AGRARIAN CRISIS: PART-2 - Farmers in distress, say Central policies need fixing

In the second part of the agrarian crisis series, we take you to the house of two women relatives of a suicide victim who are waiting on promises made by political parties. BJP president Amit Shah even visited them at home. Fake seeds and rising costs have forced farmers to adopt new crops with hopes of increased profits; mostly in vain.

50-year-old Vakanamma recalls the fateful night of March 19, 2017 like it was yesterday. She was having dinner with her husband Shivraj Basalingappa Alreddy along with daughter Rita when Shivraj mentioned the Rs 9 lakh debt the family was in; and soon he got a call.

"He went quiet and never slept that night. The next morning, he left for the fields to relieve himself," she recalls. It was there that his body was found by farmers going to work.

Months after he died, on February 25 this year, the family living in Mangalgigram village in South Bidar had an unlikely visitor — BJP president Amit Shah. "He did not say much, but took down notes," says Rita, adding that he had promised her a job.

Without a job, she says, the family cannot get her married. And, the money given by local Congress MLA Ashok Kheny to build the house is hardly enough. The family has now given up most of the land where they grew toor daal.

In nearby Yearnalli village, pradhan Devi Das says while the curse of the farmer is being landless, even farmers with lands are suffering. In his village, 51-year-old Jagannath's debt of Rs 10 lakh on his 3.5 acre land led him to kill himself.

"The cost of fertilisers, transportation, and labour led to so much debt that he sold his land and cattle and took 10 acre on lease," Devi says.

Labour, too, is in short supply during election time. "While we can pay labourers not more than Rs 300 per day, parties pay up to Rs 1,000 and they leave. Most of the work has been stalled," says Devi.

Mallanna of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, who lives in Raichur's Dinni village, says that promises of profits have led farmers to believe in buying seeds made by multinationals. "Most of Monsanto's BT Cotton seeds turned out to be fake the last two seasons. Because of the nexus of cotton mill owners and these MNCs, we gave up traditional staples like jaidhar, without any results," he says, adding that traditional seeds cost only a fraction.

People's Archive of Rural India founder P Sainath says that while political parties might offer regional schemes, Central policies need to be fixed. "No government has done enough for farmers, and a lot has to do with the Centre's neo-liberal policies that took flight in the 1990s. The policies intensified as anti-farmer to benefit farming corporations," he said.