Team Anna core committee member Arvind Kejriwal has assured dying Vidarbha cotton farmers in Amaravati, Vidarbha, yesterday that only the Jan Lokpal bill, and not prime minister's relief package can help Vidarbha farmers.
ULTIMATELY, IT'S corruption that is eating away the money meant for the needy and announcing the intention to take mass genocide of cotton farmers at national level through Indian Against Corruption (IAC) same time four more distressed debt trapped farmers were committing suicides in the vidarbha region as per reports published.
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Recent victims identified have been identified as Kailas Solanki of Karanjkhed in Yavatmal; Kisan Mahurle of Sonbardi in Yavatmal; Jevan Raghatate of Rehaki in Wardha; Ratan Nagtode of Udapur in Chandrapur. Earlier in the same week since Monday, ten more debt-trapped farmers killed themselves in this week in the dying field of west Vidarbha - taking the suicide toll to 667 in 2011, said Kishor Tiwari, president of Nagpur-based Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, (VJAS), the activist group working for cotton farmer rights, informed in a press release today.
Arvind Kejriwal has allged vested corporate interests are purposely killing the cotton trade so that they make huge profits. Corruption at the top has created vertical and horizontal monopoly in inputs such as seed, fertilizer and pesticides. "The minimum support price for cotton has just been raised, after almost four years, to Rs 3,300. Even though cotton prices are higher in international markets our farmers cannot benefit from those. I want to tell you that entire Team Anna is with Vidarbha farmers," said Kejriwal.