Cows in Rural Maharashtra

I took these pictures during my recent visit to the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. Over 1000 farmers have committed suicide here in the last one year...the number is growing each day.

" We have done so much, but nothing seems to be working. The number of suicides only keeps going up. The chief minister of Maharashtra has told NGOs that they should help...come up with ideas as to how we can stop this. We have run out of ideas." a Federal minister told me.

Strange... all the government has to do is identify the most vulnerable farmers and write off their debt...not just the interest but the whole entire debt.

That is the only way to stop the suicides.

There should be an effective way to keep the loan sharks from harassing the farmers. The police should be pro active in this...but that is not the case.

The government is focused on long term schemes to augment irrigation and interest write offs...what the farmers want is immediate relief.

With more than a 100 billion dollars in reserves...the government can surely afford to spend to save the lives of these desperate farmers.