WHY INDIA’S COTTON FARMERS STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

Sangam lost his mother several years ago when she committed suicide in a desperate bid to escape the misery of life with her alcoholic husband. I don’t know why Sangam’s now-estranged father turned to liquor but it is worth appreciating that the prevalence of alcoholism (and suicide) inevitably rises among populations immersed in the hopelessness of debt, contributing to individual ruin and the eventual undoing of communities. As a measure of the crisis in rural India, an average of 47 farmers a day committed suicide in 2009.

Jan 24, 2011 | Categories:Development assignments | Tags: 13 to 18 years, 25 to 45 years, 3 to 13 years, 45 to 60 years, adolescent, agriculture, air pollution, anxiety, bangle, bare feet, blue, boy, caring, cart, child, child employment, children, color, colour, concentrating, cotton, daughter, domestic, dust, family, father, feet, female, girl, hands, headscarf, home, horizontal, India, Indian, industry, informal employment, livelihood, male, man, man - group, masculinity, men - group, middle-aged, mother, outdoor, pollution, poor, portrait, portrait - informal, portrait - no eye-contact, reflecting, relaxing, resting, rural, rural working-class, sad, salwar kameez, sari, sleeping, snack, son, South-Asia, South-Asian, street-food, suicide, tea, teenage, transport, village, waiting, white, woman, work, working, working-class, youth | 5 Comments »