Eight more debt-ridden farmers in Vidarbha region have committed suicide during the last two days, an NGO working for the cause of farmers claimed in Nagpur on Monday.
Ten more debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha over the last three days, a non-governmental organisation active in the region and government officials said on Wednesday. Six of them, including a woman, belong to Yavatmal district, Kishore Tiwari, President of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti said in a statement. The NGO said all the ten farmers were under heavy debt. Other suicides were reported from Nagpur, Akola and Washim districts.
Three of the farmers who committed suicide were from Buldana district, while two were from Chandrapur and one each from Yavatmal, Akola, Washim and Amravati, the NGO, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti said in a release in Nagpur.
Meanwhile, the farmers across the region have extended their wholehearted support to the fast undertaken by the former Union Minister Mohan Dharia in Pune.
Pandurang Kolhe from Loni was apparently frustrated by crop failure and non-availability of any government assistance, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti claimed in Nagpur.
As many as 17 farmers have allegedly committed suicide in the agrarian crisis-hit Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in the last five days, a non-government organisation working for their cause claimed on Monday.
Similar flags were also unfurled at about 24 other places across the Vidarbha region.
72 farmers have committed suicide in the past 15 days in Vidharbha.
There is also nothing in this Union Budget to stop farmers from dying. It is just rural infrastructure and not agriculture that the Budget is looking at, says Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.
'There is a difference between a politician and leader.' 'A politician will have his pound of flesh first and do everything else later.' 'A leader will sacrifice everything to help people.'
Congress party in Maharashtra has its hopes pinned on a 'newly recharged' vice-president Rahul Gandhi for its revival.
It emphasised that agricultural infrastructure needs considerable investments and hence Section 80IA benefits must be extended to all such investments like IT infrastructure, computers, VSAT, solar panels, water harvesting facilities, storage etc.