A year ago on January 2, 2015, Sunita’s husband, a cotton crop and soya bean farmer from Maharashtra committed suicide. He was one of the many farmers that killed themselves in Maharashtra after their crops failed for a third consecutive year. Sunita became a widow and began her struggle to regain her life with two teenage daughters just like 15,000 widows have done in the drought hit regions of Vidarbha and Marathwara over the years.
“Since I got married 20 years ago, all I knew was that farming was our life. We had no problems for 17 years but the last three years we had to struggle a lot,’’ says Sunita. Tension use to increase when we had to pay school fee or need to buy food. He would keep saying that he was worried how we would make ends meet and seemed depressed but the family told him that this phase would tide over.’’
But 3 years of drought had left her husband with no hope and he consumed poison. Her first thoughts she said was to eat the same poison but her two young daughters were to be cared for.
With the help of social workers, Sunita began running a small daily needs shop and a few months ago took a brave step and went back to farming. “Everyone told me do anything else but don’t go back into farming, but if everyone stops farming then how will this nation survive? What will everyone eat?’’
We salute Sunita for the bravery she has shown amidst a personal crisis, not just to care for her daughters but for being resilient and going back to farming and unknowingly becoming a crucial player in ensuring India’s food security.
Jai Jawan Jai Kisan,
It is going to happen one day. Government anyway is trying hard to convert this country from agricultural economy to services economy where people will clean toilets rather than toiling in the fields.
i agree ,if everybody stops farming then what INDIA is going to eat. We cant eat MONEY, SMART PHONES. Why our PM.Modi doesnt seem to understand such trivial thing.Every child says he wants to become Dr, Engineer, Lawyer etc etc but no child says he wants to become FARMER????
certainly cleaning toilets have taken a major step nowadays whereas govrnment have forget that toilets are not going to fullfil stomachs of 1.2 billion .until and unless our farmers are not provided with sufficient aids from government our yield is certaiinly going to be affected.though govenment has started kishan credit card but the rates applied to it are higher for a poor farmer and in case of droughts he is worst affected.
Salute Sunita for her selfless attitude.
Salute to this brave lady.. may God help her in everything she does.. you’ll see she will be super successful and all those who want to commit suicide should seek inspiration from her .
Some great moments- started by great visionaries of this great mother land will always be remembered as long as our country will exists. With fast urbanization of our country- where lakhs and lakhs of hectares of cultivable lands are being converted to concrete jungle- the question of how the nation will survive if every one will stop farming either because the farmers are getting loss year after year leading to migration or suicides.At this period an initiative like- CULTIVATING HOPE is the need of the hour. WIshing Good luck to all the people behind this movement and I also wish this movement to become as successful as the white Revolution started by the great Dr Vergese Kurien when the country was facing the worst agricultural situation and he lifted thousand and thousand family from poverty.
Hats off to You Sunithaji. The only reason why India is still the best in the world is because of nationals like you. Everyone has thier own compulsion in life but to think about the welfare of nation is something that extra ordinary netizens like you can only do it. It require lot of scarifices. Like wise there are many other Gems in the nations, i whole heartedly salute your efforts to feed, secure the nation. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan , Jai Vigyan
Regards
Bhadrinadh Chintapalli
United Kingdom
Great Women..
it sounds like a step back.
But not its a step forward and its the way India would need to go forward again. Farming is our thing.
Hope nature will support us and her too.
RIP.. All the Farmers. Please please no more subsides.
The center and state governments are failed to set priorities.They are spending billions in other projects which can help rich class to become more richer comfortably,while farmers to only depend on nature and god. for their betterment.
Hats off to people like Sunita. While we have in general focused on development, it has been at the expense of agriculture. Things like Crop Insurance, MNREGA etc need to be in place and even expanded in scope.
Hats off, Hope God gives you courage and success.
India’s food security does not rely on a farmer. A farmer can produce his/her own for their own survival. They need not produce for non-farming community. Non-farming community has lots of money and they cam survive buy eating currencies. Farmers shouldnot succumb to prasing form media or non-farming community.
Farm produce should not reach non-farming illicit community.
Soon without cultivation we will start eating computer chips and apps for breakfast, car parts for lunch, industrial waste for snacks, and ornaments + cloths for dinner. World, especially India needs to wake up, all these netas and every common man needs to realize that focus only on industrialization and modernization will have fatal consequences. High time to wake. In all western countries, farm lands and forest are off limits to any development, but unfortunately in India everything can be bought.
Mahatma Gandhi promoted khadi as a source of alternative income for farmers. Khadi may not be so relevant now but farmers still need to somehow make a living. If there are less farmers it may be better for Indian agriculture as the average farm may approach a reasonable size for economies of scale.
I salute the courage and spirit of Sunita – as a mother and as a farmer.
We need a huge change in the approach and mindset – people, government and support system to reverse the migration away from farming.
One of the finest message to the farmers particularly when the farmers are coming to the cities for their livelihood.
I salute for courage and your patriotism for nation. We salute all farmers our food growers.
Salute to her!
God Bless You Sunita behn!
People like you offer hope & inspiration – not our “netas” !
I Salute you Madam for your bold step
I salute sunita for her bold step. The concern that Youth are not taking up Farming as profession is already happening. It is clearly visible when you visit to your village by seeing that only able male and female less than 10 and more than 50 years old are only available in villages. Others have moved to cities for better earnings even though they have to work odd and unskilled jobs compromising with their self respect. Reversing this trend of migration /phenomenon would be just impossible leading to non availability of willing people for Farming.It is better late than never.
What happened to the transfer of technology by BGP when it opened it’s doors to Israel saying that it is aware of the atrocities by Israel in the occupied lands of the Palestinians still it is going ahead with shaking hands with the rogue state because of the advancement in the drip irrigation system adopted by Israel in changing the desert landscape in the occupied lands to green fields. Is anybody listening or caring to help these farmers like Sunita to start farming again.
Salute to this brave heart !
How do you propose to support these farmers in a country which everybody can decide their prices for goods manufactured/produced by them except farmers. Too many middlemen. I heard somewhere there is law in Australia which compulsories the 60% of sale price should go to farmer. They want farmer to cultivate but how come everything goes on short when farmer decides to buy [fertiliser or seeds]. What is exact function of APMC’s in Maharashtra what do they really do. Why we cannot have big online marketplace for farmers. I think going ahead things will have their own way, since every monarch in this country has faced ruins. This Czars of Agriculture exploitation will have the similar fate. Nothing is permanent.
Amazing spirit of this lady..we need farming to be given focus else how will we continue to be self sufficient in food
Hats off to courageous lady. we need to thank all farmers their will do farming and bringing food to our tables.
She is very much appreciated and Govt ensure farmers getting required financial and other support like water, fertilizers ,required machineries on time to the people who work for food grains for feed our great nation. more over farmers should treat same as military.
Salute to Sunitha!! Hope others get a sense of what farming is and how the survival depends on farming. Respect farmers….
Sunitaji, hope Ur story inspires other farmers of our country. We need such stories to hit our national headlines rather than suicide (or our honourable ministers mocking farmers suicide) stories. Hope media highlights such stories.
Successive government apathy towards agriculture and prolonged drought has certainly affected our Anna Dattas (Farmers). Rather than just waiting for government help, wish our farming community join hand and start: Rain water harvesting Movement & Organic Farming (spl. mention to Sikkim, use of cows urine as pesticide).
Hi, any way by which some help can be extended to these farmers via general public.