It was an oft-repeated comment — that people, indeed, farmers, from Vidarbha are lazy — but Union minister for textile Shankar Sinh Vaghela and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh could not have made it at a worse time or place.
For one, it came at a time when the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha is seen as being at its worst, with the number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the region at a record high. Secondly, it came at Akola on Sunday at the concluding function of a conference on cotton where farmers were present in large numbers. Besides, Akola is in the cotton belt and among the districts worst affected by farmers’ suicides.
Mr Vaghela was pretty blunt about it. He said that farmers in Gujarat, the state where he comes from, also had problems, but nevertheless, they toiled hard in the field.
"By contrast, the farmers in Vidarbha just laze around," he said.Mr Deshmukh, of course, was more circumspect. He said that farmers added "water and stones" to the consignments of cotton, which they brought for sale to the government, to increase its weight. The chief minister obviously wanted to convey the impression that the farmers indulged in nothing short of cheating to earn a penny that was not rightfully theirs, rather than put in a day’s hard work and try to obtain the maximum possible yield from their fields.
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For one, it came at a time when the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha is seen as being at its worst, with the number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the region at a record high. Secondly, it came at Akola on Sunday at the concluding function of a conference on cotton where farmers were present in large numbers. Besides, Akola is in the cotton belt and among the districts worst affected by farmers’ suicides.
Mr Vaghela was pretty blunt about it. He said that farmers in Gujarat, the state where he comes from, also had problems, but nevertheless, they toiled hard in the field.
"By contrast, the farmers in Vidarbha just laze around," he said.Mr Deshmukh, of course, was more circumspect. He said that farmers added "water and stones" to the consignments of cotton, which they brought for sale to the government, to increase its weight. The chief minister obviously wanted to convey the impression that the farmers indulged in nothing short of cheating to earn a penny that was not rightfully theirs, rather than put in a day’s hard work and try to obtain the maximum possible yield from their fields.
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This is a SICK comment coming from the respectable CM of Maharashtra.He is trying to defend himself for the vidharbha suicides.He and his government has done a bad job out of it and he should admit it. Instead of blaming the farmers they should do something constructive.
Of course the CM and others are trying to escape any responsibility. Suicides have been going on for years, and nothing has been done.
Is there anyone from Vidarbha area on Katta?
And one question - the CM is trying to blame the farmers - but is there even 1 % truth in what he said? Just curious.
I don't know if farmers are lazy. But Suicides are going on for so many years now, it is looked upon as easy way to get rid of debts.
But it is sad, it has to be looked upon the other way round. In bihar people sell kidney' (their own and others) for money, will we call them lazy because they can't earn money by other means.
I don't think so, if they have other opportunities to make money they won't sell the kidney's.
I don't think state goverment responsibility is over with lending money to farmers in vidarbha. Our CM should do what sharad pawar has done to sugar lobby in sangli and satara.
Shankarsingh Waghela : In gujraat farmers chew tobacco and got to work. But in Maharashtra they chew tobacco and seat their "kaay re kasa kaay"
Our CM : hahaha .. Waghela saheb is not wrong. ..
I don't have the detail figures about loans they lended to farmers. But this is not the way. And secondly you can't counter argue rate of suicides with laziness.
These idiot politicians who have never ever tilled even a square foot of land, how the hell can they so casually comment on the pathetic situation of the debt-ridden farmers.
The loans never reach the farmers who need them the most. its the nexus between the government dalals and politicians who benefit from this. Can the CM laugh at this Now..hahahha.... :( . pls go ahead and laugh at this MR CM.
Lazy people dont take effort for suicide. Just giving loans and electricity at subsidised rate is not enough to get them out of the loss burden.
See how corporates like bigbazaar and reliance retiail are fighting for getting direct access to famers in punjab.
Proper guidance and direction is needed for the low literate farmers in Vidarbha to get them more efficient competitive so that they earn proft on their hardwork.
A loss in farming or tension of loan is no way helping them putting extra effort in farming.
We always seen sleeping politicians in the assembly (by news channels) They feel that others are lazy,not doing their work, just because as they are.
Not all but some farmers are taking advantage of this suicide issue. Every year we saw framers give threat of suicide to escape from debt. They take the advantage of who actually suicide of their debt.
Every year the same problem is getting discussed in the assembly without any conclusion. the culprit is government only.. they don't want to disclose the real reason.
farmers can only sell their produce through a state-controlled monopoly, which sets the purchase price. Farmers also have to bear the cost and the risk of transporting their harvest to purchasing centres
Vidarbha’s cotton farmers thus rely on Mother Nature, and especially on the monsoon. They have no means to manage this risk.
Not enough banking and financial market infrastructure in rural areas..
there are so many reasons... but government does not want to take it seriously and act upon it. after all its a voting bank... before election to declare some package to Vidarbha..
The comments of union textile minister shankarshingh vaghela that vidarbha farmers lazy and much more insulting comments of Maharashtra chief minister vilasrao deshmukh that vidarbha cotton farmers are dishonest has resulted in to wild protest in the rural part of vidarbha.the effigies of concern minister were burned as mark of protest in dying field of vidarbha whre more than 5000 coton farmers committed suicides due agrarian crisis.the frequent crop failure and collapse of cotton prices, huge debt and complete failure of civil and social administration in the region are the most common reason of these farm suicides,kishor tiwari of vidarbha jan andolan samiti
Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela is at the receiving end for calling debt-ridden, suicidal cotton growers of Vidharbha lazy and incompetent.
At the Akola conference, Mr. Vaghela said, “There are power cuts in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The farmers in Gujarat, just like farmers here, chew tobacco but after that they go to work on fields but the farmers here [in Vidharbha] sit idly. What can the government do in this situation? You must try and emulate the farmers of Gujarat.”
He advised the farmers of Maharashtra to go to Gujarat and see for themselves the practice there.
“While flying to Akola [in a helicopter], I did not see a single farmer working on his field,” Mr. Vaghela said.
Kishore Tiwari criticised the Union Minister for “rubbing salt into the wounds of the farming community.” And demanded an apology from Mr. Vaghela and also Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Pradesh Congress chief Prabha Rau. it was absurd to compare the farmers of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Gujarat farmers were using local seeds, had a cost advantage and 75 per cent of their farms were irrigated, unlike the situation in Maharashtra.
Mr. Tiwari also took exception to Mr. Deshmukh’s remark at the conference that nobody should think Vidharbha farmers were not innovative. “They sprinkle water on cotton or insert stones in cotton bales [to increase weight] before bringing the produce to procurement centres,” the Chief Minister said. At present our chief minister is not taken serious because of his known anti-cotton farmer stand like union agriculture minister sharad pawar but it was expected from shankarshighji waghela to make absurd remark with out knowing ground reality of vidarbha agrarian crisis.
Mr. Tiwari said: “The State’s Cotton Marketing Federation has not registered a single case of such cheating by a farmer but there were several such cases against cotton traders who connived with officials of the Federation.”
The Chief Minister seemed to have “lost his balance” when he levelled such charges against the farmers and rejected their main demand, Mr. Tiwari said. Now once gain vidarbha farm suicides are on rise and it has been spread in west vidarbha districts like gondia ,bhandara and gadchiroli too, govt. cant ignore main demands of farmer to complete loan waiver and price protection on all agriculture produce from free trade in WTO era ,kishor tiwari added.
IN VIDARBHA AT THE TIME POLA FESTIVEL OF FARMERS SEVEN MORE FARM SUICIDES REPORTED IN LAST 48 HOURS ,THEY ARE
1.SHRIRAM INGOLE BULDHANA
2.AVINASH SATAV IN BULDHANA
3.KISAN GADE IN WASHIM
4.KARU MAKARE IN BHANDARA
5.SUDHIR GAWANDE IN AKOLA
6.ANIL PRADHAN IN GADCHIRALI
7.KAODU KATARE IN GONDIA
THIS TAKES THE OFFICIAL TALLY OF VIDARBHA FARM SUICIDES TO 812 SINCE JAN.2007 AND 1675 SINCE PRIME MINISTER RELEASED THE PACKAGE TO STOP THIS ON GOING FARM SUICIDES IN WEST VIDARBHA,KISHOR TIWARI OF VIDARBHA JAN ANDOLAN SAMITI INFORMED IN NAGPUR TODAY.
It is this very attitude of ministers/government which forces farmers and other exploited labourers to lose faith in any thing called governance/justice and resort to violence by joining various naxal/maoists outfits existing in those areas.
P Sainath, winner of this year's Raman Magsaysay Award who is being consulted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Vidarbha Comments by Mr. Waghela and our CM. He has described the whole thing as "incredibly insensitive, disgraceful and callous".
812 suicides so far in this year !! This is comparative to those killed due to terrorism.
I don't know who is the bigger enemy of our country - Pakistan or We ourselves :-[
There are lots of problems for the overall agricultural mess in the state.
Total dependence on the monsoon for water supply, non-existent or inefficient irrigation methods, lack of farsight and organised planning of which crops to grow and thus failing to prepare back-end logistics accordingly (seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, storage, transport to market)
30 years back Gujarat was way way behind Maharashtra in agriculture output. Now it is number 2 after Punjab. And most of it is in basic food crops or cloth crops.
Maharashtra politicians just focussed on cash-crops like sugarcane which were instant profits even at the cost of high-maintenance. Low price crops like cotton, Jowar, bajra etc were not given priority. In fact farmers were discouraged from growing them.
The mills in mumbai area began to go into losses and shut down making way for malls. I wonder what the farms will make way for ?
Seems like the politicians want only sugar & wine to be grown in Maharashtra.
If the farmers can't eat and drink that then let them bite the dust ...
Meekon, we are our biggest enemy, certainly. Pakistan's main focus is on controlling its own people, and its terrorists' focus is on killing Pakistanis first :) We are only their no. 2 enemy.