WHAT THE FARMERS NEED (15th Feb 2011)

ORGANIC MANURE & PESTICIDES:

“Farmers in developed countries are now more aware and are switching over to organic manures resulting in more than 10 per cent drop in chemical fertilizer production. On the contrary, we in India are ignoring the benefits of organic fertilizers and importing huge quantities of chemical fertilizers,” says Prof. D. Narahari, former Head, Poultry Science, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai.

I have been interacting with some like-minded people all across the globe and each one of them say that their country is seeing a drastic change in dietary habit, because most of them are now aware about the ills of consuming GM Crops and have switched as much as possible to buy Organic produce to be on the safe side... it is also common sense that the West, which has been promoting GM Crops since decades have the maximum number of psychotic disorder cases as compared to the Eastern countries, who have been practicing Organic Farming since ages... dumping the poisonous chemicals fertilizers & pesticides for its GM Crops, the West has in fact, not only affected the fertility of soil but also are killing people softly through various illness in almost all the countries... obviously all these GM Crops & poisonous chemical fertilizers &  pesticides are helping the Pharmaceutical industry to grow at such a rapid pace. Haiti was a great example when they refused Monsato’s GM Food Grains offer as aid and burned whatever was supplied... the country had the guts one must say to do such a thing when they had suffered the worst tragedy in decades... Hats off to every Haitian and especially their government to show to the world, how dangerous the GM Crops are in reality!

Brazil is another latest example of how a country can fight back the GM lobby to switch over to Organic Farming to increase food grains production of the nation. Even in France, the limitation of Organic Farming is seeing a gradual growth among consumers, who are ready to shell out more money to buy Organic produce... In UK, the citizen have realized that GM Crops are the main source of all the nervous disorders and hence the slow but steady shift to Organic Farming in taking place in most of the countryside counties, so I was told by my friends from the Island nation.

A very simple test can be made by anyone who is reading this post: When you cook food, use the desi (organic produced) tomatoes instead of the Hybrid Tomato and one can see the difference. Similarly, Organic grown cucumber is much tastier than the Hybrid and yes, Organic grown Celery, Parsley, Lettuce, Broccoli, Red Cabbage, Red Raddish or any English vegetables have more value and sell at higher prices in India... sadly though, the government of India has been promoting GM Crops and teaching the farmers to use more and more chemical fertilizers & pesticides to grow more so that more Indians are affected. I used to run a hi-end vegetable supermarket in Hyderabad by the name TARKARI (in Banjara Hills Road No:1) and we had a lovely supplier of English vegetables, all grown in their Organic Farm... Maru Farm was famous in Secunderabad & Hyderabad for Organic English Vegetables.

Earlier, every farmer used to have cattle, which were used to plough fields, provide them milk and of course, cow dung... the main source for Organic manure... in olden days, 90 per cent of farmers used to have cattle as compared to today’s modern days, where in tractors have taken over from the cattle, resulting in only 10 per cent of farmers owning cattle. While a lot of noise is made about the modernisation of agriculture and development, sadly, the state of agriculture is in deterioration, going from bad to worse... soil fertility have been affected so much with the use of chemical fertilizers that even if the farmers who dare to go back to start Organic Farming, it takes almost three to five years for the soil to regain its fertility. Poor marginal farmers have no choice but to continue with chemical farming as they cannot afford to sustain for three to five year time period.

Organic Farming reduces the initial investment of the farmers many folds because the manure is free and the pesticides are prepared from Neem leaves and seeds, which also is free of cost for the farmers and the produce, needless to say are healthy and better as compared to GM produce. While there are many initiatives in the Vidarbha region where Organic Farming is being done, sadly, the government has not been taking enough initiatives to promote Organic Farming in the region, where farmers’ suicide is rampant.

The farmers have to realize that Organic Farming will only release them from all their sorrows and worries towards a better future... will more and more people propagate Organic Farming to Vidarbha farmers? Time will tell...

.... to be continued...

WHAT THE FARMERS NEED – III (12th Feb 2011)

A GOOD SEED BANK:

After the requirement of an effective irrigation system, the need of a good seed bank is the most mandatory for any farmer of the world. Sadly though ever since GM Crops have taken over the world’s agriculture system... a good seed bank is the story of the past... for which the local government and the farmers are equally to be blamed.

In the not so-olden days, every farmer used to create his own seed bank, saving from the crops produced every year... this way, the farmer used to save his money buying seeds from the market. The process was simple and not so complicated... mostly, it was the duty of the farmers’ wives to do the saving of the seeds to create seed bank... seeds are dried and stored in mud pots with Neem leaves and then it is covered by applying cow dung to seal the pots. The pots are then put at attic till next sowing season arrives... this simple process is long forgotten now in villages, except a few, who still do it. This was a perfect way for farmers to have the best seeds from their own produce and free of cost.

With the advent of GM Crops making its way to every household and shops in today’s modern times, the farmers have found an easy way to save themselves from all the hassles of creating their own seed bank. While they are shelling out unnecessary money, from their savings, to buy seeds each year... the farmers forget that they are thereby increasing their initial investment while filling the pockets of the seeds producing companies. Of course, with more GM crops making it presence in each country through their patent and rights through local governments, the policy has gone against the poor farmers, who have no choice but to buy seeds at higher rates each year. This adds up to their initial investment, a loss which they can avoid by creating their own seed bank.

The politicians - seeds producing companies - market nexus plays a more cruel game of shortage of seeds during the sowing season to raise the prices of the seeds... each year, the story is the same and the government quietly overlooks this mal-practice because the lobby pays them well... the poor farmers have no choice but to succumb to the market. GM Crops have snatched every little joy from farmers’ plates by promising them of higher yield but what they don’t tell or teach the farmers is that every GM seeds need heavy use of poisonous chemical fertilizers and pesticides to control the weeds and provide a higher yield. The heavy use of these chemicals are in turn hazardous for the crops and fertile land as it kills the fertility of the soil, requires more water and with more weeds, need more labour... all in all, a losing proposition for farmers as it increases the initial investment... and when the produce is ready, the market plays truant to buy farmers’ yield at lower rates... so but obvious, the initial investment doesn’t match the income generated...

Not that these facts are not known to the government planning commission but then farmers are the best income generating flesh and till the last drop is sucked from their bodies... the rich MNCs will not stop their greed and killing of the community, that is making the farmers the fastest depleting species worldwide! The future surely is very dangerous and before it is too late, the local government should start thinking about the age-old farming practices, which provided healthy produce and kept everyone safe from the mass genocide... do we really care or realize about the intake of poisonous food grains each one of us is consuming today???

... to be continued...

WHAT THE FARMERS NEED – II (8th Feb 2011)

A GOOD EFFECTIVE IRRIGATION INFRASTRUCTURE:


Bhartiya kisaan bhagwan bharose (Indian peasants are at the mercy of God)! The old adage has not changed even one bit, even when India’s economic growth is pegged at 8 plus per cent by our Prime Minister and Finance Minister. So what does it really means? Indian farmers are still dependant on rain god for a good harvest each year. If the rainfall is heavy (as it was in 2010), the loss is unprecedented and if there is no rain (as it was from 2006 to 2009) then also it is the farmers who will bear the brunt of losses and in both the cases it is the poor who suffer. Political leaders will shout aloud to raise their voice about all the losses, aid will be declared but as late Rajiv Gandhi had put in 1985 – “to every rupee the government spend, only 15 paise reach the poor” – that means 85 per cent is gobbled by the big corrupt sharks in white kurta and pyajama, who are sitting in various ministries and government offices.

Ironical and a fact that everyone knows yet have closed eyes, for the simple reason that it does not affect the urbanites. How the poor farmers grow food and other cash crops year after year for the whole nation and other countries to benefit... truly one must salute them for their undying selfless service towards the nation and its citizen. How I wish, like all the other sectors, the farmers can go on an indefinite strike to get their demands fulfilled... sadly, they cannot. The basic requirements of irrigation is lacking in the country, courtesy the ruling government since the last 63 plus years... while India as the agriculture dominated nation has achieved so much in the last six plus decades, infrastructure for agriculture has seen no real progress at all... only 10 per cent of Vidarbha land is under irrigation, in spite of Vidarbha having the maximum number of rivers, more than 40 medium sized reservoirs in Nagpur district itself and country’s biggest thermal power station – CSTPS and more than 80 plus new thermal power projects are in the pipeline to be sanctioned by the state government... all in all, depriving the poor farmers water for irrigation and clean and safe drinking water, and not to mention there are thousands and thousands villages which has not seen what electricity is...

This is truly the 21^st Century Economic Growth of a nation that has neglected the major agriculture sector for farmers to succumb to suicide, sell wives to feed the children (in Bundelkhand),  leave farming and suffer in hunger, safeguard water for irrigation with guns (in Bihar)... Irrigation projects in Vidarbha region have taken more than 36 and 24 years respectively in Bhandara and Yavatmal districts. Many PMs and CMs have come and gone and the work in the two districts (that I have the knowledge of) are still incomplete and the works are moving at a snail’s pace. All the river water that can save and help farming in the region have and are being diverted to heavy industries and thermal projects... so what will the farmers do without irrigation? Commit more suicides? All the big talks of the Prime Minister about India’s growth are hollow in nature as agriculture sector which was dominated by 70 per cent of population has reduced to 50 per cent... and the migration of villagers towards cities have in fact choked the cities as well.

24th year in progress, the canal is still incomplete...

Each year as farmers’ suicide climbs the statistical bars... the government declares aid but nothing is done to help and support the farmers with their mandatory needs... a simple provision of irrigation can serve the nation at large with farmers in the region cultivating food all through the year and there will be less suicide with farmers earning all through the year. One of the basic needs of every farmer is a good irrigation system in place... it is not rocket science but common sense... but the leaders of the nation are there to deprive the majority of poor farmers of their basic needs so they can please the few select rich industrialists and MNCs in order to fill their coffers in Swiss Banks and other black money havens of the world.

Punjab and Haryana are the only two Indian states which has the best irrigation system in the country but the after effects of the so-called Green Revolution has taken a toll with the farmers... soil treated with chemical poisonous fertilizers & pesticides have reduced the productivity of the produce drastically, labour wages have gone higher than expected, cost of GM seeds have increased the initial investment and with the new generation migrating towards foreign shores for better prospects... farmers are succumbing to suicide or else farmers are leaving the age-old profession because everything is against the farmers... I ask the world and the Prime Minister – Is this really the growth of the nation???

What will happen, when there will be no fertile agriculture land, farmers left and no water to irrigate the farms in near future? How and from where the nation will feed the ever growing billion plus population? The future is really dangerous and it is approaching at a very faster pace...

.... to be continued...

WHAT THE FARMERS NEED - I (6th Feb 2011)

Nature has provided sufficient resources for the human civilization to survive in the most trying times. It is the greed, ever since the real civilization started to exist, that has seen everything being destroyed in front of all of us. While many die of hunger, there are just a few, who hoard everything to such an extent that many are crushed in their wheels of greed. Farmers have, ever since humans have learned to cultivate and do farming, been the only community who have been selflessly growing food for their families and the nation in spite of being exploited the most. Throughout the globe, a mere look and you will know farmers everywhere are suffering a tremendous pressure to continue with farming, what with everything is against them with almost a negligible amount of the REAL support from the respective government... be it the farmers of UK, France, Japan, African Countries or else the smaller countries like Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh... almost in maximum countries they are not able to even recover the money they invest in agriculture due to various problems and policies of the market... only to succumb into the vicious circle of debt once for all.

In a highly advanced country like Japan, where even the sowing of paddy are being done by computers...( http://pinktentacle.com/2010/07/photos-rice-paddy-art-2010/) the villagers of Inakadate village in Japan are facing a situation where in farmers have no choice but to leave the age-old profession and move towards cities to find alternative means of labour to survive another day. A friend from UK disclosed that even farmers in their country are facing much hardship because of GM Crops high priced seeds, high priced poisonous chemical fertilizers & pesticides with less output, high wages for farm labourers and the vicious middlemen lobby... that a few of them have committed suicide to escape the wrath of hard labour with more sufferings to repay debt. Students from France, who visited to explore Vidarbha also revealed how things are so-so wrong in their lovely country... in fact, the French farmers are already a diminishing breed and the worst crises in decades have further unsettled the agriculture sector fuelled by falling prices and rocketing production costs (http://www.france24.com/en/20100523-french-farmers-turn-champs-elysees-green). Almost in every country the dominant force of GM to control everything related to agriculture and food industries are seeing a trend when every farmer will stop farming in very near future.

There is no escape for a farmer’s family, who are living hands-to-mouth life... instead of teaching them saving, there are vicious financing companies who are hell bent to suck even the last drop of blood from the body with skeletons visible in today’s modern times. In the earlier times, a farmer always had his pair of bullock to plough the fields and he used to think more than ten thousand times before taking a small amount on loan from the village moneylenders... for the simple reason that his bullocks or the piece of land will be put as collateral and if he is not able to pay the loan, he would lose the cattle or the land. So a farmer would prefer to live in misery but would never dare to take that dreaded loan, which will ultimately take his life. However, with the modern invention of banking and financial institutions, money have overflowed in villages by greedy corporate companies, who lure their prospective customers – the poor villagers with thousands and thousands at their disposal, knowing well, the poor may die but will ultimately pay the huge amount of interests slowly each month.

What made the farmers of today to take up loan from various financial institutions? The rising price of everything related to producing crops have surely taken a toll on the farmers’ community worldwide... then they have personal need like marriage of daughters, medical expenses have become very high especially for the villagers, who are exposed to poisonous chemical fertilizers & pesticides, deaths, festivals, building concrete homes, higher education of the children etc etc... With no other alternative means of earning money, the farmers succumb and suicide follows soon because of depression and stressful living. A headline is born and soon there are politics being played by ruling and opposition parties... but what happens to the farmers’ families who have lost the only bread winner?

What the farmers need? No one really cares and instead of providing them what they need, they are misled to see the glamorous and larger-than-life that others are leading, which has got no connection at all...

.... to be continued...

WHAT THE FARMERS NEED (5th Feb 2011)

Bhartiya kisaan bhagwan bharose (Indian peasants are at the mercy of God)! If it rains well, they are saved or else doomed... be it floods or the drought... and since the last 63 and a half years, our agriculture dominated nation has never really bothered about having a proper infrastructure of irrigation and proper godowns to store food grains to support the farmers’ community of the nation. Irrespective of all the flaws in the system, the selfless poor farmers of the nation have been feeding the whole nation by toiling hard in hot sun, high temperatures and heavy rains.

They will starve their own families but they will strive to grow food for the nation and what have we given them in the past six plus decades? Misery, death and more deaths with each passing year... what the farmers really need is not mandatory for the government, leaders, market or else the rich industrialists... who are always there to exploit the poor farmers to their own benefits to fill their coffers. Farmers’ suicide in India has become rampant since 1997 and has been growing in leap and bounds since then... while the industrial growth has been rising in the past few decades, the state of agriculture sector is being doomed year after year. India has lost 48 farmers a day to suicide every single day on an average since 1997 to 2009, apart from this gruesome facts, the nation is also losing farmers at an alarming rate because the generation next is not willing to continue with the age-old profession after witnessing the reality.

Apart from losing farmers, the nation is also losing a great amount of fertile lands in the name of economic growth as lands are being grabbed for government and MNCs projects without benefitting the farmers’ community at large. Promises are made and once the land is acquired, then everything is forgotten. What the poor farmers need, no one is really bothered or even thinking... how dangerous the future is going to be? Imagine the near future situation where there will be no land left for agriculture, no farmers left, no water to drink and no food to eat... in another two or three decades’ time... this is what the situation is going to be. While old buildings are being restored and preserved, sadly, no one is trying to preserve the fertile land of the nation.

From a common man’s common sense, I do strongly feel that every farmer of the nation needs few basic things that will help them in growing food for the nation. In each of my subsequent post, I will discuss the below mentioned points one by one to the best of my knowledge. What the farmers need? They need the following:

Effective Irrigation Infrastructure:

Good Seed Bank:

Organic Manure:


Good Cattle:

Availability of Cheap Labour:

Alternative Employment Opportunities:

Good MSP (Minimum Support Price) from Government:

Good Marketing of their Produce:

Good Government Policies:

Proper Godowns:

Good Support from Urban Organisations:

Pension for their Selfless Service:

MY JOURNEY SO FAR – CONCLUDING PART (1st Feb 2011)

I am here not by choice to be very frank but destiny brought me here... in my life I have suffered a lot and had never imagined that one day I would leave everything and move to a place to serve humanity in such a way. I must also confess that so far, I haven’t been able to do anything worthy or concrete except forming my base strong... an endeavour like this cannot be done at a break-neck speed, overnight or like the fast food... but the expectation of the world is in too much of hurry. I have to tread my path slowly and steadily and yes, firmly with results being achieved in nearby future.

The long wait for the registration of the trust is on...

There are many people from various parts of India and abroad, who are keen to help the movement in their own ways and I request them all kindly to wait for the trust to form. Their encouragement and solidarity are indeed praise worthy. Why a farmer commits suicide is still so complex to understand that no one can really give or provide the main reasons for such a phenomenon... debt, consumption of illicit liquor, family feud, depression, love affairs, nature’s fury, non-availability of employment opportunities, no proper irrigation infrastructure, middlemen lobby, political influence, media hype, MNCs exploitation, micro finance effect, money lending sharks, farmers’ will to excel in life, cash crops, high cost of investment in cultivation, labour problems & high wages, government policies... well, the list goes on and on and on... However, I strongly believe the day a farmer decides to grow food for his family like any other selfish urbanite (who is worried only about his family’s need & requirements), the problem of suicide will subside... it is the selfless attitude and nature of the farmers that has allowed the whole world to exploit them and kill them in a systematic way... one can surely say... the ploy of the government is to kill them all by various schemes... by providing them poisonous chemical fertilizers and pesticides, high cost GM seeds, low MSP – Minimum Support Price, controlling market price before and after crops are ready, WTO policies... snatching away their fertile lands in the name of development and what not...

... be it financing the community with all the comforts of life like motorcycles, dish connection etc etc..., enticing them with various loan waiving schemes year after year under political influence, providing ample of money as loan through micro finance... however, no one is teaching them how to save and generate money through saving... because all the loans taken by farmers are either invested in buying motorcycles, spent in daughters’ marriage or building cement houses, buying seeds & fertilizers but rarely the loan amount is being invested in money generating units or buying cattle. In the earlier days, in a village almost 95 per cent of the villagers used to have cattle... today, hardly 10 per cent possess good cattle for their field work, milk and manure... one can say, the globalization effect has surely made the farmers’ community to suffer the most. The rich are becoming richer because of farmers... the vicious cycle of loan has made everybody in today’s modern era to slog all through the life to pay the principal amount, so the rich can eat them sitting in their ivory towers.

There are many-many miles to be covered and walk... the journey of my life in real sense has just started...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक... (31st Jan 2011)

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

चूल्हे पर उबल रहा था दाल...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

आँगन पर रो रहा था तीन साल का नंग्तु...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

माँ परेशानी में भी गुंध रही थी आटा...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

खाना पक रहा था रसोई में...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

भूख से व्याकुल नंग्तु आंसू बहाए जा रहा था..

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

क्यों नहीं आये अभी तक वो खेत से...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

समय...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

दाल में छोंक लगा रही थी माँ...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

नंग्तु के रुन्दन से परेशान माँ...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

दौड़ता हुआ गाँव का एक बालक ...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

हांफता हुआ नंग्तु के घर आया...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

काकी, ओह काकी पुकारता...

टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक, टिक टॉक...

माँ साड़ी में हाथ पोंछती दरवाज़े पर...

टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक...

समय की रफ़्तार इतनी तेज़

टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक...

पहले कभी महसूस नहीं की माँ ने...

टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक...

बालक हांफता हुआ, काकी-काका...

समय थम सा जाता है...

टिक...टॉक......टिक......टॉक..........टिक........टॉक...

क्या हुआ रे श्यामू काका को...

टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक-टिक टॉक...

काका शेत मदे पडले आहे काकी...

टिक...टॉक......टिक......टॉक..........टिक........टॉक...

--- स्वरचित --- 

MY JOURNEY SO FAR – PART III (25th Jan 2011)

Farmers’ suicide continues to haunt Vidarbha region as usual and during monsoon there are many villagers who die because lightening strikes in the open vast field. I use a bicycle to travel to nearby villages. During my first trip to Khurjadi (Fort), as I was nearing the village (30 kms from Wardha), dense dark clouds surrounded me while I was drenched completely in heavy rain... lightening were striking at will with loud sound of cloud bursting in open fields. I was scared and for a second thought of turning back... the thought was in my mind for less than a second when I said to myself – ‘Johnny you have not come here to go back...’ I prayed to Sai Baba and requested – ‘Baba please don’t kill me in this way... there are things I have to do before you take me...’

Baba listened to my request and kept me safe in HIS grace... the farmer widow requested me to stay because it was already dark and still raining heavily and the village entrance was cut off by deep gushing waters. It was surely the divine intervention for such a loving hospitality I received that night... even though I was wet completely, I was amazed by the love and affection the mother and son gave me. It was my first stay in a village in Vidarbha. Even without electricity in the village, I was full at ease... the sumptuous dinner of garma-garam bhakri, dal, thecha, kanda and kairee served under the kerosene lamp light was an experience that will always remain with me all my life. That night I slept the best sleep of my life and early morning I woke up fresh and totally in bliss. The experience also taught me that I should not risk my life in such an extreme situation, especially during monsoon.

So far, there are four widows who are ready to work and earn but time is the greatest factor for them to spare. After the monsoon season, the festival and harvesting season starts and all the widows work in their respective farms... I am left with no option but to wait for them while I was making repeated trips to get the trust registered... finally in December, all the required papers were submitted. I am told that it will still take couple of months before we will get the registration papers to start our activities. For five long months, it was a trying times for me because of which my plans for 11 Districts Vidarbha Run to cover 200 villages in 45 days (supposed to commence on the 1^st of February 2011) had to be postponed. The run was supposed to generate awareness among farmers in Vidarbha and also raise funds for the movement... as destined it will have to wait for the next available time. Once the trust is registered, the run will be planned accordingly in next couple of months.

Yes, there are many people who expect me to perform a miracle out of nowhere... they wonder how things are going to work... what are the small units that will be established for the widows... but they all seem to be in a hurry to see results rather than wait patiently before things are done in a proper way to benefit the suicide farmers’ families for life. I know they will never understand the ground realities and yes they want to see miracles happening fast. However, through my earlier posts and this post I wish to inform one and all that I am going to live here in Vidarbha for life and do my best to achieve whatever little I can do for the affected families. Results will be seen after couple of years for sure and the trust would need a lot of contributions from everyone, so that we are able to achieve what we have set out for.

The long journey which started with a blog and a single step is being supported by many kind people from all around the world... more than 55 countries are following the movement and there are many eager souls who wish to be part of the movement. To be very frank, I had never imagined one single step would unite the world in such a strong way... after all, food is the necessity that affects one and all... farmers all over the world should get their rightful dues as they have been serving the nation with their selfless hard work and dedication... no one realises what will happen when there will be no farmers and farmlands left in the world... what the future lies for the generation of today is really very-very DANGEROUS even to think of... and every single year is bridging this gap at a much faster pace... the greed of the rich is increasing at the faster pace than ever it has in the history of mankind... the poor... well, till the last drop is sucked... the few beasts will not stop their hunger to accumulate to kill them!

.... to be continued...

MY JOURNEY SO FAR - PART II (23rd Jan 2011)

It was in the month of April that I visited Vidarbha for the very first time. The soaring high temperature touching 49 degrees with hot winds blowing was an experience that didn’t affect me at all. One may call it a miracle or the hands of divinity, I didn’t feel the heat on my body since then and the surprising part was that throughout my stay (15 days) I was calm, cool and composed roaming around villages interacting with farmers’ families. Heartening it is and it certainly wasn’t an easy task to get to know the truth behind each farmer’s death... however, I must say I have been blessed by Sai Baba because I was readily accepted by villagers... discussions at gram panchayat’s offices (village committee) with the members to know problems of the farmers were enlightening.

There were many ground realities and complexities that surprised me about farmers’ suicide in Vidarbha. For one, I was surprised to know that there are more than 7000 listed NGOs in Vidarbha region and many dedicated and devoted individuals who are doing their best to achieve whatever little they can, to provide succour to the farmers’ community of the nation. The biggest surprise of my visit was the irrigation canal near Deoli (on the way to Yavatmal) that has taken more than 23 years to complete... the construction is still incomplete after 23 long years... it shows how callous the State and Central Government are when infrastructure facilities for the agriculture sector are concerned. Even though Vidarbha region is the richest when it comes to rivers, ironically, the fact that all the water that should be used for irrigation purposes, are being diverted for rich corporate industries and generating power. Another ironical factor is that even though Vidarbha generates and has the biggest Thermal Power Station (CSTPS) in the country, there are many villages in the region, where villagers are still living in darkness. I wonder how the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh can talk about growth of the nation! Is living in darkness without proper drinking water THE SIGN of the nation’s GROWTH?

May and June in Mumbai, I prepared self to shift once for all to Vidarbha. There were various personal problems I had to face during this period that delayed things. However, I must thank from the bottom of my heart the ‘Ten Angels’ who were kind enough to support me financially for a year to pursue and continue the movement in Vidarbha. Once the support system was in place, I shifted base in August permanently in Wardha. When I came here, I must confess without realizing the ground realities and monthly schedule of the farmers’ community, I had loads of plan to execute. However, things are not easy as it may seem from the other side of the reality... I had to unlearn all that life had taught me because I had entered a complete new territory and it was back to school again.

Farmers were succumbing to suicide and every day when you open the newspapers, the dreaded column used to give me a sense of helplessness. Emotionally I was fighting a war with the everyday situation that had never bothered to me to such an extent earlier. Things were not easy and many times, I went into deep depression... at times, I used to cry silently lying on my bed with tears rolling down for hours feeling so-so helpless and not able to save another precious life of another farmer... at times, I would just go on a silent bout with my Sai Baba demanding WHY? Why HE cannot stop such a phenomenon where poor are dying for the sake of others... for days and even month-long depression became a way of life for me. I realized things are going to be more difficult with each passing day and every day I prayed to Sai Baba to give me strength and be strong. For many who are reading this post, may feel that how can I be so weak hearted to cry and go in depression... well, these bouts of depression are the outlet for me being all alone in my journey of life... things none of my friends would like to discuss at length because each one of us have their own problems of life... however, Sai Baba has been very generous to send amazing angels from nowhere to encourage me and give me moral support. Such support system came from unknown people who have been following the movement and I was surprised to know that I was not alone any more...

... to be continued...

MY JOURNEY SO FAR – PART I (22nd Jan 2011)

From the streets of Mumbai to the villages of Vidarbha, the journey so far has been full of challenges and traumatic experiences. Amidst farmers’ death all around the 11 districts of Vidarbha each month of the year, the challenge to establish a strong base in a steady manner is perhaps one of the biggest challenges I have faced so far. With all the kind and encouraging support from many kind-hearted souls from all around the world, I have managed to set my base in Wardha in few months’ time.

Support 4 Suicide Farmers Families is a life-long journey that I have undertaken to support at least few farmers’ families to better their lives in coming future. Research, interaction, discussion and investigation to understand the complexities of farmers’ suicide in Vidarbha have been an experience that has opened my eyes wide... towards disbelief and hard ground realities. However, there is still so much to learn, do research and understand about this man-made calamity that has been created rather than a way of life for the poor farmers. Do you really think a human would love to die on his/her own? Please ask yourself this question and the answer would be... we want to live, live a decent dignified life and live in peace...

Last March (18^th) I started this movement as a one-man-crusade after having blogged on the issue for more than two years. The realization that the coming future without farmlands and farmers... what does the future holds for the coming generation... I was struck hard by the force that we all often call as destiny. Yes, it was in my destiny otherwise I really wouldn’t be here shifting with bag and baggage from the dream city Mumbai to settle down in the small town city Wardha in Vidarbha. My first visit in April 2010 was an eye-opener in many ways to interact with some of the farmers’ families in Vaigaon, who have suffered the loss of their near and dear ones. The first ever interaction was the most traumatic experience for me in my life... and each session with the suicide farmers’ families have drained me emotionally time and again... it is not an easy task to understand and make the victim’s family to talk about the horrible incident that has changed their lives forever for worse.

Children have been an inspiration that fills the void and trauma with little joy for a while with their innocence, antics and ever-wanting to know about me and the mission. There are many children, who don’t even remember if their fathers had really pampered them when they were alive... all they know is they are fatherless now or else have lost their grandfathers to suicide. The pain of the widows and the grit and determination of these brave women are indeed an exemplary state of surviving against all odds for the society at large to get inspired in our everyday lives. They are fighting the war every single day after their husbands have left them with almost nothing to survive and responsibilities of multiple children to look after... each story is same yet they are different in many ways and each time in my heart I salute these brave widows for being so brave to look after their fatherless children by slogging hard round-the-clock to see their innocent children smile and eat two-meals-a-day somehow.

.... to be continued...

स्कैम का दौर (16th Jan 2011)

स्कैम का दौर 

है कोई नेता ऐसा इस जहाँ में,

जो अपनी सफ़ेद खादी के पोशाक

की तरह बेदाग़ निश्छल हो

इस स्कैम के दौर में

हकीकत तो ये है कि

नेताओ की दौड़ में

कौन किस से आगे निकल जाये

डर है हर किसी को आज

मैं अगर नहीं खता हूँ

तो साला वो ज़रूर से खायेगा

फिर मेरा क्या होगा

मैं सत्यवादी हरिश्चंद्र तो नहीं

गरीबों का क्या है

थोड़े दिन चिल्लायेंगे और फिर

रोजमर्रा के भोझ तले

शांत हो कर दम तोड़ देंगे

सफ़ेद पोशाक के ये झोंक

ड्राकुला से भी है भयंकर

चाहे ये कभी खा न सके सारा दौलत

गरीबों का खून मगर चूसेंगे ये ज़रूर

   

--- स्वरचित --- 

THE FOOD THE FARMERS GROW (13th Jan 2011)

The first rule of politics is to complicate things beyond the understanding of common man, so that he will always run behind the dangling carrots that the leaders show them with false promises time and again all through his life!

Common Sense has been taken over by greed, more greed and more greed! Who cares as long as long as others are dying and especially the poor! The food, the farmers of the nation grow are in fact self sufficient in many aspects... only if all the food grains reaches to the citizen of the nation in the right ways. The selfless farmers have been feeding the nation since ages with great dedication and devotion... in spite of no proper irrigation facilities and policies of the government, traders mafia, corporate companies’ exploitative methods and not forgetting no proper place of storage for their hard labour which goes in waste due to careless attitude of the government to allow food grains to rot in open storage system and of course with nature turning its back time and again.

Only if the farmers had had a choice to go on strike and boycott growing food grains for a year long period, things definitely would have been different. The Agriculture Sector was once upon a time dominated by 70 per cent Indians and by the next year census, the percentage in all likelihood may fall by another 20 per cent... development and migration is what everyone is talking about but do the farmers of the nation really have any other options?

Their fertile lands are being taken over either by government agencies for government based projects or else by rich corporate companies to establish big industries... and in each case, the false promises of generating employment for the villagers’ card is played. Irrigation projects which should have been given the first and the foremost priority by the nation’s government don’t even complete in two or three decades’ time... instead all the water is diverted to the rich industries... traders selling seeds and fertilizers control the prices by restricting the supply just at the peak season of sowing to extract more money from needy farmers, cost of production is thus increased and the helpless farmers have no other way to turn around.

With more and more people from villages migrating towards cities, less and less villagers are now into farming because farming doesn’t feed their own families... shortage of labour force forces a farmer either to lease out his farms to someone wealthy or needy or else quit farming by selling his land and migrate to the nearby city so that he can struggle all his life doing labour job... at least this way, the farmers don’t have to look after the cattle, worry about increased prices of the seeds and fertilizers or else labour and the uncertainty of the natural calamities or problems of irrigation and still manage to feed his own family to survive in this modern day catastrophe. India is losing a farmer’s family with every next generation because once the son watches his father struggling all his life he opts to leave the age-old profession for better pastures in cities.

Only if the agriculture sector had been taken good care of with proper planning and execution, the sector would have grown in leaps and bounds just like all the other industries... but then, the policy is to create genocide by poisoning the nation’s citizen with poisonous chemical fertilizers and pesticides and GM crops, so that there are more new diseases available for the pharma industries to capitalise by further poisoning us with poisonous pain killers and tablets and injections...

While the agriculture sector has gone from bad to worse in the past six decades, the medical and the pharma industries have grown in leaps and bounds, of course not forgetting the insurance sectors and banking institutions. A simple mechanism is intelligently placed in the villages to trap all the farmers into the debt trap, so that either they will commit suicide or else sell their lands... who cares about food grains production in the nation! Every political leader has his agenda to grab more crores than he or his family can really spend all his life to enjoy life in real sense... but still, they will not hesitate to suck the last drop of blood from the poor farmers...

Farmers of the nation struggle all their life in hot sun, high temperatures and heavy rainfall...  come flood or drought, they selflessly continue farming for the whole nation to live in peace and eat healthy food... some of the farmers in the nation have sold their wives to moneylenders to feed their children during drought in 2009 (Bundelkhand), many farmers have committed suicide all across the nation, food grains are being allowed to rot in open to the tune of 58,000 crores and beyond and the six plus decade young nation never even bothered to build storage godowns to store food grains (only 20 per cent of the total food grains produced in the nation can be stored in FCI godowns)... and all the nation is worried about is industrial growth... more cars, more multiplexes, malls and what not... but what about irrigation system and infrastructure for the most essential sector who feeds the nation???

Dal, onion, vegetables have all been snatched away from a poor man’s plate because of their exorbitant prices... villagers in Tembhali village have to survive their hunger by eating tamarind (imli) leaves and if they get a chance to eat bhakri (roti made of sorghum or rice)... it is the happiest day of their lives... if only the farmers of the nation learn and decide to grow food only for their families and not the nation... only then the government will wake up... the prices of food is directly controlled by the respective leaders and traders lobby while the farmers sweat in hot sun to allow each one of them to suck his blood... till the last drop of blood is sucked from a poor man, the greed of the ever greedy will not satiate!

एक छोटा सा दिल (8th Jan 2010)

एक छोटा सा दिल

ना रातों को नींद
और दिन में चैन
एक छोटा सा दिल

करता है कितना बेचैन...

भटकता है ज़िन्दगी भर ये आवारा दिल 

मिल भी जाये अगर सब कुछ

एक छोटा सा दिल

करता है कितना बेचैन...

पलक झपकते रोता है ये दिल क्यों?

ना जाना अभी तक ऐसा होता है क्यों?
एक छोटा सा दिल
करता है कितना बेचैन...

मिल जाये जो करे प्यार उसको

चाहत हर एक दिल का है बस यही

एक छोटा सा दिल

करता है कितना बेचैन...

दुनिया सिमट जाती है छोटे से दिल में 

फिर भी ये ढूंढता रहता है सारा जहान

एक छोटा सा दिल

करता है कितना बेचैन...

--- स्वरचित ---