Covid

MASKING SAVES LIVES

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

A Plague of Suicides Among Indian Farmers--"Free Trade" Kills

"The study by Mr. Mishra found that 86.5 percent of farmers who took their own lives were indebted — their average debt was about $835 — and 40 percent had suffered a crop failure.

"The news of Mr. Shende’s death brought his wife, Vandana, back home to Bhadumari. Relatives said she had gone to tend to her sick brother in a nearby village. By the time she arrived, her husband’s body was covered by a thin checkered cloth.

"A policeman had recorded the death — the eighth in six months for the officer.

"Ms. Shende, squatting in the narrow village lane, shrouded her face in her cheap blue sari and wailed at the top of her lungs. “Your father is dead,” she screamed at her small son, who stood before her, dazed.

From the NYTimes via Marxmail

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