innovative natural farmer N. Ganesh Raja appealed to the agriculturists to join hands against the GM crops and ferociously raise a banner of revolt demanding the permanent ban on these “poisonous crops”. Leading organic farmers Gomathinayagam and Antony Samy from Puliyangudi in the district shared their experiences in the natural farming. A documentary film ‘Bt Katthirikkaai’, directed by J. Deepa, narrated the threats to be posed by the ‘alien’ vegetable. Leading builder and founder of ‘Kal Panpaattu Iyakkam’ T.T. Ramesh Raja, director of Tirunelveli Social Service Society Rev. Fr. Kennedy and others spoke. (The Hindu 3/3/10)

Farmers called upon to wage battle for demands (20) Srinivaspur, March 7, DH News Service: Farmers should wage struggle to seek solution for their problems, said the Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha district general secretary P R Suryanarayana. Speaking after inaugurating farmers’ convention at Yagavachintapalli cross in the taluk on Sunday, he said that Kolar has become birthplace for farmers’ struggles. “The farmers of the district have been fighting for permanent irrigation facility, hike in milk price, support price for agriculture produces and bank loans. It should be realised that we can draw the attention of the ruling dispensation and seek solutions to our problems only through such struggles,” he said. Taluk unit secretary of the Sangha P R Naveen Kumar said that banks are yet to comply with the direction of the Union government to extend loans to poor. The rich are pocketing bank loans and reaping the benefits of government schemes as a result of which poverty has become widespread in the country, he alleged. There is a need to launch an organised struggle against oppression of the poor in the society. Farmers and farm labourers should raise voice against the corruption and demand their rights failing which the situation would turn from bad to worst. All eligible persons should submit applications for bank loans and siteless people should seek sites from Gram Panchayats. Member of the Sangha state committee C Gopinath said that the problems faced by agrarian community have not been solved even after six decades of independence. Agriculture sector is reeling under several problems and farmers are committing suicide. The Sangha has organised “Delhi Chalo” on March 12 to bring the pestering problems to the notice of the Union government. K V Byrareddy presided over the convention. Taluk president of Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha president N Veerappa Reddy, G Eshwaramma, Nagarathnamma, K V Srinivas and others were present on the occasion. (Deccan Herald 7/3/10)

Maharashtra Assembly adjourned twice on farmer suic ide issue (20) Mumbai, Apr 1 : The Maharashtra Assembly was adjourned twice by Speaker Dilip Walse Patil today amidst noisy scenes by opposition members who rushed to the well of the House and wanted to take up the issue of farmers suicide in Vidharbha region in the form of an adjournment motion. Immediately after Question Hour, Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khade rose to speak about the notice he had given for the adjournment motion and stated that the House had no other important business other than the recent spate of suicide by farmers in the Vidharbha region. He said 56 farmers had committed suicide in the region in recent days. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil said the government was willing to take up the discussion in some other form at a suitable date and to this, the Speaker said he was not allowing the motion to be taken up and the issue could be taken up by the House later. However, the opposition members insisting upon the issue be taken up immediately, rushed to the well of the House and raised slogans against the government. Mr Walse-Patil adjourned the house for ten minutes amidst the din. But when it reassembled, the noisy scenes continued, forcing him to give a break for another ten minutes. When the House resumed, the Speaker, who had earlier had meeting with the floor leaders in his chamber, announced that the issue would be taken up for discussion in different form and set the matter at rest. (New Kerala 1/4/10)

PM aid for Vidarbha: State admits to irregularities (20) Mumbai, April 01, 2010: The state has admitted to the Bombay High Court that preferential treatment was given to some farmers while disbursing the Prime Minister’s relief package for Vidarbha. The state said there are no guidelines for disbursing funds. The court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by non-governmental organisation (NGO), Janhit Manch. The court has asked the government to give details of the number of farmers who have applied for aid and the actual number that received aid. The PIL alleged of 10,637 families, only 2,924 families were deserving of aid and that farmers with political links had gained from the package. The funds were meant for families of farmers who had committed suicide, farmers who fall below the poverty line and to landless labourers. The petition alleged that the financial package, announced by the PM in June 2006, never really reached the real beneficiaries. The aid was illegally claimed by well-to-do farmers, the petition alleged. The NGO has requested the high court to ensure the aid reached needy farmers and their families. (Hindustan Times 1/4/10)

Maharashtra farmers driven to suicide as financial help sees 20% decline (26) Mumbai: The Congress-NCP ruling combine secured successive victories in the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections on the back of their high-pitched campaign of providing loan waivers to state farmers in 2008-09. But in spite of the government claiming to have given the highest ever aid, farmers were still driven to commit suicide. The reason for the suicides being, financial help to farmers at the grassroots level had reduced by 20% in 2008-09 as compared to 2007-08. The state government cleverly camouflaged this by talking about the Rs60,000 crore loan waiver announced by the Centre for farmers across the country. They, however, did not highlight the fact that the state’s share was only Rs10,100 crore. Also, the state had in its budget extended a Rs6,028 crore loan for farmers, which still hasn’t been entirely implemented. Even the state’s economic survey revealed that in 2008-09, the loans advanced for agriculture and allied activities by financial institutions was Rs9,625 crore, which works out 20% less compared to the previous Rs12,113 crore in 2007-08. A senior bureaucrat from the department of agriculture admitted to the lapse. “There was much hype about the loan waiver package, which provided financial institutions an escape route to overlook their individual roles and commitment towards small and medium farmers,” the bureaucrat said. “The financial institutions in their mission to deliver long-term policies could have skipped the short-term monetary disbursements, thus aggravating the problems of individual farmers looking for immediate help,” the bureaucrat added. The government has defended itself by stating that the decline in disbursement made by financial institutions towards farmers is on account of the debt relief packages implemented by them. Opposition parties, however, are not convinced with the government’s arguments on the issue. BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis said: “The current situation only shows that one-time loan waiver can’t be a solution to effectively tackle agrarian crisis.” (dna 6/4/10)

“Protect cotton farmers' interests” (20) HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu has demanded the State government to protect the interests of farmers by promulgating an ordinance, if necessary, and ensure that Bt cotton seed prices were not increased. In a letter to Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, he said, “I understand that there is hectic lobbying at the instance of Monsanto in the State and country to increase the price of Bt cotton seed which affects millions of cotton farmers.” The purported reason advanced by them was the increasing cost of production of seed. “Naturally, the farmers groups are vehemently opposing this.” (The Hindu 8/4/10)

State plans Rs 7,262-crore relief package for farme rs (20) Mumbai, April 10, 2010: The state has planned a new relief package worth Rs 7,262 crore to tackle farmers' suicides. The government will ask the Centre for funds. The state It has also decided to review the claims made by farmers’ families, especially the claims rejected between 2008 and 2010. This is the third relief package for farmers. The first was in 2005 for Rs 1,985 crore and the second was a Rs 3,750-crore package announced by the Prime Minister in 2006. “We want to extend more benefits to farmers and their families in the six suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha to stop them from taking these steps,” Revenue Minister Narayan Rane said in the legislative Council on Friday. “The Centre will tell us about the status of the relief package in three months. If they cannot give us the whole amount, the state will contribute the balance.” The state government faced criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Opposition for poor implementation of these packages. There were allegations of

corruption and that the aid did not reach deserving beneficiaries. Suicides also continued – 1,985 suicides were recorded in 2007, 1,906 in 2008 and 1,560 in 2009. Rane was responding to a question raised by Shiv Sena Member of Legislative Council, Ramdas Kadam. Kadam asked why the state has yet not implemented the recommendations made by the Narendra Jadhav committee. The committee was constituted in 2007 to ascertain the reasons behind farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha farmers’ suicide and the impact of the PM’s relief package announced in 2006. “There were recommendations like giving free fertilisers, a separate mission to look after cotton machinery and even giving 25 kg grain free to farmers’ families every year. If these recommendations were implemented then further suicides could be averted,” said Kadam. Leader of Opposition, Pandurang Phundkar, pointed out that only a third of the families who had applied for compensation got it. He said the meetings at the district level took place very intermittently. Minister of State for Revenue, Prakash Solanke, told the House that many applications for aid were rejected because the farmers had accrued debts due to accidents, illnesses, infertile land, loans from banks and weddings in the family. “If the Opposition leader thinks there is some problem in the way the rejections took place, then we will review the cases between 2008 and 2010,” Rane said. (Hindustan Times 10/4/10)

11 farmers killed themselves daily from 2003-2008 ( 20) Mumbai: The state government on Friday said that 7,786 farmers committed suicide between 2006 and 2009. Minister of state for revenue Prakash Solanke disclosed the figure of farmers’ suicide while replying to a question by Shiv Sena’s Ramdas Kadam in the legislative council. Kadam’s question was based on the news report ‘Maharashtra ahead once again in farmer suicides’, published in DNA on February 11. The state has sent a proposal to the Centre for another package of Rs7,262.64 crore for the six districts of Vidarbha. The maximum farmers’ suicides have been recorded in this region. Based on a report by the National Crime Records Bureau, the news report stated that 16,196 farmers committed suicide in the country in 2008. Out of this, 3,802 were from Maharashtra. During 1997-2002, Maharashtra on an average saw eight farmers kill themselves daily. The figure rose to 11 during 2003-2008, the report said. Revenue minister Narayan Rane, however, said that 1,906 cases of farmers’ suicides were registered in the state in 2008. He announced that the government would review the cases in the past three years where the kin of dead farmers were found unfit for financial aid. Rane informed the council that the government had announced a special package of Rs1,075 crore in December 2005 bring an end to farmers’ suicides. Prime minister Manmohan Singh had declared a special package of Rs3,750 crore for Vidarbha in July 2006, which was aimed at helping debt-ridden farmers and preventing them from committing suicide. (DNA 10/4/10)

Drought limited scope of farmers' package: Study (2 0) PUNE: The Prime Minister's relief package for farmers in the suicide-prone districts of Maharashtra may have helped in the first two years of its implementation, but farmers' capacity to cope with drought is still weak as is evident from the limited impact the package had in 2008-09. Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics studied the impact of the relief package on farmers since its inception in 2006. "The first two years saw considerable increase in area under irrigation, yield and other agricultural activities. However, these benefits could not sustain in the third year, i.e. 2008-09 when the suicide-prone districts suffered a major drought. Below normal rainfall was recorded, especially from June to August," said Sangeeta Shroff, who jointly carried out the study with S S Kalamkar. "This shortfall in rains had an adverse impact on the yield which showed drastic decline in production. All crops showed steep fall in yields. It is obvious that farmers could not overcome the situation through protective irrigation. Despite the relief package's emphasis on increasing irrigation potential, the impact of drought minimised their efforts," said Shroff. "About 9.38 lakh farmers benefited from the credit-related measures. Under this scheme, the overdue loans of farmers as on July 2006 were rescheduled over a period of 3 to 5 years. The entire interest on overdue loans to farmers as on July 2006 was waived off and no farmer had a past interest burden. It was also observed that a principal loan of about Rs 1,418 crore of 9.38 lakh farmers was rescheduled and interest of about Rs 837 crore on this principle amount was waived," Kalamkar said. On a positive note, the eight schemes under the PM's package did increase area under irrigation and yield impact was experienced in 2007-08 when all major crops cultivated in the affected districts reported substantially higher yields. The study also found that in 2006-07 and 2007-08, productivity of all crops in selected districts showed marked improvement as compared to 2005-06, the period prior to implementation of the package. In Yavatmal district, the average rainfall was 72 per cent of normal.

Soyabean, which is an important crop in Amravati, Buldhana and Yavatmal, had an average yield of 317.4 kg per hectare across all districts in 2008-09 as compared to a yield of 1,652 kg per hectare in 2007-08. It was observed in the fields and also reported by government officials that some farmers in 2008-09 did not harvest the soyabean crop fearing the high cost of labour would exceed the value of harvest. Further, the quality of crop was very poor. Dismal performance in yield was in fact noted even in case of other major crops such as pulses and cotton. The study is important as the purpose of the package was not only to provide immediate relief to farmers such as restructuring overdue loans and interest waiver, but also provide long-term relief by implementing a number of schemes which would revive the agricultural economy. (Times of India 20/4/10)

Alair farmer commits suicide (20) NALGONDA: A distressed farmer allegedly committed suicide unable to cope with mounting debt, at Manthapuri village in Alair mandal on Sunday night. According to the police, Danthuri Bikshapathi, 48, ended his life by consuming pesticide near the agriculture well late on Sunday night. Bikshapathi's family members found his body lying near the well in the early hours of Monday. Bikshapathi used to cultivate paddy on his three acres of land and dug five bore-wells by borrowing huge amount. However, the borewells went dry one after another resulting in poor agriculture yield. He subsequently landed in a debt trap and resorted to the drastic step in distress, sources said. He is survived by wife and three children. Alair police have registered a case and are investigating.(The Hindu 20/4/10)

Over 150 suicides in Vidarbha this year: BJP (20) MUMBAI: Despite the packages for farmers in Vidarbha, more than 150 of them have committed suicide since January this year and the situation is worsening, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Devendra Phadnavis said on Monday. At a discussion in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Mr. Phadnavis used the farm crisis to press the party's demand for a separate State of Vidarbha, pointing to the severe discrimination the region faced. Mr. Phadnavis referred to the Adarsh Mishra committee of the Planning Commission and its report submitted a few years ago which highlighted the farm crisis. The farmers in the region were being slighted for years and it was the government policy that was pushing them to take their lives. Only 35 lakh of the 57 lakh hectares was irrigated, there was a huge backlog of electricity and pump sets and this region alone would need Rs 44,000 crore to fill the irrigation backlog. Vidarbha lost out to western Maharashtra that was better irrigated and better connected in terms of electricity. The government was planning to locate 47 power plants in the Vidarbha region and use up the water meant for irrigation to run these plants. A separate Vidarbha was the only answer to the crisis, he said. Kishore Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti has, in a press statement, put together reports in local papers last week that said 17 farmers had killed themselves. This took the number of suicides for 2010 to 241. In 2009, as many as 916 farmers committed suicide. However, as Mr. Phadnavis and other MLAs pointed out, families of barely 20 per cent of those who die were eligible for government compensation. The Vidarbha region is battling a water crisis and the government has declared scarcity in 15,460 villages. (The Hindu 20/4/10)

Despite good crop, potato farmers in distress: BJP (20) NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh on Friday asked the government to come up with policy changes to ensure fair and remunerative prices to potato, tomato and onion farmers. Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, he said distress sale of potatoes in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other areas was leading to suicide among growers. “Farmers are incurring heavy losses because of the abysmally low field price of potato. Due to non-availability of storage, they are forced to sell their produce for a measly Re.1 to Rs.3 per kg, which is less than their input cost.” Mr. Singh said that according to rough estimates, each potato farmer was incurring a loss of Rs.15,000-Rs.30,000 an acre. Most of the farmers had taken loans towards input cost but even after a good harvest, they were unable to repay the debts.Mr. Singh said the prices were being artificially manipulated by speculators at commodity exchanges. The rent for cold storage should be borne by the government and the interest on loans to potato farmers waived, besides banning speculation on essential commodities. (The Hindu 1/5/10)

For farmers in Vidarbha, state's golden jubliee bri ngs only sorrow (20)

Mumbai: Ratan Ramchandra Raut had the next year’s worries on his mind when he chose to leave this world. “Please take a note, all of you,” he wrote on a Rs100 stamp paper addressing his village sarpanch, talathi, tehsildar, MLA, MP, district collector, guardian minister, the chief minister and his deputy, the prime minister Manmohan Singh, and president Pratibha Patil. “I am killing myself because I have no money to repay my debts after two years of crop failure as it did not rain.” That in less than a month, Maharashtra would celebrate its golden jubilee might not have crossed his mind. In the long list of farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha, his was one more addition. But he made it a point to tell the world why. “I have an SBI crop loan to be repaid. My son and his wife, both farmers, also have outstanding loans,” 65-year-old Raut wrote in his suicide note that the police say it found on him in his four and a half acre rain-fed farm. “The bank employees came twice to recover the loan, and I wonder how we are all going to repay our outstanding loans,” reads his note. “It’s with this thought that I am leaving this world,” he wrote before consuming pesticide, a recourse many of the 200,000 farmers in the country — 40,000-plus in Maharashtra — have taken between 1997 and 2008. A fourth-class literate, Raut wrote separately to the police, requesting it not to trouble his family, and to the talathi (keeper of village accounts). “Do conduct an inquiry and waive all the outstanding loans on me, my son and my daughter-in-law,” he pleaded. His note ended thus: “Kindly give a crop loan to my son and daughter-in-law for the 2010 season, so that they don’t meet a fate like mine.” Collectively, the family owes the banks Rs1.5 lakh on their 14-acre land. To top the losses, Gajanan had to spend Rs80,000 on the treatment of his son, Abhijeet, 14, who was diagnosed with diabetes in March 2009. The Rauts have already sold their cattle to generate cash for the daily needs. In Washim’s non-descript Dhotra village inhabited predominantly by the laborious Mali community, Raut’s suicide on April 7 was the first of the two in a month. In western Vidarbha, that figure is nearing 300 since the year began, despite the implementation of several special central and state packages. A few houses away from Gajanan’s house, Gunwant Raut, 68, committed suicide a week later. He had seven-and-a-half acre land, Rs24,000 worth of bank loan and Rs1.5 lakh from private sources, according to his widow Rukmini. “To repay the bank loans, he kept borrowing from private lenders.” As Maharashtra celebrated its golden jubilee, Raut’s suicide note raises poignant questions about the state of agriculture in rain-fed areas like Vidarbha, where this year’s drought is beginning to ring in despair. “It’s an occasion to introspect,” Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar said, as an all-party platform on conferring statehood to Vidarbha boycotted the May Day function. “The farmers are killing themselves in hundreds, children are malnourished, there is drought. The question the government should be asking is — is this the time for celebration or contemplation?” he asked. Two successive years of bad monsoon has negated the loan waiver sop even as bank and private loans on farmers are climbing once again, and this time the amounts are staggering. The Mali community, said a farmer in Dhotra, is particularly hard hit. “We usually grow vegetables,” said Nandkishor Raut, a relative of the Rauts. “With no rain or ground water, our farms have taken the worst hit.” Across the region, many of the recent farmers’ suicides are from this community. Rattled by the two suicides, the villagers now huddle together in the temple every evening after dinner. “We make sure all of us come to the temple every evening,” said Nandkishor. “We try not to leave anyone alone.” (DNA 3/5/10)

Farmers demand adequate compensation (20) NALGONDA: The farmers and others, who are set to lose their lands for the national highway-202 (Hyderabad-Warangal Road) widening project, have demanded that the government provide adequate compensation to them as per the prevailing market rates. A section of the farmers led by Bhongir MLA Uma Madhava Reddy of the TDP met the district Collector S.A.M Rizvi here on Monday and submitted a memorandum to the latter seeking adequate compensation for the lands to be acquired for the upcoming four-laning of the NH-202 stretch from Kepal to Raigiri under Bhongir division. Speaking to media persons later, Ms. Uma Madhava Reddy said that an overwhelming number of persons especially the farmers of Bhongir division were set to lose their valuable lands alongside the NH-202 for the proposed four-laning of the highway. “The government should provide them adequate compensation as per the existing market rates at the earliest,” she demanded. “The much awaited four-laning of the busy NH-202 is important and the rehabilitation of the land oustees is also equally important,” she remarked and asked the government to take appropriate steps for effective rehabilitation of the persons who will be displaced by the upcoming highway expansion project. Several Sarpanches and TDP leaders of Bhongir division were present.(The Hindu 4/5/10)

3,450 farmers committed suicides in 3 years: Govt ( 20)

New Delhi, May 07, 2010: As many as 3,450 farmers committed suicides in the country in the last three years with Maharashtra, the home state of Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, accounting for maximum number of deaths. According to figures provided to Parliament by Pawar, 1,720 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra during 2007-09, followed by 1,142 in Andhra Pradesh and 434 in Karnataka. Farmers' suicides continued in 2010 as well, with six cases in the Vidharba region of Maharashtra, Pawar said answering questions in the Rajya Sabha. However, a consolation was that as compared to 2008, the number of farmers driven to taking the extreme step came down in 2009. On an all-India basis, the number declined from 1,237 in 2008 to 840 in 2009. The drop in these deaths took place in all the major states where farmers commit suicides, mostly because of indebtedness. Pawar said the government had approved a Rs 16,978 crore- package for four states besides a number of steps including lowering interest rate on crop loan. "In order to ameliorate the condition of farmers in areas having comparatively higher incidence of suicides, the government has approved Rs 16,978 crore rehabilitation package for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnatka," he said. Besides, the Maharashtra government has been implementing a special package for Vidarbha region, he said. Rs 7,266 crore comprehensive package for integrated development of Bundelkhand is underway, he said pointing out that a slew of measures by government including Rs 65,000 crore debt-waiver for farmers have benefited them. (Hindustan Times 7/5/10)

Farmer commits suicide in Guwahati (20) GUWAHATI: A farmer had taken a loan for agriculture but his crops were damaged in the recent floods, has committed suicide, police said today. Lakshman Biswas (38) hanged himself in his house at Dongapar village under Bhuragaon revenue circle near here yesterday. The farmer left a note saying he was taking the extreme step as he had invested more than Rs one lakh, which he had borrowed from private moneylenders and he could not bear the damage to his Boro crops in the recent flood, the police said. (dna 8/5/10)

Drive to make farmers smile begins in Vidarbha (20) Mumbai: The state government on Friday launched the Rs593-crore coordinated agriculture development project, the first public-private venture of its kind, in the crisis-hit Vidarbha region. The aim of the project is to boost the income of farmers and stop them from committing suicides. “I want farmers’ suicides to stop completely,” chief minister Ashok Chavan said at the inauguration in Amravati. “The number of suicides came down last year, but that is not enough. There should be no suicide.” The project, backed by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and both state and central governments, is a brain-child of Sudhir Goel, secretary to the department of cooperation. Conceived last year, it aims to boost the farmers’ capacity in production and marketing, thereby augmenting income. The Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai, will bear 13.5% of the project cost. The private sector and banks will pitch in with 21% funding. The IFAD will contribute 33.8%, in the form of soft loans. The remaining 31.7% will be shared by the state and the Centre. Chavan said that the chief minister’s package for distressed farmers will continue for the next five years. He also promised to request the prime minister for additional funds for farmers’ welfare schemes. “We will do everything to bring back smile on the faces of Vidarbha farmers,” Chavan said. He added funds will be allocated on an urgent basis for all ongoing and soon-to-be-launched irrigation projects to ensure their timely completion. The latest project will stress on coordination between authorities and departments, which has proved to be the bane of all previous packages. Earlier this week, divisional commissioner of Amravati Dinesh Waghmare ordered a re-survey on the number of farmers’ suicides in the area. He has asked district collectors to review all the cases anew to ensure that none of the eligible cases has been denied compensation of Rs1 lakh. The number of families eligible for compensation has come down drastically in the past four years. Of the 1,658 farmers who committed suicide in 2006, only 672 were declared ‘eligible’, meaning according to government surveys, they have committed suicide owing to agrarian crisis, and most importantly debt. In 2007 there were 1,404 suicides, but only 294 were found eligible. In 2008, 347 of 1,356 suicides, and in 2009, 274 out of 1,156 were tagged eligible. Waghmare’s order would mean looking into every case discarded ‘ineligible’. There will be a committee in every district, headed by the respective collector, to look into them. (dna 10/5/10)

Aim for lesser investment, higher yield, farmers to ld (20) Mulbagal, May 14. DH News Service: The State Government had successfully implemented agricultural development activities in 1,373 lakes in the State. Under the community-based Lake Development Project

programme, which was implemented from 2002 to 2008, with financial aid from the World Bank, the State government has successfully undertaken the development of several lakes through its Watershed Development Associations, informed Project Co-ordinator of University of Agricultural Sciences Dr G Eshwarappa. He was speaking after inaugurating the field demonstration of foodgrains at Meleri village of Mulbagal taluk in Kolar district on Friday. The event was organised by the Watershed Development Project, Karnataka community-based Lake Development Project Aid Services, Kolar district Project unit of the Bangalore University of Agricultural Sciences and Community Guidance team of JSYS Shri Chennakeshavaswamy Lake Users Association. Dr G Eshwarappa said there was an increase in the yield of food crops cultivated in the command area of the lakes which were rejuvenated under the Watershed Development Project Association, through the Lake Development Associations. The total increase in the yield was 40 per cent. Thus lake rejuvenation contributed towards yield in the food crops, he said. He also explained about the inevitability of adopting new methods of cultivation, in accordance to the changing times, ensuring less investment and multiple yield. It is extremely disappointing to note that today's youths from the rural areas were migrating to the cities in search of jobs, abandoning agriculture, Dr G Eshwarappa expressed. He explained that 15 farmers in Meleri village had cultivated a new variety of paddy in the 12 acres of command area, out of the total 58 acres of the command area of the water tank. The cultivation was taken up under the Watershed Development Project. This was an excellent example of the farmers implementing scientific methods in agriculture. Speaking on the occasion, agriculture expert of the Planning unit Shriranga said thanks to technology, one can increase the crop yield by utilising less water. Several big farmers were improving their economic conditions by opting for alternate cropping pattern and have earned good profits. But the small farmers, who constitute about 33 per cent of the farming community, have no other option but to implement scientific methods in agriculture, in order to make themselves economically self-sufficient, he added. Joint Director of Agriculture Department of Kolar district Chikkanna said it was sad to note that owing to the increase in the expenses involved in agriculture, most of the farmers were now resorting to suicide as the last option, out of frustration. In such trying circumstances, scientific methods of agriculture and watershed development programmes were a boon in guise to the farmers. The field demonstration enables the farmers to adopt more yield at lower investment, along with maintaining the quality of soil, organic manure, etc, Chikkanna explained. Environmentalist M N Raghav, taluk panchayat member Raghupathi Reddy, farmers Ramakrishnappa, Sharadamma and Shrinivas spoke on the watershed development project. Chennakeshavaswamy, Lake Development Committee President Saraswathamma, Mulbagal Agriculture Assistant Director Chandrashekharan and several others were present on the occasion. Prof Gubbaiah spoke at the field demonstration. Dr Gopinath welcomed. Hundreds of farmers from the nearby villages took part in the programme and also attended the field demonstration. (Deccan Herald 14/5/10)

Save AP ryots, Naidu tells Manmohan (20) NEW DELHI: TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take a multi-pronged approach and save the Andhra Pradesh farmers from the crises faced one after the other due to natural calamities, insufficient procurement price and non-proactive approach of the State government officials. In a petition to Dr. Singh here, he asked the latter to direct all the Central government agencies like the Tobacco Board, the Cotton Corporation of India, the Food Corporation of India and the State Trading Corporation to take up procurement in AP immediately. He cautioned that AP, next only to Maharashtra in farmers' suicides, would be lapsing into further distress if these measures were not taken up on priority. “The entry of government agencies to procure agricultural commodities in AP will boost up the market sentiment and strengthen the farmers' bargaining position with multiplier effect. It will break the hegemony of private traders and free the farmers from their stranglehold.” The TDP leader, who also gave identical letters to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, suggested that the funds under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act might be used on farming operation on 50:50 cost-sharing basis to reduce burden on farmers. (The Hindu 19/5/10)

Easy-to-apply bio-fertilizers, the answer to farmer s' yield problems (20) “If one goes through the agricultural production history in the last six decades, the number of farmers opting out of agriculture, suicides of hundreds of farmers in the past 10 years, and shrinking cultivation lands are ample proof that our agriculture policy is totally wrong,” says Mr. R. Kulandaisamy a progressive farmer and liquid bio-fertilizer producer called Tari Biotech in Thanjavur. “Though policy makers and

certain sections of the scientific fraternity say that yields are increasing and farmers prospering, a visit to any nearby village proves that many of these claims are far from true,” he adds. The bio-fertilizer unit, set up at a cost of nearly rupees one crore produces nearly 30,000 litres of liquid bio-fertilizers a month, and the farmer claims it to be “the production unit of its first of its kind in Tamil Nadu.” Normally, plants need nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium — commonly referred to as N, P, K — for their good growth. All the three are available in the soil and atmosphere in an insoluble form that cannot be absorbed by plants directly. Micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses in the soil convert these three nutrients into soluble forms, for easy absorption by the crops. The farmers argue that mindless and excess application of chemical fertilizers, during the green revolution, destroyed many of these beneficial micro-organisms and yields started decreasing slowly or became static even after more application of fertilizers. Due to excess chemical application these beneficial organisms get destroyed due to the non-availability of food (organic matter). “Another important fact is that use of fertilizers resulted in accumulation of chemical residues in the harvested food leading to health problems in humans. Farmers must realise the danger in using excessive chemicals that spoil both their land and health, and should try to multiply the beneficial micro-organisms in the soil again by using natural methods and bio-liquid formulations in their practice," says Mr. R. Kulandaisamy. “The bio-formulations produced at our unit can be used for nearly two years, compared to the local vermi-compost (solid bio-fertilizers) and other ingeniously manufactured bio inputs that possess a shelf life of only six months.” "Our formulations are tolerant to UV rays and can stand high temperature fluctuations (50 degrees celsius). The application of one ml of our product is equivalent to 100 grams of solid bio-fertilizers from the date of manufacture (about 100 times),” he explains. The liquid bio-fertilizers are easy to apply using a hand or power sprayer and through fertigation tanks and as basal manure mixed along with farm yard manure. Separate rooms for culturing and inoculations make sure that there is zero per cent contamination in our products, benefiting farmers. There are several formulations available for different crops being produced in the unit and priced between Rs.600-900 a litre. Organic nursery In addition to the production plant, the farmer also maintains an organic nursery approved by the Government for cashew, vanilla, citrus, guava, sapota, amla (gooseberry), banana, and mango saplings, apart from medicinal and ornamental plants. The nursery supplies close to 12 lakh plantings annually and is home to nearly 50 mango varieties. The State government's Industries and Commerce Department conferred the Best Entrepreneur Award on the farmer recently. For more details readers can contact Mr. R. Kulandaisamy at email:tari_hitech@yahoo.com, mobile: 98430-59117 and 98434-39909. (The Hindu 20/5/10)

5000 Poor Farmers Take up Vegetable Farming (20) Bhopal, May 21: As many as 5000 poor farmers in 3000 predominantly tribal villages have taken up vegetable cultivation. They are earning substantially from vegetable farming apart from traditional crops. Facilitated by Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project, requisite inputs like seed kits and means of irrigation have been ensured to them using Gram Kosh (Village Fund). About 150 small farmers in tribal village of Gurra along Kunuk river nearly 45 km. from Shahdol district headquarters have grown cucumber, water melons and seasonal vegetables for the first time. "Two years back about 25 or 30 farmers were growing cucumber and water melons. The river wore a deserted look in summer, informs Shankar Singh a small farmer of the village. "Quality seeds were not available on time, pests used to damage the crop, he further says. He says that the number of farmers adopting vegetable cultivation has increased. Every day I am saving Rs. 300 to 400 in these summer days, he informs. Similarly, Chandrabhan Singh another small farmer of the same village has compensated the loss of wheat by selling cucumbers and water melons. He owns 2.5 acre land out of which one acre is fallow land. He used to sow paddy on the remaining piece. He cultivated wheat but suffered a loss. Counseled by the Project field staff, Chandrabhan cultivated cucumber and water melons taking Rs. 5000 as loan from the Village Fund. His enterprise was rewarded. In three months period, he earned a net profit of Rs. 25 thousand.(Central Chronicle 21/5/10)

Farmers want probe into relief package scam NAGPUR: Hundreds of farmers and widows of farmers who committed suicide in cotton belt of western Vidarbha joined a day-long hunger strike at Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district on Tuesday. They were demanding a probe into the failure of special relief packages and disbursal of fresh crop loans for the kharif season. “The CAG and the state Public Accounts Committee in their reports have pointed to irregularities and leakages in the Rs 3750 crore PM’s special relief package for the six districts of

Vidarbha. But neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor Maharashtra government has initiated any action,” lamented Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samit president Kishore Tiwari who led the agitation. “In the name of the dying farmers of Vidarbha, the ministers concerned with the implementation of the relief works have indulged in massive corruption,” he alleged. He also threatened to take out a march of farm widows to New Delhi to draw attention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “Millions of drought-hit Vidarbha farmers are demanding fresh crop loan and sustainable alternatives to high-technology, high-risk crops promoted by MNCs. But the state and Union are actively promoting Bt cotton,” Tiwari told the public rally. Drawing attention of prime minister Manmohan Singh, he said only a CBI probe could unravel the massive leakage in the relief packages. (Times of India 2/6/10)

More food imports are inevitable for India India is already the world's top importer of edible oils and ranks among the biggest producers and consumers of wheat, rice, cotton and sugar, making it a key driver of global prices if failure of the monsoon forces it to import grains or sugar. But even if monsoon rains are plentiful, India is likely to become a large food buyer within a few years. "There is a food shortage," said TK Bhaumik, an economist with JK Corp. "That is really at the root of high grain prices. India will be a major food importer in 4-5 years' time." MS Swaminathan, a scientist who helped kick off the 1960s-era Green Revolution that boosted India's grain yields, said early successes had made policy makers complacent about farms and irrigation. "There is an emerging crisis," he said. "We have a tremendous problem on the food front, both on the production side and consumption side." The growing hunger for commodities has lured trading firms such as Noble, Louis Dreyfus, Cargill and Czarnikow to India, while NYSE Euronext, Goldman Sachs, and Fidelity International have bought stakes in Indian commodities exchanges. "India is going to be a major player in the global supply and demand balance," said Diego Parrilla, head of commodities for Asia-Pacific at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. India's food prices have risen by an annual 15% or more for several months, sparking widespread protests and spurring the government to free farm commodities from import duties. But the country's colossal demand rattles markets, making imports a costly, inflationary option. An Indian sugar deficit last year helped hoist New York raw sugar futures to a 29-year peak, while a tender to import 2 million tonnes of rice helped Chicago Board of Trade rise to a contract high last November, though it was later cancelled. "As India is one of the largest consumers of quite a few basic foods, even small purchases by India tend to affect global prices," said Devika Mehndiratta, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Singapore. Growth in India's grain output has fallen back in recent years, slowing steadily after a spectacular jump of 50% in the 10 years after the Green Revolution, and a rise of 30 to 40% in the two decades that followed. Analysts say food prices were rising even before the monsoon failed last year, and inflation soared past the level struck after a drought in 2002, when the summer-sown crop shrank 41%, a steeper fall than the 2009 drop of 9.3%. "We think that the recent food price spurt reflects more than just one-off supply disruptions. The last, somewhat worse, drought in 2002 did not see such sharp price rises," Mehndiratta said. As the economy expands, India's poorest 410 million citizens, who earn less than $1.25 a day, will buy more grains, edible oil and sugar, aided by a job-guarantee scheme that has boosted household incomes by nearly 50% over two years, some studies show. "An increase in income has resulted in an increase in the ability of rural households to purchase food grains, other essential commodities, and access education and health care," minister of state for rural development Pradeep Jain told Parliament. “Demand for many farm commodities will quickly outpace supply,” Surabhi Mittal, a senior fellow at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations told the Planning Commission in a paper. “In 10 years' time, India's edible oils deficit will be 17.7 million tonnes, or double its 2009 imports, and its sugar shortfall will be nearly 40 million, or five times the deficit that triggered last year's global rally”, Mittal estimated. Within 15 years, India's rapidly growing population is expected to surpass China's, which will peak at 1.4 billion, the US census bureau estimates……… (DNA 3/6/10)

KRRS rallies farmers against land acquisition for p ower grid (20) Askihal (Raichur district): The proposed setting up of a power grid by the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGIC) near Askihal village, 5 km from Raichur, has encountered problems as farmers are opposing the acquisition of land at the proposed site. Activists led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha State vice-president Chamarasa Malipatil, honorary president Amaranna Gudihal and district president

Laxmangouda Kadagamdoddi on Monday put up a board challenging the Government's decision to acquire the land. The green board read: “This is the land of farmers. No officials are allowed to enter it without permission.” Addressing a gathering at the site, Mr. Malipatil alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State had taken a unilateral decision on acquisition of fertile land for industrial purposes. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had taken oath in the name of farmers, had failed to protect their interests and those of agricultural labourers. Such an attitude would not only affect the agricultural economy, but also throw farmers on the streets. He said the Government had also acquired land for special economic zones (SEZs) to favour industrialists. Instead of fertile land, the Government should identify dry and waste land for the purpose, and acquire it after negotiating the price with the farmers, he said. Mr. Malipatil told presspersons said that the farmers were ready to sell their land for the proposed project, but not fertile land. Farmers wanted Rs. 25 lakh an acre for their land, he said and added that if their demands were not met, they would intensify their agitation. The PGCL requires 92 acres of land for the project. Land was recently identified near Askihal village for the project, and the district administration was urged to initiate action to acquire the land. However, landowners in the village expressed their opposition when Deputy Commissioner V. Anbu Kumar convened a meeting of farmers last week. They were told that they would be offered a maximum compensation of Rs. 4 lakh an acre. Farmers wanted Rs. 25 lakh an acre, but the district administration rejected it and said the price would be limited to Rs.11 lakh an acre. The district administration had indicated that it would take necessary action to acquire the land at Askihal village, even if the farmers were not ready to accept the final offer. The issue was kept pending as the Deputy Commissioner had submitted a report to the State Government seeking its permission on the proposed acquisition of the land. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha , which is against the acquisition of land without the consent of farmers, mobilised them to oppose the Government. (The Hindu 8/6/10)

Punjab asks Centre for waiver of all farm loans (20 ) CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday asked for liberal financial assistance from the Centre for renovation and strengthening of the network of canals and channels in the State. He said the farmers in Punjab were under a collective debt of Rs.36,000 crore and this was forcing them to commit suicide. He urged the Centre to waive off all agricultural loans as a one-time measure. Taking part in the first meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture Production here, Mr. Badal also urged the Centre for a special package for farmers of Punjab who were cultivating their land along the international border. The compensation being given to the farmers should be linked to deficiency in rainfall and not to reduction in productivity, Mr. Badal added. Presiding over the meeting, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda emphasised the need for narrowing the yield gaps. “Our foodgrain production has to be doubled by 2040 with a consistent 2.5 per cent annual growth to feed the ever increasing population,” he said. The meeting was also attended by West Bengal Finance and Excise Minister Asim Kumar Dasgupta, Bihar Agriculture Minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha, Union Agriculture Secretary P.K. Basu and agricultural experts from West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana. Mr. Hooda said even today agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy and accounts for about 18 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is the main source of livelihood for nearly 60 per cent of the population. As growth in foodgrain production had either declined or stagnated during the current decade, there was a dire need for ushering in a second green revolution to meet the additional demand for foodgrain which could be achieved through a dynamic approach, focused strategy and application of new tools of science and technology in agriculture to address second generation problems. The Chief Minister said unless farmers adopted environmentally sound technologies like integrated nutrient supply, integrated pest management and scientific water management, problems would continue to plague long-term sustainability of production. He suggested that the States harvesting average productivity try to reach the national level. If this was done, the country could produce an estimated additional 83.56 million tonnes of foodgrain and additional 5.35 million tonnes of oilseeds. Mr. Hooda said he had written to the members of the Working Group inviting their suggestions and some valuable suggestions had been received. He added that the opinion of farmers, public and experts should also be sought on ways to increase production and productivity before finalising the draft recommendations. He announced that the next meeting of the Working Group would be held in Patna where the recommendations would be finalised. Mr. Dasgupta pointed out that the demand-supply gap in specific food items like pulses and other items such as oilseeds and sugar should be systematically and significantly reduced in the next five years. The entire exercise of enhancement of agricultural production should be socially sustainable, he

added while urging the Centre to give a subsidy of 50 per cent on power for agricultural sector. Special emphasis should be laid on implementation of minor irrigation projects and minimum support price should be fixed for all crops, he added. Dr. Kushwaha urged the Centre to speed up sanction of a Central Agricultural University for Bihar. She said the agriculture sector in Bihar had been hit hard by drought, floods and indifferent attitude of banks. Subsidy on diesel for irrigation should be a part of regular schemes. (The Hindu 8/6/10)

Rs 90L for survey on farmer suicides (20) CHANDIGARH: Waking up to misery of debt-ridden farmers in the state, Punjab government has finally released Rs 90 lakh required to conduct an exhaustive survey on farm suicides across the state. The survey, commissioned nearly a year ago, was originally scheduled to be completed by April this year. Following a spate of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the state, the government had come up with a commitment that to ascertain as to how big the problem of farmers’ suicides in the state was, it would get an exhaustive survey done. Agya Rajinder Singh, OSD to financial commissioner, said, “We had been pursuing the matter after the project hit a financial roadblock. But now, the money has been released to universities for the survey.” Embarrassed by lack of statistics and data, government had asked three state universities— Punjab Agricultural University, Punjabi University and Guru Nanak Dev University, to conduct a door-to-door survey on suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers in the state. While GNDU required Rs 34 lakh, Punjab Agriculture University needed Rs 21 lakh and Punjabi University, Rs 34 lakh for going door-to-door in every village to collect the required data. Punjab Agricultural University was commissioned last year to conduct the survey in two districts, Sangrur and Bathinda. The report submitted to state government in March 2008 revealed that in the two districts, 2,890 suicides had been committed. Of these, 1,757 were by farmers and 1,133, by farm labourers. In 1,288 cases of suicides by farmers, the reason was indebtedness, while 469 suicides were owing to other reasons. In the case of agricultural labourers, 671 ended their lives due to debt and the rest, for other reasons. Questions have always been raised on Punjab government’s commitment to the cause of assessing distress among farmers in the state. (Times of India 14/6/10)

Ryot suicides: State's bid to play down figures exp osed (20) HYDERABAD: For the kind of pro-farmer image that the State governments assiduously projected for themselves and their affirmed goal of not allowing any farmer to take his life by adopting saturation concept of providing relief, this should come as a shocker. A decade-long correlation of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh with the statistics furnished by the State government to an RTI applicant, Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, not only shows gross under-reporting by the latter but denial of relief by classifying the tragedy as genuine and non-genuine. During the decade 1998-2008, the NCRB, an authentic source of suicides by those ‘self-employed in farming/agriculture', reported that 22,182 farmers were forced to take the extreme step. But a compilation of the State's statistics for the period shows the number as 7,683 suicides or just 34.6 per cent of the NCRB figure. The NCRB is yet to collect data for 2009 and 2010. There is no cogent explanation forthcoming from official sources on such a wide difference except a routine elaboration on how the State machinery meticulously gathers details and verifies the suicides thoroughly by a three-member committee of Revenue Divisional Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police and Assistant Director of Agriculture. Whatever the methodology, the disparity exposes the attempt to play down the gravity, show a steady decline and take credit for effectively tackling the problem. Surprisingly, the variation remains, though the NCRB relies on data furnished by the State police! What adds insult to injury, however, is the State's glaring attempt to even deny ex gratia to the unfortunate victims of mostly State policies or lack of timely intervention by categorising the tragedy. Of the 7,683 suicides recorded by it for the decade, only 4,657 were treated as genuine and eligible for relief which meant 21 per cent of the NCRB's total or 60.6 per cent of those reported by the State itself. Another interesting aspect of the 1998-2008 NCRB data is the steady rise in the number of suicides after 2004 when a slew of pro-active farmer-friendly measures, including providing ex gratia were initiated by then Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. While the farmer suicides ranged from 1,509 to 1,974 during the period 1998- 2003, it varied from 1,797 to 2,666 in the later years (2004 to 2008). But comparatively and quite expectedly, all through the decade the number of suicides reported by the State for the two periods was dismal, given its propensity. The number ranged from 153 to 457 between 1998 and 2003 and from 729 to 2048 in the latter period indicating a better reporting

phase. The State's reporting record of 2,048 came closest to the NCRB figure of 2,666 in the year 2004. Some consolation. (The Hindu 16/6/10)

AP government manipulating farmer suicide data? (20 ) Hyderabad: For all its claims of being farmer-friendly, the Congress-led UPA government doesn't have impressive statistics to back it up. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, Central government statistics point to 22000 farmer suicide-deaths in a 10-year period whereas the state has reported less than 40 per cent of that number. And hardly one in five such families got compensation. Because the rest of the deaths, the government says, don't qualify. Narsamma's 36-year-old son committed suicide in 2005 after the only thing that grew on his three acres, was his debt of two lakh rupees. Eight borewells had failed. He drank pesticide. Unable to see her four children die a slow death, his wife Padma also chose death. And then Narsamma's ailing husband hanged himself. And yet this family in Medak district got no help. "This government has not helped us. How can I look after the children. How long I can live? I will also die one day and then what would be the fate of these children? Who will take care of them? "We were told that we will get compensation but we haven't received. I managed till today but our house collapsed and there is no house for us now. I am fighting for the help,'' said Narasamma. RTI activist Rakesh Reddy has correlated data on farmer suicide deaths from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) with that reported by the Andhra Pradesh government. * Between 1998 and 2008, the NCRB says over 22000 farmers killed themselves in AP whereas the government figure is less than 8000. * Less than 4700 of those suicides were treated as genuine or eligible for compensation that means just 21% of the total suicides as per NCRB data The Congress government points out that in the last five years, Minimum Support Prices (MSP) has gone up by 100 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh has been a major beneficiary of enhanced credit and debt waiver announced by the UPA government. D.A.Somayajulu, Advisor, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said, "There is a tendency on the part of the people to classify every suicide as agricultural suicide, because they will get some benefits. Eventually, the local MLA, the local RDO, agricultural extension officer form a team. They go to the place the moment a suicide is reported to find out the truth, whether it is really for personal reasons or farm-related suicides. This scheme is only for farm-related suicides." Chandrababu Naidu, during his tenure as the Chief Minister withdrew compensation to farmer suicide victim families because his government reasoned deaths due to other reasons were being classified as agriculture-related. The Congress, then in opposition, had strongly criticised it. Ironically, now in power, the Congress is singing the same tune as Naidu. (NDTV 17/6/10)

Punjab farmers to oppose BT Maize (20) CHANDIGARH: Eminent citizens, farmers and environmental activists on Friday threatened to launch a sustained agitation to oppose entry of BT Maize crop into Punjab and prevent any attempt to jeopardise the country's food sovereignty. This was announced at a press conference organised in response to reports that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had supported cultivation of BT Maize as part of the State Government's crop diversification mandate. Kheti Virasat Mission chief Umendera Dutt said an alliance of intellectuals, scientists, farmers, consumers, professionals, politicians and activists of all hues would be created soon for peacefully opposing the move to introduce BT Maize into the country's food chain. He said a nationwide scientific debate would be built to highlight the matter, while the alliance would strive to take the issue to its logical conclusion. Supported by Neeraj Atri of Bharat Swabhiman Trust, Mr. Dutt asked Mr. Badal to explain the haste in announcing his support for BT Maize even when the crop had not been cleared by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). The president and general secretary of two separate factions of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Balkar Singh Dakunda and Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan respectively, said an awareness campaign would be launched to highlight the negative impact of the “genetically modified” (GM) crops. They were of the opinion that since Punjab was already reeling under the impact of the practices unleashed during the first edition of the “green revolution,” it could ill afford another foray of adventurism. The farmer leaders said that international reports and decline in fertility in Punjab's milch cattle since introduction of BT Cotton would be discussed at the village level. They also warned that GM crops had actually accelerated the soil depletion process. Social activist Hemant Goswami said the support by the Punjab Government to GM foods had changed the entire political scenario especially after public pressure forced the government to place a moratorium on introduction of BT Brinjal. (The Hindu 19/6/10)

Debt-ridden farmer from Belgaum attempts suicide (2 0)

Bangalore: A farmer chose the venue of Sadhana Samavesha, the celebrations to mark the two years of the BJP government, to attempt suicide and draw attention to his plight. It was believed that Eshwarappa, a farmer from Ramdurga in Belgaum district, had attempted suicide after failing to repay a loan of Rs2 lakh that he had taken from a nationalised bank. Identifying the farmer, police said that he allegedly took out a bottle of poison, believed to be pesticide, and drank it in front of bewildered policemen on security duty. He was immediately whisked away to a waiting ambulance, and rushed to the MS Ramaiah Hospital, where he was admitted to intensive care. Doctors attending on him said that he was critical, and that a clear prognosis would only be available after 48 hours. “He is kept under observation. If his health improves, he could be moved out of intensive care. He was frothing at the mouth when he was brought to the hospital, and he needs to be under prolonged observation,” one of the doctors attending to him said. Police said that preliminary investigations were being conducted. “It is apparent that he had availed a loan of Rs2 lakh, to buy a tractor, which he had not been able to repay to the nationalised bank,” police said. Failing crops and a lower income from crops caused Eshwarappa distress, police said. Inspector Virupakshappa of High Grounds police station said that the police would record a statement when the man is well enough to offer one, and the doctors grant them the green signal. A case of attempt to commit suicide will be taken up against Eshwarappa, police said. (DNA 26/6/10)

969 farmers committed suicide in last 3 years Bangalore, Jun 29 : As many as 969 farmers had committed suicide during the last three years in Karnataka, State Agriculture Minister S A Ravindranath informed the Legislative Council. In a written reply to Congress member Khaji Arshad Ali, the Minister said the state government had so far paid a compensation of Rs 4.41 crore in 441 cases as per the recommendations of farmers suicide cases review committee.Informing the House that the state Government had taken several initiatives to prevent farmers from committing suicide, he said farm loans were being given with only 3 per cent of interest rate and the government was supplying chemical fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and agriculture equipment at subsidised rates. As many as 101 farmers had committed suicide in Hassan district, followed by Bidar (99), Chickmagalur (82), Chitradurga (62), Gulbarga (63), Bijapur (58) and Shimoga (50). (New Kerala 29/6/10)

'Agriculture sector hit by lack of rain' (20) PUNE: Scanty and erratic rainfall, limited availability of irrigation and low productivity of crops are among the major constraints in agricultural growth in the state, a study carried out by the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics has revealed. The findings were part of the statistical analysis of the agricultural sector over the past four decades in the state. Shrikant Kalamkar, who carried out the research at the institute, said, "The agriculture sector has undergone a lot of changes in the past few years. The sector exhibits wide fluctuations and there are no signs of sustained progress. The recent suicides by farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada have once again highlighted the regional disparity in the state." The study revealed that the share of primary sector (agriculture and allied activities) in the state has been steeply declining over the decades, as compared at the nation. It accounted for 31 per cent of the GDP in 1960-61 and steeply declined to 11.7 per cent in 2008-09. "The slow growth of agriculture as compared to other sectors is a serious issue from the point of view of rural employment and poverty, both of which are heavily dependent on agricultural growth," Kalamkar said. Explaining how rainfall has also been one of the major hurdles in agricultural growth of the state, Kalamkar said, "Though the average rainfall in the state is relatively high when compared to many other states of India, the fact is that it spreads over many months and is inconstant. Over the years, some regions have been getting more rain than others, further affecting areas bereft of water resources." Nearly one-third of Maharashtra falls in the rain-shadow region, where rains are scanty and erratic. About one-fourth of India’s drought-prone districts are in Maharashtra, with 73 per cent of its geographical area classified as semi-arid. Moreover, the Central Water Commission has identified 45 talukas from nine districts in the state as drought-prone. According to this study, the limited availability of irrigation is another constraint that affects the growth of agriculture in the state. "About 82 per cent of the cultivated area is rain-fed. Due to lack of irrigation facilities, not only are low-value crops being cultivated here, but, also, the productivity of most of the crops is much lower as compared to the national average," Kalamkar added. The study said that production of various crops has increased many folds in the state over the last forty years, however, productivity of different crops is relatively lower in the state as compared to the all-India average. Cultivation of low-value crops, coupled with the low productivity of crops have considerably reduced the income of farmers, which has adversely

affected the standard of living of both the farming as well as the non-farming (landless agricultural labourers) rural communities. (Times of India 1/7/10)

Farmers try new methods to raise paddy yield (20) Drip irrigation could provide an answer to India’s rice production which is increasingly becoming prone to erratic monsoon and rapidly depleting ground water in key growing areas. Research carried out by micro irrigation major Jain Irrigation Systems (JIS) during the last two years in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh by using drip irrigation in paddy cultivation have shown encouraging results. “If 10% of rainfed area is brought under drip irrigation, then rice output could increase to 130 million tonne by 2020 from the present around 100 million tonne,” P Soman, senior vice-president, projects, JIS told FE After harvesting a summer paddy variety IDI45 developed by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University by using drip irrigation at the research and development station located at Elayamuthur village part of Thiruppur district for the first time recently, scientists at Jain Irrigation have found out substantial savings in terms of water and power in comparison to the conventional flooding system. Based on the preliminary data generated by JIS scientists, water usage in paddy cultivation using drip irrigation goes down by as much as 66% which correspondingly cuts down power consumption by over 50%. “We have data which shows that only 36.4 lakh litre of water is used in the paddy field by this method as against more than 90 lakh litre used in conventional paddy cultivation,” Soman said. The company intends to continue with its field trials over the next three to five years with an aim that a portion of paddy cultivation in water deficient areas comes under drip irrigation. At present, many states have announced subsidies for farmers for promoting drip irrigation. Andhra Pradesh gives (90%), Tamil Nadu (65%), Gujarat (50%) for the promotion of drip irrigation. At present, drip irrigation is being used for cultivation of sugarcane and horticultural crops over 3.4 million hectare in the country. India has more than 43.8 million hectare of agricultural land under paddy cultivation which is traditionally grown through flooding. Paddy is traditionally grown in standing water using flood irrigation. Besides savings on water, scientists have also found out that paddy yield also rises through drip irrigation. While in case of traditional irrigation method the yield is usually around 3.1-3.2 tonne per hectare while in case of drip irrigation the yield rises to 3.4 tonne per hectare. (Financial Express 3/7/10)

Krishi Utsav 2010 kicks off in Gonikoppa (20) Gonikoppa, July 3, DHNS: Farmers should come forward to grow alternative crops which are profitable, said Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah. Speaking after inaugurating taluk-level Krishi Utsav 2010 organised by various departments related to agriculture at RMC premises here on Saturday, he said “scientific method of farming will help in increasing the yield. There is a need to give the touch of technology to farming.” The State government has implemented various schemes for the welfare of farmers. Loan waiver, subsidy for the purchase of agriculture implements have been implemented in the state. If the farmers are empowered, then country can be a developed country in the next 10 years, he said. He said with the lack of industries in Kodagu, those who are dependent on agriculture are migrating from the district in search of employment. MLA M P Appacchuranjan said “farmers are not committing suicide owing to the failure of crops. The Government has chalked out a special programmes for the welfare of the farmers.” Karnataka is the first state in the country to distribute loan at the rate of 3 per cent interest to the farmers. Farmers should be economically empowered. Farmers should make use of the facilities offered by the government, he added. Zilla Panchayat President V M Vijaya said “inspite of increase in population, there is a shortage of labourers in agriculture sector. There is a need to increase the fertility of the land by reducing the use of fertilisers.” Taluk Panchayat President Saritha Poonaccha, ZP standing committee on Agriculture President H B Ganesh, member S N Raja Rao, ZP Vice President Kanjithanda Anitha, members Manu Muthappa, Aramanamada Changappa, and others were present. 11 farmers were felicitated on the occasion. Cheques were distributed to the beneficiaries by the horticulture department. (Deccan Herald 3/7/10)

Near total bandh in Vidarbha, farmers widows join p rotests (20) Mumbai, Jul 5 : Hundreds of widows of Vidarbha farmers, who committed suicides due to mounting debts, today joined the Bharat Bandh by locking the District Agriculture Office in Yavatmal, reports reaching here said. Police arrested Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) secretary Mohan Jadhav and Vidarbha Farm Widows Association (VFWA) president Bebitai Bais, the reports quoting official sources said. VJAS president Kishor Tiwari said large numbers of farmers joined the bandh, that paralysed life in all the

districts of the region. He said schools, colleges, markets and industries were closed and public transport came to an standstill. Flights coming from Kolkata were cancelled and other flights were delayed at Nagpur Airport. Trucks were off roads on National Highway 6 and 7, that connect Mumbai-Kolkatta and Kanyakumari-Varnasi. There were road blockades at various places in Vidarbha . The bandh supporters stopped several trains at Amravati, Kayar, Wani and Chandrapur. (New Kerala 5/7/10)

Cameron Diaz to root for Indian farmers (20) Mumbai: Hollywood hottie Cameron Diaz, who has recently taken a keen interest in the world agricultural scene, is being approached by a few non-profit seeking organisations to root for the cause of saving agricultural land in India. India is primarily known to be an agricultural nation but has faced problems like pesticide pollution, debt cycle leading to farmer suicides and even loss of agricultural land due to urbanization. It has been reported that in many places of India, huge tracks of farm lands have been used up for commercial projects. A highly placed source close to a Delhi-based NGO working towards ecological harmony revealed their plans on conditions of anonymity. “Cameron has been very enthusiastic about promoting agriculture. She believes that agriculture can help maintain the ecological balance in the world. Global warming, ozone depletion and lack of fertility in a land are all due to urbanization and this constant race to develop. Sometimes, it’s good to lay back and get one with nature. Eco friendly stuff is in all over the world and nature is a great source of energy. If we have no agriculture left in the world, the world will face a crisis that it can’t tackle.” The informer adds, “Our vision matches with Cameron’s and some other organizations that are also looking to champion the cause of keeping and restoring agricultural farmlands. We are looking at teaming up with Cameron given her knowledge on the subject. If everything goes through, we will look at bringing her down to India to promote the cause of farmlands.” Cameron says that she wants to spend a year as a farm girl. “I’ve always been on the move,” she says, adding, “So what I’d love to do is spend a whole year in one place, on a farm.” The actor’s deep passion for nature comes through when she says, “I’d get to raise my own crops and livestock, and for once just see how life is cultivated. It’s almost like this primal thing. I really just feel as if the earth is where we all come from and we have nothing if we don’t have soil, water and sun.” She adds, “I’ve read a lot about agriculture and I feel the need inside me to work with the earth in some way. I guess it would be like a painter having to paint.” (DNA 8/7/10)

The new shifting agriculture: Shopping for fields o verseas (20) In the wake of runaway inflation and the ensuing food crisis, the prime minister constituted three high-powered committees of chief ministers and central ministers to recommend ways of containing inflation, improving PDS and boosting agricultural production. The Working Group on agricultural production was chaired by Haryana chief minister B S Hooda, with CMs of West Bengal, Punjab and Bihar as members. Tucked away, largely unnoticed by the Indian media, as recommendation number 33, the Hooda Committee suggested that like many other countries who have "shopped for land abroad for growing crops to meet consumption needs", Indian companies could also be encouraged to buy lands in other countries for producing pulses and edible oils. The countries listed included Argentina, Myanmar and ASEAN countries where the government could possibly facilitate land acquisitions. "We should seriously consider these options," the Hooda Committee says in earnest, "for at least 2 million tonnes of pulses and 5 million tonnes of edible oil for 15-20 years". Bizarre though it may sound for a committee appointed to look at ways of boosting agriculture production in India, to make such a suggestion, the Hooda Committee is in fact merely following a recent global trend, legitimized in UN lingo as "large scale land acquisitions", which in NGO-speak is being simply and perhaps, more appropriately, called "land-grabbing". Following the food crisis in 2008, many countries (China is the undisputed leader of this pack), driven by speculative capital and a growing interest of investment funds in agriculture, have been at the centre of a mad scramble to acquire very large tracts of lands in Africa, Asia and other parts of the developing world. An estimate by FIAN, the international organization that works on the Right to Food, of these land grabs puts the area acquired so far to be approximately the size of France. In 2009 alone, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) put the total money involved at $10-20 billion.While much of the land grab led by Chinese companies and other global investors like Goldman Sachs started in Africa, it is now a truly global phenomena. The Saudis, in deals that have been facilitated by the International Rice Research Institute, for instance, have already acquired 700,000 hectares of land in desperately poor countries like Senegal and Mali. China has reportedly acquired close to 3 million hectares of land in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone for palm oil cultivation. Closer home, private

equity investors from the UAE have already acquired close to 800,000 hectares of farmland in Pakistan and South Korea has acquired 465,000 hectares in Madagascar. Should India then be joining this global trend? …….. (Times of India 10/7/10)

Debt ridden farmer commits suicide (20) Sambalpur, Jul 16 : Overburdened with debt from bank and private sources, a farmer of Babubandh village under Burla police station committed suicide by consuming pesticide. Police today said P Murty Raju (42) consumed poison on Wednesday evening.The family members rushed him to VSS medical college and hospital at Burla where he struggled for his life for 36 long hours and died this morning. As per family sources, Raju had taken crop loan of Rs.30,000 and another loan from Utkal Gramya Bank (UGB) of Rs.1.5 lakh.He was much worried in the wake of two successive crop failure, both during the Dalua and Khariff. Unable to repay the debt the farmer committed suicide. He is survived by a son, q daughter and wife. Sambalpur Collector H K Das said it was unusual on the part of the farmer to suffer crop loss in the Hirakud command area.He has sent sub-collector B B Behera and other Revenue Officers to the village for a detailed enquiry and ascertain the reason behind the suicide. (New Kerala 16/7/10)

46 farmers' suicides in Orissa in two years (20) After being cornered by the Opposition political parties on several occasions for the past two years over the cases of recurring farmers' suicides in Orissa, the state government has finally come out with a report on the matter. According to the report released in the state legislative assembly by Damodar Rout, the minister for agriculture and cooperation, 46 farmers have committed suicide in 2009-10 and in 2010-11 so far due to a host of reasons, prime among them includes the inability to repay crop loans. Keonjhar, Sambalpur and Sundergarh districts have reported the most number of farmers' suicides in 2010-11 with six each. Four cases of farmers' suicides have been witnessed in Bargarh, three each in Puri and Balasore, two each in Cuttack, Ganjam and Bolangir and Nuapada districts and one each in the districts of Boudh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Korpaut, Mayurbhanj and Nabarangpur. In most cases, the farmers have committed suicide by consuming poison after being unable to repay the crop loans. The farmers had availed crop loans from PSU banks like State Bank of India and UCO Bank and also from cooperative societies and micro-finance institutions like SKS Microfinance. The amount of crop loans availed by these farmers ranges from Rs 5000-Rs 45,000. In a few cases, suicidal deaths have been triggered by mental imbalances arising out of family disputes. Meanwhile, the land under cultivation has also seen a decline from 62.59 lakh hectares in 2000 to 61.80 hectares at present. Irrigation facility is available for 29.68 hectares of agricultural land. (Business Standard 21/7/10)

Chengara agitators to get title deeds today District Collector S. Lalithambika has said that arrangements have been made for distributing title deeds to 1,495 landless Chengara agitators at a Pattaya Mela here on Tuesday. At a press conference here on Monday, she said Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan would distribute the title deeds. Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran would preside over the function. Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy would be the chief guest. The Ministers A.K. Balan, Mullakkara Ratnakaran and Kadannappally Ramachandran would also distribute the title deeds. P.J. Kurien, K.N. Balagopal, and Anto Antony, MPs; K.Sivadasan Nair, Raju Abraham, Joseph M. Puthusserry, K.C. Rajagopalan, K.K. Shaju, Adoor Prakash, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Mathew T. Thomas, MLAs; A. Santhakumari, district panchayat president; Nivedita P. Haran, Additional Chief Secretary; and K.R. Muraleedharan, Land Revenue Commissioner; would speak. The State government is giving 831.03 acres (1 acre = 0.4 hectare) of land in 10 districts to the agitators who had encroached upon a portion of the Kumbazha estate of Harrisons Malayalam Ltd. Of them, 38 families belong to the Scheduled Tribes, 1,227 to the Scheduled Castes and 230 to various other categories, including upper castes. Under the Chengara package, beneficiaries belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category have been allotted one acre each and the Scheduled Caste category, 50 cents each. Others get 25 cents each. The land have been allotted in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. The Revenue Department had conducted a draw of lots to make the allotment process transparent. H. Salimraj, Additional District Magistrate, was present at the press conference. (The Hindu, 3/8/2010)

Govt admits agro sector not looking up GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat government made an indirect admission on Wednesday that Krishi Mahotsavs, an annual feature, have failed to bring about any improvement in the area brought under cultivation or farm production of major crops. Literature distributed at a press conference, addressed by state agriculture minister Dilip Sanghani, showed that net cultivated area in 2007-06 was 130.51 lakh hectares (ha), which went down to 116.14 lakh ha in 2009-10. Worse, the production of foodgrains, oil seeds and cotton crops identified by the state government as the mainstay of Gujarat agriculture have witnessed a progressive drop. When asked about the sharp dip, as noted in the official figures provided by him, Sanghani expressed his surprise saying, "Chief minister Narendra Modi has put annual growth rate of Gujarat agriculture at 9.6 per cent per annum." However, agricultural growth rate figures given by the state planning department to the Planning Commission suggesting a growth of minus 12 per cent in 2008-09 and minus 3.3 per cent in 2009-10. A close study of an official note distributed on the occasion suggests the production of foodgrains and oil seeds since 2003-04 has not risen. In fact, their production shows sharp volatility. Except for 2007-08, when foodgrains production reached a whopping 82.06 lakh metric tonnes (MT), for every year since 2003-04 it hovered around 60 lakh MT. As for oil seeds, considered the main crop in Saurashtra, the production was the highest in 2003-04, 65.55 MT, progressively going down with each passing year. Cotton is the only crop which appears to have a sustained growth story since 2003-04. It was 40.27 lakh bales in 2003-04, and reached 78.75 lakh bales in 2009-10 thanks mainly to BT cotton. Official sources admit, even here things are stagnating. A press release issued on Wednesday admitted that this year cotton production will go down by 87,000 bales. When contacted, senior expert Prof YK Alagh said, "This shows we are still a rainfed agriculture." (The Times of India, 5/8/2010)

Farmers worry about non-inclusion of names Deep resentment is brewing among the residents of Simdega as their names do not appear in the drought-hit list declared by the Government. Farmers who are facing the second drought this year, are now in a pitiable condition. Last year’s crop failure has not been compensated so far by the Government, and the second drought is ready to devour them. Sukhan Pradhan, a farmer, is grieved and says, “My paddy grew yellow due to insufficient rain last year and then caterpillar and insects ate them up. This year I have taken loan from my friend to grow paddy, but I have become hopeless seeing drought.” He expressed that this tragedy is rampant in the district, yet the Government has not included the district as drought hit district. Nowel Lakra, another farmer laments, “an environment of disgust has crept in seeing the drought, as almost every farmer is hopeless. Only God can save us, as this Jharkhand has been ruined by the corrupt officials and leaders. There is no vision among the administrators who have an armchair mindset and red tapism, from whom we cannot expect an easy farming policy to uplift the farmers and make them self-sufficient . This drought might create frustrated village youth who might turn Naxals.” Chatur Baraik, a political activist says, “The Government has done injustice with Simdega by not declaring it a drought-hit district. This district has no industry and business except farming and its allied activities like goat-rearing. In such a marginal economic life, deprivation might lead to strenghthening naxalism with new recruits into the rank and fold of existing naxalites. Niel Justin Beck, a social worker working on land reforms, says, ''The Government has cheated the district residents as it has not included it in drought hit list. The farmers' life will turn miserable when crop fails this year too. They will be bound to leave the district in search of employment.As it has happened in Jharkhand, large number of labourers both male and female have left for Delhi and Punjab and have worked as housemaids and labourers.From Simdega district too, several cases of migration to Delhi have been reported. On the one hand, these labourers are subjected to physical exploitation, they lose their tribal identity and culture too. He further asks the district administration what kind of reporting has been done about drought in the district that the Government has not included it in the list! He says the Government on the one hand, has filled the bags of government employees by paying them high salary based on the sixth pay commission, it has done injustice with the toiling poor who is a victim of high price rise combined with drought. The Government sponsored development programmes are an eyewash, he says, as the farmers’ lot has not been improved so far. (The Pioneer, 6/8/2010)

Ripening row: UP not to follow Centre's diktat LUCKNOW: In the fierce tussle over who shall have the overriding powers to decide ‘permissible'

additives in ripening food products, the UP government had decided to side with rules laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The matter pertains to raids undertaken by the state-run Food and Drug Authority (FDA), cracking down on illegal usage of ethephon and ethylene gas to ripen bananas. As part of tough action initiated by the government over two months ago, the authorities have seized over 1,000 tonnes of artificially ripened bananas and sizable portions of ethaphon, a herbicide and plant growth regulator, from different parts of the state. Interestingly, even though FSSAI has been entrusted the responsibility of "Framing of Regulations to lay down the standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified'', the Union Ministry of Agriculture, in a letter dated July 28, 2010 has overruled an FSSAI notification that declared "dipping of fruits in a solution of ethephon or exposure of fruits to ethylene gas'' as "harmful practises''. But though the order was dispatched to various state governments with immediate effect, in UP, FSSAI is still being regarded as the final word on the subject. Confirming the same, spokesperson, UP FDA said: "When we took up the issue with FSSAI, they claimed that the ministry of agriculture sent out this letter without consulting them. They reiterated that the use of ethephon or ethylene gas is harmful and carcinogenic (cancer causing) in nature. As a result, the raids on banana in UP will continue.'' Ethaphon, along with calcium carbide is popularly used for ripening bananas. Interestingly, though the herbicide also naturally occurs inside the fruit, exposure to the herbicide, for ripening, can cause considerable damage to the human body. In UP, the FDA has also found instances of ethephon and ethylene gas being use for artificial ripening, well beyond the permissible limits. But as the centre-state spat creates concerns for the banana business in UP, the final verdict lies with the Central government, which shall have to decide whether FSSAI has the veto power in such cases, or whether UP FDA must heed to the ministry of agriculture diktat. (TOI, 9/8/2010)

CPI to stage dharna on farmer issues Dhenkanal: The district unit of the CPI has expressed its grave concern over the rising number of farmers’ suicide in the State. The party lamented that adequate irrigation facilities have not been provided to farmers even after 63 years of Independence. The party also blamed the district administration for remaining silent over the pathetic condition of roads in the town. CPI district secretary Jameswar Prusty said the Bharatiya Khetmazdoor Union would stage a countrywide demonstration on August 9 protesting against the anti-farmer policies of the Union and State Governments. Party activists would stage dharna before the Dhenkanal Collectorate and submit a five-point charter of demands to the collector. (dailypioneer, 9/8/2010)

Aligarh violence rocks Parliament The death of three persons in the police firing on Saturday during farmers' protest against the Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition policy in Mathura and Aligarh rocked Parliament on Monday. The Bahujan Samaj Party was cornered. All major parties, including the Congress, protested against the police firing, forcing three adjournments in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha too witnessed two adjournments, including one after the lunch-break. Besides question hour, the only other business transacted was the tabling of papers listed for the day. The issue was raised at the outset in both Houses, with non-BSP members demanding that the issue be taken up forthwith, instead of question hour. While these members stood their ground in the Lok Sabha, they allowed the question hour to go on in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh (BJP) led his party members into the well of the House. Members of the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD) and the Shiv Sena followed suit. Leaders, including SP president Mulayam Singh and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, were on their feet but did not enter the well of the House. Congress members too left their seats, but when restrained by senior leaders, stood on the aisles. The Opposition members displayed photo copies of news reports and protested the “repression” let loose by the State government against farmers, who were up in arms against land acquisition for the Yamuna Express. BSP leader Dara Singh sought to give a clarification, but most of what he said was drowned in the pandemonium. Unable to get question hour under way, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House within minutes. When the House reassembled at noon, the Chair took no more than a couple of minutes to gauge the mood and adjourned the House for lunch. The post-lunch session too did not last any longer. In the Rajya Sabha, BJP members filled up the aisle, while those from the BSP sought to counter the demand. (The Hindu, 16/8/2010)

Crop decay, low prices worrying cocoa farmers in Id ukki

Farmers complain that they receive little help from Agriculture Department. Crop decay due to various diseases and low market price are worrying cocoa farmers in the district. Cocoa is usually cultivated as an inter-crop. Due to the low level of care required for the plant and harvest almost throughout the year, many farmers have chosen it as the main inter-crop. Cocoa farmers in Vellathooval, Rajakumari, Senapathy, Rajakkad and Santhanpara grama panchayats are facing a crisis as the crop in the early stages of growth decay or dry up, resulting in a decline in the total production. Johny Varghese, a farmer at Santhanpara, said that the fruits (pods) decaying or drying up before they ripen was not a new phenomenon. However, with the start of this monsoon season, the disease has started affecting the plants severely and the use of pesticides had little impact, he said. Mr. Varghese said that the farmers got little help from the Agriculture Department, either in identifying the causes of the disease or in providing compensation. He said that this was since the cocoa farmers were an unorganised lot, unlike pepper or coffee farmers. He said that production has declined to one third since the start of the monsoon. The farmers also complained that the prevailing market price was very low. The average price has come down from Rs. 50 to Rs. 40 and below. K.B. Kunjumon, another farmer, said that he had destroyed cocoa plants in nearly four acres of land, where it was cultivated as an inter-crop between coffee and pepper, as the cultivation was non-remunerative. Moreover, he said, the disease spread to other plants also. He said that the government should take steps to conduct a study into the causes of the disease and come out with a solution. The lack of a procurement agency is another cause for concern. Mr. Kunjumon said that this season the number of fruits per plant was high, but the disease damaged the crops in large areas. In Mankulam grama panchayat, where organic cocoa is cultivated in a large area, farmers said that though they used to receive better prices, now the procuring agencies are offering lower prices. Farmers said that even with the low care required for the plant and lower labour costs for harvesting, cocoa cultivation has become non-remunerative. (The Hindu, 14/8/2010)

Bill seeks amendment in Land Acquisition Act LUCKNOW: Even as the farmers are staging protests against the state government's land acquisition drive in western Uttar Pradesh, a bill seeking amendment in the Land Acquisition Act 1894 has been drafted and sent for the President's assent. Put forth by Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MP from Mathura and Ajit Singh's son, Jayant Chawdhary, the 'in-person bill' seeks to make the 'purpose behind the land acquisition' more transparent. Speaking to TOI, Jayant Chawdhary confirmed the bill has been drafted and sent for the President's approval. "The motive which any state government declares before going ahead with the land acquisition drive for a project is often too ambiguous. Even a golf course is a public utility thing. But can a precious agricultural land be compromised for any such project which affects a large number of poor farmers?" he asked. The bill, he said, addresses this particular issue. Therefore, the clarification of `purpose' might limit the government's role in the land acquisition process, and instead force the private agencies to directly deal with the farmers to get a chunk of land for any project. The bill comes close on the heels of RLD chief Ajit Singh's demand to amend the Land Acquisition Act wherein 25% of the land would be provided by the government, and remaining 75% would be purchased by the agency or builder directly from the farmers. Singh has demanded that the ratio instead be modified to 15% for government and 85% for direct purchase by the builder. The bill, if cleared, would potentially affect a number of projects involving large-scale land acquisition drives, including Dadri and Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. In case of Dadri power plant, for example, the UP government had already faced the wrath of the high court for imposing emergency conditions while acquiring over 2,000 acres of land for the project. The court's observation has, therefore, forced the state government to step back and consider the objections filed by the farmers. The fate of the project ever since hangs in balance even as local administration in Dadri invites farmers to come up with their respective objections against the land acquisition process. On the other hand, the bill, if rejected, could well mean a major embarrassment for the RLD which is trying for an alliance with the Congress against BSP in the run up to the UP assembly elections scheduled in 2012. Ajit Singh, during his visit to the state capital last week, had already hinted that his party was getting in touch with the Congress' top brass for a possible tie up as part of its preparations for the UP assembly elections. (TOI, 17/8/2010)

Expressways may wipe off 23,000 villages in UP LUCKNOW: UP's smooth road to development may bump off over 23,000 villages lined along the expressways. That's almost a fourth of the total of 1.08 lakh revenue villages in the state. Not only will it change the entire landscape of the state and lot of these villages are in some of the most fertile parts of

UP but also lead to displacement of villagers on a scale that's hard to imagine. Kaukab Hamid, leader of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) legislature party, put the figure at 23,512 villages. In his statement on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha, he claimed 2,160 villages will vanish along the Ganga Expressway (GE), 1,191 along the Yamuna Expressway (YE), 1,562 along the Upper Ganga Canal project, 5,300 villages on the Jhansi-Kanpur-Lucknow-Gorakhpur Expressway, 2,160 on the Agra-Kanpur stretch, 2,160 each on Bijnore-Moradabad and Lucknow-Barabanki-Nanpara and 1,440 on Narora-Uttrakhand border. However, a senior government official said the number of villages to be affected was yet to be assessed as these projects were still under preparation. Large chunks of this, he said, would come from gram panchayat and nazul (state govt) land. But he admitted that a major portion of the land will have to be acquired from villagers. The 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway over which farmers are protesting involves six districts: Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, Mahamayanagar (Hathras) and Agra. A population of around seven lakh is estimated to be affected by the project for which over 43,000 hectares of land is proposed to be taken from about 400 villages. The next big project in the pipeline is the 148-km eight-lane Upper Ganga Canal project, involving four districts Muzzafarnagar (Sonata bridge of Purkazi), Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandshar. A technical survey for this has already been done and now the bidding for the project is set to be held on August 20. As planned, the project is to be extended further by over 200 km up to Kanpur and Fathepur. Another project being finalised is the 1,047-km Ganga Expressway from Noida to Balliya in eastern UP. However, work could not be taken up on this project as Allahabad High Court referred this project for environmental clearance on May 29 last year. So, till now, only 111 hectares of land in 13 villages of Bulandshar district and 416 hectares of land in 27 villages of Unnao district could be acquired for the project. However, if the project clears environment hurdles, a total 30,280 hectares of land will need to be acquired in 19 districts, mainly from villages on the route. Of that, 18,000 hectares will be for construction of eight-lane expressway and the remaining 12,280 hectares will be for building townships in eight districts. (TOI, 17/8/2010)

Parliament grinds to a halt over firing on farmers New Delhi, August, 17 : Parliament on Monday came to a standstill over the firing on protesting Aligarhfarmers when anti-BSP outfits joined hands to corner the Mayawati regime over land acquisition for Yamuna Expressway.The Sunday firing saw Congress, SP, BJP and RLD block proceedings in the two Houses of Parliament as they demanded a discussion on the issue. BSP opposed the demand saying it was a state subject. While the provocation for blockade was the firing, it bared the contours themega battle of 2012 assembly polls will take -- BSP vs the rest. The Opposition, which came together to stall Parliament, is likely to stay fragmented in the fight against Mayawati except for the possible partnership between Congress and RLD. The parties think post-Nandigram, land acquisition can prove the catalyst against UP regime which they have failed to dent in the last three years except for Congress performance in 2009 LS polls. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rajnath Singh led the Opposition protests while Jayant Chaudhary of RLD joined in as his father Ajit Singh visited the firing site. Sonia Gandhi personally intervened in a rare appearance in the second half. It was possibly on her goading that party MPs from across the states raised the issue while Jagdambika Pal, P L Punia and Kamal Kishore stopped just short of entering the well. Even Rohtak MPDeepender Hooda joined the protest to probably get back at Mayawati who waded into the Mirchpur anti-dalit carnage to compound the woes of Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned as soon as they met, with MPs not heeding to pleas from the chair to let question hour function. While the Opposition sought discussion, as demanded by Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha, BSP leader S C Mishra warned that if state subjects like law and order were allowed to be raised in Parliament, it would be a routine demand. The two Houses were adjourned for the day. Later, BSP leader S C Mishra told reporters that politics and not concern for poor farmers was behind the ruckus. He said, "We agreed for a discussion but they withdrew despite demanding it. They would have been exposed badly." He said not one bullet was fired by police and rivals had instigated the farmers. "The state has already ordered a judicial inquiry, compensation and transferred district officers," he said. He accused SP of shedding crocodile tears after having dispossessed farmers in Dadri. (www.dalitnews.com, 17/8/2010)

Coimbatore, Erode region to benefit most from schem e to replace old pumpsets Farmers in the six western districts of the State - Coimbatore, Tirupur, The Nilgiris, Erode, Salem and Namakkal - are expected to be among the major beneficiaries of the State government's latest scheme of replacing old inefficient irrigation pumpsets. The total number of agricultural connections in the six

districts, coming under Coimbatore and Erode regions of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), is about 4.5 lakh. The agricultural demand in this belt is about 600 MW. Chief Engineer of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Coimbatore, A. Thangavel told The Hindu here on Tuesday that ground water table was low in these regions. Water was available only at 700 or 800 feet in several places and a number of farmers in these regions used compressors to pump water into the nearby tank or well and then use it for farming. “Some of them used the compressor even for 10 hours a day and this consumed a lot of energy,” he said. Chief Engineer of the Board (Erode Region) N. Sankar said that in places such as Attur and Vazhapaadi, the farmers mainly used borewells and compressors. TNEB has started collecting details about marginal, small and large farmers. The pumpset industry in Coimbatore, which accounts for about 40 per cent of the country's agricultural pumpsets, has lauded the announcement. Former president of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association and Managing Director of Mahendra Pumps Jayakumar Ramdass said that the move would result in enormous power saving. “However, the mode of implementation is the key to its success.” Pumpsets need after-sales service and proper installation. Quality of the pumpsets was also important to ensure energy saving, he added. President of the association R.R. Ranghanathen said Coimbatore had 300 Bureau of Indian Standard licensees (pumpset manufacturers). Nearly 60 per cent of them manufactured agricultural pumpsets. “We will appeal to the Chief Minister to source the entire requirements of the scheme from the manufacturers here as Coimbatore is a major pumpset manufacturing hub in the country.” The cost of a submersible pumpset is Rs.20,000 to Rs.30,000 a unit and the price of those pumpsets having Bureau of Energy Efficiency rating is 10 to 15 per cent higher. This excludes the cost of panels, cables, and pipes, according to Mr. Ranghanathen. (The Hindu, 18/8/2010)

KCR Wants Land To Be Given Back To Farmers HYDERABAD: The Emaar-APIIC controversy took a new turn with the TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao jumping into the fray on Wednesday, demanding that the land acquired for the golf course-cum-housing project in Ganchibowli be resumed by the government immediately. He also made a demand for sacking advisor to the state government KVP Ramachandra Rao, alleging that he was the brain behind murky the deal. KCR also sought shifting of principal secretary B P Acharya from industries department. "I will start an agitation if the land is not taken back," KCR said. Addressing the media on Wednesday, he said the CM should act swiftly and take action against the person who was responsible for the loss of thousands of crores to the exchequer. He said KVP, a close associate of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was involved in many land scams involving SEZ projects in the city. "If government wants to prove its sincerity, KVP should be sacked immediately. It will be a blot on government if it does not take action against him", he added. KCR’s demand comes on the eve of the meeting of the Rosaiah cabinet on Thursday to take a final view on how to investigate the Emaar-APIIC matter. "The land was acquired from poor farmers in survey numbers 4 to 49 to set up a golf course. "The very purpose of land acquisition has been defeated", he said and threatened to launch an agitation along with the farmers at the site if government did not return their land. He further alleged that the government left untouched 14 acres of land owned by Vijaya Nirmala, wife of veteran Telugu film star Krishna, and 3 acres belonging to state roads and building minister G Aruna Kumari during land acquisition for the project. "Acharya’s shifting from the present post is a must for a free and fair probe into the issue. Acharya was the MD of APIIC when the MoU with Emaar was signed to form Emaar MGF," KCR said. He also alleged that KVP’s brother-in-law D Pardhasaradhi was the director of Emaar MGF when Emaar transferred the land to MGF at a rate that was lower than that of the market value. KCR’s demand is significant because the main opposition TDP is being seen as going soft on the scam. This, say sources, is because the project was conceived during its regime. Land taken away from farmers in Telangana can be converted into an emotive issue by TRS and hence the interest of KCR, analysts maintained. (TOI, 19/8/2010)

Khed SEZ gets environmental nod PUNE: The Union government on Wednesday granted environmental clearance to the ambitious Khed special economic zone (SEZ) project of Bharat Forge Limited (BFL). This is the only SEZ in the state to get an environmental clearance this year. An official statement from BFL read, "The (land) notification and environmental clearance is in place. Steps are being taken to operationalise the SEZ." The multi-product SEZ, which is expected to attract an investment of Rs 500 crore as per current estimates, is proposed to be developed on 4,500 hectares of land to be developed by Khed Economic Infrastructure Private Limited (KEIPL). KEIPL was formed after the Kalyani Group, of which BFL is the flagship company, entered into a

joint venture with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). The MIDC will have 26 per cent equity in the project. Located some 40 km from Pune, the SEZ will be spread over Khed and Shirur talukas. The company has already acquired 1,705 hectares of land for the first phase of the project and the acquisition of some 2,000 hectares for the second phase is in the final stages. The SEZ plans to attract industries manufacturing automobiles, auto components, heavy and light engineering materials, electrical and electronics products, plastics, aviation, gems and jewellery, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and food processing, among others. The project will have a residential area developed over 500 hectares which can accommodate around 14 lakh people. It may be recalled that the SEZs of city-based D S Kulkarni Developers at Phursungi on the Pune-Solapur road) and Aurangabad-based Videocon Group’s SEZ near Wagholi on the Pune-Ahmednagar road were scrapped in recent years. The Mahindra Group, promoters of another SEZ to come up near Karla, are in negotiations with the residents of eight villages over land acquisition. (TOI, 20/8/2010)

'Climate change affecting crop' OLD GOA: Goa's cashew production has been drastically affected by climate change and the only way out for farmers is to increase production with better management practices, agricultural experts said at a seminar on Saturday. "If in a hectare with 200 cashew trees a yield of even 2,000 kg nuts per annum is achieved it will yield an income of ` 1 lakh per annum for the farmer," said agriculture director S P Tendulkar. Tendulkar was speaking at a day-long seminar on "new challenges in cashew production under current trends of climate change" organized by ICAR Research Complex and the directorate of cashewnut and cocoa development, Kochi, at Old Goa. Pointing out that some farmers have achieved production of 4,000 kg per ha per annum from grafted trees, Tendulkar said Goa's average is 500 kg per ha per annum. "There is no proper management and farmers have a casual attitude towards the crop despite its high income potential," he said. The cashew crop covers 55,000 ha for production of over 22,000 metric tonne (MT) and employs over a lakh people in the ` 200 crore industry. "With better management practices, production can be more than doubled," he said. Experts explained how irrigation and pest control which are not part of the average farmer's practice, can make a difference to the crop. Stating that it would be difficult to sustain the crop due to climate changes, Tendulkar said that changes seen during the last 50 years have been witnessed in just a few past years. "During 2008-09 and 2009-10, the total production slid to 13.65 MT and 13.170 MT respectively from 27.071 MT in 2005-06 and 21.994 MT in 2007-08," said Tendulkar. Madhav Sahakari, president of Goa Cashew Processors Association said, "It is a crop requiring least care and hardly any water." But farmers who have hardly followed any management practices could easily increase production, which has stagnated at 22,000 to 25,000 MT with a little effort. Stating that it is important to produce more in Goa instead of importing cashew nuts of lesser quality, Sahakari said, "Goan cashew nuts command a premium price of 8% to 12% more than other products." V K Jha, secretary agriculture, said the state will soon sponsor a cashew cluster scheme in Ponda. (TOI, 22/8/2010)

Heat, rain hit 40% onion crop in Jodhpur JODHPUR: Onions have once again brought tears to the eyes of farmers and traders in Jodhpur. Excessive heat in May and June, followed by heavy rain, have destroyed about 40% of the total onions produced here. Deputy director, agriculture, Ram Gopal Sharma said about 10-15% onions are destroyed each year. However, this year due to high temperature (46-48 degrees Celsius) in May and June, the harvest period, the percentage of crop loss increased. "Onions need low temperature, low humidity and proper storage facility. However, due to tropical cyclone Phet, followed by high temperature and high humidity, a sizeable quantity of the stocked onions perished as fungus developed in them," he said. Rakesh Parihar, a trader, said this time weather took its toll on about 40% of the total produce. Traders, who sold onions without waiting for good price, made profits while who stocked the produce in anticipation of rise in prices, got most of their stock rotten, he said. Considering the threat to the crop of getting rotten under the ground, which happened at many a places, the farmers dug it out. But due to less demand in the wholesale market, they decided to stock it on their fields. But high temperature and dust winds affected these stockpiles and onions started rotting. Fearing this, many farmers decided to sale it on their own in the city and the scene of the farmers selling them on tractors became a routine then. Later, heavy rain became a hurdle in packing and transport of the crop. During rain, it had to be covered completely to avoid contact with rain on the farms but this practice also stopped the circulation of air and thus the rain also led to about 20% more crops to perish. Jodhpur is a major producer of onions in the

state. It produces about 3 lakh metric tonne of sweet onions. The total cultivation area is about 1,000 hectare. This onion, apart from being sold in the local mandi, is also purchased by the traders from other state as well. (TOI, 23/8/2010)

Starvation & debt stalk Bengal's parched BASANTAPUR/BERENDA: Here, it's like the Bengal of the early 1940s. The earth is parched, the farmers starving and death stands at every door. Yunus Seikh (45) of Basantapur village, who committed suicide on Saturday because the drought destroyed his crops, may not be the only casualty. The suffering is so horrible that suicide, for many, is only a faster way to die. Food riots could break out any day, fear farmers. Had the Left Front government, in its 34 years of rule, spared a thought for irrigation, farmers would not be at the monsoon's mercy. Just one season of poor rainfall has left the earth cracked and doomed the lives of thousands. With the administration turning a blind eye, starving families are forced to take loans from local mahajans at killing interest rates, stepping into a trap from which there is no escape. Caught in this trap, Yunus picked up a bottle of pesticide as the only way out. But no government official has yet visited his thatched house, situated at the entry point of the village. All around are parched farmlands, dried shoots of paddy baking under the relentless sun. Cattle are allowed to graze on the dead crop because there is no other fodder. CPM which has ruled over this land for four decades still refuses to see the misery all around. Achinta Majumdar, CPM zonal secretary, told TOI on Sunday that Yunus' suicide was "due to a family feud as he had two wives, not due to the drought". "They are cooking up stories. The allegations are bogus. The entire state is facing drought, so what is new about Ausgram?" he asked. Ramen Talukdar, IC of Ausgram police station, echoed the CPM leader word for word. It was not until Sunday evening that finance minister Asim Dasgupta asked for a report from the Burdwan administration on the "cause of death". It will be handed to the chief minister, he said. The administration's version may not be all that different from the CPM zonal secretary's. "Yusuf committed suicide over a personal problem. However, if his family approa-ches us, we will help them," said district magistrate Onkar Singh Meena. But the death seems to be have jolted the administration. "We'll take measures on a war footing. We've already allotted ‘54 crore to implement the 100-day-work scheme. It was decided at the meeting with the chief minister on Saturday that 33,000 acres would be bro-ught under minor irrigation within a month," Meena added. (TOI, 23/8/2010)

MSEZ proponents criticised However, many of the small and marginal farmers in villages such as Bala, Kalavaru, Permude and Thokur near Bajpe, have turned bitter critics of the mega-enterprise now. It is because the jobs promised initially in MSEZ to one person from each displaced family has not been kept. Nearly a thousand people from the project-displaced families gathered at a temple in Porkodi, near Jokatte, on Sunday to share their anguish at not receiving the various benefits, including jobs, promised to them earlier. “All the large land-holders have benefited hugely by selling their lands. But, people like us have been left in the lurch,” said Kiran Kumar , whose family gave up 1.5 acres of land for the project. Mr. Kumar, who was a student of first PUC when his family was displaced, quit his course mid-way to join a diploma programme that was started for the project displaced persons at the Karnataka Polytechnic, with MSEZL as sponsors. “A.G. Pai (MSEZL's Chief Operating Officer) had told me that if I enrolled myself for the diploma course, I would be absorbed by the company,” he said. Mr. Kumar, and 412 other persons from the project-displaced families, all in the age group of 16 to 35 years, had been counselled the same way by the officers of the MSEZL. However, none of the 413 persons, who joined the course, has been absorbed by the MSEZL so far. One job for every displaced family had been included in the rehabilitation and resettlement package of MSEZ at the time of land acquisition. Annoyed by the failure of the company to honour its time-bound commitment, the trainees have been boycotting classes since August 5, demanding that they be provided jobs, as promised initially. The trainees at the course are being paid a stipend of Rs. 1,000 a month by the MSEZL. “I have a 10-year-old son, who is studying in a private English medium school. My husband is a daily wage worker. How do I support myself with the stipend?” asked Lakshmi Jairam (36), who had quit a job at a hospital that was paying Rs. 2,600 a month, only to join the diploma course. Some persons like Nagaraj Shetty (29) have given up jobs that were comfortable for them and joined the polytechnic. Mr. Pai told The Hindu that the 400-plus persons from displaced families were still undergoing training at the KPT and that is why they had not been given jobs now. (The Hindu, 24/8/2010)

Govt panel to probe farmers’ agitation

LUCKNOW: The state government on Monday constituted a one-member inquiry commission, comprising retired judge RD Nimesh, to probe into the ‘happenings in Aligarh during agitation of farmers’ recently. The commission will submit its report in six months. The decision evoked sharp reactions from the agitating farmers and the Opposition parties who described it as an ‘eyewash’ and an attempt of Maya government to put the serious issue on the ‘back burner’. Manveer Singh, president, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, which has been formed to lead the farmers’ protest, said the inquiry should be done by a sitting (TOI, 24/8/2010)

They sold their land, but lost their future ALIGARH/LUCKNOW: Jagir Singh is passing sleepless nights these days. The problem for this small farmer at Tappal in Aligarh is the Rs 22 lakh compensation he got for five bighas of land acquired by the state government for construction of Yamuna Expressway. He has decided to keep Rs 10 lakh as fixed deposit in the bank to be used later for the marriage of his three daughters. He has spent Rs 2 lakh for converting his kuchcha house into a pucca one and wants to use the remaining Rs 10 lakh to buy a second-hand mini-truck to start a business. But he is apprehensive. The reason: “One of my relatives in Meerut had started a transport business with a second-hand truck with the Rs 15 lakh compensation he got a few years ago, but the vehicle met with an accident. He not only lost the truck but was also forced to pay a huge amount to police as bribe to avoid jail. Today, he works as a labourer in Meerut city,” Singh recalls. But what made Singh choose the same business which caused a loss to his relative? “There is no other option because I don’t know anything other than farming. Many in the village are doing the same. Some have planned to open general merchant shops and a few have decided to migrate to the city. I wanted to buy land but it’s not available in my village or any adjoining area,” he says. Singh’s story is common to almost 90% small farmers in the state whose land has been acquired. Farmers in most cases have not been able to handle the amount they got as compensation and ended up in petty jobs for survival. (TOI, 24/8/2010)

Vedanta mining project clearance scrapped In a big blow to Vedanta Resources, Government today rejected environment clearance to its USD 1.7 billion bauxite mining project in Orissa after accepting recommendations of its key panel clearing such ventures. Giving reasons for the denial of clearance, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters that "there has been a very serious violation of Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and the Forest Rights Act. "There have been no emotions and no politics and no prejudice involved in this report. I have taken this decision in a proper legal approach," he said. The decision came after the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) which had submitted the report to Ramesh after reviewing the suggestions given by the N C Saxena panel seeking ban on the mining project in Orissa's Niyamgiri Hills in view of various violations at the site. The Saxena report has citied many violations of the in-principle environment clearance given to Orissa Mining Corporation in 2008 including non-compliance with the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. "The consent certificate of the gram sabha was fake," the panel said in its report while recommending not to approve the project because of large scale violations. Stressing that his Ministry was not getting into any "witch-hunt", Ramesh said the Orissa government had violated the Forest Rights Act and Vedanata Resources violated the Environment Protection Act (EPA). "We are examining what action has to be taken against the project proponents for violation of various laws including the EPA," he said. Ramesh said he has no prejudices against the Orissa government as his Ministry has cleared in important irrigation project in the state for which the in-principle approval was accorded yesterday. "While rejecting this (Vedanta) project, I have also cleared an important irrigation project in the state in which over 1500 hectares of forest land is involved," the minister said. (Dailypioneer, 24/8/2010)

Forest Acts violated in Odisha’ The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) meeting on the proposed bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills of Odisha has endorsed the recommendations of the NC Saxena report, which had categorically disallowed mining in the area. A member, on the condition of anonymity, told The Pioneer, “We have found serious violations of the Forest Rights Act and Forest Conservation Act by the company, as pointed out in the Saxena report.” The FAC on Monday submitted its report to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who would announce his decision on Tuesday. The FAC report on Vedanta mining was submitted the same day when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek assurance for speedy clearance to industrial projects like Posco. “I discussed Posco and told him (Prime Minister)

that the work ought not be stopped,” he said. “The Prime Minister said he will certainly look into the matter. He said it should be expedited,” Patnaik added. The Chief Minister also met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday, but they did not discuss the Vedanta project, sources said. But Patnaik had little to cheer about. The FAC, which winded up its marathon three-day meeting and submitted a six-page “carefully worded” resolution to Ramesh on the Vedanata mining issue, said there was no doubt that both the Forest Rights’ Act and Forest Conservation Act were being violated by the company. The Niyamgiri hills are inhabited by two of the most primitive tribal groups, besides dalits. The FRA provides for protection of both the habitat and habitation of the inhabitants, besides their culture and livelihood, all of which collectively point to the forests, noted the FCA member. Pointing to the controversy created in the light of the Supreme Court judgment, he said, “The SC clearance given to Vedanta is in connection with environmental clearance. We are looking into the cases of forest laws violation.” Surprisingly, the Government and the company did not follow the FRA provisions to identify the project-affected people and their rights. “There was no consultation with the gram sabhas anywhere. The Odisha Government, ranked second in the implementation of FRA, is violating its own forest settlement laws,” the FCA member said. (Dailypioner, 24/8/2010)

It is ‘no’ to Vedanta’s mine project in Orissa After a long drawn-out consultation process, the Union government has finally pronounced its verdict against Vedanta Alumina’s $1.7-billion plan to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa. “There has been a very serious violation of the Environment Protection Act, the Forest Conservation Act and the Forest Rights Act,” said Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh. He blamed Vedanta, the Orissa Mining Corporation, and State officials for the violations. “The clearance stands rejected.” Mr. Ramesh accepted the recommendation of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) to withdraw the Stage I forest clearance, granted in 2008, and reject the Stage II clearance that the promoters had applied for. In the light of this, the environmental clearance will also become invalid. In a further blow to Vedanta’s plans in the region, the Ministry will nvestigate the allegation that bauxite for Vedanta’s Orissa refinery is being sourced from 14 Jharkhand mines, of which at least 11 do not have a valid environmental clearance. The Ministry is also issuing a show-cause notice, threatening cancellation of the licence given to the refinery itself, which has illegally grabbed village forest lands and carrying out a six-fold expansion without permission. The appraisal process of the expansion has been suspended. The FAC’s recommendation was based on the N.C. Saxena Committee report that detailed the violations and the adverse impact of the project on the local Dongria Kondh tribal community and biodiversity in the region. The Orissa Forest Secretary met Mr. Ramesh on Tuesday to voice the State government’s objections to the report. He also reiterated the argument put forth by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the Supreme Court’s August 2008 ruling in favour of an in-principle clearance made the final clearance a fait accompli. “No Ministry can abdicate its responsibility of enforcing the laws passed by Parliament,” said Mr. Ramesh, citing the Attorney-General’s opinion that he was free to decide on final clearance despite the Supreme Court ruling. “My Ministry cannot function on the basis of fait accomplis… Since August 2008, a lot of new information has come to light. It is on the basis of this incriminating new evidence that the decision has been taken.” Among the new information is the State government’s failure to implement the Forest Rights Act, which protects the community rights of forest-dwellers, especially tribals. Instead, the Saxena Committee found that district administration officials deliberately submitted documents faking the consent of gram sabhas. (The Hindu, 25/8/2010)

Banana expo throws light on latest cultivation tech niques Farmers from different parts of the state had a rare opportunity to understand the best practices in banana cultivation at an exhibition on banana, organised as part of the Foundation Day of the National Research Centre for Banana at Podhavur near here on Saturday. The exhibition aimed at providing first-hand information to the farmers about the success of the crop in a few belts across the State. About 10 stalls were set up by various leading firms manufacturing pesticides and fungicides, to resolve the problems faced by banana cultivators. The tissue culture banana variety brought by SPIC Agro Biotech Centre, Coimbatore, was the centre of attraction at the exhibition. Two bunches of giant-sized tissue culture ‘grandnaine' species harvested by D. Indhurani, a farmer of Karaipudhur village in Palladam taluk in Coimbatore , attracted all the visitors. One of the bunches had 17 hands with 306 fruits. Its weight was 58 kg. Another bunch, weighing 54 kg, had 16 hands with 288 fruits. The farmer had been cultivating banana on about 10 acres and had successfully raised the tissue culture variety, says K. Velmurugan,

Marketing Officer, SPIC Agro Biotech Centre. He said tissue culture banana variety was gaining popularity. Another stall put up by Tari Bio-Tech, Thanjavur, proved that fertiliser and fungicide manufacturing industry keeps pace with the outcome of the latest research programmes. The NRCB had recently released a bio-control agent ‘beauveria' to control the pest infection caused by banana stem weevil. The Tari Bio-Tech had manufactured and marketed ‘beauvericide' to control the weevil. The Foundation Day was also marked by lecture sessions in which farmers got their doubts clarified on pest control and fungus management in the crop. (The Hindu, 25/8/2010)

High alert as farmers along Yamuna Expressway begin shutdown AGRA: Farmers demanding higher compensation for their land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh began a daylong shutdown in Mathura, Agra and Aligarh districts on Wednesday, threatening to disrupt road and rail traffic and asking shopkeepers to down shutters. Security forces were also put on high alert as farmers tried to disrupt rail traffic and block highways. " Senior police officials in the districts are keeping a close watch to prevent farmers from damaging railway tracks. The Delhi-Agra section of the national highway is also on watch as a large number of tourists take this route," an official said. Business chambers and trade associations in the area are supporting the shutdown. The Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal have planned a rally near parliament Thursday. Farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been agitating for higher compensation for their lands acquired for the Yamuna Expressway, which is expected to reduce driving time between New Delhi and Agra to about 90 minutes. It will pass through Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras) and Mathura districts, and involves acquisition of land in 115 villages. A total of 2,500 hectares is to be acquired for the development of the expressway - 500 hectares each in Noida, Aligarh and Agra and 1,000 hectares in Gautam Buddha Nagar. The compensation amount was increased from Rs.449 per square metre to Rs.570 per square metre. But farmers refused to budge from the demand for compensation at the rate of Rs.880 per square metre that was paid in Greater Noida. (TOI, 25/8/2010)

Fatehabad farmers see nuclear plant as a liability Agitators to stage indefinite dharna outside mini secretariat The agitating farmers of Gorakhpur-Kumharia village of Haryana have decided to stage an indefinite dharna outside the mini secretariat at Fatehabad, over 300 km from here, to protest against the acquisition of over 1,400 acres by the government for a nuclear power plant there. “We are not against technology; we just don't want it to be at the cost of farmers. We will convey this to the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi,” said Hans Raj, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spearheading the stir. Speaking to The Hindu over phone from Fatehabad, he said: “We have already handed over a memorandum of our demands to the Deputy Commissioner and addressed it to President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.” Apart from a section of farmers not ready to part with their land at any cost, there are many whose objection is to the price being offered. “In the proposed power plant, over 500 acres of land which is ‘most fertile' and fetches over Rs. 20 lakh per acre in market but the government rate is Rs. 11.65 lakh per acre which is unfair. The land must be bought at a fair price,” said another farmer. Fatehabad MP Ashok Tanwar on Monday assured a group of farmers that they would be given adequate compensation for their land if they register their complaints. Krishan Swaroop Gorakpuria, State vice president of the All India Kisan Sabha said there were many villagers ready to sell land but wanted a better deal. “There is only one important demand — land should be compensated by providing land and employment. No matter how much money is given, it will vanish after a generation.” (The Hindu, 30 August, 2010)

Demand to create Indian Agriculture Service Agriculture officers with the Union Agriculture Ministry and members of the All India Federation of Agricultural Associations, an apex body of agricultural professionals, farmers' forums and research scholars, on Saturday demanded creation of a separate cadre of Indian Agriculture Service. The group earlier this week had held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar to highlight its demands. “We are demanding creation of an Indian/Central Agriculture Service as recommended by various committees and commissions to bring it at par with other organised cadre services. Our country is basically an agricultural nation and more than 60 per cent population depends on agriculture and it is surprising that we don't have an organised cadre service on all-India basis or Central Service,'' said All India Federation of Agricultural Associations secretary-general J.P. Singh. Mr. Singh lamented that “due to the indifferent attitude and

bureaucratic manipulation in the past one decade, the creation of organised cadre of Central Agriculture Service (CAS) could not materialise and a proposal to that effect has been kept aside by bureaucrats as being unviable.'' The Federation has demanded that an Indian Agriculture Service at par with other services be created immediately as this had been recommended by various committees and commissions. Recommendations of the National Farmers' Commission headed by world renowned scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan should be implemented in its true spirit, it said. A demand for restructuring the Ministry of Agriculture has also been raised by the Federation. It said professional persons should be appointed to head all technology missions including National Horticulture Mission, Food Security Mission, Cotton Technology Mission and Technical Mission on Oilseeds and Pulses. (The Hindu, 30/8/2010)

Mamata wants leash on land acquisition KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress wants the central government to redefine the "public purpose" section under the new Land Acquisition Bill and restrict it to government initiatives only, such as defence, railways and infrastructure projects undertaken by public sector companies. Also, it wants PSUs to be unable to transfer the land to private companies, as the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation did for the Tatas in Singur. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee won't come in the way of the new Land Acquisition Bill if it rules out arbitrary acquisition of farmlands, particularly multi-crop land, and land belonging to tribals. Bitter with the acquisition process in Singur, Mamata doesn't want governments to take a leading role in the process. Instead, following the lead of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, her party wants government organisations to negotiate with landowners only after a social and environment-impact assessment is done by a committee of experts, set up with public representatives, members from the minorities and tribals, and municipalities and panchayats. Trinamool wants the process to start only after getting the nod from the bodies at the grassroots - the gram sabha. Mamata won't let the fruits of Singur and Nandigram go to waste. For, she had staged a 22-day fast against land-grabbing under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. These are some of the major points that leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly Partha Chatterjee noted while recording his dissent to a land acquisition bill that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had tabled in the House after the Singur episode that was later referred to the Select Committee. The government eventually withdrew the bill. Even if land comes under the state government's domain, the acquisition process has to be initiated after intensive consultations with stakeholders, primarily the landowner. Mamata has proposed to extend the domain of 'stakeholders' to sharecroppers and agricultural labourers who derive their livelihood by providing service to landowners -a provision missing in the present act. Trinamool proposes to include these two groups for the compensation package to be announced by the government before the acquisition process starts. The package has to be prepared taking into account four sharecroppers/agricultural labourers per hectare of land whose price would be determined by the prevalent market prices on the date the compensation is awarded and not on the date of the acquisition notification. The money has to be distributed among the landowner/s and those directly dependent on the land. The government also has to give jobs to each of the affected families apart from the solatium already there in the act. Taking into account the displacement of agricultural labourers, the party wants the Centre to grant bona fide tillers the capitalised value of the minimum wages for agricultural labourers for 240 days so that they can draw sustenance from the support money before they find some other means of living. Mamata is likely to take a flexible stand while negotiating with her Cabinet colleagues over the provisions of the new Land Acquisition Bill, likely to be tabled in Parliament soon. But she won't compromise on some of the basic premises that finally prompted her allies, as also the Left, to reopen the debate on land acquisition. (TOI, 31/8/2010)

Farmers' organisation went on an indefinite hunger strike Rejecting UP government claims on reaching an agreement over land acquisition issue, leaders of farmers' organisation went on an indefinite hunger strike to press for increased compensation akin to one given to Noida farmers at Aligarh on Monday morning. While land was acquired at Noida for setting up of a township, the land at Aligarh was taken for the construction of Yamuna Expressway. A total of 15 farmers, including Kisan Sangharsh Samiti chief Manveer Singh Tevatiya sat on a hunger strike at Tappal in Aligarh. The fasting protestors including two women would consume only lemon juice during their protest. Senior officers vainly requested the farmers to call off their stir. The farmers' leaders persisted with the their demand of compensation at the rate of Rs 1,500 per square metre, for acquiring lands betwen Noida and Agra for the townships near Yamuna Epressway. Seeking withdrawal of cases against the agitating farmers, Tevtiya alleged that the government acquired land forcefully. He also suggested

that Chief Minister Mayawati visit Tappal and directly talk with them for a administrative officials were not conveying the correct picture to her. In Agra too, farmers warned that they would start farming the forcibly acquired land. Farmers of 252 villages in Mahamaya Nagar have also joined the agitation by sitting on a dharna at the Medhavali village in Sahabad tehsil. and sought compensation at par with that provided for at Noida. Meanwhile, Rajstriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh is expected to address a gathering of farmers in Agra on September 2. Earlier on August 14, a farmers' protest turned violent leading to police cane charge and firing which left three farmers and a PAC officer dead at Tapal in Aligarh. The incident provided fodder to the Opposition leaders for attacking the BSP government and they made a beeline to 'Ground Zero'. Even Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did not let the oppurtunity go and visited Tappal amidst heavy downpour. He also arranged a meeting of farmers with PM Manmohan Singh, who urged that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 be amended by calling a special session in the Parliament. A defensive state government had later enhanced the compensation rate to Rs 570 / sq meter which could pacufy only a section of the farmers. (Dailypioneer, 31/8/2010)

In spotlight: Haryana’s land acquisition policy From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, everyone is talking about Haryana’s land acquisition policy. It is suddenly in the spotlight over three years after it was notified for the benefit of farmers whose lands were being acquired by the Government for development. It is now being studied as a benchmark by the Central Government to have a uniform policy and rates across the country for land acquired from farmers, the backbone of India’s agrarian economy. The reason the policy is suddenly getting all this attention is that farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been protesting for weeks, demanding higher compensation for their lands acquired to build the 165-km Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway. The Haryana Government says it is offering the ‘highest market rates in the country’ for land acquired from farmers for development projects. “When we brought the land acquisition policy in 2007, I had said in the Assembly that this policy is so good that it will be adopted in the entire country. That has come true now,” Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said. The Hooda-led Haryana Government has fixed the minimum floor rates for acquisition of land ranging from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per acre depending upon the area. For the urban areas of Gurgaon, adjoining National capital New Delhi, the minimum floor rate has been fixed at Rs 20 lakh per acre, and for the rest of the National Capital Region (NCR), Panchkula and areas on the periphery of Chandigarh, it is Rs 16 lakh per acre. In the rest of the State, the rate is Rs 8 lakh per acre. That is not all. Farmers in Haryana get an annuity for 33 years over and above the land compensation. The annuity has been fixed at Rs 15,000 per acre per year, with an increase of Rs 500 per acre every year, for 33 years. And there’s more. Haryana Government agencies-Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC)-offer residential and commercial plots through direct allotment to farmers who have been ousted from their land due to the acquisition. Residential plots up to the maximum size of 350 square yards and commercial booths (measuring 2.75 x 2.75 metres) are allotted to land owners for re-employment and livelihood. Hooda pointed out that after the policy was implemented, farmers have got a compensation of over Rs 8,586 crore and nearly Rs 45 crore as annuity for land acquired for developing various urban and industrial estates in the State. The Chief Minister said that the acquisition policy was brought in to save the interests of farmers in Haryana, primarily an agrarian State. While the Department of Urban Estates, which has acquired over 16,362 acres of land since 2005, has paid compensation of over Rs 4, 173 crore, the department of industries has paid Rs 4, 413 crore to farmers. HSIIDC has acquired over 13,394 acres of land so far. In case of land acquired by the State Government for private developers, the oustees are entitled to receive an annuity of Rs 30,000 per acre per annum for 33 years with an annual increase of Rs 1,000 per acre. Thousands of Uttar Pradesh farmers brought their protest to New Delhi last week, leading to huge traffic snarls in the heart of the National capital. The protesting farmers were given a revised offer of Rs 570 per sq metre for their land but those affected are demanding a rate of Rs 850 per sq metre. (Dailypioneer, 31/8/2010) Haryana to enhance floor rate for land acquisition Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said the State Government was actively considering enhancing the floor rate for land acquisition. Haryana Government’s present land acquisition policy is the best in the country for compensation, rehabilitation and annuity for 33 years for the farmers. The Chief Minister said the policy is being changed for ‘betterment in the interest of the farmers.’ “The floor rates of the State are the highest and I might revise these again,” he said. He said that he is the son of a farmer, and therefore he understood the feelings when someone is displaced from his land, but sometime the decision to acquire land has to be taken in the larger interest of development. Regarding the reported resistance to give their land for the upcoming Atomic Power Plant at Gorakhpur village, in Fatehabad district of Haryana, Hooda said the State Government was looking into the matter, whether they are the farmers or some politically motivated activist, he added. Hooda further said the State Congress Government had made Haryana number one State in per capita investment, which was at 14th place earlier in 2005. He disclosed that the State had got investment of `53,000 crore in last five years, which is far more than the total investment made in the State in last 40 years of its inception. The

investment of `one lakh crore is in the pipeline. The State had investment of only `40,000 crore in last 40 years. The State had Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to `3,500 crore up to 2005 and in last five years of Congress Government, the FDI has increased to `9277 crore, which is about three times more than previous 40 years of Foreign Direct Investment. The Chief Minister added that before his Government came to power, the Annual Plan Budget of the State Government used to be around `2,200 crore. Satisfied with the performance of Haryana Government, the Planning Commission has sanctioned a Budget of `18,260 crore for the financial year 2010-11. Industrial growth has also picked up in the State. As regards income, the per capita income of Haryana is `77,878 and is at number two in the country after Goa, he added. (dailypioneer, 1/9/2010)

Govt, TC to go over land acquisition Bill In a bid to arrive at a consensus over the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007, the Government has initiated negotiations with coalition partner Trinamool Congress, which has reservations over certain provisions of the law. The Government plans to reintroduce the Bill in the next session of the Parliament. “Any step to reintroduce the Bill in Parliament will be taken only after issues relating to some of its provisions are settled with the coalition partner,” said a top Government functionary. While Opposition parties have upped the ante against the Government for the delay, the ruling dispensation’s eagerness also stems from the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently assured Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of bringing the pending Bill in the next Session of Parliament. A senior PMO official had even met Union Rural Development Minister CP Joshi on Tuesday to discuss the provisions of the Bill. The Bill, which seeks to bring changes in the Land Acquisition Act, 1994, is being withheld owing to strong opposition by Railway Minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee. Sources said Banerjee had been opposed to a provision in the Bill that provides for private developers to acquire 70 per cent of land for a proposed industrial project directly from farmers and land owners. Banerjee — who was in the forefront of agitations in Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal — had strongly demanded penal provisions to check use of money and muscle power by private developers while acquiring land from farmers. Last year, the Union Cabinet had cleared the Bill with certain changes in its provisions but it was not clear whether changes were made in the provisions being opposed by Banerjee. “The Government is also considering out-of-the-box thinking on compensation measures like the equity model of Gujarat or the disproportionate monetary compensation to the farmers as is the case in Haryana and Punjab. The Bill, at present, envisages providing compensation to the farmers at prevailing market rates,” said a Government functionary. The Centre is even toying with the idea of acquiring land from farmers on a leasehold basis so landowners are not deprived of their land title on a generational basis. (dailypioneer, 2/9/2010)

Debt-ridden farmer commits suicide in Kendrapada A debt-ridden farmer committed suicide in Kendrapada district on Wednesday by consuming pesticide. Ratnakar Jena (40) hailed from Andara village under Pattamundai block. Ratnakar allegedly ended his life as he suffered crop failure due to the ongoing dry spell. His brother Bidyadhar Jena told the police that Ratnakar's worries related to the loan burden and possibility of crop loss. Ratnakar cultivated around three acres of land by taking lease from landlords. He had taken loan of about `23,000, including `15,000 from a local SHG and `8,000 from a Service Cooperative Society. On Wednesday, Ratnakar went to his field and found that his crop was drying up due to lack of rains. Thinking that he would not able to repay the loan, he lost his mental balance and decided to end his life, his brother said. The police have registered a case of an unnatural death, informed SI of Pattamundai police station Madan Mohan Pradhan. (dailypioneer, 2/9/2010) Farmers pray for sunshine as rains wash crops away Kanji Jiva (50), a farmer from Khambhalia in Jamnagar district, had high hopes for the pulses he sowed on his seven bigha land. But the heavy rains in the past fortnight completely washed away the crop. Now, he has kept his fingers crossed for the groundnut crop he sowed in the remaining portion on his land. “I have 25 bighas of land. I had cultivated pulses in around seven bigha, and groundnut in the remaining portion. The rains have completely washed away the pulses. I could not save anything. The groundnut crop has also shown signs of damage. The absence of sunlight and the abundant rainfall means that I may have to give up on groundnut, too.” This is the plight of majority of the farmers in the eight districts of Saurashtra-Kutch. This drought prone region is flooded and faces the prospect of a ‘green drought’. Five districts — Rajkot, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Junagadh and Kutch — have recorded over 200 per cent rainfall above normal. Other districts — Amreli, Surendranagar and Bhavnagar — have received 100 per cent rainfall. The good spell of rain this season has increased the crop cultivation by about 10 per cent. The cotton yield is expected to touch the all-time high of 1.25 crore bales. Even the groundnut acreage has increased by one to two lakh hectares. In Saurashtra-Kutch, it has almost touched 16 lakh hectares. But the situation is still better compared to Pakistan and China where heavy floods have completely destroyed the cotton crop. Bhartiya Kisan Sangh president Praful Senjalia, said: “Soil is now more than

100 per cent moist. The surface cannot take any more water. We are keeping our fingers crossed.” He said the worst-affected areas are Jamnagar, Porbandar and Junagadh districts. At some places in Jamnagar there have been reports of farms getting completely destroyed. “But incidents where entire farms have been washed away are limited to a few parts of Jamnagar and Porbandar. In the other regions, the crops will deteriorate if not suffer complete damage.” A senior official from the regional agriculture office in Rajkot said the department is yet to conduct any formal survey. According to Senjalia, both groundnut and cotton crops have reached a crucial stage of flowering. “There has been enough rainfall and the crops now need sunlight for proper growth,” he said. Building collapses in Rajkot, no injuries Rajkot: A three-storey building collapsed in the Sadar Bazar area on Wednesday. No one was hurt in the incident, said fire brigade officials, adding that the building was in a bad condition and collapsed following incessant rains over the last one week. Police said that a few people were inside the building and they were evacuated it as soon as it started collapsing around 9 am. (IE, 2/9/2010)

3rd farmer suicide in 2 weeks AUSGRAM (BURDWAN): A 32-year-old sharecropper hanged himself in Ausgram's Purbachati village on Wednesday morning, the third suicide in the drought-ridden region in less than two weeks. The news spread like wildfire through the scorched fields when, just 5km away, Trinamool Congress leaders Partha Chatterjee and Sisir Adhikary were consoling the families of the earlier two victims, Jitu Bagdi and Yunus Seikh. Gosai Patra quietly walked out of home at dawn and hanged himself from a tree in the courtyard around 6am on Wednesday. His second child was born just two days ago. Villagers and relatives had kept the news from Gosai's widow, who is still in hospital with the newborn, until Adhikary landed up at her bedside with a clutch of supporters to 'break the news to her'. Gosai had taken a loan of Rs 14,000 to cultivate 2.5 bighas. Due to the drought and the lack of irrigation, he could sow crops on barely 25 cottahs. That, too, was destroyed due to lack of rain, said his brother Goutam, adding: "He feared that he wouldn't be able to feed his family." The administration is still unwilling to acknowledge the three suicides were drought-related. On Gosai's death, district magistrate Onkar Singh Meena told TOI: "His economic condition was not good. His family members are NREGA workers and his mother is a panchayat pensioner. I've asked Ausgram police to conduct an investigation. BDO Sudhir Majhi has been sent to the house to provide help." Leader of opposition Chatterjee and Adhikary (the Contai MP and a Union minister of state) garlanded Gosai's body at Burdwan Medical College Hospital in the afternoon before the post-mortem. The Trinamool leaders, along with MLA Swapan Debnath, visited the houses of Jitu Bagdi in Karotia and Yunus Seikh in Basantapur village under Ausgram-1 block. They went to the scorched paddy fields, provided some help to the three families and promised the villagers further aid after returning to Kolkata and discussing it with party chief Mamata Banerjee. (TOI, 2/9/2010)

UPERC seeks details of farmer's suicide Taking cognizance of the suicide committed by a farmer after getting an excess power bill, the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has sought the details of the incident within three days. The issue was brought up before Chairman of UPERC Rajesh Awasthi by President of Uttar Pradesh Vidyut Upbhokta Parishad Awadesh Kumar Verma. Verma in his representation told UPERC that 48-year-old Chhote Lal, a resident of Punawali Kala village in Jhansi, committed suicide by jumping before a train after he got a power bill of Rs 1.14 lakh. Verma said that Chhote Lal was given a domestic connection of 0.5 kilowatt in 1992 agaisnt the deposit of merely Rs 99. Verma questioned why did the powerdepartment wake up after 18 years to realise the bill. He also said under the exisiting provision if some one is not given the bill within two years then no realisation can be made from the person concerned. After hearing Verma Awasthi directed the officials to seek the details of the incident within three days. (Pioneer, 10/9/2010)

Apple prices dip in local market The regular spells of rain in Uttarakhand helped apple and reports indicate the production will be record high this year. But the same excessive rain which led to frequent blockage of roads, has crippled the transportation of the crop from the State to national market leading to a drop in the apple prices in local market. Traders here said that the prices had been pushed 40 to 50 per cent lower than the last year. Mithun Kumar, a leading businessman of fruits and proprietor of Gulbchand and Rajkumar Sons in Dehradun, told The Pioneer that the prices dropped due to bumper crop and excessive rain which caused blockade of many roads. "The fruit was ready but it cannot be transported to Delhi. The growers are a little bit hesitant to take the produce to Delhi as traders there want fresh fruits," he said. The apple of all varieties including Delicious Red, Royal Red, Royal Golden, Royal Delicious was fetching `300 to `800 a box of 20 kg in wholesale market here on Thursday. Jai Bhagwan, a prominent apple grower from Uttarkashi, said that the production of apple this year is almost three to four times more than the last year. We are unable to send our product to Delhi on time as the route gets blocked every now and then. He added that the prices have fallen mainly due to excessive availability of apple in the local markets. With the improvement in the weather, the prices will increase in the market when growers will be able to send

their produce to Delhi. Besides the apple of Himachal Pradesh, apple from Nawgaon, Purola belt of Uttarkashi and Chakrata area of Dehradun district has been pouring in the local markets. The prices might dip further when the apple from Harshil will start coming after September 15. Along with rain, farmers expressed resentment against the Uttarakhand Government which has discontinued the 50 per cent subsidy to procure apple boxes as given in previous years. Khusal Singh Negi, an apple grower from Harshil, Uttarkashi said, "The crop is ready and we will start harvesting on September 20. Against almost nil production last year, we are expecting bumper crop and will need about 80,000 boxes to pack and transport apple from here. The Government till last year used to provide subsidy to purchase boxes, but this time we have to purchase on our own expenses. While the last year each box was available at `31, this year the boxes are available in Delhi market at around `70 each." He said if the roads would not be repaired before September, "we will have to sell our produce in local market which might further bring down the prices". Horticulture Department Director BP Nautiyal said that the subsidy has not been discontinued but the two schemes of subsidy have been unified. All the farmers have been given a subsidy of Rs 10 for each box up to 300 box each farmer whereas last year some farmers were given subsidy up to 50 per cent at each box. Nautiyal said that the prices are comparatively less due to bumper production this year. According to him, this year the production is about 80,000 tonnes in comparison to about 15,000 tonnes last year. He said that the blockage of roads have not major impact on prices but it come down only due to bumper production in Uttarakhand as well as Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir. District Horticulture officer of Dehradun, SK Singh too attributed the price crash to record high production. He, however, added that the frequent landslides triggered by excessive rain too have forced the growers to sell the produce in local market. The growers are preferring to sell fresh fruit at reasonable price rather than waiting for improved weather and opened roads to take the fruit in Delhi market later, he says. (Pioneer, 10/9/2010)

Sonia backs farmers in fight against land acquisiti on NEW DELHI: Making a strong pitch for the farmers in their struggle against forcible land acquisition, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday called for steps to ensure that the fertile acres were not lost jeopardising food security. The Congress chief also joined the raging environment versus development debate, emphasizing that green concern cannot be junked, a remark that was seen as a clear approval of Rahul Gandhi's agitation against the Vedanta project in Orissa. Her remarks at a function to dedicate an NTPC power plant to the nation were a clear indication that Congress would back to the hilt the current protests by farmers in Uttar Pradesh against the Mayawati government's drive to acquire land in the state's erstwhile green revolution belt. They must also be music to Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee's ears who has stubbornly maintained that arable land should never be acquired for industrial development. While agreeing that land was needed to build industry, she said, "But land acquisition must be done in a manner that does not result in the loss of large tracts of fertile and productive agricultural lands so indispensable to grow foodgrains to feed people." Replete with political overtones, her words were seen as a guideline to her party's course of action in the coming days and also as a marker for the Centre's policy framing. Sonia said that if acquiring farmland became inevitable for industrial purposes, the deposed should be provided with the means of alternative livelihood. "If the farmers are deprived of their land-based livelihood out of necessity, they must be provided with adequate compensation and alternative occupations," she said. After Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of affected farmers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh focusing on the issue of land, the PM promised to bring the land acquisition (amendment) bill in the winter session of Parliament. Sonia praised Congress-ruled Haryana as a model in addressing the problems of the dispossessed farmers and their rehabilitation. She pointed to the dichotomy of an ever increasing demand for land from industry and the need to protect the farmers' interest. "Ours is one of the fastest growing economies in the world," she said while pointing out the existence of poverty in large chunks of the country. Power should be made available to the rural marginalised at an affordable price. The persistent refrain in Sonia's speech was upholding the rights of the vulnerable and the underprivileged. Moving to the issue of environment protection, the Congress chief said, "We must protect the environment to ensure sustainable development", remarks which were seen as an endorsement of Rahul Gandhi's taking the cudgels against Vedanta in Orissa. "In whatever we do we must not forget that our lush forests and mountains, majestic rivers and all other water sources, and clean air have sustained and nurtured us for millennia," she said in a clear throwback to her party's move to support the Orissa tribals in their fight against proposed mining activity threatening their habitat. While the Union environment ministry vetoed the mining proposal by the Vedanta group in Niyamgiri, Rahul visited the area in solidarity with the farmers. (TOI, 10/9/2010)

UP Gov to get consent of farmers before land acquis ition Even as the Supreme Court has upheld Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition policy, the Mayawati Government will not acquire land as per this policy without the consent of the farmers. A decision regarding this was taken in a high level meeting of the officials held at Chief Minister's residence here on

Sunday. A senior official who attended the meeting told The Pioneer that Chief Minister Mayawati was categorical that if farmers were not willing to part with their land the government would not acquire it forcibly. "Farmers consent is mandatory for acquiring land for any development purposes. Its not only consent, the farmer would be free to bargain for the price of his land," the official said. Last week the Apex Court had upheld Uttar Pradesh Government's policy to acquire land for construction of 165-km long Yamuna Expressway. The decision had come as a shot in the arm of Mayawati Government even as farmers were on war path demanding compensation as par with Noida and Greater Noida. Farmers there had received compensation at the rate of Rs 850 per sq feet while they were being paid around Rs 550 per sq feet in Aligarh and adjoining areas. The officials said that Supreme Court decision was a moral victory for the State Government. "The decision showed that intention of the government was not wrong. At no place it (Government) ever tried to cheat the farmers," the senior official said. He said despite this positive court order the government would not force it on the farmers. "After much hue and cry was raised over the land acquisition the state government had formulated a new rehabilitation policy which is the best in country and farmers' friendly," he said. Under this policy farmers would get annuity of Rs 20,000 per acre for 33 years besides getting a yearly increment of Rs 600. The farmers could also avail a one-time-settlement of Rs 2.40 lakh per acre instead of the annuity. The new policy will also benefit the farmers as they will get Rs 1.85 lakh as one time wage of their labour of five years. Besides this, if the land is acquired by private company, the farmer would be eligible for shares worth 25 per cent of their land cost. The state cabinet has approved this new land rehabilitation policy on the first week of this month. (Pioneer, 13/9/2010)

Of, for the farmer The antiquity of the prevailing land acquisition legislation is routinely cited to emphasise how urgently this country needs to grapple with the thorny facets of obtaining acreage for a variety of purposes. The recent agitation by farmers around Aligarh over acquisition of land has shown how politically fraught the issue is. It has, however, also underscored the huge common ground available to different stakeholders in the process as well as the capacity of the political economy to respond to the challenge. Aligarh, for instance, drew the Congress party, and it has shifted the requisite political weight to demand a more constructive draft of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill. With this, the UPA government has overcome obstructionism from its ally, the Trinamool Congress. The government must also reach out to opposition parties to get them on board. As reported in this newspaper, a revised version of the bill is likely to contain provisions for payment of annuity to those dispossessed. The annuity provision has proved to be vital to the Haryana government’s success in addressing the concerns of dispossessed landowners, who have a valid question about opportunity costs in taking compensation. In fact, Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati this month showed a remarkable ability to overcome the confrontation that had been developing around Aligarh. In a highly publicised move, her government adopted key aspects of the Haryana model; so, a farmer will receive Rs 20,000 per year for each acre acquired for the next 33 years, with an assured increase of Rs 600 per year. There are other enhanced measures for compensation — for instance, farmers will get shareholding in development and housing projects if their land is used for such purposes. Too often policymaking gets stalled in a debate about either development or agriculture. This is a false choice, not just because India urgently needs progress in all sectors of the economy, including agriculture. But because, put this way, the choice withholds from farmers options that would allow them to get the true value of their land, and to do so on terms that ensures a safety net. State governments and, hopefully, the Centre too are making incremental progress on improving acquisition models. And it is good that the landowner is being placed at the centre of the debate. (IE, 13/9/2010)

Rice output to be more than last year on good monso on: Pawar India’s rice production in the 2010-11 crop year will be better than last year, despite deficient rainfall in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday. The minister said, however, that production could be lower than his initial expectation of 100 million tonnes. “This year, monsoon has been good. Because of deficient rain in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, the production of paddy may not be that good as initially I was expecting. However, whatever report we have got from states, the production of paddy will be better than last year,” he said at a seminar on the rabbi crop season here. According to a presentation by Agriculture Commissioner Gurbachchan Singh, West Bengal received 16 per cent less rainfall than normal between June 1 and September 8, while Bihar and Jharkhand got 25 per cent and 48 per cent less rainfall, respectively, than normal, he said. India’s rice production declined to 89.13 million tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year from a record 99.18 million tonnes in the previous year on account of a severe drought in 2009 that hit almost half of the country. (The Hindu, 17/9/2010)

“Centre working on a new land acquisition Bill” Stating that the Centre is working on a new Bill related to land acquisition, Rahul Gandhi, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, said here on Thursday that there is need for “fairness” in

any policy on the subject.. “Let us be fair in the acquisition [of land]…When you make a policy fair, the poor respond to it….We cannot allow transfer of land from the poor to the rich people without giving benefits to the poor,” he said. Drawing a comparison between the situation in Haryana which has “a powerful policy in which people share the benefits of development” and Uttar Pradesh where “people are not getting value for their land,” Mr. Gandhi said there was need to acquire land for roads and infrastructure but the benefits would have to be provided to all. There were some Indians who do not get as much benefit as others like “the tribals, the Dalits and the poor in general,” he said. On Naxalism, Mr. Gandhi said it was a result of a complex set of circumstances in which poverty and the absence of political connectivity were also involved. What was imperative was ensuring political connectivity so that people could be a part of the national political mainstream and efforts should be directed towards that, he said. Asked at a press conference whether the Youth Congress would take in Left wing extremists in its membership drive, he said all were welcome save criminals and fundamentalists. “There is a significant difference between me and the Maoists. If you are a Naxalite and kill 50 people, you are a criminal. I do not kill people….I believe the Indian people do not believe in violence. If we give them political connectivity, they may not be interested in violence,” Mr. Gandhi said. He also termed as “illegal and criminal” Vedanta's bauxite mining project in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills, which was recently denied environmental clearance by the Centre. “The company had taken land forcibly from the tribals. When you take land for tribals you should sign for it with the local panchayats. In this case, it was not,” Mr. Gandhi said. (The Hindu, 17/9/2010)

Over 4 lakh forest dwellers got bonus: Sarang Madhya Pradesh Minor Forest Produce Federation (MPMFPF) Chairman and MLA Vishwas Sarang informed on Sunday that `25 crore has been distributed among more than four lakh forest dwellers as tendu-patta bonus. He informed that a total of `38.73 crore is to be distributed. In a statement, Sarang said the federation has been distributing remuneration among forest dwellers, engaged in collection of tendu-patta, and added that it is also preparing a strategy to make wage-distribution continuous and more effective. While informing that he himself had finalised distribution of the bonus in Rewa, Satna and Raisen district, the BJP legislator said bonus distribution has been completed in 11 districts. He added that the process is likely to be completed in another 11 districts — where 80 per cent bonus has been distributed — by the end of September and expressed hope that the timely distribution of the bonus would help forest-dwellers prepare for Diwali celebrations. Sarang further said that the federation is committed to bringing a quality change in the lives of forest dwellers and ensuring their arrival in the mainstream of society. The MPMFPF Chairman further stated that the federation would soon unveil a strategy to help shape the future of forest-dwelling children. Districts, where bonus has been distributed completely, are Balaghat, Chhindwara, Sheopur, Jhabua, Khandwa, Khargone, Narsinghpur, Seoni, Ashok Nagar, Guna and Ratlam, he informed. Sarang further added that the districts where around 80 per cent bonus has been distributed include Bhopal, Raisen, Betul, Panna, Harda, Dhar, Indore, Badwani, Burhanpur and Shahdol. (Pioneer, 20/9/2010)

Govt acquired 6500 acres from willing owners post-S ingur: CM KOLKATA: The major land glitch at Singur did not come in the way of land acquisition in other parts of Bengal. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said his government acquired 6,500 acres post-Singur under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, in a bid to send out signals to investors that the state hadn't dumped the industrial agenda. Inaugurating a swanky building of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation ( WBIDC) on Monday, the CM said: "Even after Singur, we acquired 6,500 acres of land. Landowners gave their land willingly to the government because they want industry. We need to strike a balance between industry and agriculture." Bhattacharjee also reminded that out of a total of 12,000 landowners in Singur, almost 90% had agreed to the acquisition. "The project could not materialize because of opposition from a handful," he added. "Industry is necessary. We need both foreign and private investments to set up industry. A lot of investment has been pouring into sectors such as steel, petrochemicals and food processing. Capital is not a problem. There are a lot of investment proposals pending with the government," the CM said, reassuring investors that everything had not come to a halt after the land stir in Singur and Nandigram. The CM said this despite his reservations about the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. "The act is pretty old and needs to be replaced by a new one with specific resettlement and rehabilitation provisions for all stakeholders of the land," said Bhattacharjee. However, the state government is not going to wait for the new act. It will acquire land under the existing act. "We want the existing act replaced. But we can't just sit idle till the new act comes into force," the CM said. Singur is slowly coming back into focus, two years after the Tatas moved out of the Nano complex. Those who have not taken compensation as yet are also becoming restless. In a bid to tap the once-disgruntled farmers, senior CPM leaders Shyamal Chakrabarty and Anil Basu have started frequenting the area, stepping up the demand for industry. Sensing the mood, Hooghly district secretariat member Anil Basu has proposed a mega demonstration in front of Tata Centre in Kolkata on October 2, demanding that the Tatas set up shop in Singur. Renewal of the land lease by Tata Motors as also the ancillary units even

after shifting to Sanand in Gujarat is a ray of hope for those who want industry in Singur. Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, too, isn't sitting idle. She will go to Singur on September 25 to address a meeting by Trinamool Congress, trying to organize villagers on three demands setting up a railway coach factory on 600 acres, compensation of the unwilling bargadar and return of land to the unwilling farmers. State Congress president Manas Bhunia has pitched in as well. During his visit to Sheoraphuli in Hooghly, Bhunia said the government should sit with all stakeholders and arrange for setting up of industry on 600 acres. (TOI, 21/9/2010)

Court slams U.P.'s land acquisition policy Taking over farmers' lands without following due procedure akin to state-sponsored terrorism: judge. The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the land acquisition policy of the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh and said any acquisition that deprived farmers of their land without following the due procedure was akin to “state-sponsored terrorism.” A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly was hearing appeals filed by farmers challenging the Allahabad High Court order upholding the land acquisition notification invoking the urgency provision and dispensing with the mandatory procedure of receiving objections. The Bench issued notice to the State on the appeal by Radhay Shyam and other farmers from Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, against the December 15, 2008 court decision. Expressing anguish, Justice Singhvi told Additional Advocate-General Shail Dwivedi, appearing for the State: “Throwing out villagers from their land and taking away their livelihood and way of life is state-sponsored terrorism. Land cultivated by them for generations is taken away. Half of the compensation awarded to them is also taken away… What are we up to?” Finding fault with the High Court order, the judge said, “The High Court should have at least heard the farmers instead of throwing out their case summarily. The High Court doesn't even think it proper to hear them out, that approach is perverse and absolutely unjust.” When Mr. Dwivedi said the landowners were willing to settle, Justice Singhvi said: “What is the choice in the face of the might of the state? What else can they do or say? Is this the way to exercise powers [under Section 17(1) of the Land Acquisition Act]?” Mr. Dwivedi agreed that the land could not be taken away without giving the landowners a hearing. The petitioners contended that the State government had no material to show that the acquisition was urgent. They claimed that it was the lands on which they had built houses 40 years ago in Gautambudh Nagar and such homesteads were exempt from acquisition under the State's own policy. There was no material to invoke the urgency clause and to dispense with the procedure of raising objections. They sought quashing of the High Court judgment. (The Hindu, 22/9/2010)

SEZ likely to be part of project proposal THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is likely to become part of the proposal for the multi-crore Vizhinjam seaport project. This is in response to feedback received from the European ports and port developers with whom the State Government had held talks over the past two weeks. Industrial activity in the hinterland - a SEZ for instance - will prove crucial for the success of the Vizhinjam multi-purpose seaport project in the long run, according to feedback received from the European firms. Almost all the European firms evinced keen interest in the project in their discussions with Ports Secretary Sanjeev Kaushik, but a common refrain was that hinterland activity related to the port will be needed to justify such a big project in the long run. It is understood that the project consultants International Finance Corporation (IFC) also is pressing for an SEZ. While the companies are not emphasising that the State should acquire land for the development of such ventures, they need specific recommendation in this direction in the project proposal. The land needed can be acquired by the private partner in future. The feedback is that for such a big project to be justified, a SEZ or connected export-import industrial activity will be essential. Mumbai, for example, has an export-import cargo hub and Chennai, a manufacturing hub. Kaushik had held discussions with the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Barcelona, and shipping-related firms, including Portuguese port developer Tertir, over the past two weeks. A presentation on the project model and the feedback from the European firms will be made by the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), along with IFC, before the Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary this week. But it is not as if the State Government had ignored the necessity of a SEZ or industrial activity for the Vizhinjam project. In the long run, industrial activity was viewed as essential for the sustainability of the project. It was with this in view that the State Government had planned to notify 2,400 acres at Vizhinjam when the global tenders were floated last time. However, that had come to naught with the Government mishandling the issue of land acquisition. (Indian Express, 22/9/2010)

HP gets award for outstanding agriculture track rec ord In what comes as big boost to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Himachal Pradesh has got a national award for outstanding track record in agriculture sector. Himachal Pradesh has been adjudged as the 'Best Agriculture Performing State' in the country and will be conferred upon the prestigious 'State Agriculture Leadership Award 2010' for outstanding policy initiatives and performance in agriculture development. The award would be presented on September 29 during the Agriculture Leadership Summit at New Delhi, said a spokesman of the State Government on Wednesday. He said that the Award was

finalised by the National Awards Committee of the Agriculture Leadership Awards 2010 headed by AR Kidwai, former Governor of Haryana with MS Swaminathan, eminent agricultures scientist. He said that the committee was highly appreciative of the outstanding policy initiatives and performance of Himachal Pradesh Government in the field of agriculture and allied sectors, which were positively impacting the lives of vast majority of farmers and ushering rural prosperity. He said that the Leadership Award for agriculture development was given to Gujarat in 2009 and to Andhra Pradesh in 2008. He said that under the leadership of Prem Kumar Dhumal, Himachal Pradesh Government was allocating 12 per cent of plan resources to agriculture and allied sectors, which percentage is highest in the country. (Pioneer, 23/9/2010)

CPI demands new land acquisition act Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan on Sunday said his party wants a new land acquisition act that "will benefit the poor, the farmers and the displaced". "We want a new land acquisition act. We cannot go ahead with this old act made during the time of British rule. We want an act that will benefit the poor, the farmers and the displaced," Bardhan said. The central government promised to bring the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill in parliament's winter session after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in August, following the farmers' agitation in Uttar Pradesh to demand higher compensation for land notified for acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway. The Congress has demanded that Haryana's legislation on land acquisition and rehabilitation, which has provisions for acquisition of land at market rates and an annuity for 33 years, should be sent to all states as a model law.Related Articles Rahul: Strengthen Congress to make an impact in upcoming polls "We want the new land acquisition act to be farmer, poor and displaced friendly. It is us who have been vocal about the need of new land acquisition act for a long time," Bardhan said. The CPI is a prominent partner of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) led Left Front government in West Bengal. The issue of land acquisition has turned the tide against the state's ruling Left Front and led to a series of electoral triumphs of the Trinamool Congress. The Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, provides for mandatory social impact assessment for any acquisition resulting in large-scale displacement. (AA, 27/9/2010)

Farmers' enthusiasm needs to be revived, says M.S. Swaminathan While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday the country was close to achieving 3.5 per cent growth rate in the farm sector “but could, and should, do more,” eminent agriculture scientist and Rajya Sabha member M.S. Swaminathan pointed out that farmers' enthusiasm today “was not in good shape and needed to be revived.” Dr. Singh was speaking to a distinguished gathering after releasing a book of essays on agriculture — From Green to Evergreen Revolution - Indian Agriculture: Performance and Challenges — by Dr. Swaminathan. The Prime Minister said the country was close to achieving an agriculture growth rate of nearly 3.5 per cent this year despite the challenge of food inflation, as against a “long term average of no more than 2 per cent.” A Core Group of Central Ministers and Chief Ministers had been set up to deal with the rise in prices of essential commodities and address the issue “without hurting agriculture growth.” He lauded the role of Dr. Swaminathan in ushering in the Green Revolution and contributing to the processes of nation building. “Our agriculture owes a deep sense of gratitude to him.” Dr. Swaminathan highlighted the four pillars of agriculture growth as — technology, services, public policy and farmers' enthusiasm. “When the hybrid wheat variety was introduced, Punjab farmers took to it like fish to water and demanded a ‘triple hybrid' variety. Such was their enthusiasm. But farmers' enthusiasm today is not in very good shape and needs to be revived.” “Scientists can develop a technology, but whether it reaches farmers will depend on public policy,” he pointed out, while recalling his association with the former Ministers, C. Subramanian and Jagjivan Ram, who rose to the occasion several times to help farmers at critical times of political and social evolution. Dr. Swaminathan profusely thanked N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and “The Hindu family” for giving him permission to publish articles in his book from the annual agriculture review that the newspaper brings out. The book has been published by Academic Foundation. (The Hindu, 29/9/2010)

Contract farming: States told to give up ‘hypocrisy ' State governments should give up their “hypocrisy on contract farming,” Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay said here on Tuesday. Citing West Bengal, which opposed contract farming of potato for multi-national giant Pepsi, he called for an attitudinal change on the issue. Mr. Sahay wanted big States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to set up departments for food processing as done by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. There was no point in merely having a policy without a department, he said and added that efforts to set up facilities to process food would not succeed if this was not done. Food grain worth over Rs.50,000 crore went waste across the country last year owing to lack of storage facilities and food processing initiatives. On an average, the loss was put at 40 per cent of the total production. Mr. Sahai said that packaging remained the single biggest hurdle to further development of the food processing industry. The Ministry of Food

Processing was working with various stake holders and research institutions to find appropriate solutions. Inaugurating a conference and exhibition on ‘Agribusiness and food processing, Farm to Fork -3,' organised by FICCI Tamil Nadu State Council, Mr. Sahay said that the packaging solutions needed to be of a world-class quality and had to be affordable at the same time. P. Murari, advisor to president, FICCI, said that if the industry did not continuously upgrade technology, then non-tariff barriers would stand in the way of its progress. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, chairman, FICCI, Tamil Nadu, said that food processing industry in the country would grow by about 40 per cent by 2015. One per cent growth in the industry would translate to direct employment to 5 lakh people. A. Padmasingh Isaac, chairman, Taskforce – Farm to Fork, said that food processing industry had to be treated like infrastructure industry to enable its rapid growth. V. Prakash, Director, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, said that no other country would work on traditional Indian food stuff. Mohammed Zainuddin A. Jalil, Trade Commissioner, Malaysian Trade Commission, and Paisan Maraprygsavan, Deputy Consul General (Commerce), Thai Trade Centre, explained the facilities and incentives offered in their countries for the sector. (The Hindu, 29/9/2010)

Three farmers commit suicide in Nashik NASHIK: Three farmers in the district have committed suicide at three different places due to debts, police said today. The incident occurred yesterday, they said. Yogesh Mankar (29), a resident of Taharabad, and Sukhdev Shinde (55), a resident of Devla, had taken loan from banks and failed to repay it because of which they committed suicide, police said. Meanwhile, Shivaji Sapnar, a farmer from Ujani also committed suicide. However, the cause of his drastic step is not yet know, they said. Further investigations are on, police added. (TOI, 29/9/2010) Farmers voice dissent over land acquisition KARWAR: If the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) tries to acquire agricultural land owned by farmers then we have no option but to commit mass suicide, warned the farmers of Haliyal. Addressing a press meet at Haliyal on Tuesday, farmers Subani Gorikhan, Rocky Crasta, Liyakhat Pungi and Gulabsha Lateefanavar said that the farmers faced the threat of losing their land to the government. They alleged that about 35.5 acres of agricultural land on Karwar-Belgaum state highway was being forcibly acquired by the government without the consent of the farmers. This urgency of the government will render the farmers landless. Those who are losing their land are dependent on agriculture and have no other source of income, they alleged and said that they would approach the court against land acquisition. Meanwhile Shrikant Ghotnekar, member of state legislative council declared that he will allow KHB officials to acquire land belonging to poor farmers. He said the farmers in the taluk had already suffered a loss when their land was acquired for a sugar factory. He warned that he would join their fight to prevent further land acquisition. He blamed local JDS leaders for hatching a conspiracy to acquire the land of those farmers who are Congress supporters. He suggested that the government hand over the land belonging to the agriculture department which has not been unused in Haliyal. He said that soon, a programme will be chalked out for the agitation. (TOI, 8/10/2010)

Belgaum ryots oppose to part with land BELGAUM: Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), which is now in focus due to the recent denotification controversy, is facing tough resistance by the farmers of the district. KIADB has notified around 8,863 acres of land in the district for industrial purpose under Suvarna Karnataka Development Corridor Programme. KIADB has been facing severe protests by the farmers, because of which it is dropping the projects. The reason for resistance is that most of the land notified is irrigated. After the notification, the rates of land on the outskirts of Belgaum, particularly off NH-4, soared. Realtors who are in touch with the farmers are offering them handsome price for their land. Some farmers are coming forward to sell their land for over Rs 25 lakh per acre. The government itself gave Rs 14 lakh plus compensation for acquiring land for the construction of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha at Halaga-Bastwad, on the outskirts of the city. According to joint director of District Industries Centre (DIC) P N Gadag, the 3,371 acres land which is notified near Hattaragi and Managutti in Hukkeri taluk is considered as crucial for the development of industries, as it has easy road, train and air connectivity and is near to the city. But there is a resistance by the farmers. Sources said a fertilizers giant is interested to invest about Rs 6,000 crore at the 732-acre notified land at Beeranaholi in Hukkeri taluk to set up a plant there. But one of the local political leaders is said to be opposing the project. As many as 739 acres land notified at Peeranwadi and Kuttilwadi near city has been dropped after farmers expressed their anger by blocking NH-4 recently. This apart, 610 acres at Kamakaratti and Kondaskopp was already dropped by the KIADB as they are near to the Soudha. There is also resistance by the farmers to acquire 958 acres of land notified at Malawad in Khanapur taluk. DIC hopes to acquire 1,422 acres at Maranaholi and 71 acres at Kakati near Belgaum. The other land where there is less resistance from farmers are 669 acres at Kittur and Dombarakopp in Bailhongal taluk, 14 acres at Mangur in Chikkodi taluk, 117 acres at Goravanahalli and 30 acres at Tallur in Savadatti taluk and 125 acres at Kagwad in Athani taluk. (TOI, 8/10/2010)

High Court stops land acquistions in Gurgaon villag e The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday ordered a status quo regarding acquisition of land in Gurgaon’s Ullahawas village where there had been allegations of arbitrary release of acquired land by the Haryana government. The Division Bench comprising Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Augustine George Masih issued a notice to the Haryana government asking it to respond to a petition filed by Arvind Katewa of Gurgaon Sector 5 and two others who own 63 kanals of land in the village. The petitioners claimed they had applied for change of land use of their land much prior to the June 2009 government notification acquiring 262 acres for the development of Sectors 58 to 63 and 65 to 67. Terming the notification “illegal, arbitrary and done with malafide”, senior advocate Chetan Mittal, counsel for the petitioners, contented that the request for change of land use of the petitioners was turned down on “frivolous and flimsy” grounds. He pointed out that of the 262 acres acquired in the village, approximately 100 acres have been illegaly released to builders. The petitioner has annexed the details of the land so released along with names of the builders. Mittal said petitioners had agreed to the demolition of their house on the land, but their case was rejected by the authorities who said it was “unauthorised”. But in the same village, the petitioner alleged, various chunks of land have been released on account of houses built on them. He also claimed that the state arbitrarily released shamlat (common) land, which is on 99 years lease to gram panchayat, to one Dr Hansraj Prem Sachdev. The petitioners alleged that though they had filed three separate objections pointing out to the Land Acquisition Officer that their application for change of land use is pending, only one had been dealt with so far. They claimed that similar cases of builders have already been sent to the District Town Planner (DTP) for decision. “Even the committee which was constituted for the purpose of release of land never noticed all the objections of the petitioners,” Mittal contended. Taking serious note of the contentions, the Bench has ordered status quo in the village. This means that till further orders, no development or construction by the state or acquisition or release of land will take place. (IE, 12/10/2010)

Farmers, activists oppose Eastern India Green Revol ution project Appealing to the farmers and policy-makers to not emulate the Punjab model of Green Revolution, some farmers from Punjab said here on Sunday that the revolution had completely ruined the State. “Punjab is now called the cancer capital of India. The Green Revolution has given farmers only three things: debt, serious illnesses and polluted and scanty water sources,” said Balwinder Singh, a farmer, while talking to reporters during the Kisan Swaraj Yatra which reached Mumbai on Sunday. “The Chief Minister now says that the government will fit RO [reverse osmosis water-filtering process] in every village. But what will happen to the cattle and other animals that drink from the contaminated water source? They are all going to end up in our stomachs. Jo barbaadi ki hai, wo wapas hamare paas ayegi hi ayegi [whatever we have ruined will come back to us],” he said. Farmers and activists opposed the Eastern India Green Revolution project introduced by the Central government. “Even the Planning Commission has acknowledged the negative evidence in Punjab like high toxicity levels and reduced production. Why does the government still want to invest Rs. 400 crore in such a project?” asked Saroj Mohanty, a seed breeder, farmer and activist from Orissa. Activists raised concerns about the skewed investment in agriculture, use of pesticides, genetically modified crops. “After more than six decades of independence, 66 per cent of agricultural land in the country has no irrigation facility. The government doesn't invest in the breeding skills of the farmers. It doesn't encourage successful models of sustainable and high-yield agriculture,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, an activist of the Kheti Virasat Mission. The activists said the government policy envisioned only 6-15 per cent of the country's population to depend on agriculture. “Where will the rest of the agriculture-dependent population go? Will we be able to create opportunities for them elsewhere? “It seems like the government is purposely trying to make farming so unviable that people want to leave it or commit suicide,” said Aarti Pankharaj. The activists said the absolute number of farmers who will be displaced will be in millions. “It will be the largest displacement. It is a civilisational debate now. Do we accept the larger development paradigm where farmers are being pushed out of rural agriculture?” Ms. Kuruganti said. With reference to more than two lakh farmers' suicides in the country in the past 15 years, she said that there were also many farmers who had in fact successfully shown there was hope. “The community-managed sustainable agriculture project being run on 28 lakh acres in Andhra Pradesh is the best example in this case. This NPM [Non-Pesticidal Management of crops] is the world's largest State-supported project and is mainly run by women farmers. Their yields have improved tremendously. It is not true that organic farming brings down the yield.” She said the government should boost such role models and give them wide publicity so that more farmers move to the “win-win” situation. “Only the big corporates will face losses if this is done. We will be able to achieve food sustainability, non-toxic food supply and seed sovereignty,” she said.

The 71-day yatra plans to engage urban consumers, legislators, administrators, local self-governments and farmers. It will travel 15,000 km through 20 States before reaching Rajghat on December 11. The activists appealed to the urban consumers to act in enlightened self-interest to promote non-toxic food on their platters. The rally for “food, farmers and freedom” saw the support of famous Bollywood personalities

such as Mahesh Bhat, Rakeysh Mehra and Atul Kulkarni and freedom fighters such as Shanti Patel and G.G. Parikh. (The Hindu, 18/10/2010)

Kerala tea estate turns a new leaf with mid-day mea l scheme A state government-run tea estate in Wayanad has registered record production by introducing free noon meal for its workers. The Priyadarsini Tea Estate has incorporated a tourism component to find resources to feed its 316 tribal workers, majority of them women. The tea estate, spread over 955 acres, was conceived as a rehabilitation project for the tribals freed from bonded labour in 1984. Although the estate — where plantation is confined to 300 acres — had a smooth growth for a decade, crisis in the industry ended up in its lock-out in 2005. In 2005-06, the green tea leaf production hit an all-time low of 2 lakh kg. Three starvation deaths were reported from the estate during the period, that also saw desertion of workers. “After reviving the estate in 2007, the production was growing slowly. But the workers’ output and health was a matter of serious concern. There were many incidents of women workers collapsing while engaged in plucking tea leaf. Even at the end of a day’s chore, they could pluck below 20 kg per day. Besides, many of them were chronically ill, affecting production,” said N Prasanth, the estate’s managing director and Mananthavady sub-collector. To get at the root of the low productivity, the estate held several rounds of health camps for the workers. It was identified that the workers were suffering from anaemia. Meal at noon and refreshment before noon were the immediate measures taken to tackle anaemia. The cooking habit of the Wayanad tribes at their home also necessitated such an intervention. Tribal men who go out for farm work prefer eating at local eateries. As the schools have food for students, women leave for work without preparing anything at home. If food is not available at work place, they chew tobacco and betel leaf to suppress hunger. Besides, a report on the comprehensive development of tribal communities in Wayanad, prepared by the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation, had identified that majority of the tribal population in the district was below the age of 40. There was a remarkable reduction in population as the age increases, which is in stark contrast to the higher life expectancy for both men and women in Kerala. The study revealed high incidence of morbidity among the tribals and their heavy dependence of medicine due to poor health. The free meal at noon began in March, 2010. To increase protein intake, pulses was served along with cooked rice. Once a week, boiled egg was supplied during morning refreshment. If the green tea leaf production in 2009-10 was 10 lakh kg, after the introduction of meal in March, the production soared. Until September in this fiscal, the leaf production touched 14 lakh kg. “The production has increased from the existing plantation. We have not added a single acre of new plantation or new workers to enhance the figures. The meal at noon has worked as an incentive for the women to turn up for work,” said estate secretary Babu Rajendran. Two weeks ago, a visiting UN health expert examined the workers. “The expert suggested plain lime juice for the workers to meet the vitamin C deficiency. To improve the quality of life at the estate’s colonies and to prevent water-borne diseases, water filters would be erected at selected clusters,” said the sub-collector. As a result of the meal scheme, the medical bills of the workers have come down. “In 2008-09, the estate had spent Rs 1.35 lakh towards the treatment of workers. In 2009-10, the amount was Rs 1.13 lakh. This year until September 30, the management paid Rs 22,000 towards medical bills,” said Rajendran. Sarala, a worker at the estate, said she earns Rs 210 per day, which is much above the average wage for a woman labourer in Kerala. “After the meals at noon, I am healthy enough to pluck 40 to 50 kg a day. Before the food scheme, I could pluck only 10 kg a day,” said Sarala, who has been living here since 1987. “Food at noon has given us a new hope. It is a great motivation to work until evening and pluck more leaves. Now I pluck 60 kg a day,” said Bindu. To meet the meal expenses, the management has turned to tourism. An unused bungalow was turned into a guesthouse named Wayanad Tea County. “By renting it out, we are able to generate adequate amount for the scheme. This is the only tourism venture where income is deployed to address hunger,” said Prasanth. (IE, 19/10/2010)

Cabinet nod for amendments to Seeds Bill The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved additional amendments to the Seeds Bill. 2004. The amendments however did not include the clause on price regulation of seeds that is being demanded by members of Parliament who have moved amendments to the Bill that may be introduced in this session. They wanted a regulatory mechanism on pricing of seeds so that seeds were available to farmers at affordable price and not left to “market forces.” This proposed amendment has not been accepted by the government. On the demand of the MPs and civil society groups, the government has approved an amendment to raise the maximum penalty for “misrepresentation/ or suppression of facts, procedural violation or non-performance of the seeds “without intention” to one year and Rs. 5 lakh. There was a provision for cancellation of registration as well, official sources told The Hindu. The additional amendments also provide for nomination on the proposed National Seed Committee of the chairpersons of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority and the National Bio-diversity Authority. Another amendment okayed relates to submission of seed certification copy and periodic returns to the State government. The amended Seeds Bill, 2010, seeks to regulate the quality of seeds and planting

material, to curb the sale of spurious and poor quality seeds, increase private participation in seed production and distribution and liberalise import of seeds and planting materials. The Bill that seeks to repeal and replace the existing Seeds Act, 1966, also has a provision that no transgenic variety of seed would be registered unless cleared under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Such seeds would have to be labelled and conform to specific standards. (The Hindi, 21/10/2010)

Only 12,774 acres distributed till now Thousands of tribal men and women thronged Rayagada town and rallied up to the district Collectorate to handover a memorandum to the Governor. In the absence of the District Collector, who was accompanying the team from Planning Commission to Kashipur and Kalyan Singhpur blocks, the ADM received the memorandum and assured the tribals to look into the matter. Led by the State Convener of Odisha Adibasi Manch, Bidulata Huika, Kumudinin Bacheli and PN Kuldip of Centre for Rural Development Society and PK Lima of NISHA, tribals assembled in front of the Collectorate demanding speedy disposal of their claims and distribution of forest land titles. They also demanded to implement various Government schemes to develop their entitled land through a process of convergence, regularisation of BPL cards which were wrongly upgraded to APL, availability of jobs under MGNREGA through Job Cards which were seen nil till date. They have threatened to come on to the streets again if their demands were not met within fifteen days. Let's come to the real implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Rayagada district. According to the statistics provided by the Government, no community land was either claimed or settled. There are 2,469 villages where the 1st round of Gram Sabha (Palli Sabhas) has been conducted and the second round of gram sabha has been conducted in 1820 villages. Gram Sabhas are the instruments of awareness generation and decision making. Then the question arises - were the members of the gram sabha sensitised enough to claim the community forest land? Only 12,774 acres of land had been distributed till September 30 which comes to around five acres per village whereas there is a provision of ten acres per claimant under this Act. As per the letter No 38708/PR dated 5-12-2009 of Principal Secretary PR and Secretary Forest, convergence of schemes like MGNREGS, National Horticultural Mission, Mo Pokhari, Mo Bagicha, Mo Kudia, IAY and National Bamboo Mission has to be applied to the land already allotted to the claimants. Up to Rs 50,000 can be assisted to the persons with forest land patta based on the feasibility; but in the entire district only 194 persons have been assisted under MGNREGS which comes to 0.12 person per village. In other schemes, the convergence achievement is nil. According to former Sarpanch from Padmapur block Sunamani Pratinga, "Thousands of applications at palli sabha level and forest rights committee level were eaten by ants. They were never received by Welfare Extension Officer at block office and hence not forwarded to Sub Collector Office (Sub-Divisional Level Committee) and then to Collector's Office (Divisional Level Committee)," Pratinga's claim gets justified if one analyses the claim statistics given by the district administration which says that only 30,053 claims have been filed whereas approximately 150,000 families are potential claimants. This only shows the level of awareness of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers about the Act. The Government functionaries' role in creating awareness does not exist and so also that of the voluntary organisations in the district. If the state of affairs continues like this, the anguish of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers may take a different turn and the ultras will capitalise on this situation. (Pioneer, 25/10/2010)

Modern farming changes lives of MP farmers Persistent efforts of the State Horticulture Department are continuing to reshape the lives of marginal and medium-level farmers in Madhya Pradesh. The department is helping them in realising the impact of Government schemes launched for their welfare and motivating them to adopt modern and profitable farming techniques. Thanks to the efforts of the department, the lives of many like Tularam Patel of village Mohgaon Kalan in Seoni district have undergone a drastic change as these farmers are now not just able to meet the costs of farming, but also able to reap handsome profits on each yield. Not long ago, Tularam barely managed to make ends meet by cultivating his 1.20 hectare farm, which was the only source of income for his family. Recently, Tularam started growing hybrid tomatoes, on the advice of department officials. The move has helped him earn up to `15,000 per crop after meeting all expenses. Tularam, who was one fed up with traditional system of farming and low-income crops, now says he achieved the success by altering his approach as well as the crop he sowed. The farmer also had a well in his field, but could not use it for irrigation purposes until he brought his plight to the knowledge of the Regional Horticulture Officer in 2008. The officer informed Tularam about the Multi-story Orchard Scheme of the National Agriculture Development Project. The scheme provides subsidies for fencing, installation of diesel pumps and drip irrigation for growing hybrid flowers, vegetables and seeds on one-acre land. Armed with the knowledge, Tularam embarked on a mission that saw him utilise the subsidies earned from the department to erect fencing at a one acre plot on his farm and upgrade facilities by adding to it an electric motor, spray pump and other material. The utilities in place, Tularam soon started experimenting with new methods of farming and later took to growing hybrid tomatoes on 0.2 hectare land

on the advice of the Horticulture Superintendent. After ripening of the crop, he sold these tomatoes for `20,000 that helped him make a `15,000 profit after deducting the `5,000 expenses he had incurred for the crop. Overwhelmed by the success, Tularam says he plans to earn greater profits by growing hybrid tomatoes and brinjals on his entire 1.20 hectare land using the modern farming techniques. (Pioneer, 26/10/2010)

Land acquisition: Zagade asks depts to check status of land for compensation Under criticism from corporators for delay in compensating people for land acquired for development projects of the civic body, Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade said he has directed all department heads to check the status of land reserved for various projects. He also asked them to start the acquisition process along with compensating the affected. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issues transfer of development rights (TDR) to the owner of the land acquired for development projects. “All the head of department heads have been asked to keep a track of the status of land that has been reserved for projects of their respecitive department. They have to confirm whether the land has been acquired or not and if acquired then has the compensation been given or not,” he said at the civic general body meeting today. “This will speed up the process of compensation,” Zagade said, responding to the complaints by corporators that people were yet to get compensation even after development work was completed by the civic body. Many people had to surrender their land for projects under JNNURM, but they have been making rounds of the civic office to get compensation, said Congress corporator Virendra Kirad. Despite objections being raised by some corporators on a proposal to compensate for the acquisition of land that is out of civic jurisdiction, the general body meeting after clarification by the civic chief gave a go ahead to it. The civic administration had asked general body meeting to enable administration to compensate for the land outside civic jurisdiction on which road was developed from Ramwadi octroi post to PMC jurisdiction in Lohegaon. Independent corporator Ujjwal Keskar opposed the proposal, saying the civic body should not pay for land outside its jurisdiction as the funds are of the people in the PMC area. However, the administration clarified that the road was marked in the development plan and part of it going from outside its jurisdiction was noticed later on. “The part of road connects the road in PMC jurisdiction,” a civic officer said, adding that the road would be incomplete if work was not done on the land outside civic jurisdiction. (IE, 26/10/2010)

Cotton farmers protest for MSP, 3 attempt suicide KARIMNAGAR: Three cotton farmers attempted suicide, while hundreds of others gave vent to their ire by stoning two RTC buses and blocking traffic movement on Karimnagar-Peddapally highway on Monday. They were protesting against the government's failure to offer minimum support price (MSP) for their crop. The three ryots consumed pesticide in front of the market yard office, but alert cops rushed them to the hospital. They are out of danger. They said they were forced to resort to the extreme step as they were not getting a good price in the market due to trader-official nexus. The irate farmers damaged the windowpanes of the RTC buses and squatted on the highway paralysing traffic for over three hours. They raised slogans against the government Tension prevailed as the farmers refused to vacate the place till their demand for a higher MSP was met by the government. They contended that the traders were not buying their stocks despite a good crop this year. "Even if they are buying, the rate offered is only Rs 3,000 a quintal. We will be forced to commit mass suicides if the government does not step in," a farmer warned. Police finally stepped in and pacified the farmers to make way for free flow of traffic. Traffic movement was also hit on Karimnagar-Ramagundam highway due to the ryots' stir. The ryots also staged a dharna in front the market yard, demanding an MSP of Rs 5,000 per quintal (TOI, 26/10/2010)

No micro-finance regulators as Govt watching situat ion Despite suicides by farmers and poor people due to coercive tactics adopted by Micro Financing Institutions, the Government on Tuesday ruled out appointing a Regulator for them. Addressing Economic Editors Conference here, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, “I am not thinking of any regulator. NABARD, Government and RBI are watching the situation.’’ Mukherjee said that he has directed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah to include some provisions in the proposed legislation, which would replace the State Government ordinance regulating MFIs, to take care of the harsh conditions. The Government expected MFI to themselves evolve a code of conduct and ensure that they did not charge very high rate of interest, desist from adopting coercive tactics for loan recovery and adopt prudent mechanism to ensure “productive borrowing.” MFIs should give money in such a manner that it was used for productive purpose and not for household consumption. This would mean that the person taking loan would develop repayment capacity and money of MFIs, whose main purpose was to reach the people who were not covered by the regular banking services, remained safe, he said. Asked whether the Centre would give another package to farmers of Vidarbha region who were committing suicides, despite loan waiver package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said the situation is under review and as and when the need will be felt the Government would take necessary steps. Regarding Punjab Government’s problem of indebtedness, the Centre has appointed a small group headed by Expenditure

Secretary in Finance Ministry to look into the matter. It is considering to what extent the Centre could provide relief to Punjab which faced a lot during terrorism as no economic activity was possible at that time and the State had to bear the huge burden of providing security. To tackle the problem of unemployment among educated youth of strife-torn Kashmir valley, the centre is working on a plan to provide those jobs. Soon a scheme would be floated under which these unemployed youth would get jobs. Also, youth from Kashmir are being encouraged to take jobs in private sector and in other parts of the country, the Finance Minister maintained. (Pioneer, 27/10/2010) Experts pushes for demand-driven research MANGALORE: As challenges to agriculture will continue to increase, to address the growing needs of the population the research focus has been reoriented to utilize the emerging knowledge base, said Dr S Ayyappan, Director General, Indian Council for Agriculture Research ( ICAR) at Kasargod on Monday. He was delivering the key note address at week-long `International Conference on Coconut Biodiversity for Prosperity at Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasargod. He said through the analysis of programmes, focus should be reoriented for demand-driven research as well as futuristic research and also to address the adoption and mitigation to climate change. The DG said Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture ( PGRFA) are essential resources to meet future food and nutritional security. He was happy to note that CPCRI has the largest collection of diversity of coconut including global collections, which have been characterized using conventional and molecular tools. "However, the global exchange and utilization of genetic resources require better attention, he said cautioning that genetic resource management and its utilization need special attention to develop new cultivars resistant to various biotic and abiotic factors. He noted that coconut is currently produced in 93 countries occupying 12 million hectares of which 75 per cent area and production is from three countries, Philippines, Indonesia and India. Indian coconuts are largely used for domestic proposes while in Philippines and Indonesia, coconut is largely exported. However, challenges and opportunities have similarity in many of the countries, he said. (TOI, 27/10/2010)

1,03,258 forest dwellers get forestland rights cert ificates As many as 1,03,258 claimants have received forestland rights certificates under Forest Rights Act while process is underway to give certificates for forestland rights to 22,298 more forest dwellers. Madhya Pradesh is counted among the States of the country where Forest Rights Act has been implemented in the best way. This year, Madhya Pradesh has been awarded for best work for Forest Rights Act implementation at a function at New Delhi in April. Under the Forest Rights Act, 8,267 community claims were also received which related to use of places of public facilities life thoroughfares, schools, drinking water and other facilities. Committees have been constituted at village, division and district levels for disposal of claims received under Forest Rights Act. Apart from public representatives, women have also been made members of these committees. At the State-level, a committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the chief secretary for constant monitoring of the entire process. In all, 4.073 lakh claims were received under Forest Rights Act in the State out of which 99 per cent claims have been disposed of. Under the Act, forestland rights are to be given to traditional forest dwellers apart from tribals. The tribals, who were in possession of forestlands as on December 13, 2005 were to be given land rights while the condition for the traditional forest dwellers is that their three generation must have been in possession of the land in question before December 13, 2005. Every generation is of 25 years’ duration. Due to enormity of work, new and latest techniques were adopted for conducting survey and verification works in the State. The techniques include global positioning system (GPS)-based personal digital assistance (PDA), which as light as a mobile phone and weighs only 150 grammes. Due to this system, the possibilities of errors in surveys have come down to almost nil. (Pioneer, 28/10/2010)

Hounded by MFI agents, two end lives WARANGAL/GUNTUR: Apparently tormented by MFI agents over non-payment of loan instalments, two persons ended their lives in Warangal and Guntur districts on Thursday while a woman attempted suicide. A farmer, Munja Rajamouli, 42, consumed pesticide in his agriculture field in Madipally village in Hasanparthy mandal of Warangal district anguished over alleged verbal abuses heaped by the agents on his wife, Rajamani, who had taken Rs 20,000 from an MFI six months ago. Rajamani was a former MPTC member of Madipally. Sources said the agents came to their house twice in the recent past and demanded payment of loan instalments. When Rajamani sought some more time, they allegedly abused her and made some nasty remarks. "Depressed over the MFI agents' comments, Rajamouli went to his fields and consumed the pesticide to end his life," a relative said. The Hasanparthy police have registered a case. An agriculture labourer, Vaddeswarapu Jakraiah, 32, allegedly committed suicide in Chiluvuru in Duggirala mandal of Guntur district on Thursday morning. He owed Rs 70,000 to three MFIs. His wife Sivamma had taken the loans from the MFIs a couple of months ago. Following a complaint from his wife, cops visited her house and recorded the statements of her family members. No case has been registered yet. Sources said his failing health combined with harassment from MFI agents drove Jakraiah to end his

life. The deceased had been suffering from jaundice for some time. In another incident in Parkala mandal of Warangal, former sarpanch Balne Lalitha, 35, attempted suicide at her home in Dharmaram village peeved over MFI co-ordinators' taunts. She took Rs 20,000 loan from a private MFI recently. When the agents came to her house on Thursday morning and started humiliating her, Lalitha ran into the house, bolted the door from inside and consumed pesticide. Villagers broke the door open and immediately shifted her to a government hospital. She is said to be out of danger. (29/10/2010)

Govt finds Forest Rights Act too hot to handle NEW DELHI: The Posco case has turned the UPA's flagship scheme from its first term -- the Forest Rights Act (FRA) -- into a minefield that the government has stumbled upon. With the provisions of the Act, requiring consent from the gram sabha, or the village council concerned and settling of all traditional rights before development projects usurp forest lands, the Posco case, where the Orissa government has been unable to acquire these certificates, has become a precedent setting one. The FRA, coupled with a August 2009 order ensuring compliance of the Act by the Union environment and forest ministry, disallows the ministry from giving forest clearance to a project before the rights of forest-dwellers have been settled and the gram sabha has given a go-ahead to the acquisition of forestland. These rules make the FRA stronger than even the proposed R&R bill where the UPA has been keen to keep a window open to buy out a small percentage of trenchant Opposition holding out against land acquisition by private parties. In the Posco case, two separate committees of the Centre have found that the Orissa government has been worse than lax at fulfilling the requirements of the FRA and the ministry is yet to get the village council resolutions approving the acquisition of forests that which the villagers have laid claim to as traditional forest users. Orissa has claimed otherwise, but has not been able to furnish the village resolutions to the Centre so far. With the recent brand positioning of Rahul Gandhi as the voice of tribals and forest-dwellers, riding on the decision in the Vedanta case to deny mining under the FRA, the UPA is bound to find it difficult to even be seen undermining the law. To complicate matters, the ministry is saddled with a forest bureaucracy that is keen to knock the teeth out of the legislation that they perceive as a threat. Its Forest Adivsory Committee (FAC), stacked with several forest officials, assessing the Posco report, initially decided to overlook the parent ministry's August 2009 circular requiring the gram sabha resolutions and other documentary proof that the FRA process has been completed. It decided to pass the buck to the tribal affairs ministry. But with pressure building to handle the case in-house, the FAC is expected to meet again next week to discuss the contentious issue. While the Posco report will bring scrutiny of the project under other green laws as well, Jairam Ramesh will soon need to take a call on the FAC recommendations which, to the minister's relief, are not binding on him. (TOI, 31/10/2010)

Ban custodian of all defence lands, panel urges MoD NEW DELHI: In a damning report submitted to the ministry of defence (MoD), the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) has asked the defence ministry to ban the Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE) — custodian of all defence lands in the country — for widespread irregularitiesin the department and its failure to manage huge land bank in possession of the Services. The report recommends disbanding of the defence estates in its current shape and transfer of its functions, activities and expert manpower to land directorates of the Services headquarters, DRDO and MoD. "In the matter of accountability, transparency, responsiveness and efficacy, the department has not been able to perform effectively. The DGDE is not actually required in the current context and its elimination from the land acquisition process would speed up land acquistion in a conflict-free manner," it said. Justifying its scathing indictment, the report further says, "The organisation, working in its current style, seems to contribute only to delays and has become a bottleneck instead of a facilitators, causing delays at all stages and extra financial burden." The report has come at a time when irregularities in giving away prime defence lands to private builders had come to light and in some cases where they posed threat to the national security. The report has cited how delayed acquisition is affecting the military operation, where "expeditious action is of key importance for organising effective defensive and offensive operations". The review of defence land and the DGDE was carried out at the request of MoD, which wanted an internal audit to assess the reasons behind huge litigations and irregularities in managing defence land. The report was submitted to MoD in May 2010. The audit report has blamed the DGDE as one of the primary reasons behind thousands of litigations pending in several courts. "The defence land acquisition suffers from huge litigations. At present, there are 13,000 court cases pending," the report states while giving examples of how other government departments such as the Railways and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) operate efficiently without having a separate organisation dedicated for this purpose. At present, the DGDE does land acquisition through state governments. The overlap of two agencies — DGDE and state government — contributes to systemic delays which can be avoided if only one agency is utilised for acquisition, the reports states. While in NHAI and Railways land acquisition is done within 15 months, a similar exercise takes five to 15 years when it comes to DGDE. "Based on this it has been recommended to eliminate the defence estates department from the acquisition process to bring down delays and additional cost, conflicts and court cases," the report said. It blamed the delay on both

systemic deficiencies and individual failures. Commenting on the utility of having defence estates department, the report says the performance of the organisation on four counts of anticipated outcome — land acquisition facilitators, land accounts, land auditors and financial managers to optimise utilisation of existing defence land — has been broadly found to be negligible or negative. (TOI, 03/11/2010)

Screening of Khosla Ka... for authorities A local court in Jaipur directed urban development authorities to organise a special show of Anupam Kher’s Khosla Ka Ghosla increase sensitivity among the authorities towards the issue of land-grab. The court passed this order while hearing a suit filed by Shillong-based Manjushi Jhunjhunwala against the authorities and property dealers saying her land was usurped by the property dealers while the officials sided with the land mafia. The issue came before the seventh additional district judge (fast track) Dinesh Kumar, who suggested special show of the film for the urban development and police officials. The petitioner Ms Jhunjhunwala had purchased a piece of land in Jaipur in 1982 for residential purpose. However, she later learnt that her land was sold by an unknown person to a third party. The housing society had sold the land on the name of Manjushi wife of Arun Kumar but Ms Jhunjhunwala found that the Jaipur Development Authority maintained the record in the name of Manju wife of Arun Kumar. The petitioner also discovered that the buyer is a non-existent person Manju. The court took note of the issue and provided the relief to Jhunjhunwala. The petitioner bought the land measuring 350-square-yard but the housing society also reduced the size of the plot allocated. The court observed that such type of grievances cause frustration and disappointment among the victims and resulted in problems like Naxalism. (AA, 03/11/2010)

Medha: whither rule of law in Maharashtra land deal s? There was a time when Kismati Jaiswal's house at Mandala, Mankhurd, would be demolished thrice a week. Each time, she would have nowhere to go with her children. Hundreds like Ms. Jaiswal, from Mumbai's slum pockets, gathered on Azad Maidan on Wednesday for a protest led by social activist Medha Patkar against the Adarsh Housing Society and other land scams in the city. “No one does anything to the powerful. For them, everything is legal. Only we are compelled to flee. Our houses are demolished every four months. We have come here because we want our houses to be saved under all circumstances. First you clean up corruption, demolish the building and then turn to the poor,” Irfan Khan, an envelope maker from Adarsh Nagar (another location with the same name) at Bainganwadi, Govandi, told The Hindu. “Today's [Wednesday] dharna is by the people of Mumbai's bastis. Here, every inch and acre of land, be it mill land or belonging to the fisher communities, has been grabbed and given to builders for building malls. The leaders don't seem to have any job except grabbing land. The main issue in the Adarsh scam is land,” said Ms. Patkar, leader of the National Alliance of People's Movements. When it came to land, the rule of law was absent in the State. “Everywhere irregularities are being regularised,” she said. ‘Hamare ghar anadhikrut batakar todte hain. Phir Adarsh ko kyun chodate hain?' asked a banner. (You demolish our houses saying they are unauthorised structures, then why do you spare Adarsh?) Many slumdwellers are fighting daily battles for a piece of cover over their heads. All that Revathy Veramani Kaundal from the Anna Nagar slum at Andheri needs is a signature from the society to enable her to get a government house. But the signature remains elusive for as many as 31 huts in her area, owing to a dispute with the society. Little did Ms. Kaundal realise that when the builder called the residents to the police station to “resolve” the issue, the police would slap cases on them. “Those who did not go to the police station that day were spared. Those who went had cheating cases registered against them and were jailed for two days. And now, every Friday we have to go to the police station and sign,” she said. The residents of Golibar Road are locked in another struggle against fraudulent deals in slum rehabilitation projects. “If officials act as dalals [brokers], where do we go,” asked Pradip Jadhav. Ms. Jaiswal, who has endured demolitions during Mumbai's floods, feels that authorities should not allow structures to come up in the first place as it is difficult for one to be displaced from a place one has lived in for years. “We are in such difficulty and they say khaali karo [vacate the place]. The poor have no destination,” she rued. (The Hindu, 04/11/2010)

U.S. to advance cooperation with India in agricultu re U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday expressed interest in furthering cooperation with India in the field of agriculture, saying the country can be a model for the world that strives for food security. The collaboration between the two countries also contributed to India’s first green revolution in the 60s, he said, adding: “I will be discussing with Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh, how we can advance the cooperation in the 21st century, not only to benefit India, but to benefit the U.S. and the world.” He shared his experiences about Indian agriculture with students at the St.Xavier's College here, after visiting two expos and interacting with villagers. “I was with two expos that underscore the partnership we can make

together. The first is focused on agriculture and food security, that they will see innovation in technology and research that has transformed the Indian farming,” he said. Mr. Obama narrated how a farmer told him about receiving crop information on cellphone, while another showed him tools of appropriate size and weight helping women to improve productivity and said many of these innovations were a result of public and private collaboration between the U.S. and India. In March 2010, India and the U.S. had signed an MoU to cooperate in agriculture and food security. (The Hindu, 07/11/2010)

Another farmer commits suicide in Sambalpur A small farmer of Mura village under Nua Tihura Gram Panchayat of Maneswar block Janardan Barik (42) committed suicide on Saturday night by hanging from a tree in a nearby forest. Sources said, the villagers saw the body hanging from the tree and informed the police and local administration. The reason behind the suicide is said to be crop failure. As per information, the farmer Janardan Barik who committed suicide on Saturday night has 3.12 acres of parental property and he cultivates two acres out of it. Rest 1.12 acre is cultivated by his brother. Besides, Janardan also cultivated another one acre taking on rent. This area comes under Maneswar block of the district and has been affected by drought as there was no sufficient rainfall this season. The villagers also met the Collector twice earlier to narrate their problems. Janardan is survived by wife, one daughter, two sons, one brother and parents. His elder daughter is studying in +3 first year in a local college and two sons are in +2 first year and 9th class respectively. The BDO of Maneswar block B Sai who conducted the preliminary enquiry said that the exact reason behind the suicide was yet to be ascertained. “It can be told only after the joint enquiry only,” the BDO said. However, he admitted that the family was a poor one and he took Rs 10, 000 from the cooperative bank as agriculture loan. He has also got some private loan for the same purpose, he added. But the family comes under BPL category and gets Rs. 2-a-kg rice every month, the BDO informed. “We have given Rs. 5, 000 from the Red Cross fund immediately to meet the funeral expenses,” he informed. Looking at the growing numbers of suicide by the farmers, the people here have demanded before the State Government to come to the rescue of the farmers suffering from crop loss particularly in the drought-hit areas. Coincidentally, the Krishak Sangathan is holding a two-day meeting here to discuss the problems of the farmers when the unfortunate incident took place. (Pioneer, 08/11/2010)

National Agricultural Insurance Scheme for Himachal farmers during rabi season The farmers of Himachal Pradesh engaged in the cultivation of wheat and barely have all the reasons to smile as the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme envisages providing succor to the farming community will be implemented during Rabi season, 2010-11. Crops of wheat and barley will be covered under the scheme during Rabi season 2010-11. The Scheme will be implemented in the units of Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmour, Solan and Una for cultivation of wheat crop during rabi season, 2010-11 in the state. Similarly units of Chamba, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmour and Solan have been selected for crop of barley. The Agriculture Insurance Company of India will be the implementing agency of this scheme and risks like natural fire and lightning, storm, hailstorm, cyclone, typhoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado, drought, dry spells and pests would be covered under the scheme. And losses arising out of war and nuclear risks, malicious damage and other preventable risks shall be excluded from the ambit of the scheme. The scheme is applicable to all the farmers growing wheat and barley crops in the mentioned units. The scheme is on compulsory basis to loanee farmers availing seasonal agricultural operation loans from the financial institutions, that is, commercial banks, co-operative banks, regional rural banks and primary agricultural co-operative for the insured crops within the stipulated period. (Pioneer, 15/11/2010)

Farmers challenge land acquisition AHMEDABAD: A group of farmers from south Gujarat has challenged the land acquisition process undertaken by the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd before the Gujarat high court. The farmers also questioned the provision of Electricity Act, which, according to them, bypasses the process to be undertaken as per the Land Acquisition Act. Power Grid Corporation of India has recently come up with its initial public offer (IPO). The petitioners have approached the high court after the company began acquiring land between south Gujarat and Navi Mumbai for its 440 KV line. The farmers are not happy with the quantum of compensation being disbursed among those who are affected, as they are being paid only a one-time loss of crops. There are more than 1,000 farmers who are affected by the company's project. Their petitions contend that most of the land owners have orchards, but they are given compensation based on their land under farming. Hence the company should enhance the quantum of compensation towards the damage, said their advocate Dipen Dave. Besides this, the petitioners have also challenged certain provisions of the Electricity Act that are in conflict with the provisions of the Land

Acquisition Act. "In India, the Land Acquisition Act prevails for the purpose of acquiring land by the government. But the electricity laws bypass the process which is mandatory to be undertaken as per the laws for land acquisition," he said. A division bench headed by chief justice SJ Mukhopadhaya will hear the case on November 24. (TOI, 18/11/2010)

Suicides by farmers on the rise in Balangir Even as the Government is making tall claims of taking measures for welfare of farmers, reports of farmers allegedly committing suicide due to crop failure are continuing to pour in. Moreover, even as banks and cooperatives claim to be providing loans to needy farmers at their doorsteps, a large number of microfinance institutions have entered the rural areas of Balangir district to extend loans at high interest rates from poor people, making their lives further miserable. In the latest instance, Jayaram Sahanai and Dayamanti Sahani of Mahurandi village of Kharapkhol block committed suicide on November 12 by pouring kerosene on their bodies as their crop failed and they could not repay a loan of Rs 12,000 brought from two microfinance companies each, alleged State BJP Krushak Morcha president Maheshwar Sahu after visiting the deceased farmers’ house in the village along with Patnagarh BJP MLA KV Singh Deo and Rajkishore Mendli. Sahu said Jayaram Sahani had total seven acres of land, out of which five acres was mortgaged with a local moneylender. The crops of paddy and cotton he had cultivated in the remaining two acres of land failed in the last two successive years. His wife had brought total loans of Rs 24,000 from two microfinance companies. As the crops failed, they could not repay the loans and this led to a conflict between the wife and husband and both committed suicide. This was the 104th farmer suicide case in the State, Sahu said further. “We demand compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased Sahanis’ family and education facility for their three children,” Sahu said, adding that it is unfortunate that not a single official from the district administration has visited the Sahanis’ house till today. (Pioneer, 19/11/2010)

‘Seed Bill for favour of MNCs, not for farmers’ The Left parties on Monday criticised the amendments suggested by the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the proposed Seed Bill saying such amendments were not in the interest of the farmers, but in the interest of multinational companies. “The amendments proposed by Pawar to the Seed Bill seriously compromise the right of the peasantry and will lead to unrestricted commercialisation of varieties in the public domain including farmers’ varieties. It promotes exclusive, perpetual and monopolistic rights of seed companies to arbitrarily fix prices and allows them unrestricted right to collect exorbitant royalties. The Govt is seeking to push through a legislation that will jeopardise the lives of millions of peasants and put agriculture entirely at the mercy of MNC agri-businesses,” CPI(M)-led Kisan Sabha leaders S Ramachandran Pillai and K Varadha Rajan said in a statement. Terming the Government’s move to “please the MNCs”, CPI national secretary D Raja said that the Left parties would oppose such “favourable” amendments by the Government. “The Government is trying to push the Seed Bill for the favour of multinational companies and the proposed amendments are against the interest of the farmers’ community. We will definitely oppose,” he said. Doubting the Agriculture Ministry’s “hidden agenda”, the Left party leaders demanded that said that there should have provisions to include all varieties of seeds and traditional varieties need to be defined appropriately. The farmers must have the inalienable right for producing, breeding, selecting, saving, using, exchanging, distributing and selling seeds, said Left leaders. Demanding for a body to fix prices and regulate royalty, the Kisan Sabha leaders said that compulsory licencing must be ensured to protect the interest of farmers and representation of all States in the central seed committee. “We demand that the provision of re-registration be scrapped and the registration be for 5 years only,” said the Kisan Sabha leaders. “Provision of registration remains for 10 years for annual and biennial crops and 12 years for long duration perennials. The prolonged registration and re-registration provision will give an open licence to seed monopolies for exploiting farmers for an unlimited period. (Pioneer, 23/11/2010)

‘Distressed’ farmer kills self in Jajpur Haladhar Jena (56), son of Baidhar Jena of Sainkul village under Udrang gram panchayat in Jajpur district, committed suicide on Wednesday. The police recovered his body which was hanging from a tree near his village. Family sources said Haladhar committed suicide allegedly due to mental pressure for non-payment of agricultural loans taken from the Cuttack Central Cooperative Bank’s Binjharpur branch and a hand loan from a village moneylender. He had taken a sum of Rs 7,000 from the bank and an amount of Rs 16,000 from the village moneylender. This year, due to drought resulting in crop failure in Binjharpur block the farmers have incurred heavy losses. Another farmer, Mohan Sethi of Dubakana village in the Binjharpur area, had also committed suicide on November 15 owing to his crop failure and his inability to repay the agricultural loan he had taken. So, Haladhar’s death is the second incident of

farmer suicide in Jajpur district even as the State Government is presently engaged in a drive to make help of co-operative bodies available at the door step of the people. (Pioneer, 26/11/2010)

State Govt plans to assist farming of industrial he mp The State Government had planned to facilitate the farming of industrial hemp on about 30,000 hectares of barren land in Uttarakhand which has failed to take off this year. The execution of the plan has been deferred till next year because the executing agency has been unable to procure seeds of the cannabis with minimal content of the psychoactive substance Tetra Hydro Cannabinol (THC). If scientists of the GB Pant Agriculture and Technology University succeed in developing a seed of hemp with zero narcotic content, the plan to grow industrial hemp on barren lands could be started around May, next year. However, environmentalists aver that there is no dearth of fibre-rich low narcotic content hemp grown and used traditionally in the State and even if the hemp cultivated contains THC, the substance can be sold for use in manufacture of important medicines including those prescribed to patients suffering from terminal ailments like AIDS, cancer and from chronic pain. The State Government has not planned this scheme considering the full potential of hemp as an industrial crop but solely drafted a plan which is not being followed up effectively. Official sources inform that according to a plan envisioned by the State Agriculture and Horticulture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the thousands of hectares of barren land in the State were to be used for cultivation of industrial hemp, the fiber and wood pulp from which would be utilised for manufacturing of fabric and paper in the initial stages. A processing unit was also slated to be established in the State to facilitate the processing of raw hemp fiber and pulp. The Uttarakhand Bamboo and Fiber Development Board (UBFDB) were to execute the plan for cultivation of industrial hemp on barren land with the assistance of the State Horticulture Department. According to official data, barren land area covers about 30,000 hectares in the 13 districts of Uttarakhand with the maximum area of barren land measuring about 18,000 hectare located in Pauri district. The State Khadi and Gram Udyog Board are expected to pay a minimum support price of `35 per kg for the raw fiber obtained from industrial hemp cultivated on barren land. Barren land at two sites totaling to about 40 hectare area was also marked in Khirsu block of Tehri district and Satpuli block of Pauri district for start of the cultivation of industrial hemp which was slated to begin in May 2010. However, according to UBFDB chief executive officer STS Lepcha, the plan could not be executed this year because the seeds available were of plants with narcotic content. The scientists of GB Pant Agriculture and Technology University are working on developing seeds of a variety of industrial hemp with zero narcotic content which will be sowed in the barren lands marked for cultivation by the Government next year if things go as expected. However, environmentalists state that the delay in the execution of this plan has been caused by the inadequacy of efforts undertaken by the Government. Traditionally the cannabis plant has been used in Uttarakhand for its fibre, which in turn was used for making clothes, shoes, ropes and apparel whereas in addition to the use of its narcotic properties the plant was and is still valued for the seeds which are used as a traditional snack (non-narcotic) and for making a high-protein cannabis seed oil. (Pioneer, 30/11/2010) Jaitapur nuclear power plant no threat to environme nt: Kakodkar Pune Former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar on Tuesday said the construction of the nuclear power plant at Jaitapur would not be a threat to agriculture or marine ecology in the Konkan region. He was talking to reporters while on a visit to the city. His statement came against the backdrop of the environment ministry's nod to the Jaitapur project, albeit with some conditions. Some environmentalists have been opposing the project, claiming it would impact the environment. “ The site has been selected after carrying out thermal ecological studies and there is no threat whatsoever to the agriculture or mango production as the nuclear power plant will hardly pollute the area,” Kakodkar said. He said the radioactive losses would also be lesser. “Since initially there will be only a power station, no waste will be released outside. The waste management will be done only at the site. Whenever the reprocessing plant comes up, there is technology to tackle the waste problem,” he said. Kakodkar also said the Jaitapur site was the best one as it fulfilled the technical and scientific norms needed for a nuclear power plant. “Such projects need a lot of space, which Jaitapur has. Moreover, displacement will also be less. The advantages of the project are definitely more,” he said. He said nuclear power was the need of the nation. “For an economy growing at the rate of 9 to 10 per cent, energy is needed. Presently, we have a lot of deficit and need 10 times more energy than what is available to maintain the growth rate. There are options such as thermal, water, solar or renewable energy , but the amount we need can only be fulfilled by solar and nuclear energy,” he said. “ As the nuclear power plants emit very less carbon dioxide, the nuclear energy does not cause global warming. Since we have necessary technology and now resources such as uranium have been made available through international cooperation, we should explore the option of nuclear energy,” said Kakodkar. (expressnews, 02/12/2010)

Heavy downpour kills hopes of farmers in suburbs CHENNAI: Agriculture may be a monsoon-dependent occupation but excessive rainfall is not a good

news for the farmer. Incessant rains since Sunday evening have submerged large tracts of farm lands in the southern suburbs -- and the bad news is that the showers are going to continue for the next few days. Even one more day of rains is going to wash out the the entire paddy crop that farmers have grown across 3,000 hectares of land across the southern suburbs. In which case, they will have to forgo paddy cultivation altogether for this year. "Despite shrinking of farmlands outside the city, we still continue our ancestral occupation. Butrain always plays the spoilsport," said N Sripathi, a farmer in Paduvencheri, 30km south of Chennai. Rains have waterlogged farmlands in many areas such as Puduvencheri, Nanmangalam, Medavakkam, Sittalapakkam, Ottiyambakkam, Karanai, Madurapakkam, Kovilanchery, Nathanchery, Thiruvanchery, Agaran Then, Kasapakkam, Vengampakkam, Vengaivasal, Perungalathur and Mudichur. In these areas alone -- which come under the St Thomas Mount Panchayat Union limits --nearly 2,500 hectares of land is classified as farming land. More than half of these are under water following the recent rains. Similar to other parts of the state, farm lands in these areas are mainly dependent on tank irrigation. As the farms are surrounded by large tanks and lakes, filling up of these waterbodies is crucial for farming. However, due to the delay in the arrival of northeast monsoon, these water bodies remained dry for months and started filling up only during the past fortnight. "This is why we postponed sowing of paddy for this season from July to November," said K Purushotaman, a farmer in Nanmangalam. In November, only a handful of farmers started sowing paddy as most of the water bodies in these areas remained half-empty. It was only in the last week of November, when the water bodies filled up to their capacities, that farmers began to sow paddy on a large scale. But the non-stop rainfall since Sunday evening has come as a blow to them. "We surveyed many farming areas. Only when the water recedes can we can assess the actual damage of crops," R Raghuraman, additional director of agriculture of St Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, told The Times Of India. (TOI, 7/12/2010)

Crop insurance clean-up saves crores Ranchi, Dec. 7: Meticulous verification has saved the state exchequer around Rs 40 crore by way of farmers’ crop insurance claims, reducing the number of beneficiaries by as much as 3 lakh and exposing several systemic lacunae that were being routinely exploited by fraudsters. The 2009 kharif season crop insurance claims, to be settled before the onset of monsoon this year, was held up after the state co-operative department received several complaints in August. Now, after a thorough verification at the district level, the number of claimants has come down to 10 lakh farmers. Therefore, the state’s share of their payout will be around Rs 98 crore against an earlier estimate of Rs 138 crore. “The reduction in the amount is the result of a thorough verification of individual claims. The number of eligible claimants has come down to less than 10 lakh against the earlier 13 lakh,” registrar (co-operative societies) Rajesh Kumar Sharma said. There are two categories of farmers with crop insurance. One who had also availed of agricultural loans from co-operative banks and the other who did not. There are no accounting problems for the first category. The irregularities concern the second category, that is, “non-loanee farmers”. According to sources, in a majority of cases a single farm plot was insured twice by using fake names and receipts of land revenue payments. Also, several non-agricultural plots were insured without prior verification. Now the co-operative department, the nodal agency handling crop insurance, will have to issue a fresh declaration on the number of beneficiaries for Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AIC) for starting payouts. Claim payments, to be made jointly by the state government, AIC and the Union agriculture ministry, will then be credited to individual non-loanee farmers with accounts in co-operative credit banks known as LAMPS (Large area multi-purpose societies) and PACS (Prime agricultural credit societies) in rural areas. Anupam Das, regional manager of AIC, said they were yet to receive a fresh declaration on the actual number of beneficiaries. (Telegraph, 8/12/2010)

NABARD sanctions over Rs 65,000 cr for UP LUCKNOW: Based on the potential of the state in the farm and non-farm sectors, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Wednesday sanctioned a potential linked credit plan (PLP) of Rs 65,440 crore for Uttar Pradesh for 2011-12. The amount, up by over 20% against the current fiscal, is prepared by NABARD annually, before the start of the next financial year. A decision in this regard was taken after a meeting between the bank and state government officials here. Though the bank's estimation was earlier pegged at Rs 61,440 crore, the amount was later revised after chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta sent a written request, urging bankers to "help the government by providing more credit to farmers so that the objective of doubling the net income of the farmers within a period of three years from 2009-10 was achieved.'' The NABARD PLP will act as a guideline along which the UP government will draw its state budget for the next fiscal. Based on the suggestions given, the government will also decide upon the distribution of credit in areas that are identified as needy. Aside from preparing an indicative credit funding pattern for the state government, executive director, NABARD, PL Behra emphasised that due attention should be paid to regional imbalances observed in development, especially of Bundelkhand region, both by the state government and banks. Behra also advised banks to

increase number of borrowers accounts, finance them through self help and joint liability groups and put Farmers Clubs -- more than 10,000 of which are functional in UP -- to better use. Speaking at the annual State Credit seminar, Behra announced that the state agriculture department will enter into an MoU with NABARD. Under this, he added, all promotional and experimental programmes undertaken by the department will be routed through good farmers clubs, a scheme run by NABARD. The panelists also drew attention to the fact that though credit flow in farm and non-farm sectors had increased steadily over the years, synonymous growth in productivity was not recorded. Principal secretary, rural development, Sanjay Aggarwal, said: "Increasing agriculture production by promoting seed replacement is a key concern. Apart from this, there also needs to be an infusion of technology in agriculture to boost production.'' Chief general manager, NABARD, DP Mishra emphasised that ground level credit funding needed to be made more robust since the bank did know the number of farmers financed by banks at the state level. (TOI, 9/12/2010)

Sops for Gujarat farmers losing land The Gujarat Government on Wednesday announced a new farmer-friendly policy that would make acquisition of land for industries much easier and beneficial to all. The new policy, announced by Minister of State for Industries Saurabh Patel in the run-up to next month’s Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit, offers a slew of incentives to the farmers whose land would be purchased by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) for new estates. Named the ‘Participative Policy for Land Development in Industrial Estate’, the new incentives would ensure that the farmers get the prevailing market price for their land given for development of industrial estates. In order to avoid any disputes, the market price of the land of the farmers would be determined by the Centre for Environment, Planning and Technology (CEPT), a deemed university of repute. This new policy for smooth acquisition of land is being adopted in order to meet the huge requirement of land for industrial purpose as result of the investment inflows signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit. GIDC would purchase land with consent of farmers and at the market price determined by the CEPT University experts but the farmers would also be paid 10 per cent of the increased value at which the GIDC would allot the plots to the industries. Moreover, at least one member of the farmer’s family would be trained free of cost at the ITI so that he gets an assured job in an industry that would come up in that GIDC estate, according to Patel. The ITI training would be demand driven as per the requirement of the units being set up in the GIDC estate and on campus recruitment would be done, clarified Principal Secretary, Industries, Maheshwar Sahu. The GIDC already has 25,000 hectares in its industrial estates since Gujarat state’s formation in 1960. But no target has been set for land acquisition under the new policy, the Minister replied to a question. To take care of the sudden loss of agrarian livelihood of the farmers whose entire land have been acquired, they would be given an one-time financial assistance equivalent to 750 days of minimum wages, nearly `75,000. The land owner who is rendered marginal farmer due to acquisition of his land would be paid 500 days’ minimum wages, disclosed the Minister. (Pioneer, 9/12/2010)

Jobs before land, villagers tell Mamata Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is getting to taste the same bitter ‘land pill’ she prescribed for arch rival Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee the Bengal Chief Minister. After having floored the Chief Minister in two successive elections on land acquisition issue it was time for the Trinamool Congress chief to get paid back in the same coin. The villagers of Furfura Sharief have stood up in protest against proposed acquisition of land for laying a 20-km railway line connecting the village with Dankuni 35 km of Kolkata. Interestingly the protesters belong not to the Opposition CPI(M) but the Trinamool Congress. Unlike Singur or Nandigram where the villagers reportedly refused to part with their lands, in Furufura Sharief they want to give land but in lieu of jobs in the Railways. “We do not mind low prices for the lands most of which are multi-crop plots. We only want one job each for the family of every land loser,” SK Asif a local farmer demanded. “There is no difference between the political parties.” Railways would need a total of 220 acres of land for the Government `89.70 crore project. As the land is owned by about 2,200 families, mostly Muslims, the Railways would have to arrange for as many jobs locals say. Incidentally Banerjee had announced “job-for-land” scheme while laying the foundation stone for the project which the farmers want to be implemented before they part with their lands. “While the CPI(M) befooled us for three decades, Mamata Banerjee is trying to use us to come to power. I have a taped version of her speech when she came here and announced that job in excess of price will be provided to every family that loses land here. Where is that job? Now they have come to acquire land without even making a list of people who could be empanelled. “There is no question of giving any land without first getting a written job assurance from the Railways in lieu of land we donate,” said Azim Miyan another farmer. This is the second such agitation in the past week that the Railways has faced while trying to implement the projects announced by Banerjee. Farmers of Sankrail nearer to Howrah protested in hordes on Tuesday demanding proper price for a 630-acre plot acquired about 30 years ago for a Railway DMU factory. While it was not known why the project took so long to start, the farmers have put their foot down

demanding current market price for the lands they parted with three decades ago: much like the way Banerjee’s men were doing at Rajarhat New Town where lands were acquired by the State Govern-ment about 20 years ago. The Railway officials on Tuesday had to beat a hasty retreat in the face of a charging mob mostly comprising lower-rung Trinamool workers. Email | Print | Rate: 12345 (Pioneer, 9/12/2010)

Unable to bear crop loss, 3 farmers die PIDUGURALLA (GUNTUR): A day after a farmer ended her life over crop loss, a distressed young farmer died of cardiac arrest while two others committed suicide on Thursday. Chilaka Srinivas, 31, of Guttikonda village of Piduguralla mandal in Guntur district, suffered a massive heart stroke at his residence in the morning and died on his way to hospital. Srinivas, who owned half an acre, had cultivated paddy in two acres and cotton in another two-and-a-half acres by taking the land on lease. He suffered heavy losses in the recent rains. Srinivas is survived by his wife and three children. Sources said he had incurred Rs 3 lakh debts. "The loss of both the crops was the last straw," a relative said. Nakka Sudhakar, 42, of Kollipara mandal in Guntur committed suicide after his crops were similarly destroyed. Sudhakar, who consumed pesticide late on Wednesday, was rushed to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Guntur where he succumbed on Thursday. He is survived by his wife and two children. Sudhakar had taken two-and-a-half acres on lease and cultivated paddy. Sudhakar was the second farmer in the district to end his life after Vijayalakshmi of Kakumanu mandal hung herself to death on Wednesday. Unlike in the past, farmers of both canal-fed Delta region and rain-fed Palnadu region have been hit by the untimely rains. The farmers of paddy as well as commercial crops like chilli and cotton were crippled with the rains damaging their crops. Another farmer Kota Subbarao, 55, took his life by consuming pesticide at his home in Koduru in Krishna district. He died on way to hospital. Subbarao too had taken two acres on lease to cultivate paddy. His crop was completely damaged in the recent rains. (TOI, 10/12/2010)

Ensure income security for farmers: Kisan Swaraj Ya tra Kisan Swaraj Yatra (rally for farmers' sovereignty), a conglomeration of farmers' organisations, consumers and civil society groups, is to make a presentation on the agriculture crisis to the National Advisory Council (NAC). They are seeking a Farmers' Income Commission and social security legislation for farmers. Representatives of the Yatra, who met NAC chairperson Sonia Gandhi here on Saturday to highlight the income insecurity of farmers, will be invited to make a presentation on their experiences of travels through 20 States and meetings with thousands of farmers, agriculture scientists, politicians and concerned citizens from October 2 to December 11. The Yatra presented to Ms. Gandhi a memorandum, signed by about 25,000 farmers, farmers organisations, concerned civil society members and citizens, that spoke of a mandatory guarantee of Income Security to Farmers by making farming remunerative and re-casting the current price support system with the correct valuation of costs incurred by farmers, to include living costs. The Yatra, under the banner of ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture), sought a time-bound plan for the transition to ecologically sustainable agriculture with a phasing out of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and stopping the entry of genetically modified seeds in the market. The Yatra members urged the government to stop forcible acquisition of agriculture land, and encourage seed self-reliance and agro-diversity. “The core concerns of the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] government relate to rural employment, food security and tribal development, which are intricately linked to the health of agriculture in rural India. Without addressing and solving the fundamental issues of Indian agriculture, all development and welfare efforts will be towards building an edifice with a crumbling foundation,” said Kavita Kurunganti and G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, who led the Yatra. (Hindu, 13/12/2010)

'Govt making mockery of farmer suicides' MUMBAI: The government, which has announced a compensation package of Rs 1,000 crore for the crop damage caused by unseasonal rains, has been accused of making a mockery of farmer suicides. The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti alleged that the state grossly understated the farmer suicides. Relief and rehabilitation minister Patangrao Kadam had claimed that 4,400-odd farmers had committed suicide in the state over the past 10 years. Samiti president Kishore Tiwari referred to reports of the National Crime Records Bureau and the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swabhimaan Mission to claim that more than 8,000 farmers committed suicide in the said period. "This shows the lack of seriousness of the government towards farmer welfare," Tiwari said. The Samiti has decided to approach the opposition parties on the issue. "We will ask them to raise the issue in the assembly and demand an apology from the minister. The source of the incorrect data must be revealed too," Tiwari said. (TOI, 13/12/2010)

Two farmers die after crop loss in Ganjam A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to Ganjam district, the deaths of two farmers were reported in the district, one of them having committed suicide by consuming pesticide in a cottage at his field in the midst of damaged crop. Sources informed that sharecropper Arun Kumar Swain (40) of

Ramapalli under Tanganpalli GP in Chatrapur block was found dead in the cottage on Monday morning. He had ploughed the land of one Sashi Bhusan Patnaik. The other farmer died in Ganjam block. Source informed that Ekamra Swain (46) of Kachara village died of heart attack because of his crop loss. Block chairman Surath Pahan and former Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly Ram Chandra Panda visited Swain’s village. (Pioneer, 14/12/2010)

‘25 lakh farmers given loans at 3% interest rate’ More than 25 lakh farmers were given short-term loans to the tune of Rs 4,800 crore for rabi and kharif crops in the State at three per cent interest rate. Giving this information, Cooperative and Public Health Engineering Minister Gaurishankar Bisen said that a target has been set to distribute short-term loans worth Rs 5,000 crore to farmers during the year 2010-11 through cooperative banks. Bisen said the State Government has undertaken several concerted efforts in the larger interest of farmers and for making agriculture profitable. One of the major decisions taken by the State Government in favour of farmers is that the interest rate on agriculture loan was first reduced to five per cent and then to three per cent. He said a target had been set to distribute short-term loans worth Rs 3,450 crore for kharif crops, but loans to the tune of Rs 3,830 crore have been disbursed, which is Rs 400 more than the target. During the corresponding period in 2009-10, loans worth Rs 2,500 crore were distributed. Thus, 52 per cent more loans were disbursed this year. It could be possible because the State Government has provided loans to farmers at much reduced rate of three per cent. This decision is first of its own kind in the country. The State Government has provided these short-term loans to farmers through over 4,500 primary agriculture credit societies under 38 district cooperative banks. The Cooperative Minister said that similarly, a target has also been set to distribute loans worth Rs 1,500 crore during the rabi season, of which, loans to the tune of Rs 967 crore have been disbursed by the month of November, which is Rs 300 crore more than the last year. (Pioneer, 15/12/2010)

State of endosulfan Ban on the pesticide in Kerala ineffective; more children fall victim, shows survey imageSeven-year-old Sharanya is Muthalamada’s latest suspected endosulfan victim (Photo: Savvy Soumya Misra)It is called the mango city. But of late, Muthalamada panchayat in Kerala’s Palakkad district has gained notoriety for excessive use of endosulfan in its mango orchards. Its effect is showing on people living there. When seven-year-old Sharanya was born, her parents Rukmini and Chandran were relieved the baby was normal. In the eighth month of pregnancy, the doctor had warned them that fluid had entered the baby’s brain. Rukmini’s joy of having a normal baby was short-lived. Sharanya developed cerebral meningitis on the 28th day. Her head began to swell. She was diagnosed suffering from hydrocephalus—a condition caused by abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid. Sharanya can talk, rather mumble, and can sit only with support. She is the latest suspected endosulfan victim. Her condition is similar to that of children in Kasaragod where the Plantation Corporation of Kerala aerially sprayed endosulfan on the cashew plantations for over two decades, leading to serious health problems (see ‘Children of Endosulfan’, Down To Earth, February 28, 2001). Till last year, Sharanya’s parents were living in a mango orchard. Palakkad district has nearly 4,000 hectares (ha) of mango orchards along the Nelliampathy hills. The district health authority surveyed 9,000 house- holds in Muthalamada and Kollengode panchayats in November this year and identified 46 suspected endosulfan victims; four other children were found suffering from hydrocephalus like Sharanya. What was more alarming was that 33 of these victims were in the 0-14 age group. The emergence of health problems coincides with intense spraying of endosulfan that started 14 years ago. The survey was prompted by protests that followed a pro-endosulfan statement made by Union minister of state for agriculture, K V Thomas (see ‘Relief for Endosulfan Victims’, Down To Earth, December 15 ). District medical officer Rose Thomas said it was a quick survey, not a scientific study. Butterflies gave indication endosulfanShaktivel has psoriasis and his mother (top) has developed leprosyThe actual number of victims is much higher than what the district survey shows, said S Guruvayurappan, coordinator (south India) of the non-profit Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). In Muthalamada alone there are at least 250 endosulfan victims, he said. Butterflies gave Guruvayurappan the first clue on the impact of pesticides. He reported thousands of butterflies, including schedule 1 species, were dying every day in the mango orchards due to excessive use of pesticides, including endosulfan. “Muthalamada is a part of Palghat gap (pass) in the Western Ghats and a major migratory route of wildlife, including butterflies. The pesticide use in this area makes the place a graveyard for the wildlife and its ecosystem,” wrote Guruvayurappan in a letter to the forest and agriculture departments and the chief minister in 2005. “We got reports of reptile and monkey deaths and dogs, goats and cows giving birth to young ones with twisted limbs,” he said. The next year the Calicut University Teacher Education Centre, the nonprofit Environment Protection Group and WPSI conducted a detailed study of 550 families in Muthalamada. Researchers found members of 174 families had serious health problems. Many children were found suffering from birth deformities, cancer, cerebral palsy, mental disorders, skin

diseases, vision loss; many women were found infertile. The recent government survey also mentions the same disorders, but admits lower incidence. Why ban not effective Endosulfan was banned in Kerala in 2005 after the Centre issued a gazette notification withholding the use of endosulfan in the state, on the basis of reports of the National Institute of Occupational Health and other committees. But that ban has been ineffective. Nearly 300 landholders of Palakkad who own big plantations in the region use endosulfan and other pesticides extensively during the flowering season to kill pests—leaf miners and leaf hoppers. Endosulfan is easily available across the district borders in Tamil Nadu where it is not banned. The border check posts are manned by the police, excise officers and commercial tax personnel. “We neither have orders from senior officers nor the expertise to check for pesticides. Checking private vehicles and buses is restricted,” said K Narayanan, a commercial tax official at Meenakshipuram check post that borders Muthalamada. The district magistrate has initiated steps to curb entry of endosulfan through the border by forming a mobile squad which started work on December 1. The squad, headed by an assistant director of the agriculture department, has met with little success. “We conducted raids at a few pesticide depots but did not find endosulfan. The pesticide is brought in containers without labels and is sold loose. So it is difficult to find the culprits,” said Mohan Kumar, district magistrate of Palakkad. When the Down To Earth team checked endosulfan availability in one of the agrochemical shops across the border near the Meenakshipuram check post, the shop owner removed two large containers labelled Endocin (an endosulfan brand) from the counter and stood in the way, barring entry. He refused to tell who his clients were or names of the pesticides he sold. Residents said agents brought pesticides into Kerala and sold them to plantation workers. Endosulfan is the cheapest among them. It costs less than Rs 100 a litre; one litre is enough for an acre (0.4 ha). The spraying begins in January and is done manually by farm workers without protective gear. “Unlike Kasaragod where helicopters were used to spray endosulfan, here the pesticide is sprayed on individual trees with nozzles directed skywards. The person spraying gets affected directly,” said C R Neelakan-dan, environmentalist in Kozhikode.

The farm labourers live within the orchards or in colonies close by. Shaktivel, a 10-year-old in Ambedkar Colony in Muthalamada, often crosses the barbed wire fence next to his house to pluck mangoes and eat them. The boy suffers from psoriasis—a non-contagious skin condition that leads to thickening of skin. The exact cause of Shaktivel’s psoriasis is not known, though genetic predisposition and environmental factors are known to trigger the condition. The boy’s mother has been diagnosed with leprosy. Shaktivel’s 13-year-old sister was diagnosed with a tumour in the back, a month ago. His father is a farm worker. Incidence of such health problems is high but people are unaware these could be caused by endosulfan. Most labourers are from scheduled tribes such as Eravallan and Malassar. Murugeshan of Adivasi Protection Committee, a people’s forum, is now persuading labourers. “We have asked them to look for new jobs if contractors force them to use endosulfan,” Murugeshan said. He succeeded in getting one farm worker to quit job after his contractor insisted he use endosulfan. The organic route The pesticide is a known carcinogen, neurotoxin and genotoxin (damages DNA); the Insecticides Act of 1968 recommends restricted use of endosulfan. The Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health and environment from such chemical compounds, has declared endosulfan a persistent organic pollutant and 73 countries have banned its use. A handful of countries like India, China and Israel, however, oppose its ban (see ‘India still in endosulfan denial’, Down To Earth, November 15, 2010). The Kerala government has been pressing the Centre to impose a country- wide ban on the pesticide. But its own track record hasn’t been impressive. Worse, the 2011 farm guide, circulated by the state agriculture ministry last month, recommended endosulfan use as a part of best practices package. “Someone was careless enough to send the old brochure for reprint; that officer has been removed,” said A Jayathilak, additional secretary for agriculture. Agents buy endosulfan from shops near Tamil Nadu border and supply it in KeralaOn November 19, the state pollution control board announced a ban on endosulfan under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 after it found endosulfan in water and sediment samples in the Shiriya river in Kasaragod; anyone violating the ban could land in jail for up to six years and pay fine. “The latest notification shows the earlier ban was not taken seriously,” said Jayakumar of Thanal, a non-profit. The ban was followed by an announcement by state agriculture minister M Retnakaran on December 3. He said all licences to red (extremely toxic) and yellow (highly toxic) label pesticides will be withdrawn in Kasaragod. These include endosulfan, monocrotophos, furidan and phorate. Under its organic farming policy, Kerala wants to convert to organic farming in the next 10 years and withdrawing licences in Kasaragod is the first step. But these initiatives are not enough. “The neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also need to ban the pesticides we ban. Otherwise, they will be brought in through the porous borders,” said Jayathilak. The Centre’s stand on endosulfan is still unclear. In December, the agriculture ministry organised a three-day seminar on agriculture development which was sponsored by pesticide companies who also produce endosulfan. (www.downtoearth.com, Dec 31)

Untimely rains take a Rs 32 crore toll on crops

NAGPUR: Among 13 tehsils of Nagpur district, farmers from Mouda suffered a huge loss due to untimely rains that hit the district in October and November this year. Over 81,426 hectares of agricultural land reported a loss of over 50 % of produce, while below 50% of damage was reported in over 53,000 hectares of land. Damage of crops was assessed to the tune of Rs 32.57 crore. According to survey report of Nagpur district collectorate, the damage of various crops including paddy, cotton, jawar, tur and wheat were damaged due to incessant rains hit the district from October 20 to October 22 and between November 11 and November 19, respectively. Sources said paddy crops in over 51,177 hectares of land were damaged due to untimely rains. It was followed by cotton crops damaged in 28,042 hectares, green peas crop in 2,013 hectares and wheat in 66 hectares of land. Sources said in Mouda tehsil alone, paddy crops ready for harvesting on around 24,661 hectares had been submerged in water causing a loss to the tune of Rs 9.86 crore. It was followed by Saoner, where too paddy, cotton and green peas crops suffered loss in 48 hectares, 14,230 hectares and 1,725 hectares, respectively. The loss was estimated at around Rs 6.44 crore, said the source. Similarly, crops worth Rs 5.525 crore were spoiled in Hingna tehsil where untimely rain hit cotton farmers in 13,892 hectares. In Ramtek tehsil, the damage was assessed at Rs 4.22 crore in agricultural land admeasuring at 10,560 hectares. In Kuhi tehsil, crops worth Rs 2.70 crore was damaged, in Kamptee tehsil, the damage of crops was estimated at Rs 1.63 crore, while crops worth Rs 1.86 crore in Parsheoni tehsil was spoilt. Sources said the survey report was submitted to the state government but the collectorate office has not yet received the spot panchnama reports of the crops loss. (TOI, 21/12/2010)

Tenant farmers in a loan trap HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh is aptly called a farmers' state. But the irony is that most of these farmers are merely cultivators who do not own the land that they plough. Yet they bear the burden of a failed crop. Of the total 1.2 crore ryots at present, 50-55 lakh are tenant farmers. Tenant farmers are those who cultivate crops by taking land on lease. Since most of them are economically and socially backward (dalits, girijans and backward classes), crop loss means end of the world for them. Many are unable to repay the loans on land lease, seed, fertilizer and other expenses, which far outweigh the income from the crop. The incessant heavy rainfall this season only multiplied their woes and several of the distressed farmers are dying out of shock or committing suicide. Unofficially, in the last 13 days alone, 98 ryots have died while the official toll is put at 50 plus. But what's driving the tenant farmers to suicide? "It's a sheer frustration. They are barely able to recover the cost of cultivation. The unseasonal rain has accentuated their problems," pointed out Yerneni Nagendranath, president, AP Vyavasaya Rythanga Samakhya. While the tenant ryots contribute 50 per cent of the sown area (36 million acres) in the state, their share goes a few notches up as 90 per cent of farming is vested in tenant hands of the fertile coastal region, which otherwise is known as the 'Rice Bowl' of AP. Yet, a majority of shock deaths and suicides have been reported from the coastal districts of Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari. Having lost his entire paddy crop due to the rain havoc, Nagothu Dhana Somasekhar, a poor Girijan farmer of Pydimetla village in Tellapudi mandal of West Godavari, consumed pesticide to end his life on December 12. Sekhar, 27, who got married in July this year, wanted to keep his wife happy by earning a little more. So, he took four acres on lease but incurred Rs 40,000 loss due to crop failure. "All his hopes of a bright future were shattered. He took his life as he wasn't in a position to repay the loans," said Gurrala Apparao, East Godavari district secretary of AP Rythu Sangham (APRS). Though loans of Rs 11,353 crore were waived off under the Centre's farm loan waiver scheme till June 2010, a shockingly low Rs 130 crore loans of tenant farmers benefitted from this. "It is ironical that they contribute 50 per cent of the acreage in the state yet they do not get any sops since they do not own the land," rued APRS state president Vangala Subbarao. As per the AP Tenancy Act of 1956, the tenant farmer must hand over one third of the yield to the land owner-farmer apart from paying the lease amount before taking possession of the land to cultivate. For instance, 60 per cent of the land in East Godavari is cultivated by tenant farming community where each ryot has to shell out Rs 13,000 towards lease and Rs 12,000 for investments to sow in an acre of land. A dalit farmer Erakaiah of Ullamparru took four acres on lease and spent Rs 60,000. While the yield is 34-38 bags per one acre, the landlord farmer gets 13-16 bags. "As per the Act, Erakaiah should hand over 52 bags to the land owner. But he's devastated with the crop going down the drain. Inevitably, death was his last resort," said Kumara Swamy of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. With no proper documentation between the land owner and himself, the tenant farmer is at risk as the transactions are carried out in a benami manner. "Had the government acted and issued identity cards as per GO 1049 (issued on July 28, 2007) to the tenant ryots, their woes could have been mitigated. They do not get bank loans, input subsidy and insurance cover since they do not possess pattadar passbooks," explained Subbarao. A rich farmer Chintapalli Padma Reddy of U Kothapalli mandal in East Godavari ridiculed the compensation of Rs 6,000 an acre and demanded Rs 10,000. "If our back is broken with the enormous loss, imagine the plight of a tenant farmer," he added. (TOI, 22/12/2010)

‘Happy farmer’ in BSY govt ad killed self 18 months ago A pro-farmer advertisement issued last weekend by the ruling BJP in Karnataka ahead of the year-end taluk and zilla elections, featuring a ‘happy farmer’ seemingly endorsing the government’s benefits and schemes, has backfired after it came to be known that the farmer, unable to handle his mounting debt burden, committed suicide in May last year. Adding to the controversies plaguing the Yeddyurappa government, the ad, which was published in leading Kannada dailies, ironically shows Nagaraju Hanume Gowda, a 32-year-old farm hand from Baburayanakoppalu village near Srirangapatna in Mandya district, smiling and thanking the BJP government for his fortunes. Nagaraju is survived by his parents, wife and two children. The family has reportedly not received the Rs 1.5 lakh compensation that it’s entitled to after his suicide. While the BJP has withdrawn the ad subsequent to protests by the family and criticism by JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy, the party claims to be unaware of whether a claim for compensation has been made by Nagaraju’s kin. V Dhananjay Kumar, Karnataka BJP spokesman and representative of the state government in Delhi, said, “It was not intentional. We had hired an ad agency and they used a photo from the government archives. The JD(S) has made a big deal out of this, but it’s important to recognise that the ad is not about the particular individual, it’s general.” Denying that the error may have an adverse effect on the upcoming elections, Kumar joked that the Congress had been using photographs of dead people in all its campaigns to date. “We will look into the compensation aspect. It must be determined whether the farmer died in harness and whether a claim has been made,” he added. Local dailies reported on Tuesday that people of Baburayanakoppalu are planning a blockade of the Bangalore-Mysore highway to demand a formal apology from the government. JD(S) spokesman Ramesh Babu criticised the BJP’s callous attitude towards farmers, terming it “cheating”. “For the sake of votes, they are misleading illiterate farmers, for whom they have done nothing,” he said, mirroring Kumaraswamy’s reaction to the controversy. “When people from Nagaraju’s village recognised his picture in the ad, they reported it to their MLA, who happens to be a JD(S) member. How can you cheat the public like this?” he added. K S Puttanaiah, president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, a farmers’ association, said it’s a serious matter. (IE, 23/12/2010)

17,368 farm suicides in 2009 At least 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years, according to data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This is an increase of 1,172 over the 2008 count of 16,196. It brings the total farm suicides since 1997 to 2,16,500. The share of the Big 5 States, or ‘suicide belt' — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — in 2009 remained very high at 10,765, or around 62 per cent of the total, though falling nearly five percentage points from 2008. Maharashtra remained the worst State for farm suicides for the tenth successive year, reporting 2,872. Though that is a fall of 930, it is still 590 more than in Karnataka, second worst, which logged 2,282 farm suicides. Economist K. Nagaraj, author of the biggest study on Indian farm suicides, says, “That these numbers are rising even as the farmer population shrinks, confirms the agrarian crisis is still burning.” Maharashtra has logged 44,276 farm suicides since 1997, over a fifth of the total 2,16,500. Within the Big 5, Karnataka saw the highest increase of 545 in 2009. Andhra Pradesh recorded 2,414 farm suicides — 309 more than in 2008. Madhya Pradesh (1,395) and Chhattisgarh (1,802) saw smaller increases of 16 and 29. Outside the Big 5, Tamil Nadu doubled its tally with 1,060, against 512 in 2008. In all, 18 of 28 States reported higher farm suicide numbers in 2009. Some, like Jammu and Kashmir or Uttarakhand, saw a negligible rise. Rajasthan, Kerala and Jharkhand saw increases of 55, 76 and 93. Assam and West Bengal saw higher rises of 144 and 295. NCRB farm data now exist for 13 years. In the first seven, 1997-2003, there were 1,13,872 farm suicides, an average of 16,267 a year. In the next six years 1,02,628 farmers took their lives at an average of 17,105 a year. This means, on average, around 47 farmers — or almost one every 30 minutes — killed themselves each day between 2004 and 2009. Among the major States, only a few including Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal avoided the sharp rise these six years and lowered their average by over 350 compared to the 1997-2003 period. In the same period, the annual average of farm suicides in the Big 5 States as a whole was more than 1,650 higher than it was in 1997-2003. (Hindu, 28/12/2010)

2 more farmers die, toll 12 in Ganjam After a gap of few days, two more farmers died in Ganjam district with the toll rising to 12 in the district owing to crop loss due to the unseasonal rain during second week of this month that damaged the about-

to-be harvested paddy crop. According to sources, Kalu Nayak of Antarpada Panchayat under Buguda block died of heart attack. He had cultivated around four acres of land taking loan of `12,000 from a local cooperative society. Brundban Mini of Jamuli Deulasahi under Purushottam block also died of shock at the sight of the crop loss in his field. Crop loss due to untimely rain forces another farmer at Dhirpur village in Barpali block under Bargarh district to take drastic decision like committing suicide that many have done earlier in the State. The deceased was identified as Ashok Kumar Khatua (55). Unable to bear the loss, Ashok preferred to commit suicide today morning by hanging from a tree. He had taken a loan of `20, 000 from the service cooperative society at Barpali for the current ravi crop and cultivated 3 5 acre of land of his own. But the unexpected rain of the current month made everything reverse to his expectations. The little paddy he got was also misfit for sale in the market yard due to discolour. Hence he decided to finish life and get rid of every problem including the loan burden from the cooperative society. Matter didn't end there. His son Sujit (22) a well-educated young man and a teacher in the Saraswati Sishu Mandir at Barpali went to search for his father who didn't came till late hours. When he saw his father hanging from a tree, he couldn't tolerate the shock and followed the path of his father. In one day both father and the son committed suicide and that for reason none other than the crop loss due to the rain. Sujit was a bachelor. Ashok the father of Sujit is survived by his widow and an unmarried daughter. When contacted, Collector of Bargarh B G Mishra said that the reason behind the suicide was to be ascertained. "The tehsildar will submit the report on Tuesday," the Collector said. "Whatever the reason may be, we are very much shocked for such type of deaths," Mishra added. The untimely death of both father and son send shockwaves among the locals since Ashok was an innocent man and Sujit was a popular teacher. (Pioneer, 28/12/2010)

Crop loss leads to death of 5 more farmers KAKINADA/ELURU: Crop loss and burden of loans led to the deaths of five farmers in East and West Godavari districts on Monday. Kosam Gangarami Reddy (50), a farmer of Palacharla Rajavaram village, Jeelugumilli mandal of West Godavari district, died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Monday. According to sources, Ramireddy had cultivated paddy, maize and tobacco in 25 acres of land. It was the third consecutive year of losses for him. He died in the wee hours of Monday after a cardiac arrest. Gadiraju Gopalakrishnam Raju (54), a farmer of Kalla village in Kalla mandal of West Godavari district, committed suicide by consuming pesticides near his fields on Sunday night. According to sources, he met with huge losses from his paddy crop cultivated in 7 acres of land. Nobody came forward to give him the minimum support price and he had huge outstanding loans to pay to banks as well as private persons, the sources said. Meka Venkateswarlu (40) of S Illenduparru village in Penumantra Mandal in West Godavari district allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticides in the wee hours of Monday. He had cultivated three acres of land which got damaged. Recently he had also performed the wedding of his daughter. A tenant farmer of Ponnada village in Palakoderu mandal of West Godavari district, G Kutumba Rao (45), died of a cardiac arrest after incurring huge losses to his paddy crop cultivated in three acres. Palakoderu police have registered a case of suspicious death and sent the body for post-mortem. (TOI, 28/12/2010)

Woman farmer commits suicide A distressed woman farmer on Wednesday committed suicide by hanging at Patpatnam of Srikakulam district. Ramanamma (55), had taken a loan of Rs. 60,000 from local financiers and raised crop on four acres. Driven to desperation by crop loss caused by unseasonal rain she took the extreme step near the paddy field. Sources said Ramanamma was missing from Tuesday night. Family members searched for her but in vain. According to reports reaching here, two ryots committed suicide and as many as eight persons died of heart attack in the last four weeks. Apparao took the extreme step in Kapuvuvilada of Santabommali recently. Gonapu Janakiram died of heart attack in Santabommali mandal on Tuesday. Tenant farmers are the worst-hit. The district administration estimated that crop in 1.73 lakh acres was damaged. However, help was yet to reach the farmers. Only 20 paddy procurement centres had been opened till date. Farmers were not happy with the centres as there was no transport facility for shifting discoloured paddy. (Hindu, 30/12/2010)

Expert panel finds NAC proposal on food bill unfeas ible Contrary to the recommendations of Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council (NAC) that 75 per cent households be legally provided subsidised foodgrains, an Expert Committee set up by the Prime Minister

says this would not be feasible keeping availability factor in consideration. The committee, headed by PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan, has instead suggested that legal entitlement could only be granted to the "priority households" which comprise just 46 per cent of rural and 28 per cent urban households. They back it up with the logic that the government does not have enough stocks to provide guaranteed foodgrains to "general households". In the process nearly the same percentage of households would be left out from the purview of the legal guarantee for subsidised foodgrains if the Committee's suggestions are incorporated and enacted as the National Food Security Act. The suggestions were firmed up in today's meeting attended by senior officials from food, agriculture, finance ministries and the Planning Commission. "The committee said it is feasible to provide a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains only for "priority" category under the proposed law and "general" households would get foodgrains as per the availability," a senior government official said after the meeting, here. The "general" households comprise 44 per cent in rural areas and 22 per cent in urban areas as suggested by the NAC. For legal entitlement to both the categories, it would require 65 million tonnes of wheat and rice, while the current procurement level stands around 55 million tonnes. "To meet the requirement of only "priority" households, the government would need around 44-46 million tonnes, which the committee expressed can be met easily," the official said. On prices, the committee favoured the NAC' proposal to provide 35 kg of foodgrains at a subsidised rate of Re 1/kg for millets, Rs 2/kg for wheat and Rs 3/kg for rice to the "priority" households "but subject to the condition that the prices should be reviewed annually and linked to the consumer price index (CPI)," the official noted. For "general" households, the committee suggested that the prices should be linked to the minimum support price(MSP). Under the present Public Distribution System (PDS), the government provides 35 kg of foodgrains to 6.52 crore families under below poverty line (BPL) at Rs 3/kg rice and Rs 2/kg wheat per month. The families living above poverty line (APL) get subsidised foodgrains as per the availability at Rs 8.30/kg rice and Rs 6.10/kg wheat per month. Currently, APL families get foodgrains between 15-35 kg per month. The official said that the committee would prepare a final report and submit it to the Prime Minister in the first week of January. The proposed Food Security Act was part of the Congress party manifesto for the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, promising 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg for every poor family with legal sanction. An empowered group of ministries (EGOM) had then cleared the draft bill in March this year, on the same line as had been proposed in the Congress manifesto. But the NAC wanted its scope to expand to 35 kg per family. (Deccan herald, 30/12/2010)