Indian Church offers services to tackle farmer suicides
(February 25, 2011) The Catholic Church of Bhopal in central Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh has offered its services in tackling farmer suicides in the state. “The Church
is willing to offer services of its trained personnel to the state government for
distributing relief package to victims,” said Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal.
The state has suffered unprecedented losses of standing crops due to frost in the
last two months, leading to a large number of farmers committing suicide. The Church’s
offer came a day after the government admitted in the state assembly that 136 farmers
had committed suicide in the past 86 days due to crop failure. The assembly was told
that crops of 35,759 villages were damaged in January due to the severe cold and frost.
A memorandum was handed over to the federal government seeking financial help. Archbishop
Cornelio lamented the situation saying, “Our bread producers are now on the verge
of starvation. This is very tragic.” He said the Church is helping the farmers in
rural areas and expressed sadness that funds collected by the Church through external
donations remain unutilized because of the federal government’s stand that the “country
does not need outside aide.” The archbishop warned that the farmer suicides will
not stop unless proper efforts are made to compensate them. He called on the nation
to stand up and come to the rescue of farmers “without whom no-one will have a life.”