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1.Stale mantra to the farm suicides

2.Brinjals commit suicide for Greenpeace cause

3.NGO protest against impact of genetically engineered brinjals

EXTRACT: The culprit of the cause is the government's deliberate policy of pushing farmers to an capital-intensive, technology-driven agriculture... This system has made farmers dependent on costly external inputs, instead of on-farm inputs.

When the demerits of chemical agriculture have begun surfacing, the policymakers are now encouraging farmers to switch over to transgenic technology. But farmer already had a bitter experience of the country's first GM crop, Bt cotton. The input costs increased, and crop failure was reported. (item 1)

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1.Stale mantra to the farm suicides
Indian Agrarian Crisis [Part 3]
Ashok B Sharma
MyNewsIndia, 18 March 2008
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=3049

The country is passing through a deep agrarian crisis, with a mounting rate of farmers' suicides. Paradoxically, the farmers' suicides are happening also in the years of agricultural growth. Cases of suicides are in areas where agriculture is technologically developed and capital-intensive.

There are varying estimates of farmers' suicides during 1993-2003. Some place it at 1.4 lakh (140,000). Policymakers often dismiss it saying that in most of the cases, suicides were due to social and cultural problems. But why should a farmer have to face such problems? Is farming not remunerative enough?

Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh, in his recent Independence Day (I-Day) address, admitted this agrarian crisis and said; 'I see that our farmers in many parts are in crisis, not managing to eke out a decent living from their land. When I visited Vidarbha, the plight of the farmers there made a deep impact on me. The agricultural crisis that is forcing them to take the desperate step needs to be resolved. We need to think about how we can provide them a decent livelihood.'

Vidarbha is the cotton belt of Maharashtra, and the PM, during his visit to this region more than a month back, announced a relief package of Rs 3,750 crore (Rs 37,500 million). Referring this in his I-Day address, he said, 'We have waived interest on over-due loans for debt-stressed farmers in Vidarbha and will do the same in other suicide affected districts.'

The Rs 3,750-crore (Rs 37,500 million) Vidarbha package may seem to be an astronomical amount, but it had very little impact in instilling confidence in farmers. Over a hundred farmer suicides were reported in Maharashtra after the PM visit.

Indebtedness is the ultimate cause for farmers’ distress and suicides. But what are the reasons that push farmers to indebtedness? The PM said an expert group has been constituted 'to look into the problems of agricultural indebtedness.' Why should not the panel look into the reasons for indebtedness?

However, the PM and the policymakers believe that loan against loan can bail out the farmers. But this leads to accumulation of loans and increase in burden for repayment, particularly in years when the farmers do not get good returns for their produces after spending heavily on input costs.

Rising input costs and low returns to farmers are the real culprits. The PM said, 'We will need to work towards ensuring more remunerative prices for our farmers.' Does he really mean it? The farmers’ organisations had demanded substantial hikes in government support prices for crops grown in both summer and winter seasons. This fell on deaf ears. The government made only marginal hikes in support prices, not sufficient enough to cover the rising input costs.

The fact is that government has planned to withdraw gradually from procuring farmers' produces, and allow the corporate houses and MNCs to do the job. The corporates find an excellent opportunity to procure produces at cheap prices, hoard the stock, create artificial scarcity and get better returns when the market prices firm up. Same is the story with the commodity future exchanges.

Unfortunately, the government, instead of rectifying mistakes, has planned to allow easy imports of wheat and sugar, and is further contemplating on import liberalisation in other commodities. Such measures are likely to prove fatal to farmers in the long run.

The culprit of the cause is the government's deliberate policy of pushing farmers to an capital-intensive, technology-driven agriculture, which requires high doses of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This system has made farmers dependent on costly external inputs, instead of on-farm inputs.

When the demerits of chemical agriculture have begun surfacing, the policymakers are now encouraging farmers to switch over to transgenic technology. But farmer already had a bitter experience of the country’s first GM crop, Bt cotton. The input costs increased, and crop failure was reported.

Comparatively, organic farming, in areas where it is practiced, have shown good results in terms of increased productivity and sustainability. The organic farmers are yet to get government-support and realise the lucrative global prices. Will the policymakers rectify the disorders they have created in Indian farming?

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2.Brinjals commit suicide for Greenpeace cause
Deborah Grey CNN-IBN, March 17 2008
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/brinjals-commit-suicide-for-greenpeace-cause/61415-3.html

Mumbai: If you are the curious kind and have always pondered over questions like 'Who are we and why are we here?', here's another one for you - Just why did Mr Brinjal commit suicide?

Thousand brinjals were found hanging from electricity poles, street lamp posts and trees across Mumbai with suicide notes attached - attracting curious onlookers.

The stunt was a part of Greenpeace's unique protest against genetically modified vegetables that could soon find their way into your neighbourhood vegetable market.

Greenpeace Campaigns Manager, Rajesh Krishnan says, 'We selected brinjal because it will be the first genetically modified vegetable to be introduced in the Indian market in early 2009.'

Greenpeace says:

*Genetically modified brinjal contains a foreign gene from a bacteria.

*The bacteria makes the plant produce its own pesticides to protect itself.

*Also, genetically modified vegetables contain anti-biotic resistance markers, which means that if you consume them, your body will not react to anti-biotics in case you have an infection.

A dietician at Sehat, Lini Chaudhry says, 'More investigation is required before genetically modified foods become available for consumption.'

While there is still some time before genetically modified vegetables hit the Indian market, they are already a topic of huge debate in the West.

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3.NGO protest against impact of genetically engineered brinjals
Press Trust India, 17 March 2008
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/015200803172241.htm

Mumbai (PTI): In order to raise awareness about the impact of genetically engineered Brinjal, which the government is about to commercialise, an NGO exhibited them in differnt parts of the city today depicting how they were being destroyed in Mumbai.

'The whole idea is to draw consumer attention to food safety issues as the government is about to commercialise BT brinjal, the first genetically engineered crop in India,' said Campaign Manager Greenpeace Rajesh Krishnan.

The brinjals with a 'suicide note' were put in different parts of the city including Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Fountain, Juhu etc.

The 'suicide note' said,'I cannot live in this place where my identity is being manipulated. For the first time crazy scientists and seed companies who want profit out of selling my (brinjal) seeds are tinkering with my genes'.

Genetic Engineering is a technology through which new life forms are created by adding foreign genes from unrelated plants and animals to perform a desired function.

The techniques are used to artificially confer plants with qualities such as longer shelf life, higher nutrient content, pest reistant and so on.

'But GE food has not yet been proved safe for consumption. Like any other unknown drug it can have many side effects. It is dangerous especially for children,' he added.

According to Greenpeace the first GE food crop, BT Brinjal is going to flood the Indian market soon. Once in the market the consumer will not have the choice of saying no to GE food and hence this is the time to act and tell the government that we do not want to eat genetically engineered food, the NGO said.