> > https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/indian-farmers-are-staring-at-suicide-as-modi-government-looks-the-other-way.html > Indian Farmers Are Staring at Suicide as Modi Government Looks the Other > Way > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/indian-farmers-are-staring-at-suicide-as-modi-government-looks-the-other-way.html> > Posted on July 23, 2020 > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/indian-farmers-are-staring-at-suicide-as-modi-government-looks-the-other-way.html> > by > Yves Smith <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/author/yves-smith> > > Yves here. Suicide is not normally a topic in polite company. But the > desperate conditions facing Indian farmers, even ones with good-sized plots > and high-value crops, means a rise in suicide rates. And as this post make > clear, it’s mainly due to debt. The same forces are crushing US farmers, > who often sell off parts of family farms to get by, which can put them in a > death spiral, since the remaining land doesn’t throw off enough income to > support the overheads. > > And we are about to see this movie start playing across small business > American. Many enterprises are suffering from a collapse in revenues. Some > may be able to downsize enough to continue to provide the owners and a few > employees with an adequate income, even if it is wrenching to fire > long-standing, loyal employees to save a few. But other businesses will > fold. The loss of savings (most owners will put in more money to try to > keep the venture afloat) and the emotional toll, combined with the poor > prospects for the economy generally, mean a lot of owners will be isolated > and desperate. And a lot of this distress could have been prevented. > > *By Aaqib Athar. Originally published at openDemocracy > <https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/indian-farmers-are-staring-suicide-modi-government-looks-other-way/>* > > * Shankar Darekar is haunted by reports about farmer suicides | Shankar > Darekar* I am Shankar Darekar, a 47-year-old farmer from Vimchur, a > remote rural village in India’s Maharashtra province. Maharashtra is known > for its rich heritage, the generally prosperous lifestyle of its people and > fertile lands. But behind that lustrous shroud, penury and unremitting > suicides fester, defining the lives of us peasants. > > The coronavirus pandemic, which erupted in India in early March, has > spelled doom for us. It was the harvest season. I cultivate grapes on five > acres of land bequeathed to me by my forefathers. Grapes are an expensive > cash crop, requiring a whopping investment of up to $3,000 per acre of > cultivation. There are no yields for the first three years. > > Every year in March, I sell part of the crop to merchants in Kolkata, in > India’s eastern province of West Bengal, from where it is sent to > Bangladesh. The remainder is sent to Delhi and Punjab, for export to our > western neighbours. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the > lockdown from midnight of 24 March, he gave India’s 1.3 billion citizens > barely four hours’ notice. It was a cruel joke that had a huge effect on > millions of farmers. > > By that time, I had dispatched 100 quintals [10 tonnes] of grapes to > Bangladesh, but 350 quintals were still on vines in the fields. I thought > of the debt I had incurred. If the grapes rotted, my life would be ruined. > Some of us got together, called farmers’ bodies and made hurried > representations to the government. To our dismay, our appeals fell on deaf > ears. > > The Modi government, which had arranged special jets to fly back the rich > who were stranded abroad, was unwilling to run the railways for a few more > days to transport our crops. We tried to organise trucks on our own, but > provincial borders were sealed. Permits were not granted despite pleas to > the government. > > Over a week was wasted in this flustering uncertainty. By the time we > zeroed in on some local merchants, the sugar level of the grapes had risen. > The buyers fixed abysmally low rates, but we could not negotiate. I sold > 225 quintals of grapes for one-fifth of the price I would usually get. > > But more than 125 quintals of grapes had ripened and could not be sold. > Someone suggested that raisin makers might be interested in buying it. The > buyer gave us 23 rupees per kilogram of raisins. The maths was numbing. I > sold the grapes at a measly four rupees [0.05 US cents] per kilogram. > > This was looting. It coincided with fervent displays of nationalism at the > whim of the prime minister. One evening, Modi asked people to gather on > their balconies or nearby open spaces and cheer healthcare workers by > banging pots. On another occasion, he wanted them to switch off their > lights at 9pm and light *diyas* [earthen pots] and candles. The rich > obeyed merrily, and they even set off firecrackers. They said they were > patriots. Their self-applauding made for pulsating prime-time TV, while our > livelihoods were squeezed out of us and we had to save every penny. > > The Modi government claims to have introduced several pro-farmer and > pro-poor schemes, which it robustly markets at the time of election. But I > don’t know who benefits from them. > > What I witnessed in the lockdown was the anti-farmer face of this > government, which refused to buy our crops or ensure minimum support > prices. This is the same government that seldom hesitates to waiver the > loans of crony capitalists. > > I shudder to think of the losses I have incurred. But the numbers come > rattling to me in my sleep. It is somewhere between $18,800 and $20,000. > > “How will we repay the loan, papa?” my children ask. > > By June, I usually start repaying the loan. But I have no money to do so > this year. The government isn’t even willing to write off the interest on > it. > > Many peasant farmers may have ended their lives already. In reply to a > right-to-information disclosure in October 2019, government reported that > 15,356 farmers in Maharashtra had committed suicide between 2013 and 2018. > This means that seven farmers committed suicide every day for six years. > > Not only do I have massive debt, but my cultivation cycle has been badly > hit. After the grapes are harvested in March, there is usually a crucial > period of thread-cutting and treatment of leaves, followed by resting of > the plants. > > None of that could be done because of the unplanned lockdown. The harvest > usually due in October is now likely to drag until December, adding to my > financial woes. > > Usually from January to March, we also borrow from the neighbourhood > grocer and local vendors. They happily give us rations and other essentials > on credit as they are certain that we will repay them once the yields start > coming. > > I haven’t paid for the rations I have taken since January and the grocer > is becoming uneasy. He may stop our supplies from next month. > > Meanwhile, at the end of June, my 74-year-old mother suffered a stroke. > The local doctor recommended that she be taken to the Nashik district > hospital but we cannot afford to do that. If something happens to my > mother, I will not be able to forgive myself. > > But I am helpless. There’s no money and a huge debt. Besides my mother, I > have to look after my wife and two children and my brother’s widow and her > two children. > > Reports on farmers’ suicides, usually relegated to the inside pages of > newspapers, fill my mind. But I restrain that thought. What would happen to > the three women and four children in my family if I wasn’t around? > > [*As told to Aaqib Athar]* > > Over 40% of Indians rely on agriculture for their livelihood, according > to the World Bank > <https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?locations=IN>. But > this sector has been under pressure for a number of years due to crop > failures and price drops. Many small-scale farmers borrow from moneylenders > who charge exorbitant interest rates. Suicides are common in this sector > when crops fail: a 2015 study attributed almost 40% of farmers’ suicides to > financial pressure. Although the Modi government has introduced minimum > support prices > <https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/minimum-support-price-of-wheat-rice-paddy-modi-govts-msp-hike-benefits-only-a-handful-of-indian-farmers/1662211/> > for crops, few farmers are benefitting. The government is also in the thick > of a controversy over the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme. Farmers > allege that it is designed to benefit the private insurance companies as > premiums are compulsory but hidden clauses mean the policies often do not > pay out. > [image: Print Friendly, PDF & Email] > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/indian-farmers-are-staring-at-suicide-as-modi-government-looks-the-other-way.html#> > This entry was posted in Doomsday scenarios > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/doomsday-scenarios>, Economic > fundamentals > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/economic-fundamentals>, Free > markets and their discontents > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/free-markets-and-their-discontents>, > Guest Post <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/guest-post>, India > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/india>, Pandemic > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/pandemic>, Politics > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/politics>, Social policy > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/category/social-policy> on July 23, 2020 > <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/07/indian-farmers-are-staring-at-suicide-as-modi-government-looks-the-other-way.html> > by Yves Smith <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/author/yves-smith>. > >
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