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Saturday, December 25, 2010
Khabar Vishesh with Vikram Gokhale
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Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Plight Of The Denotified Tribes : Part III
“Where have you come from?”…Mansubya asked… “Pune”, was the honest answer. Mansubya Bhosale was lost in the past…very fair and was at least 6ft 7inches in height with sharp nose, a little beard on the sagging skin of his face, sharp & penetrating eyes. He dragged on the floor of his cave, came out and stood up with the support of a stick…he appeared at least two feet taller… Mansubya walked behind his cave with his legs shaking…he stopped near a bush..and started digging…his grandson Jaya started helping him…after digging a foot deep, he took out a box and opened it…it had 3-4 silver coins kept in a red cloth and another cloth had a very well carved silver grip of a broken sword… “This belonged to my grandfather… Samshirya”, Mansubya said while his eyes were lost in the past, “he had gone on war with the King of Pune…but Firangs (British) killed him by cannon.”… “What is your age?” I asked… Jaya answered, “10 over Hundred”…
The simple thought that Mansubya’s grandfather Samshirya (Samsher which means a sword in Urdu) might have fought against the British during the battle of 1857 along-with the Nanasaheb Peshwa brought shivers to me… and here were his descendants, hiding in a cave on the outskirts of Maharashtra near Tuljapur… how his family must have ran away and survived for the past 150 years was inconceivable. But the reality that they were striving to live in such a pathetic state was cruel and ungrateful for the entire nation.
After de-notifying these tribes, the government should have undertaken various methods of bringing them into the mainstream through various schemes of settlement, education, employment opportunities. These tribes possess such a huge knowledge of the nature, the herbs, the jungles and have so many skills that some vocational guidance should have been extended to them so as to enable them a dignified living with the help of their own knowledge & skills. But it did not happen and on the contrary, new unjust laws & rules were made to confine them to the hell they were living in. Even a caste-wise census also has not been made to understand their population & their whereabouts since 1931 and unless it is done, no scheme can be formed to extend justice to them. The law of the distribution of land exists but since these tribes do not have any identity proof (birth certificate/caste certificate/residence proof), even a willing bureaucrat can not help them. And this is not the only tribe, there are 193 more such facing similar situation.
The government did what it does when it doesn’t actually want to deliver…it formed commissions to look into the “Real” problem. As many as 9 commissions were specifically formed to “study” the problems of these tribes and to suggest remedies to address those problems. These 9 commissions were formed apart from the mandatory commissions formed after every ten years to study the same issues concerning SC & STs. But since none of the recommendations were implemented in the last 63 years, it implies that either the hundreds of the members of the so many commissions did not work properly or the government did not look at it seriously.
The latest of the reports is submitted by the Renke Commission. It has made an extensive and in-depth study of the possible population, their demographic presence, problems and remedies to bring them into the main stream. It has recommended distribution of land, setting up villages of the tribes, providing them education, vocational guidance, launching a nation wide campaign to make people and the administration aware of these people and to create a separate schedule for them for reservations and proper social/economical/political representations. And it is most important. The population is huge and is poor. Fortunately they are patriotic and not anti-national. So before the situation goes out of hands for all, it’s better to awake and offer them their rightful share in the development of the nation. Be better do it and do it fast !
The simple thought that Mansubya’s grandfather Samshirya (Samsher which means a sword in Urdu) might have fought against the British during the battle of 1857 along-with the Nanasaheb Peshwa brought shivers to me… and here were his descendants, hiding in a cave on the outskirts of Maharashtra near Tuljapur… how his family must have ran away and survived for the past 150 years was inconceivable. But the reality that they were striving to live in such a pathetic state was cruel and ungrateful for the entire nation.
After de-notifying these tribes, the government should have undertaken various methods of bringing them into the mainstream through various schemes of settlement, education, employment opportunities. These tribes possess such a huge knowledge of the nature, the herbs, the jungles and have so many skills that some vocational guidance should have been extended to them so as to enable them a dignified living with the help of their own knowledge & skills. But it did not happen and on the contrary, new unjust laws & rules were made to confine them to the hell they were living in. Even a caste-wise census also has not been made to understand their population & their whereabouts since 1931 and unless it is done, no scheme can be formed to extend justice to them. The law of the distribution of land exists but since these tribes do not have any identity proof (birth certificate/caste certificate/residence proof), even a willing bureaucrat can not help them. And this is not the only tribe, there are 193 more such facing similar situation.
The government did what it does when it doesn’t actually want to deliver…it formed commissions to look into the “Real” problem. As many as 9 commissions were specifically formed to “study” the problems of these tribes and to suggest remedies to address those problems. These 9 commissions were formed apart from the mandatory commissions formed after every ten years to study the same issues concerning SC & STs. But since none of the recommendations were implemented in the last 63 years, it implies that either the hundreds of the members of the so many commissions did not work properly or the government did not look at it seriously.
The latest of the reports is submitted by the Renke Commission. It has made an extensive and in-depth study of the possible population, their demographic presence, problems and remedies to bring them into the main stream. It has recommended distribution of land, setting up villages of the tribes, providing them education, vocational guidance, launching a nation wide campaign to make people and the administration aware of these people and to create a separate schedule for them for reservations and proper social/economical/political representations. And it is most important. The population is huge and is poor. Fortunately they are patriotic and not anti-national. So before the situation goes out of hands for all, it’s better to awake and offer them their rightful share in the development of the nation. Be better do it and do it fast !
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Plight Of The Denotified Tribes : Part II
Dipak Bhosale was running with all his strength…the terrain was rough but was known to him…the 11 year old Dipak was scared….52 policemen were following him for 30 minutes… one of the policeman fired at him…the bullet pierced through his calves…then another came and then another…he fell down…he was arrested and he was accused of a murder that had taken place 7 years ago…when Dipak was only a four year old kid…oblivious of the bitter truth that he was also born in a wrong tribe…
After Independence, in 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru went to Solapur, symbolically opened the gate of a barbed fence of a concentration camp and announced the declaration of a notification of cancelling the British notification of “Criminal Tribes” and formally de-notified the tribes. But officially, absolutely nothing was done to bring this huge, patriotic population to the main stream. On the contrary, in 1959, a new law named “Habitual Criminal Act” was implemented to continue the legacy of the British “Criminal Tribes Act”, in complete contradiction to the so called social justice & social welfare. So instead of treating them as born criminals, a new term was introduced to treat them as “habitual” criminals. The social stigma was continued. Even during the trainings of the police officers in their academies, they were taught of the new act with the backdrop of the British act of “Criminal Tribes” and hence, the impact & the treatment continued.
The impact was so deep and ruthless that in 2008, an 18 month old son of Aamosha Bhosale, a Paardhi in Ahmednagar district was booked under the crime of a robbery. He was arrested, a policeman lifted him in his arms & produced in the court; even the Judge asked for his bail and when a bail produced, he was released. Till then the 18 month child was in police custody. Even the Judge was insensitive enough not to question the authorities of how a toddler can possibly be an accused in the case of a robbery.
In 2010, a 13 year old son of a Paardhi was pelted with stones and was killed by the mob in Solapur district in Maharashtra on the assumption of his involvement in a robbery. Later, it was clear that on the day of robbery, the child was very much present in the boarding school of an NGO which runs school for the Paardhi children.
The government negligence is so much that apart from a very few sound bites in the media reports nothing was done. There are over 193 tribes in India comprising a population of over 12 crores who have been subject to this torture, harassment & complete social negligence for over 150 years now. The Paardhi, Masanjogi, Berad, Kanjarbhat, Shikalgar, Masanjogi, Maragamaa, Kaikadi, Dombar, Kolhati, Bahurupi, Gondhali, Vasudeo and almost 193 such tribes were refused any possibility of integration with the society. This forced them to keep wandering, hunt animals, remain uneducated and at times, when no hunt was possible, then resort to petty thefts. The only time the so called civilized society called them was when big wild boars would enter their farms and endanger the crop.
Then, the Paardhi goes to the farms…with two very sharp knives in both the hands…rest of the crowd creates a big noise with drums, crackers and shouting…the wild boar is forced to move towards the armed Paardhi…he stands in front of a huge net spread across the border of the field with knives in his hands…the wild boars runs towards him roaring…the risk of getting cut into two pieces with the huge tooth of the wild boar and a moment before the wild boar jumps towards the Paardhi to tear him apart, the brave collapses down and when the boar is passing over him, he cuts the stomach of the wild boar with both the knives in his hands…the boar with a torn stomach falls in the net and is captured…in return, the tribe gets a prize of 5Kg of grains and the wild boar.
To be continued…
After Independence, in 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru went to Solapur, symbolically opened the gate of a barbed fence of a concentration camp and announced the declaration of a notification of cancelling the British notification of “Criminal Tribes” and formally de-notified the tribes. But officially, absolutely nothing was done to bring this huge, patriotic population to the main stream. On the contrary, in 1959, a new law named “Habitual Criminal Act” was implemented to continue the legacy of the British “Criminal Tribes Act”, in complete contradiction to the so called social justice & social welfare. So instead of treating them as born criminals, a new term was introduced to treat them as “habitual” criminals. The social stigma was continued. Even during the trainings of the police officers in their academies, they were taught of the new act with the backdrop of the British act of “Criminal Tribes” and hence, the impact & the treatment continued.
The impact was so deep and ruthless that in 2008, an 18 month old son of Aamosha Bhosale, a Paardhi in Ahmednagar district was booked under the crime of a robbery. He was arrested, a policeman lifted him in his arms & produced in the court; even the Judge asked for his bail and when a bail produced, he was released. Till then the 18 month child was in police custody. Even the Judge was insensitive enough not to question the authorities of how a toddler can possibly be an accused in the case of a robbery.
In 2010, a 13 year old son of a Paardhi was pelted with stones and was killed by the mob in Solapur district in Maharashtra on the assumption of his involvement in a robbery. Later, it was clear that on the day of robbery, the child was very much present in the boarding school of an NGO which runs school for the Paardhi children.
The government negligence is so much that apart from a very few sound bites in the media reports nothing was done. There are over 193 tribes in India comprising a population of over 12 crores who have been subject to this torture, harassment & complete social negligence for over 150 years now. The Paardhi, Masanjogi, Berad, Kanjarbhat, Shikalgar, Masanjogi, Maragamaa, Kaikadi, Dombar, Kolhati, Bahurupi, Gondhali, Vasudeo and almost 193 such tribes were refused any possibility of integration with the society. This forced them to keep wandering, hunt animals, remain uneducated and at times, when no hunt was possible, then resort to petty thefts. The only time the so called civilized society called them was when big wild boars would enter their farms and endanger the crop.
Then, the Paardhi goes to the farms…with two very sharp knives in both the hands…rest of the crowd creates a big noise with drums, crackers and shouting…the wild boar is forced to move towards the armed Paardhi…he stands in front of a huge net spread across the border of the field with knives in his hands…the wild boars runs towards him roaring…the risk of getting cut into two pieces with the huge tooth of the wild boar and a moment before the wild boar jumps towards the Paardhi to tear him apart, the brave collapses down and when the boar is passing over him, he cuts the stomach of the wild boar with both the knives in his hands…the boar with a torn stomach falls in the net and is captured…in return, the tribe gets a prize of 5Kg of grains and the wild boar.
To be continued…
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Plight Of The De-notified Tribes : Part I
“I was raped by four persons including the Patil (village chief) of the village on my wedding night…my husband was severely beaten up & tied to a tree by ropes...we were crying, shouting…”, Jayashri Bhosale a woman of the Paardhi tribe in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra was telling me. Later, the next day her husband Kasturya & Jayashri went to the police station to file a complaint but there again…instead of filing her complaint, she was molested again by the police…again in front of her husband and when he tried to resist, he was booked under attempt to kill and was arrested…
Jayashri tried to plead her plight in the court and she told the judge that she was first gang-raped and later molested by the police but her complaint is not registered. She couldn’t afford a lawyer as he too had an eye on her flesh but even the judge did not listen to her cries & begging for justice… witnesses, evidences everything was managed and now Kasturya is serving a seven year term in Jail…
Their only fault was that they were born in the wrong tribe…something which was beyond their control. The Paardhi tribe was notified as one of the “Criminal Tribes” by the British way back in the 1871. Actually, Paardhis were an extremely brave tribe serving as the frontline soldiers with the kingdoms of the Peshwas, the Rajputs and the rulers of the central India. After losing the battle of the 1857, many of these tribes associated with the earlier Kingdoms had to disappear and take shelter in the Jungles. Many were arrested and hanged by the British and the rest were declared as “Criminal Tribes” through a notification. The arrested women & children were kept in concentration or settlement camps under vigilance. The “Criminal Tribes” were not allowed to be in any village for more than 72 hours and the village chiefs were ordered to report of their existence, possessions and movements to the Police.
So, throughout the Independence Movement which was stretched over a period of the next 90 years, these notified “Criminal Tribes” remained deprived of the basic rights, education, and any livelihood earning opportunities and most importantly remained deprived of the social acceptance. They had to wander in the jungles, depend on herbal medication (in which they became an expert) and live on the hunting of animals. And whenever they tried to cross the limits of their forced exile, they were beaten up, arrested, jailed or at times even killed by the so called civilized society but they kept on increasing in numbers for the lack of any family planning awareness or facilities available.
Today, they are estimated to be more than 12 crores plus in population spread across the country…this is nearly equal to the population of the United Kingdom but for us in India, they do not exist in the census, they do not exist in the voters list, they don’t have residence proofs, they can’t have ration cards, they do not get admissions in schools, they don’t have birth certificates and they don’t get death certificates also…but they still feel proud to be Indians and often their children are named like “congresshya”, “Tilak”, “Shivaji”, “Bharat”, “Laxmi”…
To be continued…
Jayashri tried to plead her plight in the court and she told the judge that she was first gang-raped and later molested by the police but her complaint is not registered. She couldn’t afford a lawyer as he too had an eye on her flesh but even the judge did not listen to her cries & begging for justice… witnesses, evidences everything was managed and now Kasturya is serving a seven year term in Jail…
Their only fault was that they were born in the wrong tribe…something which was beyond their control. The Paardhi tribe was notified as one of the “Criminal Tribes” by the British way back in the 1871. Actually, Paardhis were an extremely brave tribe serving as the frontline soldiers with the kingdoms of the Peshwas, the Rajputs and the rulers of the central India. After losing the battle of the 1857, many of these tribes associated with the earlier Kingdoms had to disappear and take shelter in the Jungles. Many were arrested and hanged by the British and the rest were declared as “Criminal Tribes” through a notification. The arrested women & children were kept in concentration or settlement camps under vigilance. The “Criminal Tribes” were not allowed to be in any village for more than 72 hours and the village chiefs were ordered to report of their existence, possessions and movements to the Police.
So, throughout the Independence Movement which was stretched over a period of the next 90 years, these notified “Criminal Tribes” remained deprived of the basic rights, education, and any livelihood earning opportunities and most importantly remained deprived of the social acceptance. They had to wander in the jungles, depend on herbal medication (in which they became an expert) and live on the hunting of animals. And whenever they tried to cross the limits of their forced exile, they were beaten up, arrested, jailed or at times even killed by the so called civilized society but they kept on increasing in numbers for the lack of any family planning awareness or facilities available.
Today, they are estimated to be more than 12 crores plus in population spread across the country…this is nearly equal to the population of the United Kingdom but for us in India, they do not exist in the census, they do not exist in the voters list, they don’t have residence proofs, they can’t have ration cards, they do not get admissions in schools, they don’t have birth certificates and they don’t get death certificates also…but they still feel proud to be Indians and often their children are named like “congresshya”, “Tilak”, “Shivaji”, “Bharat”, “Laxmi”…
To be continued…
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Do you have empathy?
Maruti Dhumal had been named after the god of the strength but was at his weakest when I met him a few years back. He had borrowed Rs. 96,700/- in 1981 for buying a tractor for tilling his agricultural land of 5 acres but the heavy losses of crop in 3 consequent years, untimely rains and the government buying at much lower price than the production costs forced him to be a defaulter with the bank he had borrowed from. He could pay only Rs.1,50,000/- plus to the bank towards the principal amount and the interest. Moreover, the bank was charging interest rate much higher and also illegally in a compounding interest manner. He had received a notice from the bank either to pay Rs. 18,59,000/- or his house, land, tractor was to be auctioned.
Maruti Dhumal was 49 years old but looked like a 65 plus senior citizen, merely trying to survive against all odds in the small village Sheni in the Nanded district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Incidentally, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra also hails from the same district but he too had no will to look after the problems that the distressed Maruti was going through.
Almost all the marginal farmers are facing dire problems due to various government policies and also due to the complete passive approach of the leadership towards their genuine problems. For example, we all have been hearing words like “market based economy”, “market liberalization” for the last 2 decades. 64% of India’s population is directly dependent on the agriculture and this huge population is not allowed to decide the prices of their produces. They have been kept deprived of this basic right to decide the price of their agriculture production based on their production cost.
A farmer buys seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, electricity, fuel, pumps at the prices as decided by the respective manufacturers. So, all his input cost is decided by some-one else. Then he depends on the monsoon and if at all it is good enough, he succeeds in producing his crop. Then he has to take it to the nearest APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) for auction. For the transportation, he has to hire a truck for tractor for the full day. The traders at the APMCs form a ring among themselves for the maximum rate to be offered and bid. The farmer has to then sell it to the trader at whatever cost the trader has put his bid. Sometimes, it does not even cover the cost of transportation forget his production cost. And a farmer never calculates his and his family’s labor cost that he has put for hours together throughout the season.
So, for buying his input material like seeds/pesticides/fertilizers, he has to borrow from the local credit society. Now, though the government says that they will offer loans at 5% to the farmers; there is a huge and corrupt chain to actually handover the loan. The RBI gives to NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development) at say 5%, then NABARD gives it to the State Co-op Bank at say 7%, then it gives it to the District co-op Bank at say 9%, DCC gives to the rural Credit societies at 11% and then the credit society offers to the farmer at 14 to 18%. Here also, the farmer never gets 100% of the loan amount in his hand. The interest for the first year, 10% amount towards shares of the society, insurance premium are all deducted from the principal amount before handing over the loan to the farmer. Effectively he ends up in paying almost 24% interest and if he doesn’t get his input cost also for his produce then he finds himself in the debit trap.
The farmers were encouraged to opt for the cash crops since the green revolution begun. Loan schemes were offered for buying chemical seeds, chemical fertilizers and crop loans were also offered for the variety of cash crops. Obviously, the farmers were lured enough to adopt. They used to take two crops a year; a cash crop and a crop of food grains but since money was made readily available for the cash crops, they opted for the cash crops and subsequently lost their own food security. This was far more frustrating especially when the monsoon was not good enough or when the rates that they got were not meeting their production costs. The marginal farmers had lost their food security, their conventional knowledge & stock of developing seeds and also their traditional fertilizers & pesticides due to this new wave of cash crops. The big farmers always had an option of preserving a piece of land for ensuring their own food security but the marginal farmers lost it and had no options but to commit suicides in case of a death trap. Following statistics clearly shows that
Suicide & Farmers Details Small Farmers Medium Farmers Big farmers
Percentage of Suicides 64% 23% 14%
Farmers with alternate source of incomes 14% 60% 78%
Illiterate farmers percentage 40% 27% 0%
Suicides after harvesting 93% 40% 44%
During the phase of encouraging, a period came when the farmers were convinced to adopt the BT Cotton seeds in the cotton growing areas. They were told that BT will require them to use chemical fertilizers & pesticides in a very small quantity but it was not to happen so. Today India imports pesticides worth a whopping 820 million USD of which 50% is used only for cotton. In 1990-91, India was importing fertilizers worth 1766 Cr which has grown to 9159 Cr by 2006. The food grain imports were at 999 Cr in 1990-91 which have increased to 11,869 Cr in 2006. The mad rush behind the cash crops has forced the present pathetic situation.
The disparity in development is another issue of concern. After 50 years of the creation of the Maharashtra state, only 14% of its agricultural land is irrigated. Of this, 80% of the land in western Maharashtra is irrigated and only 10% land in Vidarbha is irrigated. North Maharashtra, Marathwada, Konkan are also at a very low percentage of irrigation. 64% of the total farmers are marginal farmers in Maharashtra and they are the biggest sufferers of these real issues of concern which never get addressed. The loan waiver is only a treatment on symptoms but the real decease is not looked at all. Only 9% of the total farmers cultivate sugar cane but they consume 69% of the available water and all the rest of the 91% farmers are left with only 31% water.
These billions of marginal farmers also have dreams, they too wish to live with respect, they too want their children to be educated but first they want their hunger to be satisfied and they have no gods to look up to but only us and the leaders to look up to. Will we ever try & understand their plight with empathy?
Maruti Dhumal was 49 years old but looked like a 65 plus senior citizen, merely trying to survive against all odds in the small village Sheni in the Nanded district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Incidentally, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra also hails from the same district but he too had no will to look after the problems that the distressed Maruti was going through.
Almost all the marginal farmers are facing dire problems due to various government policies and also due to the complete passive approach of the leadership towards their genuine problems. For example, we all have been hearing words like “market based economy”, “market liberalization” for the last 2 decades. 64% of India’s population is directly dependent on the agriculture and this huge population is not allowed to decide the prices of their produces. They have been kept deprived of this basic right to decide the price of their agriculture production based on their production cost.
A farmer buys seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, electricity, fuel, pumps at the prices as decided by the respective manufacturers. So, all his input cost is decided by some-one else. Then he depends on the monsoon and if at all it is good enough, he succeeds in producing his crop. Then he has to take it to the nearest APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) for auction. For the transportation, he has to hire a truck for tractor for the full day. The traders at the APMCs form a ring among themselves for the maximum rate to be offered and bid. The farmer has to then sell it to the trader at whatever cost the trader has put his bid. Sometimes, it does not even cover the cost of transportation forget his production cost. And a farmer never calculates his and his family’s labor cost that he has put for hours together throughout the season.
So, for buying his input material like seeds/pesticides/fertilizers, he has to borrow from the local credit society. Now, though the government says that they will offer loans at 5% to the farmers; there is a huge and corrupt chain to actually handover the loan. The RBI gives to NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development) at say 5%, then NABARD gives it to the State Co-op Bank at say 7%, then it gives it to the District co-op Bank at say 9%, DCC gives to the rural Credit societies at 11% and then the credit society offers to the farmer at 14 to 18%. Here also, the farmer never gets 100% of the loan amount in his hand. The interest for the first year, 10% amount towards shares of the society, insurance premium are all deducted from the principal amount before handing over the loan to the farmer. Effectively he ends up in paying almost 24% interest and if he doesn’t get his input cost also for his produce then he finds himself in the debit trap.
The farmers were encouraged to opt for the cash crops since the green revolution begun. Loan schemes were offered for buying chemical seeds, chemical fertilizers and crop loans were also offered for the variety of cash crops. Obviously, the farmers were lured enough to adopt. They used to take two crops a year; a cash crop and a crop of food grains but since money was made readily available for the cash crops, they opted for the cash crops and subsequently lost their own food security. This was far more frustrating especially when the monsoon was not good enough or when the rates that they got were not meeting their production costs. The marginal farmers had lost their food security, their conventional knowledge & stock of developing seeds and also their traditional fertilizers & pesticides due to this new wave of cash crops. The big farmers always had an option of preserving a piece of land for ensuring their own food security but the marginal farmers lost it and had no options but to commit suicides in case of a death trap. Following statistics clearly shows that
Suicide & Farmers Details Small Farmers Medium Farmers Big farmers
Percentage of Suicides 64% 23% 14%
Farmers with alternate source of incomes 14% 60% 78%
Illiterate farmers percentage 40% 27% 0%
Suicides after harvesting 93% 40% 44%
During the phase of encouraging, a period came when the farmers were convinced to adopt the BT Cotton seeds in the cotton growing areas. They were told that BT will require them to use chemical fertilizers & pesticides in a very small quantity but it was not to happen so. Today India imports pesticides worth a whopping 820 million USD of which 50% is used only for cotton. In 1990-91, India was importing fertilizers worth 1766 Cr which has grown to 9159 Cr by 2006. The food grain imports were at 999 Cr in 1990-91 which have increased to 11,869 Cr in 2006. The mad rush behind the cash crops has forced the present pathetic situation.
The disparity in development is another issue of concern. After 50 years of the creation of the Maharashtra state, only 14% of its agricultural land is irrigated. Of this, 80% of the land in western Maharashtra is irrigated and only 10% land in Vidarbha is irrigated. North Maharashtra, Marathwada, Konkan are also at a very low percentage of irrigation. 64% of the total farmers are marginal farmers in Maharashtra and they are the biggest sufferers of these real issues of concern which never get addressed. The loan waiver is only a treatment on symptoms but the real decease is not looked at all. Only 9% of the total farmers cultivate sugar cane but they consume 69% of the available water and all the rest of the 91% farmers are left with only 31% water.
These billions of marginal farmers also have dreams, they too wish to live with respect, they too want their children to be educated but first they want their hunger to be satisfied and they have no gods to look up to but only us and the leaders to look up to. Will we ever try & understand their plight with empathy?
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