Vidarbha farmers to meet PM

With nearly 120-plus suicides of farmers being reported in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra in November, a farmers’ delegation is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprise him of the ground situation.

“The situation is serious, alarming. We have sought an appointment for Tuesday...we may get it on Tuesday or Wednesday,” Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti founder-president Kishor Tiwari told Deccan Herald.

“This is the situation now, it will start worsening next year....we need to provide immediate relief to the farmers,” the chief of the farmers’ pressure group said, adding that the government must provide succour to them. “It is almost four suicides per day,” he said, adding that these are figures provided by the state government itself.

Tiwari said since 1995 to 2013 more than 3,00,000 farmland suicides reveal that every fifth farmer who ended his/her life in the country is dry land cotton farmer from Maharashtra. “Over the last several years, Maharashtra has been topping the list of farmers’ suicides,” Tiwari said.