10-01-2004, 09:06 AM
<b>Thousand suicide deaths in 4 months</b>
New Delhi, Sept. 30: The UPA government has failed to check the spate of farmer suicides, with daily reports of such deaths pouring in from different parts of the country in the past four months. <b>The additional director of Navdanya, A Jafri, who is working with social scientist Vandana Shiva in the field, insists that the figure is close to 1,000 suicides, pointing out that approximately 300 deaths have been reported since the new government came to power from Andhra Pradesh alone. </b>
The suicides are being repo-rted widely from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where the new governments have failed to address the problem despite initial promises, as well as western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
In Vidarbha, a recent incident reported is of a farmer who committed suicide because he could not clear a debt of just Rs 8,000. In Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh alone, 64 farmers have committed suicide in just four months. At least three suicides are being reported a week from Punjab and Haryana
New Delhi, Sept. 30: The UPA government has failed to check the spate of farmer suicides, with daily reports of such deaths pouring in from different parts of the country in the past four months. <b>The additional director of Navdanya, A Jafri, who is working with social scientist Vandana Shiva in the field, insists that the figure is close to 1,000 suicides, pointing out that approximately 300 deaths have been reported since the new government came to power from Andhra Pradesh alone. </b>
The suicides are being repo-rted widely from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where the new governments have failed to address the problem despite initial promises, as well as western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana and the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
In Vidarbha, a recent incident reported is of a farmer who committed suicide because he could not clear a debt of just Rs 8,000. In Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh alone, 64 farmers have committed suicide in just four months. At least three suicides are being reported a week from Punjab and Haryana