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Relief Package for Farmers: Can It Stop Suicides?
The relief package for Vidarbha's farmers, announced in early July, will not end distress in the region because it does not address its root causes.
A relief package for the six districts affected by farmers’ suicides in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra was finally announced by prime minister Manmohan Singh on July 1, 2006. A similar package is going to be announced for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala soon. While the total package appears to be large, it is not going to provide any immediate relief to the farmers. The core problems of unremunerative prices and indebtedness underlying farmers’ suicides and ground realities are ignored in this package.
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