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Students protest Indian farmer neglect
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Several dozen University of Wisconsin students and staff assembled at Engineering Hall Tuesday in an international candlelight vigil to protest the Indian government's neglect of its agricultural farmers and to remember Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. According to Asha for Education, a non-profit organization responsible for organizing the event, 150,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last decade as a result of problems created by India's government. "If we put the government in an international spotlight, maybe it can get its priorities straight," Asha for Education Publicity Coordinator Badri Narayan said. "For now we light these candles as a universal symbol of peace. It shows that this is something we need to pay more attention to." The vigil also occurred simultaneously in cities including San Diego, Calif., and Austin, Texas, in addition to New Delhi, Kolkata and other rural areas in India. The event was scheduled on Gandhi's birthday. India's government funds less than 2 percent of the country's agriculture, an amount impossible to satisfy the needs of about 600 million farmers, according to India Together, a U.S.-based Indian newspaper. India's sustainability decreased when the government sought more profit internationally from industrial food supply to increase yields and the nation's overall gross domestic product. "One farmer took his life for not paying a debt of about 50 U.S. dollars," Asha for Education Events Coordinator Jigyasa Jyotika said. "That shows us how serious the problem is." According to Asha for Education, the Indian government can "offer low premium agricultural insurance, loan waivers to pay off debts and provide sustainable training to farmers." "We are angry and want the government to know they're not getting away with this," Jyotika said. "We have to do this; society is becoming as apathetic as it can get." However, there are opportunities for everyone aside from the 850 Indian students, faculty and staff to get involved. Interested students can sign an online petition or view "Seeds of Suicide," a PBS documentary on the issue also shown at the meeting. "Part of the problem is that we don't know how to reach beyond the Indian community," Narayan said. To raise money for the cause, Asha and the Indian Graduate Student's Association has invited Kripa Bhaskaran to perform for free at the Orpheum Theater Nov. 18. Her piece, "Sacred Geometry: An Experiment in Time and Space" will serve as a fundraiser to benefit the farmers of India.
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"One farmer took his life for not paying a debt of about 50 U.S. dollars," Asha for Education Events Coordinator Jigyasa Jyotika said. "That shows us how serious the problem is."
It does show how serious the problem is but I’m not sure which problem. Is there no bankuptcy in India? Why would anyone kill themselves over debt? Is $50 THAT much money?
Just to answer the question above - what I heard is that one reason the farmers kill themselves over debt is that there is a policy where in case of a farmer’s death the government gives the farmer’s family $750 compensation (and the farmer’s wife usually takes over the farming). So farmers commit suicide knowing their family will get this compensation.