Posted on 04/15/2009 11:37:03 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.
The agricultural state of Chattisgarh was hit by falling water levels.
"The water level has gone down below 250 feet here. It used to be at 40 feet a few years ago," Shatrughan Sahu, a villager in one of the districts, told Down To Earth magazine
"Most of the farmers here are indebted and only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well."
Mr Sahu lives in a district that recorded 206 farmer suicides last year. Police records for the district add that many deaths occur due to debt and economic distress.
In another village nearby, Beturam Sahu, who owned two acres of land was among those who committed suicide. His crop is yet to be harvested, but his son Lakhnu left to take up a job as a manual labourer.
His family must repay a debt of £400 and the crop this year is poor.
"The crop is so bad this year that we will not even be able to save any seeds," said Lakhnu's friend Santosh. "There were no rains at all."
"That's why Lakhnu left even before harvesting the crop. There is nothing left to harvest in his land this time. He is worried how he will repay these loans."
Bharatendu Prakash, from the Organic Farming Association of India, told the Press Association: "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."
Mr Prakash added that the government ought to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.
"Development should be for all. The government blames us for being against development. Forest area is depleting and dams are constructed without proper planning.
All this contributes to dipping water levels. Farmers should be taken into consideration when planning policies," he said.
Bush’s fault
America should quick damming their rivers with our carbon footprint. < /sarc >
How long before this is cited as evidence of the ravages of global warming?
They sure aren’t acting very hopeychangey over there.
I hope God understands and if reincarcanation does occur, they’re put in a much better position in their next life.
Personally I think He forgot that we can’t always bear what He was able too.
Folks, please. I love to joke around as much as the next guy, but we’re talking about 1,500 DEAD HUMAN BEINGS. Can we please at least act like we give a damn?
um, how did they do it?! where were they?! info please!
This is incredibly sad....my heart breaks for their families.....
This is horribly sad.
People don’t give a damn, that’s why America is headed down the tube, no one cares, “The love of most will grow cold” the goodbook says about the end-times. They were just worthless hindu farmers, who cares, they were beyond the love of God I’m sure .... (oh so people think)
Fifteen hundred different ways, I think. As far as I can tell these people committed suicide over the last year or two or three. Not a mass suicide at all. Just misleading- title-of-the-year material.
That's not true, there is always the option of taking out the moneylender instead of yourself...
I read recently that an average of 17 people die on the Bangalore commuter rail system every day. Most of these involve passengers falling off trains, hanging off the side of a train and striking fixed objects in the right-of-way, or getting electrocuted by overhead wires while riding on top of rail cars.
That's five or six thousand people who die every year just traveling to work. Holy smokes.
I’m afraid you’re right.
More and more lately I see the futility of political action. We are not going to beat the Conspiracy by playing the Conspiracy’s rigged game, but by transcending it. They have tanks, guns, mass media, the education system, and drugs. Our only weapon is love. The only way we’re going to beat them is by loving our neighbors as ourselves, and God above all.
If a museum with 1,500 priceless paintings burns down, people everywhere cry for the loss to humanity, and rightly so. Yet when 1,500 innocent human beings die — each one a unique and priceless work of art — we shrug at the loss.
May God help us, and may God forgive these poor people who killed themselves.
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