Bengaluru, India: Tamil politicians and media betraying suicide-prone TN Farmers at Jantar-Mantar

----Tamil Nadu farmers who are protesting for the last 40 days at Jantar-Mantar Delhi demanding that the Centre waive their agricultural loans and provide drought relief funds, on Saturday reportedly drank their own urine as part of their agitation and threatened to eat faeces on Sunday if their demands are not addressed. These farmers had come to the protest site with skulls, which they claimed were those of farmers who committed suicide. As part of their agitation, they have stripped, bitten into mice and snakes, conducted mock funerals and have even been flogged.

But Tamil Nadu especially its politicians and media are apathetic towards the suffering and miseries of TN farmers and have put the entire responsibility of solving this problem on insensitive Government of (GOI) though Tamil Nadu can easily constrain GOI to solve the problems of farmers from Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country. About three hundred thousand farmers in the last two decades have reportedly committed suicide in India due to economic hardship. Though other factors like cash crop, debt, flood, drought etc are considered to be some reasons for farmer’s suicide but main reason is small land holdings up-to meager 1.7 Hectare which renders small farmers vulnerable.

Though the demand of TN farmers that the Centre waive their agricultural loans and provide drought relief funds has gained legitimacy & punch after UP Government announced loan waivers of its farmers and in the present situation such relief for farmers of TN and of other States is reasonable but it will not permanently solve the problem which has assumed menacing proportion.

In order to solve this problem the small and economically nonviable land holdings will have to be purchased by GOI and the farmers, farm labors engaged in and dependent on these farms will have to be absorbed by GOI in these large scale profitable government farms and in other public programs. One such public program can be of constructing profitable residential and commercial building all over India by GOI which can be given on rent to be decided by ‘Rent Commission’. Because Indians engaged in and depended on uneconomical farming are almost half of India’s population it will require immense money to achieve this transformation of Indian economy.

Fortunately it is possible to recover Rs ~ 1,000 Lakh Crore State capital from income tax as mentioned at http://www.alwihdainfo.com/During-on-going-elections-also-If-opposition-does-not-highlight-Rs-1000-Tr-v-s-2-Tr-issue-India-has-no-future_a48651.html and part of this money can be utilized for solving the problems of suiciding farmers from TN and other States of India and also to remove poverty from India. But politicians and media of TN are not at all raising this issue.

If politicians and media of Tamil Nadu can highlight this issue [of Rs ~ 1,000 Lakh Crore (part of it) to be used for poor of India] by wide coverage in print and electronic media, public meetings at Jantar-Mantar, Ramlila Maidan both at Delhi and at all the Tehsil / Taluka, District and State headquarters in Tamil Nadu then GOI will be constrained to recover Rs ~ 1,000 Trillion from ~ 1 million tax evaders and this will not only solve the problem of the farmers of Tamil Nadu (and also of rest of India) very soon but will also solve other problems of India which emanate from lack of funds.

Let us hope that the politicians and media of Tamil Nadu, for change sake, will work in the interest of suffering farmers of TN.

Regards

Hem Raj Jain

(Author of ‘Betrayal of Americanism’)

Bengaluru, India