Exposing farmer suicide in Gujarat!Venue: Indian Women's Press Corps
Date: 11 October 2007
Time: 3:00 pm
What: Farmers activists and families of those who have been driven to suicide expose the grim agrarian situation in Gujarat. The delegation will present information on numbers of suicides
obtained from government under the Right to Information Act. They will also share a charter of demands for immediate support to bereaved families, including a waiver of loans and payment of the long-pending flood relief packages for 2005, 2006 and 2007 disasters.
Why : In the 'Vibrant Gujarat' the farming community is facing apathy and absence of support from the government. Worse still, the state denies any farmer suicide and claims that agricultural
losses have been adequately compensated. The village survey and government data (obtained under RTI) have a different story to tell.
While in Delhi, the delegation has requested meetings with the Prime Minister, United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission and the Home Minister to request their urgent intervention.
Who: The following will be present at the press conference:
- Bharatsingh Jhalla , farmer who used RTI to obtain information on farmer suicides in Gujarat (Jhalla is part of an ActionAid fellowship scheme for emerging community leaders tackling
poverty)
- Shabnam Hashmi - Activist, ANHAD; Member, National Integration Council
- Javed Ameen – food and livelihood activist working in Gujarat with ActionAid
- 17 farmers and bereaved families will also be present.
Agriculture now offers bleak options for farmers' survival. Their woes are captured well in the local idiom which says, "kheti etley khotno dhandh (Farming is an occupation of loss)."
