Vidarbha agrarian crisis has entered seventh year now and farmers’ suicides are being reported since June 2005 at a rate of 8 persons hourly and, as per official government records more than 9000 dry land farmers have killed themselves due to distress and despair accumulated due to crop failure and economic losses due to cotton prices collapses and wrong policies of Indian government,” Tiwari added in the release.

With the monsoon playing truant, water level in reservoirs of large and medium dams is fast depleting, at least now the government should intervene to see that farmers take up less rain-sensitive food crops like jawar and bajra, instead of cotton and soya so as to sustain food needs for the year ahead, Tiwari suggested.

"More than 3 million distressed farmers are denied food security, health services and alternate sustainable source of livelihood forcing them to kill themselves and CM is being kept in the dark by administration by giving a rosy picture of Vidarbha,” Tiwari alleged.

Maintaining that ground water level has reached to very alarming level and uncontrolled water mining is adding fuel to the crisis, Tiwari informed that the promotion of rain sensitive crop like Bt.cotton is making situation more difficult.

“Farmers who want shift from Bt.cotton are not getting good quality seeds of food crop and pluses. They are being forced to opt Bt.cotton seed, hence we demand urgent government intervention to provide direct aid and quality seed for the dry land farmers who are demanding seeds of pulses, Jawar, Bajar, Maize,” Tiwari urged.