India's desperate peasants - they wear their colleagues' skulls

Shareholder farmers from the state of Tamil Nadu during their nearly two months protest action in India's capital, New Delhi. Here they show skulls from local farmers who have committed suicide. Photo: Deepak Parvatiyar

India's desperate peasants - they wear their colleagues' skulls*

By Deepak Parvatiyar**

(Published in Bistandsaktuelt on 27^th September 2017 -- https://www.bistandsaktuelt.no/nyheter/2017/indias-desperate-bonder/)

Extensive drought and economic crisis affects agricultural areas in a number of Indian states. In two years, around 24,000 farmers have taken their own lives

When driving the 200 kilometers from Hubli to the "water city" Vijayapur in the Indian state of Karnataka, it is like driving through the rugged landscape of TS Eliot's book "The Wasteland". Undisturbed land on both sides, without vegetation or civilization, as far as the eye reaches!

As Elliot said in his poem:

“That corpse you planted last year in your garden,

Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?

Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?”

Ironically, it had been drizzling these days, but this is nothing less than nature’s cruel joke on the farmers. Official records show that between 1st July, 2015 and 30th June, 2016, in all 47 farmers had committed suicide here. The situation is becoming from bad to worse as latest figures show that more than 90 farmers committed suicide in the state in July alone!

Crop failure

Crop failure is officially cited as the reason for these suicides here. This year, sixteen districts of Karnataka, a state that falls under five agro climatic zones, received deficit rainfall. Of them, ten were in North Karnataka. Consequently, water level in all the 13 important reservoirs, including Krishnarajasagar and Almatti near Vijayapur, has receded. A local villager at Kolhar in Vijayapur district said: “Only two months ago, there was no water in Krishna Sagar dam here.”

The state government has thus far released Rupees 2000 million for taking up relief measures in drought hit Karnataka but that is not enough. The State now seeks Central Government’s help. Karnataka chief minister, K Siddaramaiah, claims that while his state has been facing severe drought for the last seven years, overall the state has faced 13 years of drought in the last 16 years. “We’ve had the lowest rainfall in 46 years...,” he stated.

Kharif crops are important

Delayed monsoon and scanty rainfall means the farmers have not been able to sow Kharif (or monsoon) crops in these places and there is also astute drinking water shortage in the region. “Despite situated on the banks of Krishna river, we get drinking water only by tankers,” says Rodagi, a local at Kolhar.

Rainfall in June and July are crucial for sowing of Kharif crops that include paddy, coarse cereals and oilseed. August rains can provide only little respite in the drought affected regions. As a farmer in Vijayapur said, “Rain is late by two months. It should have rained by June. Since it didn’t rain then, nothing was sown.”

“Timely onset and spatial distribution of rainfall is crucial for cultivation of Kharif crops,” acknowledges a Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare release titled “Crisis Management Plan Drought (National) 2017”.

Fourth consecutive year 

Vijayapur, famous for the historic Gol Gumbaz (circular dome), has been reeling under severe drought conditions for the fourth consecutive year. Paradoxically, the city was once hailed as the Water Heritage City of India. The Adil Shahis of Bijapur (Vijayapura) Sultanate (1490-1686) were recognized for excellent water management and conservation works and an underground water tunnel network. Though many of these water works still exist in the city, due to prolonged negligence most of them have silted up. In April this year, Annaswamy, a farmer from the district, blamed the government for this before he committed suicide.

Water city Vijayapur surroundings. Undisturbed soil as far as the eye can see.

What also adds to the misery here is the wrong crop selection. Sugar cane, which requires abundant water, is grown in about 1 lakh hectare land and the district has as many as nine sugar mills. This has meant that 90 per cent of irrigation water is tapped by sugar cane fields. Even that is affected now as delayed monsoon means that Vijayapura does not have good sowing. Reports suggest that the sugarcane cultivation in the state might dip by 58% this year. “In such a grim situation, the government is forced to advise the farmers not to cultivate sugarcane and paddy crops which required huge quantum of water...,” Karnataka Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil, told mediapersons recently.

In a desperate effort, the government now plans to introduce drip irrigation in sugarcane fields that could save water. But this is yet to take off. The state government now appeals to farmers to avoid growing paddy and sugarcane and instead shift to semi-arid crops such as millets!

Carrying colleagues' skulls

Vijayapur in Karnataka is only the tip of the iceberg as 235 of India’s 630 districts face drought prospects in face of deficient monsoon this year.

One such state, Tamil Nadu, witnesses its worst drought in 140 years, about 100 farmers from the state made headlines for prolonged protest sit-ins in the national capital, New Delhi, demanding a better deal from the government. In desperate attempts to grab media attention, they even carried skulls of those farmers who had committed suicide in the state due to debt pressure. Sometimes, they shaved their heads; partially shaved their moustaches; held mice and snakes in their mouths; conducted mock funeral; and flogged themselves. “Due to water crisis and drought in the state, farmers are under a huge financial burden. We are almost destroyed...,” P Ayyakkannu, President of the National-South Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association, who spearheaded the demonstration, stated.

24,000 suicides in two years

In July, the government informed the Parliament that in face of failing monsoons and resulting agrarian crisis, 11,400 and 12,602 farmers had committed suicide across the country respectively in 2016 and, in 2015. (In 2015, as per the Union Government’s submission before the Supreme Court of India, Maharashtra had topped the list with 4,291 suicides, followed by Karnataka with 1,569, Telangana 1,400, Madhya Pradesh 1,290, Chhattisgarh 954, Andhra Pradesh 916 and Tamil Nadu 606).

Monsoon rainfall is crucial for agriculture production and food security of India where about 56% of the net cultivated area is rain-fed accounting for 44% of food production. South West Monsoon (June to September) rainfall contributes to about 73% of total rainfall in the country. In the absence of timely monsoon rains, government figures show, around 68% of the country is prone to drought in varying degrees. It adversely impacts the farmers as Kharif accounts for about 90% of paddy, 70% of coarse cereals and 70% oilseed production of the country.

The water activists met

In the face of drought, and also floods in the agrarian states of Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the impact is telling on crop production, farmers, and drinking water situation. This has concerned water conservationists. Recently hundreds of such activists from 101 river basins and sub-basins of the 30 states, under the leadership of Stockholm Water Award winner 

Rajendra Singh, also known as ‘Waterman’, adopted the ‘Vijayapur Declaration’ that stated that “Water security alone will ensure food & livelihood security & mankind’s resilience in the face of climate change.” These activists had converged at Vijayapur after undertaking a nationwide “Water Literacy Yatra (Journey)” across India.

Little surprise on the choice of Vijayapur, and the declaration stresses the need for more dialogues between water conservationists and government as it chalks out a plan and for water security and farmers’ concerns, and to restore Vijayapur’s old glory as the Water Heritage City. But it requires meticulous efforts to turnaround the Wasteland, everywhere!

   *Translated reproduction from Norwegian with the permission of the Publisher

**The writer is a New Delhi based senior journalist and documentary film maker