Farmer woes deserve top attention

Finally there is a government in Maharashtra after a prolonged and nauseating exercise at snatching power by all sides concerned.

But, could not the Maha Vikas Aghadi have shown some sensitivity at least and confined the swearing in ceremony to the Raj Bhawan itself instead of making a spectacle out of it from Shivaji Stadium in view of the raging farmer suicides in the State?

The new Chief Minister has announced loan waiver as a solution to the crisis. Is it any solution? The latest data reluctantly released by the Centre show that Maharashtra is the leader in farmers' suicides in the country.

The figure stood at 11,379 for 2016 - ground realities project a different picture anyway - and Maharashtra stands accounted for more than 3,000 suicides. Do the Maha politicians really care for their farmers? Can such filthy rich lot serve the poor really?

Look at the vulgarity of the riches of Aaditya Thackeray, son of the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the next generation being groomed to rule the State.

His declaration (who knows it is an honest declaration anyway) tells us this: Crores of rupees in bank deposits, a shining new BMW car, a white-plated gold bracelet with 555 sparking diamonds and agriculture land across Maharashtra (Rs 16.05 crore in all may be nothing compared to the assets declared by several other politicians across the country).

But, this young graduate Aaditya Thackeray did not earn it either by farming or by working or through any of his business.

This is all 'gifted' by his parents to him. (By the by since when a BMW is being sold in the country for a paltry Rs 6.5 lakh? Or is it a special price for the powerful for Thackerays?). Coming to Pawars' does any one know them as farmers? Well, if their declarations are to be believed they are all farmers.

Parth Ajit Pawar, son of Sharad Pawar is a farmer, The father is a farmer and Supriya Sule too is a farmer! All worth crores. While real estate as such stagnated in the State, all these politicians properties worth only grew exponentially. How did this happen?

Even a relatively poor former Chief Minister, Devender Fadnavis's real estate worth got tripled in the last five years. And so it is only the farmers in Maharashtra, as elsewhere in the country, who remain poor, really poor, but the politicians (farmers mostly) keep getting richer.

Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions of the State bear the brunt of drought every year. Even the unseasonal rains do not help them when they occur, but only destroy what little crop they could raise.

Sahebrao Karpe, a farmer of Yavatmal region, who committed suicide along with this wife and four children on March 19, 1986, wrote in a suicide note "It is impossible to survive as a farmer".

Except the rich farmers who dabble in politics, thousands of others who are into farming keep dying every year. On an average 8 farmers commit suicide every day in the State! Do the politicians of Maharashtra understand the humongous tragedy?