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Special correspondent, 'Farmers' suicides nothing but genocide, says Vandana Shiva'
28 Feb 2008
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Extract- The Hindu, May 9, 2006
Special correspondent, 'Farmers' suicides nothing but genocide, says Vandana Shiva'
As India's new billionaires snap up palatial homes and luxury yachts,
desperate conditions for the nation's farmers have led to an epidemic
of suicides. Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for
Science, Technology and Ecology, refers to the appalling suicides of more than 40,000 Indian farmers since 1997 as "genocide":
"This genocide is a result of deliberate policy imposed by the World
Trade Organisation and implemented by the Government. It is designed to destroy small farmers and transform Indian agriculture into large-scale
corporate industrial farming."
Farmers are in despair over crippling debts from rising production
costs and falling prices, both linked to the corporate-led imposition of'free trade' in agriculture. Shiva warns of the growing forced dependence on hybrid and genetically modified seeds which are costly and cannot be saved.
These consequences derive from the corporate policy of privatising seed supply and the drive towards multinational seed monopolies.”
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