by Michael Gonsalves

The Indian Church is committed to bringing down the number of farmers who kill themselves because they are in debt. From today, a national conference will discuss ways and means of applying a program "Save Farmers-Save India". Attention is focused on Maharashtra: there have been at least 962 suicides in five months.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – The Indian Caritas will dedicate 2007 to addressing the tragedy of suicide among farmers in the country. The largest NGO of the Indian Bishops’ Conference has drawn up a program "Save Farmers-Save India" with the aim of supporting the development of this category of workers who are often pushed to suicide because of excessive debts. The executive director of Caritas, Fr Varghese Mattamana, told AsiaNews about the program. Today he will launch three days of discussion in Mumbai about the matter. According to official statistics, nearly 4,000 farmers died over the past five years from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, but independent figures put the number of suicides as high as 18,000.

Fr Mattamana said the plan is aimed at the “development of the poorest farmers through the institution of micro-credit groups and the empowerment of their productive capacities through the sustainable exploitation of natural resources.” The program will implement on a national scale what has already been successfully realized in Wynad district in Kerala. Fr Mattamana said more than 2,000 farmers who participated in self-help groups (SHG) of Caritas did not commit suicide. “Over 250,000 SHGs have been established among the marginalized communities across India,” continued the priest.

As a first step, Caritas will expand the Wynad experience to the region of Vidharbha in Maharashtra, where the suicide rate is clearly on the rise: from June to October 2006, 962 farmers decided to end their life. Then the program will spread to Gujarat.

The director said: “Each of us has the responsibility to build a stronger India and for this, we need more effective policies.” This is why Caritas today launched a national conference about the topic in Mumbai that will close on 8 February. The meeting will focus on “empowerment methodologies and intervention strategies through a human rights based approach to development.” Caritas action plans for the next two years will be assessed.

A well known Bollywood producer Mahesh Bhatt has come out in favour of the “noble work” undertaken by the Indian Caritas. “It's heartening to see priests working with the government to empower underprivileged people and to help them realize their dreams," Bhatt said. “The farmers, some of who commit suicide and the poor are entitled to a fair deal. India needs to get back its moral values before becoming a super power.”

• india
• church
• catholic
• farmers
• poverty
• development
• suicides
• society
• economy