1.Bt cotton cultivation should be banned
2.Now, parliamentary panel to study suicide crisis

NOTE: Nowhere in India has Bt cotton been more hyped than in Maharashtra's cotton belt of Vidarbha, which is both a major centre of cotton production in India and an epicentre of farm suicides. Farm activist, Kishor Tawari has repeatedly drawn attention to the role of Bt cotton in the crisis facing Vidarbha's dry land farmers, with farmers there at one point killing themselves at an average of one every six hours. 

EXTRACTS: There are fresh worries that cotton farmers have fallen prey to monopolistic designs of multinational seed companies producing genetically modified seeds. (item 2)

"... [the] highly rain sensitive and climate sensitive GM cotton crop has completely failed since 2005 and should be banned" – Kishor Tiwari (item 1)
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1.Bt cotton cultivation should be banned – VJAS
MeriNews, Feb 26 2012
http://vidarbhacrisis.blogspot.com/2012/02/bt-cotton-cultivation-should-be-banned.html

IT is official that dry land cotton farmers who opted for Bt cotton in 40 lakh hectares are likely to lose Rs. 10,000 crores as per initial estimate of crop failure by Maharashtra's administration, a farmer advocacy group has alleged.

The announcement of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prathiviraj Chavan that the government will announce a bailout package to Maharashtra's dry land farmers to the tune of Rs.2000 crore that will cover crop failure of Bt cotton in 40 lakhs hector in the year 2011-12. This has happened only twice in last five years, the first time in the year 2005-2006 when government compensated farmers to the tune of Rs. 220 crore as it grew Bt cotton in 4 lakh hectares.

"Bt cotton was first approved for commercial cultivation in nine states by Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) but as per Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's own admission the average yield of Bt cotton in dry land areas of Maharashtra is only 125 kg. Now it's official that dry land cotton farmers who opted for Bt cotton in 40 lakh hectares are likely to lose Rs.10,000 crore as per initial estimate of crop failure reported by the Mahrashtra administration," Kishor Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, stated in a press release today.

"The admission of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that Bt cotton yield is minimum in Maharashtra and compensation package of Rs.2000 crore promptly announced by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prathiviraj Chavan for Bt cotton crop failure has once again substantiated our long pending demand that highly rain sensitive and climate sensitive GM cotton crop has completely failed since 2005 and should be banned," Tiwari added.
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2.Now, parliamentary panel to study suicide crisis
Ramu Bhagwat
Times fo India, Feb 26 2012
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-26/nagpur/31101248_1_loan-waiver-kishore-tiwari-vidarbha-jan-andolan-samiti

NAGPUR: A parliamentary standing committee will visit the farm suicide capital of Yavatmal on March 2. The 37-member committee, headed by Basudeo Acharya of CPM, will go to Pandharkawda and visit couple of villages to find out why farmers suicides continue unabated despite a plethora of measures taken by the government, providing relief to cotton growers of drylands of Vidarbha.

This is the first time that such a large team of parliamentary committee will be visiting the region. The visit comes in the wake of reports that the actual number of farmers committing suicides and found eligible for compensation by the government has actually tripled last year. There are also reports that the government may consider yet another relief package for dry-land farmers whose economic plight has worsened in the last six years and the cases of loan defaults have recorded an alarming rise in the region. Another round of loan waiver can only make them eligible for fresh bank credits in the next kharif season.

Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which is spearheading the cotton growers' cause for over a decade, will be meeting the standing committee members during the visit to Pandharkawda. The panel members will be taken to nearby villages of Bhamraja and Maregon to study the ground realities. 

"Several such studies have been undertaken in the past. We only hope that the fresh attempt of the government will succeed in identifying the problem and ways to address it," said Kishore Tiwari, VJAS president, on Saturday. He lamented that recommendation of high-profile reports of M S Swaminathan who headed the National Agricultre Commission and Prof Narendra Jadhav were never implemented.

"In 2006, the CM-PM package of Rs 5000 crore was followed by a massive loan waiver in 2008. As part of Rs 70,000 crore covering several states, Vidarbha region got a share of Rs 6000 crore. In 2009, the state government extended the loan waiver facility. Planning commission experts also visited the region and gave their report. In effect, a dozen such committees may have studied the farm crisis in Vidarbha. But a lasting solution to make agriculture sustainable has evaded the authorities till date," said Tiwari. 

There are fresh worries that cotton farmers have fallen prey to monopolistic designs of multinational seed companies producing genetically modified seeds.