Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan. Hail the soldier, hail the farmer.
Perhaps, this old slogan too is part of a dead past in an India obsessed with newfound 'progress'.
More than 1,038 farmers killed themselves between January and October 2006 in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, at an average of about four farmers committing suicide every day.
Some blame it on multinational seed monopolies, some on a world order that reeks of hypocrisy -- protecting its own, and slaughtering the others' with its market forces.
And yet, while every tremor of the Sensex -- which affects a decimal point percentage of the population -- sends quivers of excitement, the majority of the country is oblivious to the fate of its farmers, who form the biggest bulk of its population.
What do we care. We have Internet on our mobiles.
What made you angry in 2006? Tell us!
Image: Cotton farmer Neelkant Haste's daughters mourn his death.
Photograph: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Mr Prime Minister, the farmer is heartbroken
Advertisement
