PS: Everything mentioned in this post is told by a farmer I met in wayanad.
Ok, this is not one of those great wild life captures. Standing in a farmer’s land who got cheated by some white collar bastards in Bangalore I couldn’t find a better photo for this post. The only crime he did was to try to send her daughter to BSc Nursing in Bangalore. He took loan for 1.5 lakhs, now papers of all his 5 acres of land is with some bank. His friend and owner of Or*ent Found*tion, a consulting firm or so in Majestic, Bangalore helped him to get a seat in a Nursing college in Hoskot, Bangalore (They have a Medical college at the same place and an engineering college near Electronics city). The girl has joined for the course, started going for classes, now one morning they said the whole 1.5 lakhs they paid is towards tution fee and they have to find 20 thounsand towards something else and sent her out of the college with other 27 students. Some of the students got admitted back after their parents signed some document which says their childern are allowed to attend the classes since they agreed to pay the remainng fees. But the funniest thing is that the receipt never mentioned how much money they have to pay. Now this particular girl couldn’t find the additional 20 thousand and she came back to her home. Now for last one year she is staying there. She has completed his Plus two course and their parents are not able to send her for any other course since they are left with nothing. The remaining 27 students also got sent back on various reasons and now most of them will be in the same situation. (if they are alive)
Now is there anything any of us can do ? (other than sympathizing).
I will be going to back to their place in August, if anyone can help them in anyway, do comment here. Please
I had talked to the farmer for a long time. To my surprize he sounded least worried about being cheated, his ginger plants which got ruined recently or the land he is about to loose. I could find a chilling smile and hope on his face.
Yes, I am sure that he knows which poison will kill him and his family efficienly and he is damn sure about the destiny of those who cheated him. Hell.
What can I do by coming over there ? Presently my intentions are to go to the Philippines, to help the old. I am a retired Naval Officer. Not much money, but plenty of passion
I was curious if anyone has tried this Sports Handicapping Service? I discovered his video on Youtube and it turns out the service is sold through clickbank which means it comes with a 60 day money back guarantee. Was inquiring what peoples thoughts were.
If the gvernment is not capable of helping the farmers then some then all the people of india should come together to help the farmers. And give some financial support. We can not do anything about rain but with the collected money all the farmers can come together and start a small side bussiness which can help them financially in future.
Do you want the reason for the this disastrous returns?
yes rajesh …
I am doing farming in Wayanad. I did banana, ginger & turmeric cultivation in wayanad 2006 to 2007. I bought ginger seeds worth 15000 rupees and turmeric worth 2000 rs. planted last year. harvested this year.
The returns this year is Rs 3000 from ginger & Rs.4500 from turmeric. From banana around Rs.3000 return.
I almost cried. Yes, I cried!!
Do you want the reason for the this disastrous returns?
Respected Sir/Madam
I m from lahore Pakistan and running a Company here since 2000.
of telemarketing (as seen on tv)mine comany many ads was on air till march 2007.my business was running very good till March 2007.As u know about crises of Pakistan my business is dead now nd i m hand to mouth.i did my best but no sucess .i’ve 3 child nd my all fmily including parents depands on me. i’ve a loan of approximately us $ 35000 of different banks and persons.i’ve no way what should i do?
ITS MINE REQUEST THAT YOU CAN INSPECTED MINE OFFICE AND RECORD.OR YOU CAN ALSO CONTACT /FORWORD THIS MAIL TO ANY FOREIGN NGO. KINDLY HELP ME TO PAY THE LOAN OR GRANT ME A VISA TO WORK IN YOUR COUNTRY AND REMOVE MY LOAN AND THE 3RD OPTION IS SUCIDE.MY ELDER BROTHER ALSO HAS BEEN SUCIDE ON 4TH JUNE 1998 DUE TO FINANCIAL CRISES I WAS ALSO PAYING FOR HER WIDOW AND CHILDS.NOW I’VE ONLY ONE WEEK FOR AFTER ………. THE END.
PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ HELP ME ANY SORT I M SO TENSE AND DISAPPOINTED. [email protected]
Respected Sir/Madam
I m from lahore Pakistan and running a Company here since 2000.
of telemarketing (as seen on tv)mine comany many ads was on air till march 2007.my business was running very good till March 2007.As u know about crises of Pakistan my business is dead now nd i m hand to mouth.i did my best but no sucess .i’ve 3 child nd my all fmily including parents depands on me. i’ve a loan of approximately us $ 35000 of different banks and persons.i’ve no way what should i do?
ITS MINE REQUEST THAT YOU CAN INSPECTED MINE OFFICE AND RECORD.OR YOU CAN ALSO CONTACT /FORWORD THIS MAIL TO ANY FOREIGN NGO. KINDLY HELP ME TO PAY THE LOAN OR GRANT ME A VISA TO WORK IN YOUR COUNTRY AND REMOVE MY LOAN AND THE 3RD OPTION IS SUCIDE.MY ELDER BROTHER ALSO HAS BEEN SUCIDE ON 4TH JUNE 1998 DUE TO FINANCIAL CRISES I WAS ALSO PAYING FOR HER WIDOW AND CHILDS.NOW I’VE ONLY ONE WEEK FOR AFTER ………. THE END.
PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ HELP ME ANY SORT I M SO TENSE AND DISAPPOINTED.
TKS & B.REGARDS.
A.QAYYUM
[email protected]
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SURVIVAL OF THE WHITEST !
@Gayathri
Well, the thought is not very much alive and its mainly due to 2 reasons.
Only one person came up with proper support. He asked for the farmer’s address and agreed to help him through few of his acquaintancea in calicut.
Second reason is that the farmer showed little intrest in any help. Looks like he was afraid of someone. So I coluldn’t proceed.
Is this thought alive?
hmm I will try. Why u need this ?
and what’s WFA ?
Can you please give me the following data if possible:
Rural
Average land possession per family:
Names of vegetables grown in Wayanad:
Quantity of vegetables a family produces per year:
Urban
Number of city dwellers (family):
Form of accommodation (flats/villas):
Distance from the villages to the cities:
I am coming to Wynad to lit a candle……………expecting you all to keep it burning
I do not agree to the fact that the farmers are not adaptible to changing scenarios and they have a heavy rooted traditionalism! the farmers in Wayanad have established their roots through struggle to the wild nature and malaria- that too not a distant past. perhabs the problem lies in their urge to follow the changes happening in the market without due consideration to the fragile environment they are living in. the sensitive geographical location the farmers are living in never received its due attention in mans struggle to make a living. part of western ghats, nilgiri biosphere reserve, abode of bio-diversity and what not! where is the bio-diversity now? all lost with human intervention.
Keeping that apart. the vicious cycle of debt trap continues… there are farmers who have taken loan 10-15 yrs back and till now not able to pay back. they keep on paying the interest rate and renew the loan each year. sad fact is that they would have paid interest more than the capital amount. more than 85 percent of the population in wayanad is dependent on agriculture. a major of those who would have send their children for professional education hoping atleast their children can escape from that world. when the whole world is consumeristic and opportunistic, the farmers with unpolluted mind cannot even understand the trap which waits for them.
why do farmers still cultivate ginger, banana, arecanut, and other cash crops? thinking that some day they will get a better price, they will be able to forget their toil in a day when the market sores up! there are times when a sack of ginger costs more than 2500 Rs. and even it can go down to 250 Rs. whose luck?
anybody ever even thought how much do you pay for 100gms of coffee powder. farmer might not even getting that price for a kg of his product.
i do not even know how to end this writing that i have started… as i also belong to a farmer family from wayanad who faces all the challenges of the world, who is still happy to here the voice of the family members at the other end over the distance…
Well…..educating the farmers is perhaps the toughest job in hands…..It is tough to change a set of ideologies already in use..
perhaps one reason y people in wayanad havent adapted to the nature’s changes and other prevailin changes is cause of the heavy rooted traditionalism towards their occuppation as well as life style….
I mean is there any sorta difference in the pattern of cultivation in the past years?…these farmers have tried out various crops in all those years outta desperation but nothing was stable…….i mean lets take the past few years into account …would we be able to find any technical or such kinda innovations..or else wouldnt be able to find a solution well mentioned and that not being put into practise??..yeah,most of the time we wudnt be able to predict changes that could badly affect crops and modes of cultivation,but was the change too quick??…
I guess their beliefs and their ideologies are still rulin them…
So even if we find any practical solution to improve cultivation or other related activities,the main effort should be to properly let the farmers get the idea and bring them outta thier holes….
I guess that education is in itself a bit psychological than just feedin in information……
And ginger….i dont think ginger is bad in wayanad….when i went there i saw ginger grown everywhere…when i asked them they said they arent cutting it cause the market price is low…
why is the market price of ginger low??….i know the pepper in wayanad is not workin out well these days cause the pepper u get these days is pretty bad cause of the wilt disease…
the only problems banana faces is the wind…that can be rectified by some proper scientific method…can u like differentiate between the crops that doesnt grow well in wayanad and the crops that do grow well but doesnt get paid well???
Vishnu… its not any more true that wayanad has a wonderful climate… it was a drought affected district in 2003-04. the climate of wayanad has drastically changed. it is also being aggravated due to the unsympathetic form of agricultural practices adopted.
btw what can NGO’s do? there are few NGO’s who work among the farmers. but sure they do not share the emotional trauma the farmer is facing when his crop fails! its easier to profess than be part of it. there is no capital with the farmer to provide input to the crops to improve the productivity. while the govt. is keen on subsidising industries it removes the subsidy for electricity and fertilisers. as the input have gone down the productivity of all cash crops have gone down tremendously.
what Bob said is true.. diversification of crops and cropping pattern is the only practical solution to it.
well, the as vishnu & rejitha said the minister had said something and left.
I dont think there is much to do about the suicides. The cost of agriculture is going up everyday. This includes the labour charge, cost for fertilizers, pesticides etc. Then there are various diseases to plants.
Some time back there was a big hype about vanilla. It said that the price is as high as 20k+ for 1kg of A grade vanilla. Many farmers inclding my cousins waited for more money and finally they got nothing.
Farmers in wayanad depend mainly on Pepper and Coffe (then Cocunut & rubber) to certain extend. Most of them will be having a Cow or two at their home. The income from pepper and coffe is something you get once in a year. And how much money they are going to get again depends on the price of the product in that particular year. Now the constant source of income is milk.
He will be having some Ginger and Banana also. But chances of getting any money out of it is very less. A 50-50 chance or even less.
Now the only source of income he is left with is milk.
On an average a farmer sells 5 liter milk per day. That means he will be getting 7 x 50 = 350 per week. (Assuming that he gets Rs 10 per liter.) I am not very sure about his expenses towards feeding the cow but we can see that for a family of 3 – 4, three fifty rupees is very less.
At this point of time, he sees that his pepper has some disease, Ginger is gone and price of Coffee is low. He has few thousand rupees of loan and he sees no source of income. And finally chooses the remains of the pestcide from the attic.
Game over. The Gossip Columns of various malayalam dailies, especially manorama will have a front cover story for a day. And a few days after the next story comes.
[b]Now what is that we can do to prevent this suicides ?[/b]
I really don’t know.
But I have seen that the farmers who cultivate more than one product are less affected by the price variations. Along this they can try Chicken farms, Mushrooms, Artificial pearl cultivation etc. I think this will be the only solution to solve the problem.
But who will educate the people ? who will give the training ?
I have seen ministers and politicians crying out to HELP them.
Asking banks not to take action against those who don’t make repayments. is that the correct way ?
Was there a proper study conducted and any remedy was found ?
The farmers don’t want Sympathy. They don’t want help.
What they want is right direction.
(They know that sympathy is next to shit and suicide.)
hey this might sound a little naive…
but still this is what I feel,
do u know any lawyer in Bangalore who could help u with some legal notice or something..I agree with others that getting a legal settlement can take several years and cost them a lot of money, but may be a notice of legal action might frighten the college authorities. Also, is it possible, to publicize this through the media so that somebody who is influential and kind hearted enough will come forward to help.
@vishnu:
>So i heard that lots of psychologists or pshychiatrists are working in wayanad to stabilize the minds of these farmers.Is that true?
I don’t have any idea.
there are 2 problems.
1. the one i have posted here. How a poor girl is not able to continue education.
2. There are lot suicides happening in Waynad and no one is taking any step to prevent the same.
Now the second issue is more important than the first one. First one is just another incident. Debt and hunger is the serious problem. If you look at the suicides, you can find that they are committing suicide for 50K rupees or so. Media should take this issue and thats the only way to make Goverment to takeup this issue and take action. May be the goverment can ask the banks to give the farmers some more time. Two years to make the repayment. Then they should be educated so that, the agricultural loan should not be used for anything else.
Ok, so lets take a look at the problem. The problem was that they were not told about ALL the fee structure BEFORE admission? Or would they have gone for admission anyway? Is the problem that the land belongs to the bank for Rs.1.5 lakhs (when it could be worth more than that?)
Lets look at the problem before we make the solution?
And one more thing bob….i havent read much about the farmer suicides that take place in other places in india.But i know that in rural agricultural areas of Maharashtra,Up Andhra etc there are 10 times more suicides takin place when compared to wayanad…
But i guess there its more outta starvation.And here a lot of pride is involved in the deaths rite??….So i heard that lots of psychologists or pshychiatrists are working in wayanad to stabilize the minds of these farmers.Is that true?.Are there such people working there?….
And these places in andhra,up etc.They are the worst drought affected places in india.I mean when u land on such places u wud understand that it is hell.Well i just know from what i have read.But wayanad isnt like that isnt it?.i was there a week ago..in wayanad…man it was wonderful…full of life…so green….its a heaven…and such a tragedy here is a shame…..a foreigner might come to wayanad and call it the most wonderful place.. a haven of many things…but then we mite have to tell them the old saying…”minnunnathellam ponnalla”…..
First of all i dont think the political parties wud take wayanad lightly.I know there maybe only 3 seats from wayanad to the LA but the hole issue there sure do affect the overall opinion abt a government.And we saw how the left used it well.And now its there turn to answer.Probably people are findin it out now that how idealistic leaders can be before an election takes place.But then as u said,while lookin after their respective areas the MLAs and other leaders of local areas(wayanad in this case) wudnt actually work well for their progress.Its as if they get into some kinda sleep after their victory.
We maybe able to help individuals…like u might be able to help this single farmer but an overall development wud be possible only if these grass root level politicians begin working.Well,now that being idealistic again, i wud say some kinda extra effort shud be taken by the top level leftist leaders or ministers(i hope there are some good men left there).Well atleast they shud be happy abt the fact during the period 1996-2001 wayanad and other agricultural area brought in a lot foreign money!Lets hope a revival takes place soon!
But something else contradicts.Wayanad is not the only place affected.There are other industrial areas affected.Even worse.Like idukki,palghat,kuttanad etc.And then the statistics are rolled down and more deeply hurting facts peep out!As u said this may not be the most colourful or even violent news for the media to talk a lot about.But when we think about a solution in our mind nothing else but the troubles of these helpless farmers create more violence than anything.
I am talking to few others also in this regard. If anythig comes up I will let you know.
As you said this partcular guy just another needy person. We cannot financially support each and every person. The best way should be educate them.
But I was just wondering is there anyway to bring her back to her college.
This person is one among the many who are the needy. And probably the best way to help them would be to make them aware of the pitfalls and show them some way to avoid them.
I am as naive as you are about how to do these with our limited resources.Probably some NGO’s working in wynad itself could be of better help.
If you are planning to give a monetary help mail me your account number.I could give a small share.
Regards
KK
well I am also one of those lazy bums. 🙁 just happened to meet this guy and he told me all these. I never asked him anything.
Now, what is that you can do for him ? I can contact him on behalf of you.
Hi,
I could relate to the feelings you have displayed in the post.
Now I am one of the lazy bums who have thought a lot about the same stuff and felt heated at times.
The farmerss and their plight is something which, if I could, I would like to do something about.
If you have got some idea’s about helping them keep me informed.
It would be great if I could offer some help.
Thanks
KK
The people tend to fall into traps of the above sort because they want atleast their children to get of the troubles and have a decent life. BSc nursing is believed to be a hot thing, just complete the course and you can fly to US and 60K$ pa or is waiting for you. They will do anything to raise the money, they will believe anyone, and finally ….
Another incident was how people started cultivating Vanilla. It was over hyped and *Media* claimed that Vanilla is getting very high prices like Rs 20K per kg or above (for processed A quality Vanilla Beans). But hardly very few people got the price. Ultimately lots of people including my cousins lost all the investment.
@Vishnu:
People of Waynad are a bunch of innocent people or “junglies” in the urban lingo. I won’t say that they are less informed about anything, it just that they won’t get time to run behind anything other than finding daily bread.
Now media and Political parties (UDF, LDF etc etc) are not intrested in wayand because the number of seats and the number of activists are very less. why should they intrested in a bunch of morons who will anyway go to polling both during elections and give their vote to either one of them ? The vast majority of people are struggling for daily bread and they don’t have time or resources for running after political parties or go for agitation.
Political parties usually hire “workers” for their meetings and such, and here there no one raise the money and arrange colourful agitations.
Now, when there is no colourful, violent incidents in this place. Why should the media show any intrest ?
The farmers will never raise enough money to travel to Delhi or Trivandrum and burn themselves infront of the Parliment or Assebly. They quietly takeout a poison from the attic and finish the story.
>VS did say that his government would write off the debts
So did the previous UDF goverment. They asked banks to stop seizing the lands of farmers.
@ sb: will mail her. thanks! Let me know if you came across anything.
hello bob……..i guess the people in wayanad are less informed and not educated in a smart way…they r very sensitive….well…i have a lot to talk abt the suicides that happen there….when u compare the reasons with the sucicides that take place in vidharbha(MH) or anantapur(andhra)…i guess wayanad is hell…..
a lot of pride over survival is involved in all these deaths…..
i was in wayanad for cupla days….that was actually for a temple visit….man it was full of life there(what i meant by full of life is that the nature is full of life not the people there)….the natives do speak abt their troubles and some of them did speak of some solutions which sounded more idealistic than practicable..but what hurt me a lot is the media..they have failed in lettin the other people in the state know what actually happen there…its still a mystery for lotta people who doesnt actually go there and see the trouble….and the poor,weak farmers there…they just know one way outta trouble….just one way!!!!
And i recently i saw the governement’s official website about wayanad…it was a funny website…i felt like the govenrment is mockin at them…they called the district “the land of paddy fields”…..and even the most ignorant of journalists or statisticians in the state wud know that the paddy fields in wayanad has shrunk from some 30K hectars to 7K…..that is more than 75 percentage….
And now…i just noticed….VS did say that his government would write off the debts if they get the rulin power….that was some kinda hope for the troubled farmers….and on the 15th this month he called off that proclamation ….that offer(as a pre election agenda would call it)…..and see what.. 5 of them commited sucide the last 10 days….
I’ll see if any NGO can help. You could try Anna (bangalore at ivolunteer.org.in).
@nina:
>Isn’t it possible to get the help of some NGOs?
is there any ?
@Prasanna:
But for legal fight also they will need some money right ? When I say they don’t have any anything left, it means they really don’t have anything. Unlike the working class the farmers usually don’t have any roling money. They lend from someone when a need comes, and repayment is done if they manage to get any money from their fields.
Intrest rates of Agricultral loans are very low and its very easy to get them approved. Thats the reason for choosing agriculture loan over educational loan.
I am sure he wuoldn’t have wanted to go the legal way of retaliating. Isn’t it possible to get the help of some NGOs?
The other day during a Burkha Dutt program Kiran Bedi suggesting the Govt should start a fund for helping those who can not afford the expensive legal follow up.
Btw, I came here thru the comment u made in my post. Thanks for the visit and you really have a simple yet great blog here. And really good snaps too. I am book marking you, buddy. Keep up the good work.
Very unfortunate ! The best thing would have been to seek legal redressal. But thats easier said than done.
Since nursing would be a professional course, couldnt his daughter seek an educational loans from the banks? I think they offer loans upto 4 lakhs without collateral and they are obligated to provided the loan provided some minimum conditions are met.
But we need better transparency in the educational system and accreditation. It should be made mandatory that every institute informs the candidate and guardians about the entire fee structure, accreditation of the college etc through issual of informational brochures and more importantly through pre-admission common function where everything is explained to candidate and guardian. Without their attendance, it should be made illegal to admit the students.