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NEW DELHI: After finding the Indian State apathetic and the media hardly putting their plight in perspective, activists finally got together the children of farmers who had committed suicide due to abject poverty to protest the apathy. In a solidarity march, the children sported T-shirts with a message devastating in its profoundness: “Every farmer counts. Every child dreams.”

Does it, indeed, for a country which is busy counting its Malls and setting up SEZs on land acquired forcibly from farmers?

The children had to give up their studies and are struggling to keep the local moneylender at bay. The loans their farmer-fathers took meanwhile multiply with huge interest.

One farmer’s wife burnt herself to death rather than face the ignominy of having the artiya (moneylender) on her doorstep every week. Tears welled up in his eyes as 16-year-old Dharmendra from Chotia village recounted the death of his father, who consumed pesticide.

Dharmendra has three siblings and mother to take care of. His father sold off his land and cleared part of the debt. The family still owes Rs. 4 lakh-5 lakh to the local moneylender as well as some relatives. Last year this 10th Class student gave up his studies, though he loves to pursue education, and became a daily wager. “We want karza-maafi (loan waiver),” he said. Indian government recently announced such measures but kept Punjab out of it, leading to a spate of allegations of discrimination towards the state.

Navdanya, the NGO that runs a bio-diversity conservation programme, had brought 12 such kids from six different villages of Sangrur to Delhi to highlight their plight. They took out a march from Mandi House in Delhi to Krishi Bhawan, the headquarters of India's agricultural ministry.

Not one of these children wants to become a farmer. "It is risky. I would rather study and have a steady job,” one boy said. Meet Dharminder. His father killed himself in December 2007. “We have a debt of around Rs 2.5 lakh. My father could not even pay back the interest. Strangers used to come to our house and abuse us. They even threatened us many times. Then my father killed himself,” he said.
Seventy-year-old Chameli’s farmer-son committed suicide not being able to return a loan of Rs. 1.5 lakh. Now Chameli, along with her daughter-in-law, works as a daily wager. “There are so many of us in the same boat; nobody is able to help anyone in Punjab,” she said.

Surprisingly, none of them has heard of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, India's much talked about employment plan that guarantees 100 days of work, paid for by less than $ 3 per day. Crores are being spent on slick advertisements in English language about the scheme, and some ads are also being beamed on the BBC World television channel. Not one among the intended beneficiaries is likely to understand a word of such ads in English.

U.S.-based Harpreet Kaur of Sach Productions, the people behind scintillating a nd moving film The Widow Colony, said activists came upon several families in Sangrur district, where the farmers had committed suicide. “We are highlighting the issue of farmers’ suicide and making a universal statement. These families are humiliated. They feel stressed out and start trembling when the moneylender comes, threatening to take away their land or homes. In our research, we have focussed on mothers and children, especially children because they suffer most.”
Harpreet said this was the first time the children and women had come out of Punjab. “We hope our efforts, with the help of local NGOs, Lokraj and Navdanya, can help them get pension and that people will come forward to adopt these families.”

"We suspect the centre is once again going to leave out Punjab from providing farm relief package of Rs 4,000 crore. It is because we never got any commitment from the food minister about Punjab's share," observed Manmeet Singh of Sach Productions. The company is making a film on the families left behind by the dead farmers. The struggle has turned children into activists, who would continue to fight for their rights long after the couple from USA is gone back and they are back to their villages, ready to struggle for their existence.

6 February 2008
 

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