Maharashtra farmers commit suicide as cotton ban protest rages

Mumbai: Four debt-strapped farmers have committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, where traders and ginners are boycotting the cotton auctions and farmers are resorting to road blockades in protest against the ban imposed by the federal government on the export of cotton.

Attributing the latest suicides to the Congress-led federal government‘s decision to ban the export of cotton, farmers' leader Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) accused the UPA administration of imposing the ban to "favour ferment manufacturers". He demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the government's decision.

The farmers, who committed suicide were identified as: Bapurao of Shidola village in Amravati district; Nilkant Mandole of Khategoan village in Gondia district; Sheshrao Rajpallu of Sawanga village, and Shankar Vaidhya of Barjali village, both from Yavatmal district.

Corruption

According to VJAS' Tiwari, there is considerable unrest among farmers, traders and ginners in Yavatmal, Wardha, Akola, Amaravati, and Nagpur, where cotton growers are protesting the ban on the export of their produce.

Questioning the ban, Tiwari said: "When Indian domestic demand is just 20 million bales as against national production of 33 million bales, there is no reason to ban the export of cotton. The decision to ban Indian cotton export is another example rampant corruption going on in UPA government".

According to Tiwari, cotton was being traded last month above Rs4,200 (Dh308) per quintal (100 kg), but the fear of export ban brought down to Rs3,700 per quintal by March 3.