Farmers' suicide: Do we really care?

India reported 122,637 suicides last year — an average of 336 every day — with more men ending their lives than women, the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed.

As far as suicides committed by farmers (16,632) are concerned, Maharashtra (4,238) surpassed all other states, with its Vidarbha region having become the focal point. According to the NCRB’s report, Karnataka saw 2,135 farmer suicides, Andhra (1,797), Chhattisgarh (1,593), MP (1,263) and Kerala (1,232).

The number of farmers who committed suicide in Maharashtra accounted for more than a quarter of the total suicides reported in the state.

The farmers suicide has been happening since more than 10 years. There was a big package announced by the Indian government but had hardly any impact. Once the package was declared and it was even heard that the normal deaths were also being reported as suicides and then the compensation by the government was mainly kept by the concerned officer and a small part was given to the family. Essentially, nothing noteworthy was achieved by the government.

But there are people in this world who do care, even about the poor farmers and every one else. With the blessing of Guruji - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Project Vidarbha was started in Amravati district in August 2006 with 32 Yuvacharya ( 6 Girls and 26 Boys) selected after a rigorous training of 10 days. The outline of the project was also decided during these 10 days.

The people were reached out via the Navchetana Shibeer, Health Workshops and Satsang by going closer to them and listening to their problems. Slowly people started accepting the change and started smiling. The smiling virus was soon spreading and covered other districts of Amravati Division (507 villages of 6 districts). Lot many workshops were conducted which could impart practical training to the people and youth. The youth themselves came forward and started taking responsibility of their own villages, after undergoing proper training.

Till 15th October 2007 (I have a copy of that report only), no suicide was reported in the villages where The Art of Living foundation has reached and started their work and I sure none will happen in future.

There are three types of people
- People who make things happen
- People who see things happen
- People who wonder what happened!

If you are determined, you can make things happen and I am proud to be associated with organization which makes things happen. Many people ask why the foundation charges money for their course, and here is the reason. The organization utilizes the money collected from the people who can pay, and redirects it for development of the poor and the needy. There are about 35,000 villages adopted by the Art of Living foundation and many more are in the waiting. I will write more later about the program and the success stories.

With such good people around, happiness is going to be all around. I hope to be part of the instrument that spreads happiness in the whole world.

References:

Report on Suicides

5H program

The 5H program - on lifepositive.com

Jai Guru Dev!
Sandeep (Pitamah)