Farmer Suicides - A good article from The New York Times

While browsing for some other news on the New York Times, I came across an advertisement for this article. Its a very good report on the ever-increasing and disappointing story of the farmer suicides mainly in Vidarbha and also in other regions of rural India. It covers many aspects of the issue including the BT cotton, the moneylenders and so on.

Take a look at On IndiaÂ’s Farms, a Plague of Suicide if you are interested.

Whenever I read about these stories it makes me feel really sad. On one hand, India is seeing a lot of GDP growth. The standard of living of the urban society has gone up by leaps and bounds since the past two generations. However, the conditions of living in the rural areas have gone from bad to worse. Isn't it pathetic?

The blame undoubtedly lies with the government who is sitting blindly, not making good policies to ban something like BT Cotton, not doing enough to crack down on the illegal money lending business and not caring enough about the nearly two-thirds of the population.

The gap between the rich and the poor - sadly - gets bigger by the day.