SCIENCE, MEDICAL, LAW, HUMOR, CHILDREN

SUICIDAL DEVELOPMENT

SUICIDAL DEVELOPMENT



Development is now
The refrain of the world.
At every seminar,
This concept is now hurled.

GDP must increase,
So must the rate of growth.
Let all else go to hell,
As long as rise these both!

In the name of such rise,
The innocents suffer,
Including the farmers,
Who, produce, us offer.

Full two suicides a day,
This month has been the rate
Amongst Andhra farmers,
Who simply rue their fate.

They grew Bt cotton
In the fields they had tilled
In the hope their coffers
Would well be one day filled.

Their hopes were but belied.
They had a big surprise.
Their return was dismal,
Their cost had shown a rise.

They could not repay loans.
Their faces did they hide.
Caught in a dilemma,
They committed suicide.



* Written in abcb, 6-6-6-6 format.


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* Written for "Invalid Item" , “News Desk: Contest”

This contest required that the poem be built upon a news item in a newspaper. The above poem was inspired by a front page news item in Times of India, dated 30 January 2007, head-lined “11 suicides by farmers in 48 hours: 62 have killed themselves in debt-hit Vidarbha in January”.


M C Gupta
23 January 2007


NOTE—The above suicides are related to use of Bt cotton, in which a gene taken from Bacillus thuringiensis, known as the Bt gene, is genetically incorporated into the cotton seed /plant. This biogenetically transformed cotton seed is marketed by the American company Monsanto in India at high price. The genetic programming is such that the seed grown from this crop is devoid of this quality, with the result that the farmers must buy the seeds from Monsanto or its agents for each crop. Because of the high price differential in seed prices of ordinary and Bt seeds, fake seeds are a great problem for the farmers. They take loan to buy Bt seeds and incur all labour and expenses to plant the same, with poor results due to adulterated seeds. On the other hand, farmers having good cotton crop are not able to market the same freely because of the prevalent price control policies. The net result is that farmers, who have taken debt to buy Bt seeds, are not able to make money or repay debts, forcing them to commit suicide.

For details, see—

1. Bt COTTON BELIES PROMISES: RESEARCH
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=7191

2. ORGANIC COTTON BEATS BT COTTON
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1021591
NEW DELHI: The benefits of organic cotton seem to clearly outweigh those from Bt Cotton, whose cost of cultivation in Kharif , 2005 was higher by 67 per cent and income lower by at least 37 per cent, says a survey by the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

3. Bt COTTON
http://edugreen.teri.res.in/EXPLORE/bio/Btcot.htm