Posts Tagged ‘Nagpur’
Written by admin on 20 April 2012
Nagpur, April 20 (IANS) Driven to desperation in the face of rising poverty and falling cotton prices, three more debt-ridden farmers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region have ended their lives, an activist said Friday.
Gajanan Thorat of Garmmahsal in Washim district, Kamalabai Chavan of Wadner and Gajanan Ghotekar of Kothoda in Yavatmal district took their lives between Thursday and Friday, said Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.
The farmers took their lives because of a sudden fall in cotton prices due to export restrictions and because they had not received any financial relief from the government, Tiwari told IANS.
One of the farmers blamed the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government in the state, he said.
Ghotekar wrote in his suicide note: “Don’t vote for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party… They will destroy this country.”
According to Tiwari, the Maharashtra government last December had declared a relief package of Rs.2,000 crore for the cotton farmers. “But till date, not a single paisa has been paid to the distressed farmers who continue to reel under debts.”
The farmers were then hit by stringent exports conditions which led to a fall in prices of raw cotton from Rs.4,200 to Rs.3,400 per quintal, he said.
Tiwari said that when India produced 33-million bales of cotton and only 20 million bales were used domestically, “there is no reason to impose export restrictions”.
Suicides have been frequent in the region with as many as 918 Vidarbha farmers ending their lives in 2011 because of the agrarian crisis.
Tags: Maharashtra, Nagpur
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Written by admin on 20 April 2012
Nagpur, April 20 (IANS) Three debt-ridden cotton farmers have ended their lives in the Vidarbha region since Thursday, an activist said Friday.
Gajanan Thorat of Garmmahsal in Washim district, Kamalabai Chavan of Wadner and Gajanan Ghotekar of Kothoda in Yavatmal district have killed themselves, said Kishor Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.
The farmers took their lives because of a sudden fall in cotton prices due to export restrictions and because they had not received any financial relief from the government, Tiwari told IANS.
He said one of the farmers, Ghotekar, in his suicide note, wrote: “Don’t vote for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party… They will destroy this country.”
He said the Maharashtra government last December had declared a relief package of Rs.2,000 crore for the cotton farmers. “But till date, not a single paisa has been paid to the distressed farmers who continue to reel under debts.”
The farmers were then hit by stringent exports conditions which led to a fall in prices of raw cotton from Rs.4,200 to Rs.3,400 per quintal, he said.
Tiwari said that when India produced 33-million bales of cotton and only 20 million bales were used domestically, “there is no reason to impose export restrictions”.
Tags: Nagpur
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Written by admin on 06 April 2012
Nagpur, April 6 (IANS) Well-known economist Dr. Vijay Kelkar Friday visited Yavatmal in the crisis-ridden Vidarbha region of Maharashtra to review the imbalance of progress in the region, an activist said.
“Vidarbha has seen a long list of complex issues including agrarian crisis, tribal malnutrition, poor infrastructure, lack of employment-generating industries and cotton processing textile hub,” Kishor Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), an activist group working for cotton farmers’ rights in Vidarbha.
Tiwari said Kelkar also admitted that Vidarbha needs long-term planning to restore agriculture and environment that will provide opportunities to tackle the various issues.
Kelkar was in Yavatmal to gather details on a special report he is working on regarding the ongoing agrarian crisis that has claimed more than 10,000 cotton farmers’ lives. He will then submit the report to the governor of Maharashtra.
“As a single-man committee, Kelkar interacted with farmers and farm widows of the region in Yavatmal town and looked into the last 52 years of imbalance of progress and regional backlog resulting in mass genocide of Vidarbha dry land farmers,” Tiwari said.
Tiwari, however, expressed concern over such visits and the subsequent inaction on part of state and central governments. He also said he has high hopes of proper action after Kelkar’s visit, as he is originally from Akola in Vidarbha and well aware of the ground reality.
“We have demanded a separate state of Vidarbha, as that is the only option left in order to save three million debt trapped cotton farmers, where one farmer is committing suicide every eight hours,” Tiwari said.
“Since 2005, all relief packages in the name of farmers are being siphoned off by western Maharashtra political leaders, which only adds to the crisis in Vidarbha,” Tiwari alleged.
On March 2, a 37-member parliamentary standing committee headed by Basudeo Acharya visited Vidarbha to review farmers’ suicides in the region.
As many as 918 farmers from Vidarbha ended their lives because of the agrarian crisis in 2011.
Tags: Maharashtra, Nagpur
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Written by admin on 05 April 2012
Nagpur, April 5 (IANS) Economist Vijay Kelkar will Friday visit Yavatmal in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and speak to farmers and widows of debt-burdened peasants for a review on the imbalance of progress, an activist said here Thursday.
“As a single man committee, Kelkar will speak and interact with farmers and farm widows of the region in Yavatmal town and look into the last 52 years of imbalance of progress and regional backlog resulting in mass genocide of Vidarbha dry land farmers,” said Kishor Tiwari, president of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), an group working for cotton farmers.
“Kelkar is visiting Yavatmal to gather details on a special report he is working on regarding the ongoing agrarian crisis that has claimed more than 10,000 cotton farmers’ lives. The report will then be submitted to the governor of Maharashtra,” Tiwari added.
Tiwari expressed concern over such visits and the subsequent inaction on part of the state and central governments.
He hoped that Kelkar, who hails from Akola in Maharashtra, will be aware of the ground reality.
“We will demand a separate state of Vidarbha as that is the only option left in order to save three million debt-trapped cotton farmers or the region where one peasant is committing suicide every eight hours,” Tiwari said.
On March 2, a 37-member parliamentary standing committee headed by Basudeb Acharia visited the Vidarbha region over farmers’ suicides.
As many as 918 peasants from the region ended their lives in 2011 because of the agrarian crisis.
Tags: Maharashtra, Nagpur
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Written by admin on 03 April 2012
Nagpur, April 3 (IANS) A court here has directed the police to investigate and lodge cases against the vice chancellor of a central university and three other officials in an alleged fake migration certificate racket, a legal official said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate D.H. Sharma of the Wardha District Court passed the order Monday against Vibhuti Narain Rai, vice chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalay (MGAHV), registrar Kailash Khamre, deputy registrar Kadar Nawaz Khan and examination head K.K. Tripathi, said lawyer Toofan Singh Akali, representing a student-complainant Rajeev Suman.
When contacted by IANS, the MGAHU vice chancellor Rai, a retired IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, declined to comment on the issue.
He said: “I have nothing to say in this matter. You can write whatever you want,” before disconnecting the phone Tuesday evening.
According to CJM Sharma’s order, the head of Sewagram Police Station has been directed to lodge a first information report (FIR) under Criminal Procedure Code Sec. 153(C), for the offences alleged in Suman’s complaint.
After completion of the investigations, the police have been directed to file its report under CrPC Sec. 173, CJM Sharma said in his order.
The MGAHU is a central university and is the only one of its kind in the country.
The MGAHU chancellor is Namwar Singh, while President Pratibha Patil is the visitor of the university, situated in Wardha, around 80 km from here.
Tags: Nagpur
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Written by admin on 28 March 2012
Nagpur, March 28 (IANS) Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil has denied there was any intelligence alert on Tuesday’s brutal Maoist attack that left 12 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers dead and another 28 injured.
Speaking to media persons here Wednesday afternoon, a grim Patil also dismissed suggestions that there was lack of co-ordination between the Maharashtra Police and other agencies like the CRPF which are engaged in anti-Maoist operations in the forested eastern parts of the state.
“Our priority is to find out what was the motive behind the attack on the CRPF bus yesterday (Tuesday). We shall also ascertain whether the CRPF had observed the security protocol in Gadchiroli,” he said.
The minister said that the police are also investigating the involvement of locals or others who may be working in tandem with the Maoists.
Patil admitted that the police had to function within the legal parameters and could not take the necessary strict action against Maoist groups active in the region.
Earlier Wednesday, Patil visited the Wockhardt Hospital here where eight of the seriously injured troopers are undergoing treatment and enquired after their well-being.
He also held discussion with top police, CPRP and other security officials on the prevalent situation and ground realities posing a challenge to the anti-Maoist operations.
After a lull of over three years, Maoists brutally struck again yesterday killing 12 CRPF troopers and injuring 28 others in a remote-triggered landmine blast in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
The incident occurred just before noon when 40 troopers of the CRPF were travelling in a bus of the force from Phustola to Gatta village in Dhanora, around 50 km from the Gadchiroli district headquarters.
Tags: Nagpur
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