Budget Wishlist | Safeguard interests of marginalized

Budget Wishlist | Safeguard interests of marginalized

Include voices and concerns of farmers, labourers and artisans in the next pay commission

Sandeep Pandey

New Delhi: For those of us who have worked at the grassroot level with the ‘real India’, our concern is that the interests of the majority be borne in mind while economic, social and financial policies get framed.

Sandeep Pandey, social activist and Magsaysay award winner (2002)

Key Recommendations

* Include farmers, labourers and artisans in the next pay कमीशन

* Ensure employment for all and provide good quality healthcare

* Write off select debts of the poor after considerable review and fix respectable prices for their produce from primary sectors of the economy

* Make universal social security a norm rather than an exception

* Link the monetary value assigned to the chosen work/ profession to human existence. For example, people involved with agricultural production should be highest paid. Similarly, the price that gets fixed for their produce should be proportionate to importance of product to human existence.

* Allot land to landless agricultural workers by drawing up an appropriate plan that can safeguard interests of the rural poor as also help boost agricultural economy

*Shift from fossil fuel and nuclear energy to renewable energy economy and lifestyle

*Reduce defence budget; abandon nuclear weapons

*Make provision to fund election campaigns of candidates so that political parties don’t have to rely on corruption money, kickbacks and commissions for financing political activities

* Reduce income levels between service sector-business sector and primary production sectors of economy by a political decision

* Treat National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREG) as a legal guarantee transfer for full guaranteed wages to worker’s account at the end of the year. Wage levels for daily wage workers to be increased substantially similar to that of service sector and the scheme to be extended for throughout the year.

If I were FM

* I would equalize earning levels, ensure good quality healthcare for all, promote renewable sources of energy, promote small, cottage level industries as opposed to heavy industries and promote public transport system instead of privatized motorized transport.

India should have listened to Mahatma Gandhi and pursued the ideal of Gram Swarajya. Our development policies are flawed because we now have two distinct streams of development. For the rich we want to provide the finest products of technological development at affordable price for the poor we have to ban machines when we design an employment guarantee scheme for them. This is also reflected in the urban-rural divide.

Sandeep Pandey is a social activist; he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002 for emergent leadership.

As told to Arunoday Prakash, content editor, livemint.com
Originally published here

Budget Wishlist | Safeguard interests of marginalized

Budget Wishlist | Safeguard interests of marginalized

Include voices and concerns of farmers, labourers and artisans in the next pay commission

Sandeep Pandey

New Delhi: For those of us who have worked at the grassroot level with the ‘real India’, our concern is that the interests of the majority be borne in mind while economic, social and financial policies get framed.

Sandeep Pandey, social activist and Magsaysay award winner (2002)

Key Recommendations

* Include farmers, labourers and artisans in the next pay कमीशन

* Ensure employment for all and provide good quality healthcare

* Write off select debts of the poor after considerable review and fix respectable prices for their produce from primary sectors of the economy

* Make universal social security a norm rather than an exception

* Link the monetary value assigned to the chosen work/ profession to human existence. For example, people involved with agricultural production should be highest paid. Similarly, the price that gets fixed for their produce should be proportionate to importance of product to human existence.

* Allot land to landless agricultural workers by drawing up an appropriate plan that can safeguard interests of the rural poor as also help boost agricultural economy

*Shift from fossil fuel and nuclear energy to renewable energy economy and lifestyle

*Reduce defence budget; abandon nuclear weapons

*Make provision to fund election campaigns of candidates so that political parties don’t have to rely on corruption money, kickbacks and commissions for financing political activities

* Reduce income levels between service sector-business sector and primary production sectors of economy by a political decision

* Treat National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREG) as a legal guarantee transfer for full guaranteed wages to worker’s account at the end of the year. Wage levels for daily wage workers to be increased substantially similar to that of service sector and the scheme to be extended for throughout the year.

If I were FM

* I would equalize earning levels, ensure good quality healthcare for all, promote renewable sources of energy, promote small, cottage level industries as opposed to heavy industries and promote public transport system instead of privatized motorized transport.

India should have listened to Mahatma Gandhi and pursued the ideal of Gram Swarajya. Our development policies are flawed because we now have two distinct streams of development. For the rich we want to provide the finest products of technological development at affordable price for the poor we have to ban machines when we design an employment guarantee scheme for them. This is also reflected in the urban-rural divide.

Sandeep Pandey is a social activist; he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002 for emergent leadership.

As told to Arunoday Prakash, content editor, livemint.com
Originally published here

Chhattisgarh has highest rate of Farmers' Suicide: But the figures are fudged!

Chhattisgarh has highest rate of Farmers' Suicide: But the figures are fudged!

Shubhranshu Choudhary


I would like to begin today with a story- about Sharma ji and Verma ji. Of course it is all in my imagination- but what happened to them was indeed terrible.

One day Sharma ji's son committed suicide. Much hue and cry was made over why a young boy would commit suicide. The media considered the issue at length. The Prime Minister personally visited Sharma ji with compensation. The reason behind the suicide, according to the inquiry
commission, was that the boy studied in a co-ed school. Co-ed school is one where girls and boys study together. The report elaborated thus- The girls had ridiculed the boy for some reason, and his sensitive nature could not bear the trauma.

The issue was hotly debated in the Parliament- how to save our youth from recurring suicides- but clearly the option of immediate closing down of co-ed schools could not be considered.

Some years passed by.

One day Sharma ji's friend Verma ji's son also committed suicide.

It was a sad occasion. People had gathered to console Verma ji, who was desolate. But he said he had read all the reports of Sharma ji's son's suicide. His own son was not studying in co-ed school. So Verma ji felt that the doctor was fudging facts by suggesting that his son had committed suicide.

The body was there, right in front of him, but Verma ji would not report suicide. And thus the Prime Minister did not visit Verma ji for compensation.

Sharma ji lives in Vidarbha and Verma ji in Chhattisgarh.

I don't know if this point is going across to the reader or not- but the conditions in Chhattisgarh today are very similar to Verma Ji's.

Two weeks earlier, on 8th of february, I had written in this column that according to the figures available with the National Crime Record Bureau of the Central Home Ministry, approximately 1400 landholding farmers commit suicide in Chhattisgarh every year- ie 4 farmers per day.

This does not include the numbers of those Farmers who commit suicide but are not landholders.

The reaction in Chhattisgarh was similar to the one of Verma ji.

It was said that the farmers of Vidarbha and Andhra cultivate cash crops for which they take loans. But as the farmer in Chhattisgarh cultivates paddy, for which the labour requirement is high, however high loans are not required, so the figures of farmers' suicides are fudged.

Minister of Agriculture, Sharad Pawar has accepted in the House that the figures of farmers' suicide provided by the National Crime Record Bureau are accurate. (30th November, starred question number 238, the Agriculture Minister responds to Ram Jethmalani.)

The Bureau figures do not claim that the farmers are committing suicide due to reasons related to farming. And I am not claiming that here either.

I am only requesting for a study of these figures, to probe and understand what is happening.

Rhetoric of the kind- "Are we blind, that 4 farmers committed suicide everyday and we did not know", does not serve any purpose. For seven years these figures have been available with the National Crime Record Bureau. Not a peep from any Chhattisgarhiya in the direction!

I then began an exploration for any earlier study of Farmers' Suicides in Chhattisgarh.

I know of Verier Elwin's book Maria, Murder and Suicide, in which he studied the issue of Suicide amongst the Tribes of Bastar, and found that suicide is more prevalent in Maria tribe as compared to the Muria Tribe.

Subsequently I also found out about Professor Jonathan Perry of London School of Economics. He conducted a study in 2003, about suicides in the Bhilai Region. I contacted him and he told me, "Some years back I was in Bhilai for a research project and I found that in the settlements of Bhilai where I was carrying out my survey, the incidence of suicide was above average. In fact the figures were so significantly high that I started collecting figures from the hospitals and Police Stations , although this was not the subject of my study".

Professor Perry added, "This was about the same time as news of Andhra Pradesh Farmer suicides had started streaming in. I always felt that the conclusion that loans were at the root of the Farmers' Suicides was coming from a very superficial type of study. After my Bhilaiexperience I am not surprised by the figures you quote to me about Chhattisgarh Farmers."

In the meantime, my friend Yuvraj Gajpal who is pursuing his PhD in Canada, took a deeper look at the figures of National Crime Record Bureau. He calculated the rate of Farmers' suicides in the various states, and points out the following:

That in Chhattisgarh, 6.29 farmers commit suicide per lakh of population. Maharashtra follows at 4.59, Andhra Pradesh is next with 3.42, and Karnataka stands at 3.25.

He questions why so much attention is given to suicides in Maharashtra by journalists whereas he has not read anything about suicides in Chhattisgarh!

Yuvraj continues, "In Chhattisgarh, the percentage of landowning farmers is 17% of the total population. However the figure for farmers committing suicide as a percentage of total suicides is 33%, i.e, compared to other professions, twice as many farmers in Chhattisgarh take their own lives. What is the reason?"

I thought it might be a good idea to share these figures with Professor K Nagaraj of Madras Institute of Development Studies as he has been studying the subject for many years now. Professor Nagaraj said that he has recently received the figures for the year 2003 onwards, and his analysis will be ready in a few weeks. On the face of it, he sees no mismatch in the figures.

I asked Prof Nagraj, that people in Chhattisgarh say that this is a paddy cultivation area, and not a cash crop cultivation area. So how can Farmers be committing suicide?

He laughed and said, "Please go to Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, which is a paddy cultivation area. Many Farmers are committing suicide there. As opposed to this, the rest of Tamil Nadu has substantial cash crop production. But the rate of farmers' suicide is much lower here.

The reason is that the road network is excellent and upon crop failure, the farmer is able to find other livelihood. The only conclusion which can be drawn from this is that every problem is unique in itself."

I asked him, "Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are also paddy cultivation areas, but not many farmers commit suicide in those states as compared to Chhattisgarh"?

Prof Nagraj told me, "Chhattisgarh needs to be studied. But it is obvious that it is not comparable to the areas along the Ganga and Yamuna. Secondly a farmer does not commit suicide only because of agriculture loans- though loans may be a predominant reason. If you examine India after 1991, State help for the common man has reduced steadily, whether it is irrigation, or education. Suicides are caused by a mix of these problems."

In the end I called P Sainath of the "Hindu" newspaper who has been writing on this subject for many years. I told him that journalists in Chhattisgarh are saying these figures are fudged. Sainath said, "Its like the election results - if they do not match our expectation we say the elections are rigged. Please quote me in your article that if anyone has conducted a study and found that only one farmer is committing suicide in Chhattisgarh every year, then this State is a heaven on earth. I will advise farmers in Europe and America to shift to Chhattisgarh, because even there more farmers commit suicide than this "study" is showing".

It seems, the journalists in Chhattisgarh are behaving like Verma ji- who could not believe that his son had committed suicide because he was not studying in a co-ed school.

But will the leaders of Chhattisgarh please look into the matter? The assembly session is on, will someone please raise this issue?


Shubhranshu Choudhary
Email: shu@cgnet.in

Chhattisgarh has highest rate of Farmers' Suicide: But the figures are fudged!

Chhattisgarh has highest rate of Farmers' Suicide: But the figures are fudged!

Shubhranshu Choudhary


I would like to begin today with a story- about Sharma ji and Verma ji. Of course it is all in my imagination- but what happened to them was indeed terrible.

One day Sharma ji's son committed suicide. Much hue and cry was made over why a young boy would commit suicide. The media considered the issue at length. The Prime Minister personally visited Sharma ji with compensation. The reason behind the suicide, according to the inquiry
commission, was that the boy studied in a co-ed school. Co-ed school is one where girls and boys study together. The report elaborated thus- The girls had ridiculed the boy for some reason, and his sensitive nature could not bear the trauma.

The issue was hotly debated in the Parliament- how to save our youth from recurring suicides- but clearly the option of immediate closing down of co-ed schools could not be considered.

Some years passed by.

One day Sharma ji's friend Verma ji's son also committed suicide.

It was a sad occasion. People had gathered to console Verma ji, who was desolate. But he said he had read all the reports of Sharma ji's son's suicide. His own son was not studying in co-ed school. So Verma ji felt that the doctor was fudging facts by suggesting that his son had committed suicide.

The body was there, right in front of him, but Verma ji would not report suicide. And thus the Prime Minister did not visit Verma ji for compensation.

Sharma ji lives in Vidarbha and Verma ji in Chhattisgarh.

I don't know if this point is going across to the reader or not- but the conditions in Chhattisgarh today are very similar to Verma Ji's.

Two weeks earlier, on 8th of february, I had written in this column that according to the figures available with the National Crime Record Bureau of the Central Home Ministry, approximately 1400 landholding farmers commit suicide in Chhattisgarh every year- ie 4 farmers per day.

This does not include the numbers of those Farmers who commit suicide but are not landholders.

The reaction in Chhattisgarh was similar to the one of Verma ji.

It was said that the farmers of Vidarbha and Andhra cultivate cash crops for which they take loans. But as the farmer in Chhattisgarh cultivates paddy, for which the labour requirement is high, however high loans are not required, so the figures of farmers' suicides are fudged.

Minister of Agriculture, Sharad Pawar has accepted in the House that the figures of farmers' suicide provided by the National Crime Record Bureau are accurate. (30th November, starred question number 238, the Agriculture Minister responds to Ram Jethmalani.)

The Bureau figures do not claim that the farmers are committing suicide due to reasons related to farming. And I am not claiming that here either.

I am only requesting for a study of these figures, to probe and understand what is happening.

Rhetoric of the kind- "Are we blind, that 4 farmers committed suicide everyday and we did not know", does not serve any purpose. For seven years these figures have been available with the National Crime Record Bureau. Not a peep from any Chhattisgarhiya in the direction!

I then began an exploration for any earlier study of Farmers' Suicides in Chhattisgarh.

I know of Verier Elwin's book Maria, Murder and Suicide, in which he studied the issue of Suicide amongst the Tribes of Bastar, and found that suicide is more prevalent in Maria tribe as compared to the Muria Tribe.

Subsequently I also found out about Professor Jonathan Perry of London School of Economics. He conducted a study in 2003, about suicides in the Bhilai Region. I contacted him and he told me, "Some years back I was in Bhilai for a research project and I found that in the settlements of Bhilai where I was carrying out my survey, the incidence of suicide was above average. In fact the figures were so significantly high that I started collecting figures from the hospitals and Police Stations , although this was not the subject of my study".

Professor Perry added, "This was about the same time as news of Andhra Pradesh Farmer suicides had started streaming in. I always felt that the conclusion that loans were at the root of the Farmers' Suicides was coming from a very superficial type of study. After my Bhilaiexperience I am not surprised by the figures you quote to me about Chhattisgarh Farmers."

In the meantime, my friend Yuvraj Gajpal who is pursuing his PhD in Canada, took a deeper look at the figures of National Crime Record Bureau. He calculated the rate of Farmers' suicides in the various states, and points out the following:

That in Chhattisgarh, 6.29 farmers commit suicide per lakh of population. Maharashtra follows at 4.59, Andhra Pradesh is next with 3.42, and Karnataka stands at 3.25.

He questions why so much attention is given to suicides in Maharashtra by journalists whereas he has not read anything about suicides in Chhattisgarh!

Yuvraj continues, "In Chhattisgarh, the percentage of landowning farmers is 17% of the total population. However the figure for farmers committing suicide as a percentage of total suicides is 33%, i.e, compared to other professions, twice as many farmers in Chhattisgarh take their own lives. What is the reason?"

I thought it might be a good idea to share these figures with Professor K Nagaraj of Madras Institute of Development Studies as he has been studying the subject for many years now. Professor Nagaraj said that he has recently received the figures for the year 2003 onwards, and his analysis will be ready in a few weeks. On the face of it, he sees no mismatch in the figures.

I asked Prof Nagraj, that people in Chhattisgarh say that this is a paddy cultivation area, and not a cash crop cultivation area. So how can Farmers be committing suicide?

He laughed and said, "Please go to Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, which is a paddy cultivation area. Many Farmers are committing suicide there. As opposed to this, the rest of Tamil Nadu has substantial cash crop production. But the rate of farmers' suicide is much lower here.

The reason is that the road network is excellent and upon crop failure, the farmer is able to find other livelihood. The only conclusion which can be drawn from this is that every problem is unique in itself."

I asked him, "Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are also paddy cultivation areas, but not many farmers commit suicide in those states as compared to Chhattisgarh"?

Prof Nagraj told me, "Chhattisgarh needs to be studied. But it is obvious that it is not comparable to the areas along the Ganga and Yamuna. Secondly a farmer does not commit suicide only because of agriculture loans- though loans may be a predominant reason. If you examine India after 1991, State help for the common man has reduced steadily, whether it is irrigation, or education. Suicides are caused by a mix of these problems."

In the end I called P Sainath of the "Hindu" newspaper who has been writing on this subject for many years. I told him that journalists in Chhattisgarh are saying these figures are fudged. Sainath said, "Its like the election results - if they do not match our expectation we say the elections are rigged. Please quote me in your article that if anyone has conducted a study and found that only one farmer is committing suicide in Chhattisgarh every year, then this State is a heaven on earth. I will advise farmers in Europe and America to shift to Chhattisgarh, because even there more farmers commit suicide than this "study" is showing".

It seems, the journalists in Chhattisgarh are behaving like Verma ji- who could not believe that his son had committed suicide because he was not studying in a co-ed school.

But will the leaders of Chhattisgarh please look into the matter? The assembly session is on, will someone please raise this issue?


Shubhranshu Choudhary
Email: shu@cgnet.in

36Garh Suicide Figures Fudged? 4 farmers commit suicide every day.

36Garh Suicide Figures Fudged?

4 farmers commit suicide every day.

by

Shubhranshu Choudhary

A city dweller like me has very little understanding of Farming and Farmers. But dreams for a region's future need to include the issue related to the livelihoods of more than 80% of the people of that region.

Which is why the first session of the annual Dream CG Meet, a gathering of memebers of the CGnet group, is about Agriculture. This year we thought of inviting some farmers from the adjoining Vidarbha region to learn from their experiences and apply the same to Chhattisgarh. Thousands of farmers are known to be committing suicides and we wanted to be forewarned and fore armed.

We contacted Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Andolan, and the farmer leader Vijay Jawandiya. They have been monitoring the issue of farmers' suicides and mailing journalists regularly to keep the attention of the media on the subject. Along with P. Sainath, they have made significant contribution in drawing world attention to the farmer's suicides in Vidarbha.

I also got in touch with Professor P Radhakrishnan of Madras Institute of Development Studies. He has a substantial body of work with him, on the Farmers' Suicides. He introduced me to Professor K. Nagraj who said, “It is true that Maharashtra has the biggest problem of Farmers' Suicides and you should invite the people of Vidarbha, but it is more important to initiate a study in Chhattisgarh. A large number of farmers are committing suicide in Chhattisgarh.”

It was the last week of December and Professor Nagraj was proceeding for his annual vacation. I think I was sceptical about what he said with reference to Chhattisgarh. I recalled a study conducted by one of my friends. According to this study, from the year of formation of Chhattisgarh till 2006, only 5 or 6 farmers have committed suicide- which meant one suicide per year.

Both Vijay Janwadiya and Kishor Tiwari could not attend the Dream Chhattisgarh meet. Many issues related to agriculture were discussed but the specific lessons which could be drawn on from the Vidarbh experience could not be considered.

A news article published some time back quoted the annual report of The National Crime Records Bureau ( 2006) which claimed that though Maharashtra continues to lead in the matter of Farmers' Suicides, but the combined figure for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ranks second. I was shocked.

The report further elaborated that in the year 2006 ( the figures for 2007 shall be available only next year) a total of 17,060 Farmers' suicides were reported, of which the maximum ie 4453 were from Maharashtra . The second rank was held by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for which the figure was 2858. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were next with 2607 and 1720 Farmers' suicides reported in 2006. According to the same report, the figures for Andhra Pradesh have risen a little over the previous year, and in Karnataka they have gone down.

I was surprised, and confused. According to my information, the number of farmers committing suicide in Chhattisgarh was very small (1 per year) in the last 6-7 years. Which meant that Madhya Pradesh figures ought to have been significantly large. However I was not aware of Madhya Pradesh being in the lime light for Farmers' suicides.

The first question on my mind was, Chhattisgarh State was created 7 years back. Why are the Chhattisgarh figures still clubbed with those of Madhya Pradesh? If Chhattisgarh farmers are not committing suicide then what is behind maligning the name of this State?

Subsequently I found an article by Sushmita Malwiya on one of the websites. Sushmita also quoted combined figures for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In the same report, the Agriculture officer for Chhattisgarh has been thus quoted- “ We have no record of Farmers' suicides with us. We have not received this report, but the figures are baseless”

I was getting really confused now. I contacted the editor of the newspaper “ Chhattisgarh'. He told me- “ The entire Chhattisgarh is not Dantewada that thousands of farmers will commit suicide here, and no one will write about it in the media”

I wondered why the Prime Minister, in his package of 17000 crores for the Farmers who committed suicide, did not declare a package for farmers of Madhya Pradesh, if the figures of farmers' suicide in Madhya Pradesh was indeed higher than that of Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala?

I called up many journalists in Madhya Pradesh. They said that they did recall reports of Farmers' suicides, but when the government disputed the figures quoted, the issue went into cold storage.

Then I called up P. Sainath, who is the editor for rural matters with the newspaper “Hindu”. Mr Sainath said, “ I have been writing about Farmers' suicides from the year 2000. For a long time, I was ridiculed. In 2004, after Chandra Babu Naidu lost the elections, people started taking me seriously in Andhra Pradesh. But even then people of Vidarbh would say that this was happening only in Andhra Pradesh and not in Vidarbha. But the official figures show that from the nineties decade, twice as many farmers are committing suicide in Vidarbha as compared to Andhra Pradesh.

I told him that the journalists in Chhattisgarh are doubtful about the authenticity of the figures. Mr Sainath queried, “Which newspaper in Chhattisgarh publishes the farmer's news? Does any news paper appoint a reporter for covering Agricultural issues? What all can I do singly? Where all can I visit? I have not been able to travel out of Vidarbha for the past many years. I will try and go to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after April. This subject needs to be researched and written about”

In the meantime, Prof K. Nagaraj had returned from his vacation. In response to my first question, he said, “ The figures of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are not clubbed. But my own study began in 1997, when the State had not been created. And so, for my personal convenience I club the figures of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The journalists just quote me, they do not explore the source of my figures. But you are wrong in thinking that all the suicides are happening in Madhya Pradesh. In the last few years, more farmers have committed suicide in Chhattisgarh than in Madhya Pradesh. According to the figures of 2006, the figures for Farmers' suicides for Madhya Pradesh are 1375, and for Chhattisgarh the figure is 1483”

Mr Nagraj said, “ The figures for Chhattisgarh shocked me initially, I used to think that as farmers migrate from Chhattisgarh in the same way that they do from UP and Bihar, the number of farmers committing suicide would be small. But if you are claiming that the figures are fudged, then the figures for all the States are also fudged. Because the source for all figures is common. To the extent I understand the issue, these figures are probably less than the reality. eg a farmer who commits suicide but who does not have land registered in his name, would not be included here. The real figure for farmers' suicides is likely to be higher in reality”.

I contacted the National Crimes Records Bureau for the figures of Farmers' suicide in Chhattisgarh, and they gave me the figures ( see box) . The officers told me to contact the Chhattisgarh State police department if I doubted their figures- as these figures are actually conveyed by the State to the Centre.

P Sainath says, “ Not only the journalists, but the activists are also responsible for the silence on the issue of farmers' Suicide in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.”

This is the election year for both states. Will some body speak up now?

Farmers' suicides in Chhattisgarh

2001 : 1452

2002 : 1238

2003 : 1066

2004 : 1395

2005 : 1412

2006 : 1483

source- National Crime Records Bureau of the Central Home Ministry

36Garh Suicide Figures Fudged? 4 farmers commit suicide every day.

36Garh Suicide Figures Fudged?

4 farmers commit suicide every day.

by

Shubhranshu Choudhary

A city dweller like me has very little understanding of Farming and Farmers. But dreams for a region's future need to include the issue related to the livelihoods of more than 80% of the people of that region.

Which is why the first session of the annual Dream CG Meet, a gathering of memebers of the CGnet group, is about Agriculture. This year we thought of inviting some farmers from the adjoining Vidarbha region to learn from their experiences and apply the same to Chhattisgarh. Thousands of farmers are known to be committing suicides and we wanted to be forewarned and fore armed.

We contacted Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Andolan, and the farmer leader Vijay Jawandiya. They have been monitoring the issue of farmers' suicides and mailing journalists regularly to keep the attention of the media on the subject. Along with P. Sainath, they have made significant contribution in drawing world attention to the farmer's suicides in Vidarbha.

I also got in touch with Professor P Radhakrishnan of Madras Institute of Development Studies. He has a substantial body of work with him, on the Farmers' Suicides. He introduced me to Professor K. Nagraj who said, “It is true that Maharashtra has the biggest problem of Farmers' Suicides and you should invite the people of Vidarbha, but it is more important to initiate a study in Chhattisgarh. A large number of farmers are committing suicide in Chhattisgarh.”

It was the last week of December and Professor Nagraj was proceeding for his annual vacation. I think I was sceptical about what he said with reference to Chhattisgarh. I recalled a study conducted by one of my friends. According to this study, from the year of formation of Chhattisgarh till 2006, only 5 or 6 farmers have committed suicide- which meant one suicide per year.

Both Vijay Janwadiya and Kishor Tiwari could not attend the Dream Chhattisgarh meet. Many issues related to agriculture were discussed but the specific lessons which could be drawn on from the Vidarbh experience could not be considered.

A news article published some time back quoted the annual report of The National Crime Records Bureau ( 2006) which claimed that though Maharashtra continues to lead in the matter of Farmers' Suicides, but the combined figure for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh ranks second. I was shocked.

The report further elaborated that in the year 2006 ( the figures for 2007 shall be available only next year) a total of 17,060 Farmers' suicides were reported, of which the maximum ie 4453 were from Maharashtra . The second rank was held by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for which the figure was 2858. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were next with 2607 and 1720 Farmers' suicides reported in 2006. According to the same report, the figures for Andhra Pradesh have risen a little over the previous year, and in Karnataka they have gone down.

I was surprised, and confused. According to my information, the number of farmers committing suicide in Chhattisgarh was very small (1 per year) in the last 6-7 years. Which meant that Madhya Pradesh figures ought to have been significantly large. However I was not aware of Madhya Pradesh being in the lime light for Farmers' suicides.

The first question on my mind was, Chhattisgarh State was created 7 years back. Why are the Chhattisgarh figures still clubbed with those of Madhya Pradesh? If Chhattisgarh farmers are not committing suicide then what is behind maligning the name of this State?

Subsequently I found an article by Sushmita Malwiya on one of the websites. Sushmita also quoted combined figures for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In the same report, the Agriculture officer for Chhattisgarh has been thus quoted- “ We have no record of Farmers' suicides with us. We have not received this report, but the figures are baseless”

I was getting really confused now. I contacted the editor of the newspaper “ Chhattisgarh'. He told me- “ The entire Chhattisgarh is not Dantewada that thousands of farmers will commit suicide here, and no one will write about it in the media”

I wondered why the Prime Minister, in his package of 17000 crores for the Farmers who committed suicide, did not declare a package for farmers of Madhya Pradesh, if the figures of farmers' suicide in Madhya Pradesh was indeed higher than that of Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala?

I called up many journalists in Madhya Pradesh. They said that they did recall reports of Farmers' suicides, but when the government disputed the figures quoted, the issue went into cold storage.

Then I called up P. Sainath, who is the editor for rural matters with the newspaper “Hindu”. Mr Sainath said, “ I have been writing about Farmers' suicides from the year 2000. For a long time, I was ridiculed. In 2004, after Chandra Babu Naidu lost the elections, people started taking me seriously in Andhra Pradesh. But even then people of Vidarbh would say that this was happening only in Andhra Pradesh and not in Vidarbha. But the official figures show that from the nineties decade, twice as many farmers are committing suicide in Vidarbha as compared to Andhra Pradesh.

I told him that the journalists in Chhattisgarh are doubtful about the authenticity of the figures. Mr Sainath queried, “Which newspaper in Chhattisgarh publishes the farmer's news? Does any news paper appoint a reporter for covering Agricultural issues? What all can I do singly? Where all can I visit? I have not been able to travel out of Vidarbha for the past many years. I will try and go to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after April. This subject needs to be researched and written about”

In the meantime, Prof K. Nagaraj had returned from his vacation. In response to my first question, he said, “ The figures of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are not clubbed. But my own study began in 1997, when the State had not been created. And so, for my personal convenience I club the figures of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The journalists just quote me, they do not explore the source of my figures. But you are wrong in thinking that all the suicides are happening in Madhya Pradesh. In the last few years, more farmers have committed suicide in Chhattisgarh than in Madhya Pradesh. According to the figures of 2006, the figures for Farmers' suicides for Madhya Pradesh are 1375, and for Chhattisgarh the figure is 1483”

Mr Nagraj said, “ The figures for Chhattisgarh shocked me initially, I used to think that as farmers migrate from Chhattisgarh in the same way that they do from UP and Bihar, the number of farmers committing suicide would be small. But if you are claiming that the figures are fudged, then the figures for all the States are also fudged. Because the source for all figures is common. To the extent I understand the issue, these figures are probably less than the reality. eg a farmer who commits suicide but who does not have land registered in his name, would not be included here. The real figure for farmers' suicides is likely to be higher in reality”.

I contacted the National Crimes Records Bureau for the figures of Farmers' suicide in Chhattisgarh, and they gave me the figures ( see box) . The officers told me to contact the Chhattisgarh State police department if I doubted their figures- as these figures are actually conveyed by the State to the Centre.

P Sainath says, “ Not only the journalists, but the activists are also responsible for the silence on the issue of farmers' Suicide in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.”

This is the election year for both states. Will some body speak up now?

Farmers' suicides in Chhattisgarh

2001 : 1452

2002 : 1238

2003 : 1066

2004 : 1395

2005 : 1412

2006 : 1483

source- National Crime Records Bureau of the Central Home Ministry

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

Negotiations toward a protocol on illicit tobacco trade to the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), were held earlier this month.

The illicit tobacco trade makes up approximately 10 percent of global tobacco sales and costs governments between 40-50 billion dollars (27-34 billion euros) every year.

"Transnational companies benefit in a number of ways from the illicit trade in tobacco," said Kathyrn Mulvey, Director of International Policy, Corporate Accountability International (CAI).

While many countries voiced their commitment to a protocol that will require tobacco corporations to assume responsibility for their supply chains, provide financial disincentives to the illicit tobacco trade, and prevent government collaboration with the tobacco industry, Japan earned the first Marlboro Man Award of the protocol negotiations.

The Marlboro Man Award, bestowed by the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), exposes and challenges countries for espousing treaty positions that benefit the tobacco industry at the expense of public health.

The award is named after Philip Morris's notorious advertising icon, which has played a central role in spreading tobacco addiction globally. On the strength of the Marlboro Man advertising and promotional campaign, Marlboro became the world's leading cigarette brand, and Philip Morris/Altria (soon to split into Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International) became the world's largest and most profitable tobacco transnational.

In its opening comments during the above illicit tobacco trade negotiations, Japan questioned the value of a potential protocol and suggested that the illicit tobacco trade could be tackled at the domestic level and through existing trade and intellectual property agreements. The Japanese government owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco, the world's third largest tobacco corporation, and was sharply criticized throughout the FCTC talks for advocating positions that served the interests of Big Tobacco.

"Tobacco industry interference poses a huge threat to implementation of the global tobacco treaty," said Mulvey.

"Governments and civil society must be vigilant to ensure that this vital protocol is not derailed."

"Considering that Japan Tobacco's products are being smuggled into West African markets like Nigeria, we're concerned that the Japanese government has a conflict of interest in these negotiations," says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, also a NATT member.

“Reversing this entirely preventable epidemic [tobacco epidemic] must now rank as a top priority for public health and for political leaders in every country of the world” had said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO to mark the release of the Global Tobacco Epidemic Report (2008) of World Health Organization released earlier this month.

But without holding tobacco corporations accountable and monitoring them stringently to ensure that effective tobacco control policies work with the utmost impact, reversing the global tobacco epidemic shall remain a daunting challenge.

Tobacco corporations across the world have been not only aggressively protecting and promoting their tobacco markets, particularly in the developing countries, but also trying their best to either abort or weaken the public health policies that begin to take shape in countries around the world.

Alert monitoring of tobacco corporations and holding them accountable for violating existing health policies in present and the past will help reduce the tobacco use globally.

Published in

The Assam Times, Assam, India (21 February 2008)

The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea (21 February 2008)

Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal (21 February 2008)

Scoop Independent News, New Zealand (21 February 2008)

Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh, India

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

Negotiations toward a protocol on illicit tobacco trade to the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), were held earlier this month.

The illicit tobacco trade makes up approximately 10 percent of global tobacco sales and costs governments between 40-50 billion dollars (27-34 billion euros) every year.

"Transnational companies benefit in a number of ways from the illicit trade in tobacco," said Kathyrn Mulvey, Director of International Policy, Corporate Accountability International (CAI).

While many countries voiced their commitment to a protocol that will require tobacco corporations to assume responsibility for their supply chains, provide financial disincentives to the illicit tobacco trade, and prevent government collaboration with the tobacco industry, Japan earned the first Marlboro Man Award of the protocol negotiations.

The Marlboro Man Award, bestowed by the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), exposes and challenges countries for espousing treaty positions that benefit the tobacco industry at the expense of public health.

The award is named after Philip Morris's notorious advertising icon, which has played a central role in spreading tobacco addiction globally. On the strength of the Marlboro Man advertising and promotional campaign, Marlboro became the world's leading cigarette brand, and Philip Morris/Altria (soon to split into Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International) became the world's largest and most profitable tobacco transnational.

In its opening comments during the above illicit tobacco trade negotiations, Japan questioned the value of a potential protocol and suggested that the illicit tobacco trade could be tackled at the domestic level and through existing trade and intellectual property agreements. The Japanese government owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco, the world's third largest tobacco corporation, and was sharply criticized throughout the FCTC talks for advocating positions that served the interests of Big Tobacco.

"Tobacco industry interference poses a huge threat to implementation of the global tobacco treaty," said Mulvey.

"Governments and civil society must be vigilant to ensure that this vital protocol is not derailed."

"Considering that Japan Tobacco's products are being smuggled into West African markets like Nigeria, we're concerned that the Japanese government has a conflict of interest in these negotiations," says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, also a NATT member.

“Reversing this entirely preventable epidemic [tobacco epidemic] must now rank as a top priority for public health and for political leaders in every country of the world” had said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO to mark the release of the Global Tobacco Epidemic Report (2008) of World Health Organization released earlier this month.

But without holding tobacco corporations accountable and monitoring them stringently to ensure that effective tobacco control policies work with the utmost impact, reversing the global tobacco epidemic shall remain a daunting challenge.

Tobacco corporations across the world have been not only aggressively protecting and promoting their tobacco markets, particularly in the developing countries, but also trying their best to either abort or weaken the public health policies that begin to take shape in countries around the world.

Alert monitoring of tobacco corporations and holding them accountable for violating existing health policies in present and the past will help reduce the tobacco use globally.

Published in

The Assam Times, Assam, India (21 February 2008)

The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea (21 February 2008)

Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal (21 February 2008)

Scoop Independent News, New Zealand (21 February 2008)

Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh, India

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

Japan's obstructionist position on illicit trade protocol

(To read this posting in hindi language , click here )

-------------------------

GENEVA---Negotiations toward a protocol on illicit tobacco trade to the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), opened yesterday. While many countries voiced their commitment to a protocol that will require tobacco corporations to assume responsibility for their supply chains, provide financial disincentives to the illicit tobacco trade, and prevent government collaboration with the tobacco industry, Japan earned the first Marlboro Man Award of the protocol negotiations.

The award, bestowed by the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) , exposes and challenges countries for espousing treaty positions that benefit the tobacco industry at the expense of public health. The award is named after Philip Morris's notorious advertising icon, which has played a central role in spreading tobacco addiction globally. On the strength of the Marlboro Man advertising and promotional campaign, Marlboro became the world's leading cigarette brand, and Philip Morris/Altria (soon to split into Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International) became the world's largest and most profitable tobacco transnational.

In its opening comments, Japan questioned the value of a potential protocol and suggested that the illicit tobacco trade could be tackled at the domestic level and through existing trade and intellectual property agreements. The Japanese government owns a 50% stake in Japan Tobacco, the world's third largest tobacco corporation, and was sharply criticized throughout the FCTC talks for advocating positions that served the interests of Big Tobacco.

"Tobacco industry interference poses a huge threat to implementation of the global tobacco treaty," said Kathy Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International , a NATT member. "Governments and civil society must be vigilant to ensure that this vital protocol is not derailed." Throughout negotiations on the FCTC from 2000 to 2003, NATT presented the Marlboro Man Award based on the previous day's negotiations.

"Considering that Japan Tobacco's products are being smuggled into West African markets like Nigeria, we're concerned that the Japanese government has a conflict of interest in these negotiations," says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, also a NATT member.

Contact: Bryan Hirsch, Corporate Accountability International , +41 76 547 3476

---------------------------

Tobacco giants accused of 'collusion' over cigarette smuggling

GENEVA (AFP) --- Tobacco giants Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco actively collude with cigarette smugglers to gain a foothold in lucrative developing markets, campaigners alleged on Wednesday.

"Transnationals benefit in a number of ways from the illicit trade in tobacco," said Kathyrn Mulvey, director of international policy with the lobby group Corporate Accountability International (CAI).

This includes establishing a brand presence in new markets, and getting more people addicted to cigarettes -- particularly children because smuggled tobacco is so cheap, she told journalists.

"Documents do show industry complicity in this deadly business," Mulvey added.

The World Health Organisation is meeting in Geneva to debate a new protocol on the illicit tobacco trade to the existing Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

"This week, governments have a new opportunity to prioritise health over trade and commercial interests, and hold tobacco transnationals accountable for the harms they cause," Mulvey said.

The illicit tobacco trade makes up approximately 10 percent of global tobacco sales and costs governments between 40-50 billion dollars (27-34 billion euros) every year, CAI said in a statement.

In African countries such as Nigeria, the rate is even higher at between 10 and 16 percent, said environmental and health activist Akinbode Oluwafemi.

Smuggled tobacco constitutes a "serious public health issue in Africa," he told journalists.

In Nigeria, a pack of smuggled cigarettes can be less than half price.

"It's cheaper than sweets, cheaper than any other item," Oluwafemi said.

Companies such as British American Tobacco are now seeking to portray themselves as anti-smuggling, with BAT offering to supply logistical support and even vehicles to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.

However, these moves ignore the company's "long history of smuggling into Nigeria," which was documented in a probe by Britain's House of Commons, Oluwafemi said.

CAI said that only a strong protocol to the WHO treaty would be effective in holding companies to account.

"If history is any indication, the tobacco industry will take every opportunity to undermine the treaty's implementation," Oluwafemi warned.

The WHO said last week that tobacco use could kill more than one billion people around the world this century unless governments and civil society act to reverse the epidemic.

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(To read this posting in hindi language , click here )